Posted on 01/24/2016 9:03:40 AM PST by MtnClimber
Patriots defense is pretty good, too. 99.9% of the experts and former players had given the Patriots that game. Manning played a good game, not great. The Broncos defense played at an exceptional level and Brady was just hammered like I’ve seen only on a few occasions. The bottom line is Brady was not the better QB on this day. He threw 2 interceptions and was lackluster all day until he put together an amazing last drive and 2 insane 4th down plays. Not to take away from Brady as a QB, but the statement that he was the better QB is simply not true on this day. Manning executed his game plan, along with his teammates. Brady was not able to.
Pats made some significant errors. And the o-line just wasn’t up to it. Frankly Manning played badly, but the team model can work with that. Brady was the better QB, but Denver won every other aspect of the game. If the Broncos win in 2 weeks this version of Manning might replace Trent Dilfer as the worst QB to win a SB. He really stinks now, but with that defense he can go ahead and suck, they’re still finding the win.
He’s still a top 10 QB. Easily. He’s not the Manning that single handedly took teams to 14-2 and to Super Bowls, as he’s physically beat up. He would still take every team in this league, except a handful, farther than they got this year. Put him on Arizona and they beat GB handily and would have made a game of the NFC championship yesterday. Put him on Houston or KC or nearly any team that didn’t make the playoffs and they are better. There are only a few exceptions of teams with top tier QBs. Peyton’s demise is a nice story, but not really true. He is one of the top 2 or 3 generals in the game’s history if not the best, and and game changer when it counts. The guy never had a riffle as an arm. He made it playing smart and preparing well. It’s why he broke NFL records after his neck issues and just two years ago. The guy looked terrible the second half of last year with injuries and a depleted team, and this year year was still undefeated halfway into the season, only losing two games with a bad foot. That healed, and now he’s had a comeback and two big wins against great teams. A comparison to Dilfer is ridiculous.
There’s still probably no better reader of defenses than Manning, yes physically he’s not what he was, but he’s still as sharp as ever.
That being said, I just don’t see how Denver beats Carolina.
Based on what Carolina had done the last two weeks, I tend to agree. Of course, no one thought they could stop Brady and the Patriots. We’ll see if Denver learns from their disaster two years ago and can use that experience to their advantage somehow. I tend to think their defense will do some good, but whether it’s enough to stop them or force some mistakes, who knows. Probably Denver’s best shot is to get some early success and force Carolina into an early mistake or two like they did yesterday. If they get down, I suspect it will be a tough road. If they get up, they may be able to ride it out again for a second game.
Now one thing I can go on, with Cam is the Championship Game he played for Auburn. Auburn would up winning, but Cam didn’t look like his normal self, it definitely looked like he had a case of the jitters. So how will he handle the pressure of a Super Bowl for the first time, as opposed to Manning who has been there before? That’s probably the only thing that suggests that Denver has a shot.
Actually in pretty much every stat this year Manning was bottom third of the league, some closer to the bottom 10%. He had the second most interceptions in the league this year, missing it by one INT, but also missing 6 games. He is quite simply no longer a good QB. The Broncos have gotten this far because their defense is seriously vying for the best in league history, and they have a good running game. Basically this team is the 2000 Ravens, the team generally considered to have given us the worst QB (Dilfer) to ever hoist a Lombardi.
Peyton’s got the brain, but he no longer has the physical talent. The good news is with his brain he could be the best game manager in the history of the league. The bad news is he’s now a game manager. The comparison to Dilfer is spot on. Compare Dilfer’s 2000 stats, and Manning’s 2015:
Dilfer 59.3% completions 12 TDs 11 INTs 76.6 rating
Manning 59.8% completions 9 TDs 17 INTs 67.9 rating
That’s who Manning is now. But hey, you can win an SB that way.
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