Hello all,
To start this week, I wanna give big ups to arguably the best American footballer in the world, Landon Donovan, for an unbelievable-Beckham like corner setting up Louis Saha for an easy header and leading Everton to their first win over Chelsea in 17 years. The former high school gymnast has been pretty good so far in England, with 2 assists and a goal in his first 5 games for Everton, and looks as if he may finally breakthrough on a non-MLS stage. To me, Donovan's 3 previous disasterous stints in the German Bundesliga (with the first being so bad he was loaned back to the MLS) were confounding because the guy has always been very good on the international stage- he won the best young player in the 2002 World Cup, scored several goals in the 2000 Olympics, and has 42 goals in just 120 caps with the US team. Who knows, maybe he's more comfortable in England than in Deutchland, maybe he's just gotten better, maybe he's come to the realization that the MLS is a joke and he has to get out, or maybe his time with rival teamate David Beckham has done him some good; but, whatever the reason is, it's good to see the guy look like he's gonna step up in one of the world's best leagues.
So, the Super Bowl was a few days ago, and congrats to Drew Brees, the New Orleans Saints, and all of the "Who Dat?" nation for the first Super Bowl win in the history of the franchise. Great game to watch, much like the past 2 Superbowls. Not many people expected the Saints to win: 13/15 analyst picked the Colts, Vegas had the Colts by 5.5 and seemingly every Tweet I read pregame gave the Saints no chance. I thought the Colts were gonna run away with it when the claimed a 1st quarter 10-0 lead, and again when Sean Payton made a Les-Miles by not kicking the FG just before the half; but the Saints played great, dominated the 2nd half, and were up by 7 late when the Colts last-ditch drive was thwarted by a legacy-changing 74-yard pick-6 thrown by Peyton Manning with 3:14 left, clinching the game for the Saints. To me, that play ended the debate about who the best QB of the generation has been between Peyton and Tom and here's 5 reasons why...
#5) Unlike Peyton, Tom actually has gone 16-0.
As my man, the Great Herm Edwards said, "The greatest thing about sports is you play to win the game!" You play to win the game- not to rest players, not to get in reps, but to win! Which is exactly what Tom Brady did all 16 times the Patriots took the field in 2007. Now, I know alot of people have said it's Jim Caldwell's fault for resting his starters the last week and a half of the the season; but the bottom line is- "might have" is much different than "did". If Peyton had played the last 2 weeks of this season, they might have gone undefeated, they might not have- they had to play the Jets in week 17 who were far from a walkover. Tom DID go undefeated, and I know the Patriots lost the superbowl but don't underestimate the accomplishment of an undefeated season; no one had gone undefeated since 1973 and Michael Irvin (not someone I'm exaclty proud of referencing but...) said he would trade all 3 of his rings for one undefeated season. Well, Tom has his, and 3 rings to go with it...
#4) Don't Forget- Tom broke all of Peyton's records the year before he hurt his knee.
Tom was clearly not himself (like many people aren't their first year back from major knee surgery) this year. But, the last time we saw Tom healthy was 2007, when he had the best year in the history of NFL QBs and broke the TD record Peyton previously set. Let's compare Tom's 2007 with the best year of Peyton's career (2004). Notice that Tom threw for more yards, more touchdowns, a higher completion percentage, and fewer interceptions.
YEAR Player G CMP ATT PCT YDS AVG TD INT
2007 Brady 16 398 578 68.9 4806 8.3 50 8
2004 Manning 16 336 497 67.6 4557 9.2 49 10
#3) Tom has consistantly done more with less...
While Peyton has made a living throwing to perenial pro-bowlers such as Marvin Harrisson, Reggie Wayne and Dallas Clark; until getting Randy Moss and Wes Welker in 2007, Tom won 3 Super Bowls and went to 5 Pro Bowls throwing to Patrick Pass, Troy Brown, Reche Caldwell and David Graham...
#2) The Colts are turning into the Atlanta Braves... and the obvious: Tom-3, Peyton-1
The regular season is great, but, the bottom line is greatness has been and always will be defined by championships and performance in the clutch. It's not that we don't care about the regular season, but the playoffs is different, the intensity is higher, the stakes are greater, and it's where legends are either broken or made. If the regular season and playoffs were weighed equally in the court of public opinion, A-Rod would be far and more reveared than teammate Derek Jeter- but I dare you to find any New Yorker who would agree with that. And, let's look at the Atlanta Braves. The Braves won 13 divisional titles in a row but only 1 world series (in 1995), so despite making the playoffs 7/9 years in the 90s (yes there 9, not 10 because of the strike), the team of the 90s was the Toronto Blue Jays who made the playoffs only twice!! but won the world series both times. The Colts are seemingly becoming THAT team- always guaranteed for 10-12 wins in the regular season and a #1 or #2 seed, but also guaranteed never to win it all again... As far as individuals go- the bottom line is that no matter what people have done in the regular season, our biggest sports heros have won MULTIPLE titles. Do you think of Reggie Jackson as a legend and call him "Mr. October" for his 563 regular season homeruns, or for his 5 World Series Rings and 3 World Series MVP awards? Do you remmember Bill Russell as the first player to average 20 rebounds for a entire season, or for winning 11 NBA titles? Does anyone think Dan Mariono is better than John Elway or Joe Montana despite having way better stats? Would Scottie Pippen have been named one of the NBA's 50 greatest players without having too many rings to wear on one hand?? If he wasn't ahead 4-1 ring wise would anyone think Derek Jeter is better than Chipper Jones?? Would Mike be the greatest ever without 6 rings and too many big shots to count?? No. And what is Mike most remmembered for?? Making shots that I'm sure is still giving Byron Russel, Craig Ehlo, Larry Bird, Dan Marley and Clyde Drexler nightmares and for keeping Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton and Sean Kemp ring-less...
#1) Tom steps up in big games, Peyton CHOKED when he had his chance...
With a chance to tie the game late in the fourth quarter (3:14 to go) in the Superbowl on Sunday, Peyton Manning made one of the worst throws I've ever seen which was returned 74 yards for the game-icing touchdown by Tracy Porter. But, Peyton has NEVER been more than an average player in the playoffs- his career playoff record is a very mediocre 9-8 and his QB rating is 87 (compared to a career 95 in the regular season). Brady on the other hand has a staggering 14-4 career playoff record (including 3-1 against Peyton) with a QB rating of 99.8 (up from his career 94 in the regular season). Tom has won 2 Superbowl MVPs, and directed 2 4th quarter super bowl winning drives (the 85 yarder in 03 against the Rams, and the 54 yarder the following year against the Panthers), not to mention the numerous heroics in other playoff games (the drive in the snow to bury the Raiders) to get there. Now, I know some people may be thinking- didn't Tom lose his last trip to the Superbowl? Yes, but there was a big difference. Brady directed a 89 yard drive and hit Randy Moss to put the Patriots ahead 14-10 with 2:31 left in the game- and lost on an Asante Samuels interception drop combined with either the best or luckiest catch of all time (depending on who you go for) by David Tyree. What did Peyton do when he had one chance to bring his team back on Super Sunday? Pick 6 and game over....
As always, be sure to check the "near you" tab on our
homepage, www.roosterfly.com, for a list of sporting events and shows near you...
Till next week,
MN
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