Tag: Super Bowl (Page 2 of 3)

Sports are funny. As much as the location where you grew up or live, style of play, or favorite athlete, narrative is a huge part of how we choose the teams we root for. If you’re an uncommitted fan, or just a fan with no strong ties to a particular team to begin with, the story that surrounds a team can often be as big of an attraction as anything.

I was never really a Patriots fan. But I bought into their “No superstars, one team of egoless overachievers” ethos big time when they burst on the scene in the 2001 season. I admit, too, that much of my desire to see them win that year was who they played. They beat the Raiders in the Snow/Tuck Rule game. They beat the Steelers in the AFC title game. They beat the Rams in the Super Bowl. Three teams I did not like. Since I had no strong feelings either way about the Patriots, and they projected a laudable image, I jumped on their bandwagon that playoff year.

My admiration for them continued for several years. It’s kind of easy to forget now, but it took several years for Tom Brady to become TOM BRADY. For several seasons he still seemed like that guy who got lucky with a chance then took it and ran. Belichick was the coach who took a bunch of cast-offs and mis-matched parts every year turned them into winners.

Even as I became a Colts fan and the Patriots always found a way to beat them, I still generally pulled for the Pats against the field.

I don’t know when the change came, but eventually I bought into the “Pats are evil” narrative. Brady and Belichick turned into humorless, insufferable robots who showed almost no joy in winning and whined when things didn’t go their way. They bent rules. Maybe even broke some. And those are just the scandals that have become public. Surely there are more we don’t know anything about.

Unless you’re a true fan of a team, if they keep winning for too long, I don’t think you can help but to eventually root against them. Oh, and it didn’t help that Patriots fans are the worst. Seriously, has any fan base ever managed to be both insanely arrogant and dismissive of their opponents, and martyrs who constantly complain about how everyone is persecuting them at the same time? Cowboys fans are delusional.[1] Steelers fans are just arrogant, but in a tolerable way. Browns fans are pathetic. Raiders fans are best avoided. But Patriots fans somehow manage to stand on both extremes of the fan continuum, and in the process piss everyone else off.

So…where once I would be rooting for the Patriots against a generic NFC team in the Super Bowl, now I hope whoever they play crushes them. I mean, it won’t change the past 15 years, but it will make me feel good for a couple hours.

Still, I can’t help but admire what the Patriots have done. It’s really freaking tough to keep an NFL franchise competitive year-and-year. The Colts did it for a dozen years, but then fell off. The Eagles were really good for a long stretch, but had a deep dip at the end of that run. The Packers and Steelers probably come closest to doing what the Patriots have done in the salary cap era, and both of those teams have had some stinker years sprinkled in all their success. And neither has had the same level of success as New England has.

The Patriots just keep chugging along, though. Even when Tom Brady got hurt, they were still pretty good. All the pieces around him keep changing, but every damn year you know they’re going to play for the AFC title and will advance to the Super Bowl more often than not.

It’s a hell of a thing. And I hate them for it.

Sunday’s game seems to fit right into the classic Patriots narrative. Atlanta is the bright, shiny, new thing. The team that runs up-and-down the field and scores points at will, a thing of beauty to watch. They have athletic freaks all over the field. And they have a quarterback of which much has been expected who seems to finally be coming into his own.[2]

The Pats are their standard collection of middling parts around Brady on offense, and a stout, smart, but largely starless defense. You just know Belichick and his staff have spent 22 hours a day for the past two weeks coming up with 800 ways to shut down the Atlanta offense. They’ll bring out some looks no one has shown since 1977, then throw something at the Falcons that they drew up in practice yesterday and are running for the first time. It will be depressing to watch.

Unless…that Atlanta offensive line can continue to dominate and open holes for Devonta Freeman while giving Matt Ryan plenty of time to find his receivers. Unless Julio Jones blows right past the Pats’ secondary like he has everyone else this postseason. Unless the Falcons defense can frustrate Brady by moving him out of the pocket and getting him out-of-rhythm.

It’s possible, I guess.

Not likely, thought.

New England 24, Atlanta 13

Crap.

So, that was a pretty terrible Super Bowl, huh? Unless you’re a Broncos fan, or were pulling for Peyton to win, I guess.

Fortunately I really only saw about half of the game. We went to a party and I spent most of the first half socializing. By the time we made it home and got the girls to bed, I was able to see the Panthers doink their field goal attempt early in the third quarter. I probably should have just gone to bed rather than continue to watch that disaster of a game.

That’s not entirely fair, I admit. Denver’s defense was sublime. Based on the postgame comments from the Broncos defenders, it sounds like Carolina did nothing they were not totally prepared for. But, still, you have to execute. And the Broncos D did exactly that in one of the best Super Bowl performances in recent memory. Carolina’s defense was pretty good, too. They just couldn’t force turnovers inside the Broncos’ 10 yard line like Denver did to Cam Newton.

Newton was terrible. He performed exactly as I thought he might in a worst case scenario for the Panthers: he was spooked by the speed and ferocity of the Denver D and fell back on his athletic ability to win the game. Only Denver was just as athletic as he was and were able to easily contain him. He looked like a pretty limited quarterback in the parts of the game I saw.

As for his failure to fall on his fourth quarter fumble, I took that more as a sign of a guy who had been totally frustrated and taken out of his game than some larger measure of his heart or “want to.” He had a terrible day, capped by an awful moment. And because he’s Cam Newton, that moment is going to be taken as a sign that all the criticism of him is valid, that he’s a pretender to the throne of Next Great NFL QB, etc. Anyone who has watched him throw his body around all this season should know he’s not a coward, weak, or lacks heart. He was just thoroughly defeated in that moment and made a huge mistake.

As for the other QB, Peyton was once again bad in a Super Bowl. Yet he’s now 2–2. As fans of baseball like to say, flags fly forever. It doesn’t matter that both of his Super Bowl wins came in games where he didn’t do much to determine the final result and which were, broadly, ugly games to watch. Two rings is all that matters.

If you read back through the archives of this site, you’ll see I’ve never been the biggest Peyton fan. His robotic nature and inability to adjust when things got chaotic always bothered me. Off the field, his Eddie Haskell-ness bugged me as well. But, until two years ago when he began to decline, I always thought he was the greatest regular season quarterback in NFL history.

What does this title do for his legacy? Well, it confirms he’s one of the three or four best in NFL history. Because Tom Brady has more rings, and always did so with less offensive talent around him than Peyton had, and has continued to play at a high level where Peyton has faded, I think he’ll always be just ahead of Peyton. And if I want to win a Super Bowl, I’m taking Joe Montana. I would say Montana and Brady are 1A and 1B, with Peyton just behind them.[1] And while the Colts and Broncos playoff failures weren’t always his fault, Peyton’s poor play has always been a big part of those losses. Throw in four mediocre, at best, Super Bowl performances, and there’s no argument that he is better than Brady or Montana.

But no one else can say they were better. Not Favre, not Marino, not Aikman, not Young. Aaron Rogers may have something to say about that before he’s done, but he’s going to need a strong finish to his career to bridge what is a fairly large gap between wherever he ranks today and where Peyton is. There’s no shame in that for Peyton.

Friday was a busy day filled with household activities and paperwork.[1] That kept me from getting a Super Bowl prediction in. So, quickly, I’ll try to get something posted here Sunday morning so I am on record.

I’ve not paid too much attention to the pre-game coverage, or read many predictions for how the experts believe the game will play out. But of the general vibe I’ve picked up, it seems like most people want to pick Carolina to win big, but the strength of Denver’s defense has them thinking it will be a close Panthers win.

Of course hidden in that is no one believes that Peyton Manning and the Denver offense will be the deciding factor. Which is really a remarkable thing. Just two years ago the Denver offense was this juggernaut that seemingly no defense could stop. Until they ran into Seattle in the Super Bowl, that is. But the two years in between have brought a rapid decline in Manning’s health and level of play. He’s lost a few key weapons along the way. And in the process, an already stout Denver D has become even stronger. Peyton has turned into a game manager who takes shots in smart moments, but is content to play it safe most of the time.

That transition is even more remarkable given how bad he was the first half of the season. He was flat terrible and Denver was racking up wins in spite of his poor play.

But since returning from injury, he’s steadied his game. It’s as if in that time off, he looked at himself, came to terms with what he could and could not do anymore, and quickly made the transition to the guy who just keeps the engine chugging along instead of the generational difference maker he was most of his career. A little like John Elway late in his career. Hmmm…

That, along with the similarities to two years ago, when a game managing QB paired with a tremendous defense beat Manning’s offensive power for the title, makes me think perhaps I should rethink my approach to the game.

Because I really think Carolina is so good on offense right now, they should dominate this game, Denver’s defense be damned. It’s been scary how good the Panthers have been in the first half of games recently. They score quickly and often and take the life out of their opponents. And while their defense isn’t quite as good as the Broncos’, it’s still awfully good and has been taking opponents out of their games all season.

Can the Carolina offense keep chugging along against the Denver defense? Can Peyton hang in there and solve the Carolina defense? Those are the two questions whose answers will determine the outcome.

Now, who am I rooting for? I really don’t care. I’m not one of those Colts fans who is pulling hard for Peyton. I’m indifferent to whether he wins another Super Bowl before he’s done. Nice way to go out if he can get it, but I will also think it will be funny if he, once again, plays terribly in a season-ending loss. There are two Jayhawks on the Denver defense, so I like the Broncos on that side of the ball.

I really don’t have any strong feelings for Carolina either way. But all the Cam Newton hate makes me pull for him a little. I’m trying to figure out what he’s done that is any worse that two generations of athletes who have celebrated and played with joy in all the major sports. Sure, sometimes his celebrations feel more rehearsed and carefully considered than spontaneous displays of joy. And there is an element of “Hey, look at me!” to them. But I buy into his argument that he’s just a guy who loves to play the game, loves to win, and wants to share those emotions with people watching. Sports is entertainment, after all.

Besides, he’s on the verge of becoming the next great quarterback in the league. I think people get too hung up on his “antics” and fail to realize what a remarkable player he is. His game still needs some polish, for sure. But he’s still young enough where that will come. He’s delivering on some of the promise we saw in Colin Kaepernick before he fell apart.

So, who am I picking? I think it’s a tough one. I’ve gone back-and-forth and have never been terribly confident. I think it stays close most of the time. Cam makes some dazzling plays but also makes some mistakes. Peyton is never spectacular, at times looks lost, but keeps the Broncos in it. And then Denver’s defense makes a big play late.

Denver 24, Carolina 21

I love Pete Carroll.

If, through some miracle, I could suddenly play football (and be 20 years younger), there is no coach who I would more want to play for.

I LOVED his call to go for a touchdown rather than just kick the field goal at the end of the first half last night. I wouldn’t have done the same thing, but I loved it.

But, man, his call to throw on second down with the ball at the one-yard line with 26 seconds to play last night was atrocious. Unforgivable. Never-get-over-able. You get the idea.

It was terrible not just because he had Marshawn Lynch in the backfield, the same dude who had nearly run the ball in on the previous play. But it was also terrible because he had Russell Wilson, who runs the read-option as well as any quarterback in the game, under center. He has two incredible running options, three downs, one time out, and 26 seconds to play with.

And he calls a freaking inside pass into traffic that has an incredibly high risk factor.

I can entertain, for a moment, Carroll’s argument that he wanted to pass against the New England goal-line D to set up the run on third and fourth downs. But if you insist on throwing, throw the ball outside. Throw a corner fade where it’s either a touchdown or an incompletion (baring a terrible throw). DO NOT throw the ball where there are a bunch of bodies and crazy things are more likely to happen.

But still, you run the damn ball. Then you run it again. And then again if the first two tries do not work. New England is going to have their goal-line D in on every play. You have to beat them at some point.

That’s arguably the biggest play in the history of the game. And since I was rooting against the Patriots, it’s a travesty of a play.

As I step back, though, it’s obvious this was the best Super Bowl ever. Well, at least that I can remember. This thing beat any last-second field goal win, the back-and-forth that Pittsburgh and Arizona had, or that St. Louis-Tennesse game. Wild swings of momentum, key injuries, a couple huge missed calls by the refs, Tom Brady making mistakes and then making history, Chris Matthews coming out of nowhere to make three huge catches, Jermaine Kearse making a catch for the ages and (momentarily) assuring a statue will go up of him in downtown Seattle, three dramatic fourth-quarter drives. And then Malcolm Butler, who epitomizes the mythological Patriots way, stepping up to make a massive interception.

It was a heck of a game. The wrong team won, though. And it was Pete Carroll’s fault.

I haven’t read much analysis today but based on my Twitter readings last night, I’m with the consensus that the commercials mostly sucked. Nothing dazzling that I’ll remember years from now. Well, other than that awful Nationwide ad about preventable child deaths. That was pretty terrible.

A few decent ones, but they’ve already slipped my mind. Plenty of bad ones I erased from my memory immediately. The ad wizards need to step up their game.

My girls loved Katy Perry’s halftime show. Her entrance on the gigantic lion, the costume changes, the wacky graphics on the floor, the dancing sharks and beach balls and then singing “Firework” while zooming around the stadium on a strange star contraption. They thought it was all awesome.

I thought it was ok. Visually dazzling, for sure. Perry is not the strongest singer in the world and that was apparent for most of her performance. I was impressed, though, by how well she sang “Firework.” If you had me hovering 20–40 feet above a football field supported by a series of cables, I’m pretty sure my voice would be all jittery. She pulled that song off nicely, even with real fireworks exploding all around her.

I have a hard time understanding Perry. Her songs are all just kind of ok. She certainly can’t compare to contemporaries like Rihanna or Adele, to go in two different directions. Her songs and visuals often seem aimed at kids because of their sheer silliness, yet she sells sex as hard as anyone in the business. It’s an odd combination.

Karma is a bitch.

No where is that more true than in sports.

Example:

In the 2013 Sweet 16 in Arlington, Texas, KU guard Elijah Johnson decided to cheap shot Michigan forward Mitch McGary in the sack early in the game.

Anyone watching the game knew the Hoops Gods would exact revenge.

They teased us, but then they did so in crushing fashion.

Johnson hit a 3-pointer with under seven minutes left to give KU a 14-point lead. Were the Hoops Gods looking the other way?

Hell no.

Johnson missed the front end of a one-and-one with KU leading by three points late in regulation. Which set up Trey Burke’s shot for the ages that sent the game to overtime.

In overtime Johnson committed two terrible turnovers – one a needless 10-second backcourt violation when he was not being pressured – and turned down a close shot that could have tied the game at the end of overtime to make a tough pass that left Naadir Tharpe with a tougher shot from deep.

Johnson scored 13 points, but turned the ball over five times without an assist.

Michigan advanced, KU went home.

The Hoops Gods, and Karma, had spoken.

Why dredge up that bad memory?[1] Because I’m using Karma to make my Super Bowl pick.

Forget that the Seahawks defense is set up perfectly to slow/contain/stop the New England offense. Forget that on offense the Seahawks have a knack for making huge plays in huge moments. Forget that, even though they won the Super Bowl last year, this Seahawks team seems to have some kind of magic on their side that you pick against at your own peril.

While those things might matter Sunday, the deciding factor is going to be Karma.

I already said I don’t think the deflated balls made a difference in the outcome of the AFC Championship game. New England was going to win regardless, so long as Tom Brady stayed upright.

But the Football Gods were watching. They’ve punished the Patriots before; see David Tyree and Spygate. They will do so again Sunday.

I don’t know if it’s going to be another late, flukey, heart-breaker of a catch, or an outright pounding. Somehow, though, the Football Gods will make Belichick and Brady and the rest of the Patriots pay.

Seattle 24, New England 21

I’ve come up with a phrase or two over my ten years of publishing my thoughts online that I particularly enjoy. One of those is “comprehensive ass-kicking,” used to describe, well, comprehensive ass-kickings.

I’m pretty sure the Super Bowl is the classic example of one.

Man, that was ugly. I missed the opening 12 seconds, as we were hosting friends and there were kids running around and we lost track of time. I raced downstairs, kicked on the TV, and looked at the clock. “Cool,” I thought, “I didn’t miss anything.” Then I saw the score. 2-0, Seattle. Wait, what?

I also missed most of the third quarter as we were saying our goodbyes and putting the kids to bed. So I missed Percy Harvin’s back-breaking kickoff return to start the half.

In other words, I pretty much missed the two most important moments of the game. And when I was watching, I was putting away some quality beers with alcohol contents in the 7-10% range, so my view of the game may have been impaired.

Not a bad game to miss the details of.

I never saw that result coming. If there was going to be a blowout, surely it was going to be Peyton throwing for 500 yards and eight TDs, right? But, he looked awful in the biggest game of the year. Again. Seattle overwhelmed the Denver line, the Legion of Boom manhandled the Broncos receivers, and Peyton never looked sharp when he did have time. It’s not all Peyton’s fault, and he doesn’t deserve all the blame. It is, though, another pretty weighty piece of his evidence for those who argue he isn’t the greatest QB to play the game.

Seattle, in many ways, reminds me of the early Belichick-era Patriots. They are not loaded with superstars. Marshawn Lynch is a great back, but I doubt many people would put him in the top five in the league. Russell Wilson isn’t an imposing quarterback like Andrew Luck, nor a game-breaker like a healthy RGIII. But that dude finds a way to make big plays over-and-over. Richard Sherman gets most of the attention on defense, but that side of the ball is loaded with great players the average fan can’t name. Just one of those teams with a bunch of guys who are put in the ideal position by their coaches and turn into a roster that is better as a whole than its parts are individually. It will be very interesting to see how they handles success, as they have the parts and salary structure to keep being good for awhile if everyone remains committed.

Congrats to Seattle. I don’t think any city/franchise “deserves” to win when they’ve waited years to do so. But it was cool to see Seahawks fans hugging each other after the game. It’s funny how sports does that to us.

And I hope that Peyton comes back for another season. Not because he can’t stand going out like that, or because he’s obsessed with adding a second Super Bowl ring. No, I want him to come back because he was brilliant this season. Even in an era where the passing game rules, and guys like Aaron Rogers, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady have done ridiculous things, and Matt Stafford and Andrew Luck seem poised to push the game forward again, Peyton is still the pinnacle of the modern pro quarterback. I want to keep seeing him sling it around and making defenses look silly as long as he can do it.

Now on to college hoops and the wait for pitchers and catchers to report…

If Super Bowl week is all about absurdity, it gets no more absurd than this: SB Nation’s Breaking Madden creates a Super Bowl of giants vs. tiny people. Even if you don’t read it all, scroll through for the GIFs, which made me laugh until I cried.

With just under two minutes left in the first quarter, I was winning 366 to zero. I realized that I was on pace to score 1,500 points in a single game. I had never conceived of such a high score. I’d never even heard anyone talk idly about such a thing. There was absolutely nothing the Broncos could do to slow down my pace. I could score just as surely as someone can point and click. It was great. I wanted to ruin Madden in a way I never had before, and I was doing it.

The Machine Is Bleeding To Death

I suppose I should offer a prediction for the real game. A month ago I said Seattle 23, Denver 15. That was with the belief that the weather would be bad. At last check, it appears that it will be chilly, rainy, and breezy, but nothing apocalyptic.

Peyton Manning solves defenses. Going into the Colts-Saints Super Bowl four years ago, I thought Peyton would destroy the Saints defense. The Colts offense might have been as good as it had ever been during the AFC Playoffs. They had multiple receivers who were making plays. An offensive line that gave Peyton all the time he needed. And just enough production from the running backs to keep the defense honest. With two weeks to get ready for the punishing Saints D? It was going to be a blowout.

And then it wasn’t.

Seattle has a fantastic defense. Big, physical guys in the secondary who can match up with the Broncos’ big, physical receivers. The front seven of their defense may not be as flashy as the d-backs, but they’re still one of the league’s elite teams.

Pete Carroll is going to come up with some stuff to make the game fun and interesting.

Marshawn Lynch is built for a game like this.

But Peyton is back in his special place again. He’s broken the NFL, treating the best defenses in the game like they were a video game he had the cheat codes for. He’s firmly established himself as the greatest QB in NFL history. I think he catches Eli this Sunday.

Denver 31, Seattle 21

Some delayed, assorted thoughts from what was a pretty super Super Bowl.

I struggled with which team to pull for. I much prefer John Harbaugh to Jim. But the Ravens have Ray Lewis. I admire Joe Flacco but am in awe of Colin Kaepernick. San Francisco is one of my favorite places in the world. But The Wire took place in Baltimore. So many factors. In the end I went with my pick and leaned Niners. Ravens fans, please thank me.

You know what’s crazy? For all the Andrew Luck and RGIII hype for the past year, Colin Kapernick may end up being better and more successful than either of them. He may not be a world-class sprinter, but other than RGIII there isn’t a QB in the NFL who is a more effective and dangerous runner than him. He may not be the prototypical NFL QB like Luck, but he has a cannon for an arm. Who knows if his teams will be good enough to keep him in the title hunt each year, but for a team I have no real rooting interest in, I’m super excited about the Kaepernick era. I hope he stays healthy and the Niners keep their roster stocked so watching him deep into January is an annual event.

That excitement stated, he still has a long way to go. I can’t be too critical given that Sunday was just his 10th start, but I hated the way he managed the clock. The Niners needed time late in the game and he lost so much time on each play throughout the game as he took in the defense, adjusted the play, and then barely got the ball snapped before the play clock ran out. Just think how dangerous he’s going to be once he masters the play book and learns to get plays off quickly.

So no real criticism of him there. But whoever was calling the plays on the Niners’ final possession does get the gasface. What an awful sequence. It’s tough enough to score on the Baltimore defense on a very short field like that. But give your team a chance. Forget the non-calls that Niners fans are bitching about. That felt like a possession that was ruined by the coaches, not the players or refs.

Such a strange game. How often do you see a massive swing in who controls the game like that in the Super Bowl? The Ravens were running the Niners off the field, or about to. Then the Niners were utterly dominant for 20-25 minutes after that.

How does Jima Harbaugh go an entire game without getting marker all over his face as he jabs his pens back into their caps while holding them in his teeth? I think that would be kind of awesome if his face had red and blue smears all over it by the fourth quarter.

When is someone going to come up with HD-friendly confetti? I hate how the end of every Super Bowl, BCS title game, or NCAA title game is marred by those awful, grainy shots because of the streamers that are floating down from the rafters.

But I do love shots of winning players making sow angels in the confetti.

Remember when Super Bowls sucked? Most of the 80/ and 90s were awful. Now it seems like we get a classic each year. By my count, ten of the last 14 Super Bowls have been exciting and interesting and competitive.

Non-football stuff:

Beyonce was an inspired choice. Appeals to the kids without pissing off the hipsters and old folks as the Black Eyed Peas did a couple years back. I’ll admit I was hoping for a wardrobe malfunction. Is that wrong?

Commercials: pretty mediocre crop this year. I liked Amy Poehler’s Best Buy spot, although that was kind of an odd pairing and it didn’t seem like everyone else loved it.

The Taco Bell old folks spot reversed a long run of shitty commercials by them. Perhaps my favorite of the night.

It’s an old joke but its a damn shame that Stevie Wonder has fallen so far that he has to do ads for Bud Light. It was one thing to license “Superstition”. Another to be the voodoo king, or whatever he was supposed to be. But it has been over 30 years since he wrote a decent song.

I’m clearly elitist and out of touch because I didn’t care much for either Dodge’s Paul Harvey ad or the Bud Clydesdale ad. Clearly I hate America.

Pitchers and Catchers report next week!

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