Eagles and Goats

I know I am pretty late with this Super Bowl wrap-up, especially in this day and age of live tweets and instant highlights, especially in these days of breaking news, especially in these days of big news every hour in the NBA and other leagues. Life just got busy and I figured it's better late than ever. First off, congrats to the Eagles for convincingly defeating the GOAT QB and the GOAT coach. They showed us that only NFC East teams can beat the Pats in the big game. The thing that stood out from the very first snap of this game is, how the Eagles offense and Nick Foles were fearless! They didn't give a rat's you know what about the enormity of the Super Bowl or the greatness on the other sideline. That kind of attitude had to have percolated down from the coaching staff. And then the QB and the players had to make sure they were not overwhelmed by the situation. Kudos to the entire organization for pulling this off in style.

The crazy trick pass play to Foles in the end zone on 4th and goal was a microcosm of how the Philly approached, coached, and executed in this Super Bowl. Eagles went for it on fourth down again in their own side of the field and converted in the fourth quarter for another pivotal play after they fell behind for the first time in the game. Another gutsy decision when the momentum appeared to be shifting, but Todd Peterson and the Eagles wrested it back with a vengeance. That drive ended in a Zack Ertz TD and bled the clock to a point where Pats ran out of time. By the way, if NFL ever needed proof that it’s catch/no-catch rule is completely messed up, the fact that even Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth were totally clueless on that Ertz TD catch was it. How can that catch even be in doubt after Ertz took like 28 steps with the ball is beyond me. I don’t blame the announcers, but the NFL for letting it get to this point.

We could say the Eagles were aggressive. Or, we could also say this is the only way you can beat the Pats and the Goats. They don't die easy and they never take the foot off the gas. Unless you match that aggression both strategically and execution wise, it's going to be very hard to beat them. And the fact that the Eagles were the underdogs playing with their backup QB made it easy for them to be super aggressive and play like they had nothing to lose because they really didn't. Going in, I thought like many others that the Eagles defense will provide some resistance to the Pats offense and that will be the difference in the game. I actually thought the Eagles had a decent shot. But the Eagles D provided even less resistance than the Pats D, which was horrible. It was Eagles offense that dominated the game. Luckily, the Eagles defense made one play at the end of the game that saved the day for them. Without that strip-sack-fumble on Brady, did any of us have any doubt the Goat was going to drive down and score? 

My only hope for the Eagles when Brady got the ball with more than 2 minutes left on the clock and down by just 5 was that he would leave some time on the clock for the Eagles to win it on offense. Eagles defense didn't do anything to bother Brady the entire second half. However, that fumble clinched it, though I would say the play of the game still was the 4^th and goal trick play. Pats offense deserve a lot of credit for neutralizing a pretty decent Eagles defense, but on the flip side, Pats defense gave themselves no shot against the Eagles with the way they played. Neither did Foles who played a great game and won a deserving trip to Disney World with his MVP hardware. Fans always love it if offense and scoring dominates the game and this Super Bowl was a treat to watch.

The offensive efficiency and some of the offensive numbers in this Super Bowl were ridiculous from the start. My jaw dropped sometime during the game when I saw the stat that there were 9 different players who had plays of 20 yards or more in the game. That’s insane! I also literally jumped out of my comfortable seat to celebrate that crazy trick play by the Eagles for a TD. The ball was just moving up and down the field and the game went rather effortlessly from featuring the most yards in the Super Bowl to most yards in any NFL post-season game to most yards ever in a NFL game in history  as the quarters rolled on. Tom Brady was flawless with 505 yards and lost. The Patriots never punted in this game and still lost! The game went against all expectations and all kinds of conventional wisdom, but was a lot of fun. It was even more fun for guys like me who never mind the Hoodie and Brady losing. 

What makes the Pats defensive futility even more interesting is the one controversy that erupted in this game. Hoodie and the Pats benched Malcolm Butler and didn't even put him in to play defense all game. This guy is no Deion Sanders and hard to say if he would have won it for the Pats, but he did play 98% of their defensive snaps all season! How bad can he be if he is good enough to play 98% of your defensive snaps? He may not be great, but that stat at least proves he is better than his backups who played in the Super Bowl. Even if he is not better, he probably has more familiarity, feel, and chemistry with his defensive buddies on the field. Just on that account, I have to say he would have made a difference. I am convinced this benching decision by Hoodie and the coaching staff was costly. Hoodie will never tell us what Butler did, but in a game that was this close and where Eagles offense was unstoppable, a play here or there by Butler might have made a big difference.

Pats fans and apologists like The Ringer's Bill Simmons are saying Butler is not great and he would not have made a difference because the defensive front 7 didn't put any pressure on Foles. To that I say thats exactly why Butler might have made a difference. When your defense is worthless and doing nothing, why weaken it further by benching a player who played 98% of your plays? Hoodie better have a good reason for it. Unless Butler knocked on Hoodie's hotel room door at 2 AM on Super Bowl Sunday with a stripper in one arm and a bag of cocaine on another, you figure out a way to put Butler in that game. Especially in the second half when it was obvious they had no answer to Foles and the offense. Hope we hear the really story some day. I also wonder if Brady is upset with the Hoodie for costing him the 6th ring with this benching. Overall, great Super Bowl to cap a solid NFL season. Can't wait for next season, though NBA will keep us busy the next 5 months.

GOAT, where art thou?

Blake Bortels, Nick Foles, Case Keenum, and Brian Hoyer. Thats not exactly a murderer's row of star quarterbacks. Thanks to the mysterious hand injury to Tom Brady (aren't all Patriots injuries mysterious by the way?), this may be the QB lineup nobody expected but everybody get to watch on Championship Sunday. The question confronting Washington DC and our country's current political climate is now applicable for the NFL's final 4 as well- how did we even get here? We all know that QBs get a little too much credit and defenses and o-lines get way less credit than they deserve. But still, you rarely see 3 out of 4 teams in the championship round led by such no-name QBs.

Granted, the Eagles are Carson Wentz's team and they probably don't make it this deep in the playoffs without him. Too bad we are deprived of enjoying his game this weekend. Though Wentz is not a Rodgers or a Brees yet, by all accounts, he is going to be one of the big QB stars of the future and he would have been an exciting name in these playoffs and fun to watch. If Brady also sits out because of this injury, the league office will literally start crying. NFL is still the king on television, but their ratings have been slumping all season. Even the nail-biting, miraculous endings last weekend didn't translate into a ratings bonanza for the league. So, they need their star QBs more than ever and they are going to get them less than ever this weekend. Bad timing indeed.

This is unusual coming from a Pats non-fan like me, but we need Brady and need him to do real well this Sunday. We want the Super Bowl to be semi-watchable. Plus, the talking heads and blogs need something to talk about for 2 weeks! We need the GOAT and the Pats to win this AFC championship game and give us a reason to watch the Super bowl. At that point, I will be more than happy to go back to rooting against him and the Pats as always. A Blake Bortels-V-Case Keenum Super Bowl is only slightly more inspiring than a Blake Bortels-V-Nick Foles matchup and neither is good news for the NFL or us the fans. I should have prefaced these pronunciations with a token "no disrespect to these QBs" rider, but then again, I am indeed disrespecting them whether I intend to or not.

The main reason for these match-ups are Mike Tomlin's head-scratching coaching and Marcus Williams suddenly deciding that tackling is for losers last weekend. If those 2 had not over-thought their jobs and just kept it basic, we would have had Big Ben and Drew Brees joining Brady this weekend. That would have rivaled the Brady-Ben-Rodgers-Ryan lineup last year. In any case, let's hope for good games this Sunday. Actually, I do think the games will be close and tight. Star appeal may be the only thing missing. As for the games themselves, I expect the Vikings and the Patriots to make it to the next round. At some point, the home team is going to make it to the Super Bowl and we might as well root for and enjoy that oddity this year. Go get 'em Case Keenum.

The Patriots Maze.

The Pats will play a playoff game this weekend and win. They will then face a little stiffer competition next week, probably the Steelers, and even stiffer competition in the Super Bowl, probably the Falcons or the Saints. But they are going to win it all and cement their legacy even further. Thats how things seem to be stacking up right now. The latest controversial article on ESPN about the drama surrounding them will only enable Hoodie to whip up more "us versus them" hysteria in the locker room and push them even further. Thats just the reality of the NFL this season since I don't see a legitimate contender to the Patriots. The most drama we may have the rest of the way is this ESPN article detailing a rift between Kraft, Hoodie, and Brady over Brady's future among other things. It's an interesting read on the palace intrigue affecting the Patriots, who have in the past been nothing but a silent, peaceful, paradise led by the secretive coach and a superstar QB, who consistently took less money and allowed himself to be coached hard. Nothing was ever out of tune.

This article talks about a rift primarily in the context of the now famous Jimmy Garoppolo trade. First off, I don't believe a reputed publication like ESPN will completely cook-up a story like this. There are some insinuations to that affect primarily because Seth Wickersham's article quotes only unnamed sources. Secondly, the whole trigger for this story seems to be the trade, especially since Jimmy Geezus has looked good in a Niners uniform. I like him and want him to do well. But let's hit the brakes a little bit on this Geezus hype. Just because Hoodie is rumored to have believed he is good enough to be a franchise QB and just because he has won half a dozen games against questionable competition, there seems to be this rush to put him in the pro football hall of fame already! What he did for the Niners in limited duty this year is impressive given he took a 1-10 team to 6-10 and thats no accident. But his trade and his subsequent success is what is providing the main backdrop for this supposed Patriots rift narrative.

A lot of the narrative makes sense. I am OK with the Hoodie being portrayed as this ultimate football genius, a no-nonsense professional who has no sentimentality or emotion towards anybody or anything and is not afraid to make any decision purely based on it's football merits. I am also OK with the narrative that Robert Kraft being this old, rich guy with an emotional attachment to Brady and wants Brady to stay as long as he wants to and retire as a Patriot.  But I still find it hard to believe that Hoodie wanted to keep Jimmy G. Keep him and do what? He is going to be a free agent and wants to start. Both are problems for the Patriots. Jimmy G is widely regarded and will demand 20 million+. As good as Hoodie and Brady are, the Patriots are not winning Super Bowls with so much money tied up in one position, even if that position is QB, and even if one of the QB is the GOAT. Thats even assuming Jimmy would have agreed to stay as a backup and forego a chance to start somewhere else.

So, the other option was, Hoodie keeps Jimmy and trades or cuts Brady if he doesn't retire at the end of this season or maybe next if Hoodie could convince Jimmy to be a backup one more year. I just don't see that happening, though most football minds will tell you thats probably the right decision. It maybe logical and rational to say let the 40 year-old guy go in favor of the 26 year-old talent, but life ain't always rational or logical. I just do not see the Pats letting go of Brady coming off of possibly 2 Super Bowls and possibly 2 Super Bowl MVP awards as well. If anybody can do that, it's probably Hoodie and he has the pedigree and the goodwill to pull it off, but it's still unfathomable to me. Far easier said than done. People immediately compare this scenario to what the Niners did with Joe Montana or the Packers with Brett Favre. Both those scenarios are significantly different from what the Pats are dealing here with Brady.

First of all, Favre retired and un-retired causing a lot of confusion for Packers and Aaron Rodgers. It was relatively easy for the Packers to say "no" to Favre when he un-retired because Favre initiated all of this confusion by retiring in the first place. Brady's situation is much different and is closer to Joe Montana's actually. But even Joe was coming off of 2 lost years where he barely played due to injuries. As great as Joe was, he was not coming off of a Super Bowl MVP performance or 2 when the Niners kicked him out.  Secondly. both Montana and Favre were succeeded by Steve Young and Aaron Rodgers who then went onto win Super Bowls and carve out a place in the Hall of Fame themselves. Rodgers is still going strong. History would not have been too kind to these decisions if the successors were not hall-of-fame good. This goes back to my first point that there is this assumption that Jimmy Garoppolo's greatness is a foregone conclusion. It's not.

I hope Jimmy Geezus is indeed great. I have my own vested interest in him succeeding. But he could also fail due to a variety of reasons. Do note that by fail here I don't mean Tim Couch or JaMarcus Russell level of bustage. Jimmy G could end up being a Matt Stafford or Andy Dalton and still be considered a bust when he is tasked to replace the great Tom Brady. Just to be clear, Stafford and Dalton are some of the highest paid starting QBs in the league today and even that level of performance won't be sufficient for the Patriot faithful who are clamoring for Jimmy today. So, I do not see a lot of practical options for Hoodie other than to have traded Jimmy G. Maybe he could have gotten more in return, but he had to trade him. I don't blame Kraft for asking to keep Brady either. Show at least some loyalty, especially for a legend who has taken less money than most to play for your team. Trading Jimmy was not just the right thing to do, but practically the only thing to do.

I doubt if Kraft or Brady requested that Hoodie trade Jimmy G just so that Brady feels safe. If that's true, I have to say, Brady' level of insecurity is even more legendary than his game. Kraft's diktat is supposedly why Hoodie wants to walk away now because he will never tolerate interference in football decisions from the ownership. And there is also this counter-narrative from Pats fans and well-wishers like Bill Simmons of The Ringer that this ESPN article and the storyline is all wrong because Kraft has never interfered in football operations in 18 long seasons and he is not going to start now. I disagree on both these points because, if Kraft says lets keep Brady, that is not interference in my book. Brady is only the most important Pats player in the history of the franchise. He is darn near a civic institution and I would have called him a regional monument if he was an immovable object. The Pats owner stepping in and saying let's keep Brady and make sure he retires a Patriot is not interfering in football operations at all and Hoodie having to listen to him on this point is no end of the world.

Heck, if he wants to trade Brady, Hoodie probably should run it by not just Kraft but also the Mayor of Boston and the Governor of Massachusetts! If Hoodie is upset by that, it's on him. He is missing the point. A Brady trade is not just a football decision. It's way more strategic and higher-level than that. Even in Kraft's own version of the Jimmy G trade story he mentions how Hoodie called him to inform and get consent and he called back and said OK. My point being, even a Jimmy G trade requires and deserves Kraft's consent and a courtesy call. Hoodie works for Kraft after all and it only makes sense to get Kraft's approval on semi-major decisions. And Kraft has every right to say "No" on rare occasions and Brady's future with the team is the rarest of rare occasions. If Kraft steps into the draft war room and says pick that QB in the 4th round over that line-backer, thats interfering in football operations. Kraft saying keep Brady doesn't even come close to that. It's an entirely different conversation. Again, I am saying all this knowing fully well that replacing the 40 year-old Brady with a 26 year-old Jimmy G is probably the rational football move here.

Sometimes, there are bigger forces in play than just football and I am glad the Pats did the right thing here. And I am not even a Pats fan. Brady has slipped a bit, but he is still good. If Hoodie is the genius we all say he is, and I agree he is all that, then just go draft the next young QB in 2018, develop him, and turn the franchise over to him in 2 or 3 years when Brady steps away. Jimmy G is not the only worthy successor to a legendary QB that college football will ever graduate. So, go to plan B with all your football acumen. It's as simple as that. Believe me, finding the next Jimmy G is not nearly as hard as finding the next Tom Brady. I started of saying I trust the ESPN article. So, whats the bottom-line here? The net-net is, Hoodie and Brady are probably upset at a lot of things and grievances might have piled up over 18 years. They may be ready to move on from each other. But to me, the Jimmy G trade just feels like a convenient and sexy event to build this whole story around. Jimmy G sure has been a fun sub-plot to the entire second half of this NFL season, but the way I see it, he was going to be traded one way or the other. Hoodie wanting to quit may have nothing to with it.

As for us in the rest of the league waiting for the Pats to crash and burn, lets just enjoy the drama and if it evolves into something more and maybe even a real divorce, let's enjoy that even more!

Pats and the weak one

What happened on Thursday to Hoodie and Brady is quite rare. Alex Smith and the Kansas City Chiefs handled them rather easily and that just doesn’t happen in Foxboro on championship banner unfurling, season opening, Thursday nights. This game started off very much according to script after a rather showy ceremony where the Pats celebrated all their championships, including the latest one. They earned it of course and we can’t really complain. Not after what the Falcons did in the Super Bowl. Then the game started and Brady drove them down the field to score as he always does. The Chiefs fumbled the ball and gave it right back to the Pats on Kareem Hunt’s first NFL carry. What an inauspicious beginning to Hunt’s career if you are a superstitious person like me.  This is how Pats have been wining for years. They are the better team most of the days, but they don’t have to be. They just don’t make mistakes and they induce the other team in to such mistakes. In football, more than any other sport, mistakes make a huge difference between winning and losing, sometimes winning and losing big. The ball and breaks always seem to go the Pats way. It’s no luck if it keeps happening repeatedly because that means the Pats are doing things a certain way causing the ball to bounce their way.

The Pats drove the ball again after the fumble and seemed to score on an impressive Gronk reception. Seemed like any other typical Thursday night in Foxboro. But the review pulled the ball back as it showed that the ball hit the ground. The drive surprisingly stalled as the Chiefs stopped the Pats when Hoodie went for it on 4th down. This was great for the Chiefs who made the best use of this event. A Pats score there to go up 14-0, this game might have been a completely different story. Instead, the Chiefs steadied the boat and Hunt got going. They went toe-to-toe with the champs, cut down on the big mistakes, and kept scoring. Pats defense didn’t look great. As the second half got going, It became obvious that the Alex Smith led offense had the talent and juice to score. Alex Smith hit Tyreke Hill and Kareen Hunt on long bombs and this KC chiefs offense looked much more potent than it had looked anytime during the last few years. They may have some special weapons, though Jamaal Charles was no joke for stretches during those years. Their defense was better than the Pats for sure and got some key stops. They won it going away at the end with Alex Smith putting up gaudy numbers like Tom Brady and Brady looking a little, shall we say, old. It is too early to write-off Brady. But he does have to get old at some point. Lets see if it is this year.

It is good to have football back and to sit on the couch and watch a game that mattered. Of course, more games that matter are coming our way on Sunday. Not to mention, college football is getting going as well. The first 2 weeks of college football used to be for non-conference pasties. Now, they are switching that up too a little bit to have a strong kick-off week. They play a few big non-conference plays before going into the pasties for a week or two and then jump back into conference play. For instance, Alabama played Florida State last week on prime time and settled into Fresno State this week. Both are non-conference team, both FSUs, but completely different football pedigree. Of course, for Alabama, they all seem like pasties anyways. Coming back to the NFL, the Seattle at Green Bay and NYG at Dallas games are the big ones. I can’t believe Ezekiel Elliott got out of the suspension this year via the legal option much like Brady did 2 years back. I thought he didn’t have the time to pull it off, but the court somehow obliged and gave an early Christmas gift to a whole bunch of risk-taking fantasy football owners who picked EE in round 2 or higher.  Good for EE and his teams, both real and fantasy.

I still don’t think EE gets off the suspension as the arbitrator actually upheld the 6-gamer. The only question is, is he going to serve it later this season or next season like Brady did.  Unless the courts go a step or two further and suspend the suspension, he will miss 6 games at some point. I doubt the courts will do anything more to help EE, but then again, I am not an expert on law or the judges in Texas courts. All I know is, EE is a truly elite player, but this is a bad message to send to the society if he did indeed beat-up the woman. The guy seems like a bad dude and hope he changes his ways. It will also be interesting to see how the players handle these rules in the next NFL CBA. Right now, the Commish has a lot of power and he is not shy about using them. On the field, week 1 will be exciting for everybody. There is hope and excitement everywhere including some of the inferior teams. I am especially curious to see how the San Diego chargers look, what does Leonard Fournette do in Jacksonville and Kyle Shanahan in San Francisco do to their respective teams. The 49’ers host Cam and a tough Panthers’ team, but what can the offense can do? Last but not the least, I am always ready for some Brees. Can the Saints compete this year or they just going to be an offensive juggernaut as always with an added side-show in Adrian Peterson?  We will not have all the answers this weekend, but we will start to learn a lot. And sorry Browns and Jets fans, I still can’t think of anything to  get excited about your teams,

The GOAT Bowl

Pats coach Bill Belichick said after winning the Super Bowl that they are actually 5 weeks behind the other teams in preparing for the 2017 season. And I don't think he was kidding or being cheeky. Hoodie don't do cheeky. That statement and attitude is a microcosm of what makes these Pats great. You don't become the Goat (greatest of all time) without that kind of passion, desire, work ethic, and professionalism. Both Hoodie and Brady cemented their legacy with their 5th ring and removed all arguments against anointing them the Goat in their respective jobs. As if winning 5 Super Bowls is not enough, Brady also embellished his resume with the way they won this game.

The team in general and Brady in particular had to play a perfect rest of the game after after falling behind 28-3 and they did just that. 43/62 for 466 yards passing is an amazing stat-line for any QB on any given Sunday, but is an even more impressive performance for a Super Bowl, especially in a comeback win. These 2 Goats never have to pay for anything ever in Boston. One guy can run for the mayor of Boston and the other for the Governor of Massachusetts and probably win the election with a 95% landslide. Of course, we can guess their political leanings and that coincidentally was one of the storylines for the game. A lot of liberals on Twitter were rooting against the Pats just because Trump said he is rooting for the Pats since they are his friends. Thats neither here nor there.

Coming back to the game, there are many astounding numbers and weird stats that paint a picture of the Falcons' collapse, but one thing in particular stands out for me. With a 28-20 lead, the Falcons had a first-and-10 at the Pats 22 with 4:40 to go in the game. They were well within field goal range and they could have literally taken 3 knees, wasted almost 2 minutes or drained all of Patriots timeouts, and gone up 11 points. Game over! That was how close they were to the championship. Instead they played on, moved backwards thanks to an untimely sack and a penalty, got themselves out of the field goal range, and gave the ball back to the Pats with decent time on the clock. They absolutely came from ahead to lose this one. I can't even imagine what the football fans in Atlanta are going through this week.

That was one of the most heart-breaking, soul-crushing losses ever. They had that game in the bag. The Lombardi trophy was almost ready to be packed and shipped to Atlanta. Even their owner Arthur Blank and his wife had come down to the sidelines ready to celebrate. And then everything went wrong. The play calling of offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan and game management of MVP Matt Ryan has come under a lot of criticism and rightfully so. Between the deep drop on 3rd-1 and not milking the clock pre-snap late in the game and taking a sack in field-goal range  and not running the ball in the second half and not involving Julio Jones enough, the Falcons made more mistakes in a little more than half a quarter than they had probably made this entire season.

The Falcons defense actually played much better than I expected. They got to Brady time and again and looked great. But they got tired and slowed down late in the game. This was due to 2 reasons. The Falcons D has always had issues in the second half of games, which is a sign of a tired team with questionable depth. Plus, Atlanta scored easily in the Super Bowl early and were out-snapped and out-possessed by the Pats in a big way despite the score. This meant the Falcons D was on the field forever and that caught up to them. Matty Ice didn't make enough plays late in the game and that was the difference. Sure, baby Shanny could have called a better game, but the MVP just needed a play or two to wrap this up and he didn't and couldn't. Devonta Freeman was amazing running the ball, but he might have also missed his assignment on that key strip sack.

Atlanta's offense was good and effective early, but dropped the ball in the money quarter. This made for an horrible loss for them, but an immensely entertaining Super Bowl for the fans. The great run of close Super Bowls continued as this one went to another level with the first ever overtime.  It is definitely in the running for the best Super Bowl ever and that catch by Julian Edelman is the best catch ever in a Super Bowl in my opinion. It is better than the David Tyree catch that helped the Giants beat the Pats. The Julio Jones' catch was no slouch either and would have been the story if the Falcons had won. This was a Super Bowl for the ages. I don't know where we go from here. Next year's may be a letdown even if it's a nail-baiter.

I definitely expect the Pats to be back in the Super Bowl next year and for several more years until Brady retires. They are now the Goats in the NFL and I think they are going after MJ. A sixth ring will put Brady in Michael Jordan's zip code and firmly in the conversation for best athlete ever in all of sports . In reality, winning 6 in the NFL is way harder than winning 6 in the NBA. The only blemishes on his resume are the 2 Super Bowl losses, both to Eli Manning. And of course the spy-gate, deflate-gate controversy puts a small asterisk on his resume as well. But history might look at it completely differently. Fifteen years from now, both Hoodie and Brady may be celebrated as ruthless competitors who were not afraid to cheat. Thats not necessarily a bad thing in sports. This is not war. But don't say that to those 2. They are probably already preparing to fight in 2017 for their 6th ring. We will see them again on the field in less than 211 days and thats fine by me.

Best Ever Super Bowl!

The only thing standing between Tom Brady and Hoodie and the title of unquestioned GOAT - Greatest of All Time, is an inexperienced Atlanta Falcons team. Usually, the only thing worse than Drew Brees on the road is Matt Ryan on the road. Of course the Super Bowl is at a neutral site and not in Atlanta. A healthy Julio Jones is an oxymoron as much as the term "Atlanta defense." With all that said, I absolutely love this Falcons team. Matt Ryan is a legitimate MVP candidate. He had the quietest "38 TDs, 9 Ints, almost 5000 yards, and almost 70% completion percentage" season I can ever think of. Part of it is, every grand mother throws for 5000 yards these days. But the major reason for them flying under the radar was,  people did not recognize the Falcons or Matty Ice as legitimate contenders this season until Thanksgiving. But the Falcons didn't care and they kept on winning. Julio stayed relatively healthy and was unstoppable as always. Their RB tandem is a real force and both Devonta Freeman and Tevin Coleman can play the thunder or the lightning role with decent effectiveness. Their defense has improved through the season and can do some things well. They are a great team and a very deserving NFC champion.

Sure, Aaron Rodgers would be have a been a comforting name to bet on if we wanted to slow down the Hoodie-Tommy juggernaut. But then again, who except Eli Manning has ever slowed down those two. Falcons and Matt Ryan are the best challenge to this version of the Pats right here, right now. For people who tend to look at history with some reverence, the thought of the present day Pats challenging the best ever is a tough pill to swallow, especially if you are a left coast fan with connections to the Niners dynasty, Bill Walsh, and Joe Montana. Brady and Hoodie have a legitimate argument for best ever already since they have been to 7 Super Bowls in the parity era. But winning the 5th will remove all doubts. Hard to accept for folks like me who view these Pats through the prism of tuck-rule, spy-gate, and deflate-gate. But you have to give the devil it's due. These guy are good. Actually, they are great. And they are the best ever. No disrespect to the Falcons, but the dirty dirty will have trouble finishing this. I am curious to see what things Hoodie takes away from the Falcons offense as he is always known to shutdown the opposition's top option or two. He will do something and bother the versatile and potent Falcons' offense just enough to win this thing. We are just a couple of days away from anointing the best ever in the NFL. Move over Joe Montana, Bill Walsh, and Chuck Noll.

New England Patriots 31- Atlanta Falcons 27

Napalmered

If you are a fan of any team, that team's losses in the playoffs can be pretty frustrating. The further the team advances in the playoffs, the more the losses hurt as the expectations grow higher with every round of the playoffs and consequently, the fall is harder. And every team has to fall and fail in every league eventually except one champion. I have seen many highs and mostly lows being a fan of the Phoenix Suns. Comparatively speaking, I am not as emotionally attached to the Arizona Cardinals as I am to the Phoenix Suns. But their loss against the Carolina Panthers was still one of the most frustrating losses I have seen. Carson Palmer single-handedly lost this game for the Cardinals. He didn't lose by making a big mistake at a crucial moment, but rather by not showing up nor playing with any level of consistency or quality. The Cardinals were basically napalmed by Palmer.

The final score was a horrible 49-15 in favor of the Panthers and they seemed to dominate every aspect of this game. It's not just the Cardinals offense and Palmer that had troubles. Their defense wasn't much better either. Despite all of that, the most frustrating part of this game for me was, it was a very winnable game for the Cards. Even late into the second quarter with the Panthers having scored a couple of times and Palmer having fumbled once already, the Cards still had a legitimate shot at winning this game. David Johnson was running pretty effectively, Cards had scored once, and even forced the Panthers into a couple of 3 and outs. With less than 6 minutes to go in the first half and the score at 17-7, Patrick Peterson committed a costly mistake. He fumbled the punt return after one of the few Panther's 3 and outs and that was a punch in the Cardinals' gut. Panthers pushed it to 24-7. Peterson redeemed himself by intercepting Cam Newton in one of the subsequent possessions and returning it all the way to Carolina 22. But then Palmer followed that up right away with a break-breaking interception in the end zone - a horrible throw forced into double coverage. That was pretty much the ballgame.

The second half was quite an abuse of the Cardinals with more turnovers from Palmer. The bottom-line was, ugly Palmer showed up instead of the good Palmer we have been seeing all regular season. This game confirmed everybody's worst fears about Carson Palmer -- that he is not a big-game player, he is not a clutch performer, he makes big mistakes at the worst moments etc. He proved all of those theories right. I have always been a fan of Palmer and thought that the public perception and injuries have been pretty unfair to him. But after this game, I am a believer in all the haters. I even heard one talking head say Palmer was considered a one-read QB in USC who can be easily confused and they simplified the offense big-time during his Heisman season. The skeptics are right and he can't recover from this performance. God help the Cardinals next season.

In the AFC championship game, the Broncos pulled a Pats and outsmarted them with a brilliant game plan. I thought they had the Pats confused the entire first half on both sides of the ball. They have incredible talent on defense and got to Brady at will. But the way they bottled up Edelman was brilliant and they also had a great plan on offense. Now we have the sheriff in his final Super Bowl. He has an opportunity to walk off into the sunset as a champion like his boss Elway. Broncos will face the Panthers in what should be a close Super Bowl. Brady has dominated Manning 11-6 in their personal series, but that includes a 2-3 record in the playoffs, including losses in their last three postseason meetings, all in the AFC Championship Game. Seems like Brady beats Manning except in the AFC Championship games. Goes to show how all these stereotypes that the media builds are just that - stereotypes. Football is the ultimate team game and even a Brady or a Manning need a team around them, not to mention home-field to win.

We will definitely miss the Brady-Manning rivalry. That was a long-running, high-profile, yearly event, the kind of which we may never see again.

Pats 30 - Hawks 20

It's been a while since I had the time to blog. Been a busy couple of months, but is there ever a better time to jump back in than around the Super Bowl? Actually, last week would have been better with the "deflate-gate" controversy in full swing. Supposedly, we are expected to stop talking about it and talk only about the game instead. Why? It was a legitimate topic that came up organically last week saving us from all the manufactured Super Bowl hype. I would rather discuss deflate-gate than the media generated "story lines" about these 2 teams, neither of which I am too fond of. How much more of the designer angles like "low draft picks" Brady V Wilson or Pete Caroll's stint in New England would ESPN have subjected us to if not for this scandal? Those stories are interesting if you care about the teams. If not, deflate-gate is as good as it gets.

The controversy itself feels very juvenile at one level, but the fact that this Patriots regime is entering the "repeat offenders" territory makes it very interesting. If the NFL can indeed prove that the Patriots did tamper with the ball, which of course is a BIG "if", hoodie will be in deep trouble given his past history with spy-gate. Thats exactly why Belichick and the Pats are so vociferously and aggressively denying the allegation. If convicted, punishment will be severe. Saints coach Sean Payton, who was suspended for a year for bounty-gate, will have a lot of opinions for the league office on the appropriate punishment for the hoodie. Lots of people are arguing that deflating the ball is not a big help for Brady or that the Pats are good enough to win without it etc. Thats not the point. The point is, if you are deflating the footballs after the refs have checked and approved them, you are cheating. Why would anybody do it if it didn't help? There are some parallels I see here with the steroid controversy with baseball, especially with Barry Bonds. Not that deflate-gate is that serious, but some people said the same type of things about Bonds and steroids. "He was always good", "He didn't need PEDs" etc. The counter argument is pretty simple. If it didn't help, why did he take it? Thats why Bonds is still not in the Hall Of Fame.

As for the Super Bowl itself, I think this controversy will only drive the Pats even more, as if they need any extra motivation. Brady and Belichick are getting up there age-wise and it's all about legacy for them at this stage of their careers. They have lost their last 2 Super Bowls and I am not sure if Russell Wilson can channel his inner Eli Manning and subject the Pats to a third Super Bowl loss. I am afraid the Pats win this one easy, 30 - 20. The Seahawks have to show up better than they did in the first 55 mins of their game against the Packers to even have a shot. If they show up with that weak sauce, they truly run the risk of getting blown out.  This Patriots team is not an amazingly dominant team by any stretch of the imagination, but they have a decent defense, a good running game that they turn on and off at will, and Gronk. All of those things typically cause serious issues for the Seahawks as if dealing with Brady and Belichick is not challenging enough. It might be a mistake to pick against the Seahawks after what they did to Peyton Manning last year and Aaron Rodgers last week, but I am going to do it. The Pats get it done in the big game even with the rightly inflated footballs.

Greatness Revisited

Sometimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same - even in the parity stricken NFL. When the season started, expectations were high for Seattle, San Francisco, and Denver. And of course New England with Brady and Belichick are always supposed to be good regardless of circumstances. We are now in the championship week and these 4 teams are the ones still left standing. This despite all the excitement generated towards the end of the season for the so-called "hot" teams like San Diego, Carolina, and Philadelphia. They became fashionable picks among several talking heads and the recent trend over the last few years of wild card teams that are on a roll towards the end of the season making it and sometimes winning the super bowl helped taint some of their picks as well. But at the end of the day, good teams are good teams and these 4 teams were legitimate contenders from day 1. Of course, we might have thought the same about teams like the Atlanta Falcons and the Houston Texans back in August, but these 3 teams were in an even higher class. They are not just teams with good record with an one dimensional strength like the Saints with Drew Brees. These teams have a good defense and a solid running game. Of course, nobody knows what the Patriots have, but they have Tom Brady. As impressive as his resume is, what he did this year leading this team to the AFC championship game might be the highlight of his career. And all of a sudden, the Patriots running game looks better than ever too making this weekend's contests all the more intriguing.

All these teams had challenges along the way. The niners offense and Colin Kaepernick looked lost at the beginning of the season. It was 2009 all over again for the niners with Frank Gore being the only bankable asset. Kap and the offense look a lot better now with the addition of Michael Crabtree late in the season. The Seahawks offense on the other hand looked a little lost towards the end of the season, which can be big problem this weekend unless the beast mode and the 12-Th man get it done like last week. Denver's defense turned out to be worse than originally thought and they also have to deal with the usual question marks about Peyton Manning's big game moxie, though that will be a bigger factor rest of the way than it was during the regular season. Despite all of these ups and downs, these 3 teams stayed true to their pre-season expectations and came through with a bang in the playoffs. The niners had to win on the road under tough conditions in Green Bay and in Carolina to get to this point and they look better than ever. But the most amazing performance here has to be what the patriots have done this season with that roster and the slew of injuries. They did not have the best of rosters and free agency, injuries, and murder cases weakened their receiving core. Brady had his lowest completion percentage, QB rating, and the most sacks in years. But they ended the season with an impressive 12-4 record and here they are at their third straight AFC title game. How can you not give credit to Brady when they were winning week after week by just 2 or 3 points?  Bill Belichick deserves a lot of credit too. You got to give the devil it's due.

We use the word "great" flippantly in sports. There are several ways to look at greatness, but one quote I like is "Success Isn’t Always About Greatness. It’s About Consistency. Consistent Hard Work Gains Success. Greatness Will Come."  Both Brady and Manning personify this. In a league built for parity, it's amazing to see these two consistently perform at a very high level. Football is the ultimate team sports, but these 2 QBs contribute to their team's success as much as the rest of their organizations combined. Not only are these two great at what they do, they also keep running into each other all the time. Dan Marino and John Elway rarely played each other for instance, but Brady has beaten Manning 10 out of 14 times including a 2-1 record in the playoffs and a big, come from behind win earlier this season - a game that added more doubts about the aforementioned Manning moxie. The playoff contests between them have gone to the home team every time and they have split the 2 AFC championship dates so far. Brady is the ultimate parity-killer as he will be at his 8-Th AFC championship game this weekend. A mind-boggling stat thats so much beyond the realm of possibility for even a super-star QB like Drew Brees. Given their age, this might very well be the last time they play each other, but then again, I won't be least bit surprised if they play in another 3 AFC championship games against each other. Thats how consistent they both are. I have not had a whole lot of success picking against Brady this season, but I am going to do it again. Manning and the home team pulls this one off. In the NFC, it's hard for anybody to go into Seattle and win, but if anybody can do it, it has to be crazy Jim Harbaugh and his niners with their new-found attitude and their always consistent defense. 

Bring on the Niners-Broncos Super Bowl. Lets party like it's 1990!

Giants 2 - Patriots 0

New York Giants have won their second ring and sent the Patriots back home with another tough Super Bowl loss. The game went exactly as I expected it to, but it featured less scoring drives than I expected. I expected to see a little more scoring back and forth, but the Super Bowl jitters and preparedness on the part of both defenses kept the score in check. Plus the lackadaisical play of the Giants at times didn't help either. Giants don't seem to play with focus and a sense of urgency until things get really desperate. That's their only weakness. It's also a bad reflection on Eli as he seems to share that trait as well. He is not as obsessive and consistent at his craft like a Brady or his big brother Peyton. He does come through in the clutch and so does his team, but they don't play consistently good justifying their talent level. That's true during a game - even the Super Bowl, and that's also true during the course of a season as they go on 4-game losing streaks and 6-game winning streaks because of the same inconsistencies in their focus and performance.

I thought the Giants were really the more complete team. But their inconsistency and Hoody and Brady's drive to extract revenge were the top 2 reasons why the Patriots had a shot - a real shot. But even Hoody and Brady couldn't overcome the talent differential. Some people say that it's a huge credit to the Hoody that this Pats team even made it this far with a horrible defense. Of course the offense is always in good hands with Tom Brady, but that defense had no business being in the Super Bowl. At the end, they came close, but a Wes Welker drop here and an Aaron Hernandez drop there made sure they don't win. Poor Wes Welker is getting a lot of flak for the drop, but it wasn't a great pass by Gisele's husband either. We are used to seeing Welker catch difficult passes like the one he dropped, but it was thrown behind him. Brady also threw an interception earlier and had a mediocre fourth quarter after a brilliant first 3.

Eli on the other hand was his usual self. Good for 3 quarters and great in the fourth. His pass to Mario Manningham was another special Super Bowl play that we may never forget. It was a key play, but it was nowhere near David Tyree's catch in the previous super bowl either in terms of the impact or the difficulty. It was a perfect throw and a great catch that beat good coverage. Eli and Tom Coughlin both are legends now in the biggest city in the world and are ready for the Hall of Fame. I am happy for Coughlin because he is an old-school disciplinarian and it's good to see old school values still succeed. I also like him as a coach. Only issue I have with him is, he has to share some blame for the team's attitude and lack of focus at times. But overall, he is a great coach and of course the New York media will be firing him by week 8 in 2012. Speaking of 2012, can't wait for the off-season to see where Peyton Manning ends up. If that guy can play even at 80% of what we have seen of him in the past, he should be shaking up the power structure of the entire league. I am not a big fan of this sort of drama, but I am willing to endure the ESPN circus for Peyton. He is worth it. He deserves it. Even though his little bro has more rings than him.

This will be a "Giant" Super Bowl.

Giants 31 Patriots 27. That's what I am calling in this weekend's Super Bowl. It should be a good one, a fun one and also a close one. But should also be an easy one for the Giants to score the requisite points at the end to take care of the Patriots. The Patriots, Brady and Belichick are never easy to deal with as adversaries, but I do not respect their defense this year. Giants are a more complete team and that defensive front can slow down Tom Brady on at least 2 or 3 drives this Sunday. But I can't say the same about the Patriots defense. Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin are no joke. Manning and those receivers should be able to move the ball and score enough to win. Gronk's ankle is not helping the Patriots either. He is one guy on the Patriots nobody seems to have an answer for. But a hobbled Gronk only helps the Giants defense, which doesn't need a whole lot of help in the first place. All this should add up to a second Super Bowl for Manning and the Giants. Considering that the Giants beat the Pats the last time they were in this dance, I am sure Brady is itching to beat them and extract some revenge.

This is a major Super Bowl as it will help establish some legacies either way. If the Patriots win, that puts Tom Brady in the QB stratosphere along with Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw with 4 rings each. He is already guaranteed a tie with Elway for the most SB appearances. This will also let hoody join Chuck Noll as a 4 time champion. Both Brady and the hoody are first-ballot hall of famers anyways, but a win this Sunday will put them in a special balcony in that hall of fame. It's also a big game for Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin. They are both borderline hall of famers right now - more Coughlin than Manning, but Eli will be there soon. But a second Super Bowl fast-tracks both of them. If he wins Sunday, they can start fitting that hideous yellow jacket for Eli instead of waiting to see if he is worthy of it in a few years. Coughlin never seems to get enough credit and this ring will change that forever. He already has 2 Super Bowl rings - one as an assistant, and his most impressive achievement might be taking the expansion Jacksonville Jaguars to 2 AFC championship games. This Super Bowl is big for both sides.

May be that's why this week has been all about Peyton Manning! Some of it is just coincidence since his little brother and his biggest rival are putting on a show in the house he built in Indianapolis. But he has already given one interview - may be that was just a promotional gig for Gatorade, but the news that he has been "medically cleared" also came out this week. That could have definitely waited till after the Super Bowl. He says this week is not about him, but the more he says it, the more it is becoming about him. Makes you wonder if he is jealous of his little brother and his biggest rival. It is a little surreal to think Eli might have more Super Bowls than Peyton in a couple of days. Peyton is still going to be better QB than Eli. That argument won't start until Eli wins his third SB. But for now, it looks like Peyton will be back at least trying to play in the NFL next year. He will have to do it somewhere else and not in Indy. It seems very unlikely Peyton will get to play and win another Super Bowl at a new place. Hope Jim Irsay put an end to this drama in Indy soon. The low-point of this saga was when Irsay said recently that he and Manning are, on a competitive scale of 1-to-10, "both 11s." Yes, you and one of the best QBs ever are of course on the same level of competitiveness. Lets list that under "things you get to say if you have 100's of millions of dollars in the bank."

No Super Bowl for the Niners and the Ravens

The Giants and the Patriots are getting ready to re-enact Super Bowl 42 in a couple of weeks. The combination of a missed field goal by the Ravens and a made field goal by the Giants on Sunday prevented a Har-bowl. Tough day for the Harbaughs, but I ain't shedding a tear for that family. They have it pretty good with both brothers making millions as prestigious head coaches in the NFL. Considering there are only 32 of those jobs in the entire world, the Harbaughs hold 6.25% of all NFL head coaching jobs under the sun. So they will be fine. But life is all perspective and I am sure that entire family is feeling horrible this week given the way both teams lost. Jim Harbaugh made his family's catch-phrase the 49'ers war cry - "who's got better than us?". Well, the real answer is - Tom Brady. The guy got another Super Bowl trip gifted to him by the Ravens. He sure is talented and a great QB and is rarely outplayed by other QBs, but Joe Flacco actually outplayed him and looked good against that horrible Patriots defense. Brady was going against the better defense, but he didn't even have a passing TD in this game - something that's unheard of this season.

Flacco's throw to Lee Evans that would have won the game at the end of the game was just perfect. In fact, it was a little too perfect as it fell on Evans lap and surprised him just enough to let a defender knock it out of his hands. One could still argue that Evans controlled the ball and then fumbled it. And that should have made it a TD because the ball broke the plane. But the zebras thought otherwise. As if that's not enough of a good fortune for Brady, hoody and the Patriots, the Ravens then miss a game tying field goal that would have at least sent the game to OT. Poor kicker Billy Cundiff missed a short, 32 yard field goal and lost the game for his team. I liked how his teammates, especially Ray Lewis stuck up for him and said all the right things. I am beginning to like Ray Lewis more and more as he ages and moves away from the murder scandal back in the day. But I do feel for that team because Ray Lewis and Ed Reed are getting up there in age. They had a great shot at another Super Bowl appearance but Cundiff kicked it away. There is no guarantee they get there back again - not in that division with the Steelers. There is also some talk about how the scoreboard in the Patriots stadium threw Cundiff off with the wrong down and distance information. You can't help but wonder if this is another "hoody-gate" in the making. But the Ravens season is over anyways.

In San Francisco, the game did go to overtime unlike the AFC championship game, but Kyle Williams fumbled a punt and stopped the hearts of the home crowd. It was a shocking moment, but you immediately felt for Kyle because he joined Ravens' Cundiff as the other goat on that day. This was even worse than Cundiff only because he kneed a punt earlier in that game committing a costly turnover. Nothing justifies the stupid fans sending him death threats after the game, but it was a tough day for Williams even otherwise to have turned the ball over twice. Niners pride themselves on their turnover differential, but they were 0-2 in this one with both credited to Kyle. Of course, his teammates came out and stood by him. It is indeed a cliche to say "it's not one man's fault, we win as a team and we lose as a team". Obviously a costly mistake at the end of a game like that has a much greater impact and is harder to recover from, but Kyle's last fumble was truly not the 49'ers main problem. I wouldn't blame him at all for that defeat. They had several opportunities to put that game away and the 49'ers offense couldn't get it done. All they needed was a field goal and Williams would have been in the locker room celebrating instead of fielding that ill-fated punt if only the offense had done it's job.

The way that game ended proved one more time how much of a team game football is and even a mistake of that magnitude exposed more of a team's problem in it's entirety than anything else. In fact, I would say Kyle's first turnover where he kicked a ball that he didn't even catch was more stupid and even more damaging in the big scheme of things. He had no reason to hang around that ball and it was a big momentum changer in the game. The NY Giants hang on and move on to the big game behind some strong performance by their wide receivers. The niners WRs caught one pass for 3 yards the entire overtime game and that was the difference. Credit goes to Eli Manning, Victor Cruz and Hakeen Nicks and the blame goes to Alex Smith and Michael Crabtree. The best quote about this game was by Bill Romanowski when he said "Michael Crabtree was an ornament in this game. He might as well have hung out on a Christmas tree." Both defenses were awesome, but the Giants passing offense with Eli Manning is in elite hands - pun intended. It was a disappointing end to a great season for Jim Harbaugh, but they should be proud of what they accomplished this season. Now it's time for them to go get a receiver to help Alex Smith. The challenge for the niners and their fans is that in today's NFL, there are no guarantees that this team - or any other team for that matter, makes it to the Super Bowl or even to the playoffs next year.

The NFL power structure changes every year due to 4 main reasons. First, the player churn is too high in the NFL, thanks to the hard salary cap and non-guaranteed player contracts. Secondly, NFL is a brutal sport with a very high risk of injuries and that's always a factor with many teams every year. Thirdly, NFL schedule is short and a bad stretch here or there can doom a team's playoff dream unlike what happens in the NBA or the MLB where the more talented teams bubble up to the playoffs eventually. Last but not the least, NFL teams play an unbalanced schedule and people don't realize that it's almost like teams play in a different league every year. First place schedule is vastly different from a 4-Th place schedule and niners will have a tougher road next year. So nobody knows where the niners end up next season, but this is a great start and they do have a great coach, which is a great thing to have. The closest thing to a guarantee of consistent success in the NFL is a great quarterback. Even Brady and Manning don't go to the Super Bowl every year, but good QBs like that at least get you enough wins to make the playoffs consistently. The niners don't have that in Alex Smith, but they better stick with him, give him a receiver and see where this thing goes. In Harbaugh they should trust.

More on the Super Bowl soon.

Can I get a Har-bowl!

What I want for the Super Bowl is a Har-bowl, but I think we will end up with a Brady-bowl. I expect the Niners and the Patriots to hold on at home in interesting championship games in the NFC and the AFC respectively. That would lead us to a Brady-bowl where ESPN will feed us a whole lot of Tom Brady for 2 weeks. They don't know this guy named Alex Smith playing out west for the Niners and to be fair to them, Brady is a much bigger star anyways. But not sure if I can handle 24 X 7 Brady love-fest for 2 weeks. Of course what I would like to see instead is a Har-bowl though some people have raised valid concerns about how that would be as bad as the BCS championship game - a repeat game between 2 offensively challenged teams with good defenses. It's not unlikely that we will get this super bowl considering defense wins championships and the Niners and the Ravens have the best defenses in this final 4. I have always liked the Harbaugh brothers and I can totally handle them for 2 weeks leading up to the super bowl. Now that both what I want to happen and what I think will happen are obvious, the NY Giants are the odd team out and ironically, they may be the most complete team left in the dance.

NY Giants definitely have a shot in San Francisco, but I have to go with the home team with the better defense here. And their offense didn't look too shabby either last weekend as Alex Smith sliced and diced the Saints twice in the last 4 minutes. The Giants offense and Eli at QB are better than what the Niners have and their defense is decent too, but everything New York is a little overblown by the predominantly East coast media. I like their front 4 on defense, but the Niners are no slouches either in that department. The NY bandwagon is especially full now since they beat the champions in Green Bay. But the Niners are tougher in every sense of the word. The Niners defense hit people like this is your grand father's NFL, and they know how to deliver those old-school blows without the new-school flags. They routinely knock out running backs and I would be concerned if I was Ahmad Bradshaw. The weather is going to be soggy and I never liked the theory that rain affects the offense. It's hard to play defense too in the rain as defenders have to react and move depending on where the receiver goes. But at the line of scrimmage, the defenders are pushing forward and the offensive line has to back-pedal. So the weather affects both sides and it depends on the position you play. The only added challenge for the offense is holding on to the slick ball in the rain and avoiding turnovers. All things considered, I think the road team is going to be uncomfortable here and the Niners should sneak through.

In the AFC, Joe Flacco is under a lot of stress because of his performance last weekend against a strong Texans defense. He should do a lot better against a weak defense in New England, but the question is, can he match Brady and the New England offense who just look unstoppable? Ravens don't seem to have any answer for Rob Gronkowski - actually no team does, and Gronk is just one of many options at Brady's figer-tips. Add to that the extra motivation the Pats have against the Ravens since they got embarrassed at home by the Ravens in the 2009 playoffs behind Ray Rice's 83-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. Ray Rice might have to pull something that spectacular again to hang with this Pats team. I would give Ravens a better chance if their defense was more consistent and fearsome. They have a good D, but some of it is just good reputation even while their on-field performance has been inconsistent. Never count the team with the better defense out, but all things point to a repeat Super Bowl appearance for the hoody. A NY Giants V NE Patriots Super Bowl will be awesome considering what happened a few years back, but give me Niners this year. And good luck to Ravens who have the unenviable task of preventing the hoody from going to his 18000-Th Super Bowl.

Tom and Cam define week 1

I don't know what was more ridiculous. Tom Brady throwing for 517 yards or Cam Newton throwing for 422 yards. Where's the defense? What happened to the theory that offenses take longer than defenses to get into the groove, especially coming off a lockout shortened training camp? Brady shredded the Miami defense Monday night and he didn't even need Chad Ochocinco to do anything. It was beautiful to watch Brady throw those pin-point passes that hit his receivers in stride every time. Whether he is making passes at a super model or throwing passes to Wes Welker, I guess Brady knows what he is doing. I don't care how many more rings he accumulates, I will rank Brady second only to Peyton Manning, but I have to say, he is an elite quarterback and he was totally on-point Monday night. This league is definitely becoming more and more QB, offense and pass friendly and I am not complaining. You can't breathe on a quarterback these days and the corner-backs can't do much of what they used to do a decade back. All of that is beginning to show in the numbers. Brady threw for 517 yards and there is talk of him eclipsing Dan Marino's single season record for yardage (5084 yards) this season. Of course both Brady and Manning have already surpassed Marino's single season TD record. Too early for such discussions this season, but with the new NFL, I wouldn't be surprised if Dan the Man loses more of his records. Week 1 featured 5 games where both QBs threw for more than 300 yards. Thats almost 1/3-Rd of the league. Thats not counting Kyle Orton and Matthew Stafford who also threw for 300+ yards in their respective games.

The most surprising QB performance was Cam Newton's 422 yards. The rookie from Auburn was supposed to be so mediocre in year 1 that even a star WR like Steve Smith was barely drafted in most fantasy leagues. Their passing offense was supposed to struggle as Cam was expected to suffer through a steep learning curve despite his amazing physical tools. Coming into the NFL, he didn't look ready, but he showed us last weekend why the Panthers spent their first pick on him though there was some talk of other QBs possibly being more ready for the NFL than him. All last week before the games, most experts picked Cincinnati's Andy Dalton to have a better game than Cam in week 1, but they were not even close to being correct. Cam looked like Michael Vick without the dogs and was throwing long darts all over the field. He also ran for a TD and at 6'5", 248 pounds, this guy is going to be something else if he keeps this up. Of course thats a big question mark because he did all this to the Cardinals defense. I would like to think he is that good and the Cardinals defense is not that bad for selfish reasons, but I am afraid the truth is somewhere in-between and the Cardinals defense might just be that bad. We will know more this weekend as the super bowl champs will try and contain Cam and they should do a much better job than the Cards. It was good that Kolb and the Cards won their first game together, but the story of that game was definitely Cam Newton. Does he have another 400 yarder in him this season? Looking at the league right now, I have to say yes. Either way, I will be watching what he does rest of the way.

Some of the bigger games last weekend gave us some interesting results. The Baltimore Ravens pummeled the Pittsburgh Steelers much to my delight and sent the reigning AFC champion running for cover and searching for answers. Nothing good came out of that game for the Steelers except a new Tomlinism - "There is a fine line between drinking wine and squashing grapes. Obviously last weekend we were grape squashers.” I don't even know what that means, but it sounds so cool! Sunday night game between the NY Jets and the Dallas Cowboys was interesting for just one reason. Both QBs did exactly what their reputation would suggest. Mark Sanchez didn't seem to do much, but he won a big game as always. He should be the most unimpressive QB with the most impressive wins against better QBs. As for Romo, it was the same story as always - great for 3 quarters and major mistakes when it mattered most. QBs always get too much credit or too much blame for victories and defeats. Case in point - Mark Sanchez. He gets a lot of credit though the Jets mostly win despite him, not because of him. But Romo truly lost that game for Dallas. He fumbled at the goal-line once and then threw an interception with less than a minute to go in the game. He forced the ball to Dez Bryant, who was limping and covered by Darrelle Revis, one of the best corners in the world. Sometimes, Romo just gets blamed for the loss, but this time he earned it. I think his problem is simple. He doesn't take ball security in the clutch seriously. He needs a shot of seriousness injected into him in the 4-Th quarter to cure his nonchalance. He has to learn to protect the ball all game, but 10 time more securely in the 4-Th. Lets see how the boys respond against the Niners next week in Jim Harbaugh's second game as the head man in San Francisco.