What's nice is Brady and the Pats have an Offensive Jaggernaut to continue to face year in year out in the Eagles if they continue with pedal to the metal Peterson.. It will be sweet to watch them get back to a SB next year..barring some major implosion ..only to lose again hahaha Is it true the great Brady didn't shake hands??? Brat..
Has that been confirmed? When I watched the post-game stuff, it sure looked like he got the hell off the field quickly. I didn't see him shake hands or acknowledge any of the Eagles. Geez, don't you think that if anyone other QB did that, we'd hear about it from the media?
You have to admit the Eagles are setup for the long haul. I would not doubt that the Patriots do feel a change is on its way regarding the power in the NFL. The jaguars are a QB away from being a serious challenger...the Eagles are set to be a playoff contender. The Rams look great to not to mention the Vikings.
So where are the bodies? The only way this could be accomplished in secret is to eliminate anyone who was on the inside of the scheme. ESPN and SI would bid up a substantiated story of such activity into the tens of millions of dollars for the bean spiller.
Not all playoff teams are on the way up. The NFL has an amazing turnover of non-playoff teams to playoff teams and visa versa, year over year. Per my mantra regarding Watson; show me the competitive consistency year over year and I’ll concede. Minnesota, Jacksonville and LA, for the time being, fall short of that scrutiny. Edit: Deliberately omitting Eagles because they won the SB. Scrutiny goes out window.
Good thread. I agree it's really hard to compare older era QB's to this current flag football league. There is no doubt the QB's of the past were tougher than today's. And with all the rule changes favoring offense, it's hard to compare stats of this decade to the 90's or 80's, let alone before then. Every decade it's gotten substantially easier to throw for big numbers. I've been watching since the early 80's, and have seen a lot of great QB's. For my money, Peyton Manning was the best all around player at the position that I've seen. John Elway and Aaron Rodgers probably had the best skillsets between arm strength and mobility. Joe Montana the most clutch. Dan Marino the fastest release. Brett Favre best combo of arm and moxy, ie the Gunslinger category. Drew Brees the best accuracy downfield, and probably the most underrated of the greats (watch him pass most of Manning's records if he plays 2 more years). Randall Cunningham the smoothest mobility, and also very underrated. So it's hard to measure these guys against each other, let alone comparing them to past greats like Unitas, Graham, Starr, Staubach, Tarkenton, Namath...but makes for good discussion. One way to compare apples to apples, is looking at the major record holders of the day though. The big 4 QB records to me are Career Yds, Career TD's, Season Yds, Season TD's. At one point, the following guys held all 4 records in their day: Unitas Tarkenton Marino Favre Manning Another era neutral category is All-Pro. 1 All-Pro is selected each year, indicating best at the position. 1st Team All-Pro selections: Peyton Manning 7 All-Pro Otto Graham 7 All-Pro Johnny Unitas 5 All-Pro Sid Luckman 5 All-Pro Sammy Baugh 4 All-Pro
Looking back at the pre-Super Bowl era, the best QB picture seems a little more clear. In the 40's it was Sammy Baugh. in 1943, led the league in passing, punting, AND interceptions as safety. Now that was a football player. In the 50's it was Otto Graham. 10 straight championship appearances between the AAFC and NFL, winning 7 of them. 7 time 1st team All-Pro, tied with Peyton Manning. Also won a pro basketball championship. In the 60's it was Johnny Unitas. First to throw for over 40,000 yds in a low passing era and shortened seasons, where QB's called their own plays. Held every major passing record upon retirement. 5 time All-Pro, multiple MVP's, championships, etc... Very easy to argue the best ever. Would you guys say there is consensus on those decades at least? And if making a top 10 list, all 3 would need to appear no?
Yep. Great posts, @BacktoQueens. My Dad has always said Baugh is the best football player in NFL history for what you said.Top QB, Safety, and Punter. That is nuts! Peyton 7 All-Pros in this era is really impressive. Comparing QB's is fine to me, but saying one is the GOAT (especially Brady) is truly ridiculous. Kind of embarrassing, honestly. Not sure how to make a fair Top 10 list, but I like the idea of separating the players into decades or eras.
I'm with you here. If the NFL turns out to be a figment of our imaginations, or WWF, or the like.... I'm done. It's sure as hell looked like NFL brass has favored the cheatriots for a decade and a half. This season was ridiculous.
Even his incompletions become positive yardage somehow. Lol Every critical 3rd down where the window was tight went one of two ways from mid season on... Either he threw a perfect pass, or it was a penalty on the field somewhere if not directly on his target. The Jax game was a joke after halftime. Just enough penalties to revive their offense, especially on critical 3rd downs again. I'll be glad when he retires. Maybe the NFL brass will fall in love with our FQB when we get one? If so.... DYNASTY FOR US ALL!!!!
I have to add games played, quarters played ( if there is such a thing), attempts, and for heavens sake... Injury history. Reason I say add these is like Pete Rose being the all time hit leader, but he had like 10,000 more at bats, or something like that. Teams use to run the ball more to help soften up the defense or to literally ram it down their necks. It's a lost art, but seems to be on the rise again. Maybe I'm a dinosaur, but I enjoy smash mouth football and defensive battles. It's flag football these days. Too many rules and penalties that favor the offense. The current NBA is the same. All for the sake of elevated points per game and ESPN highlights. Defensive highlights and low scoring games are just as fun to watch in my eyes.
I finished 3rd in a pass, punt, kick contest when I was 12. You reckon me and Baugh were neck and neck? Lol. Would have finished first but shanked my punt which would have moved me into 2nd. The kid who won it, was later disqualified due to age/birthday. Lol Being serious, the athletes of today are bigger stronger faster, not sure how Baugh would be much more than a punter now. Just another reason to compare era's as a very hard thing to do. There are players from earlier era's that could play today. LT would be just as badass, but the drug testing may have gotten him banned for life, unless he was a patriot. Dickerson could run for 2,000 yards today, and Marino would probably be the first guy to hit 6,000 yards in a season with 60 TD's.
Just saw a report on NBC sports that both ESPN and FOX are trying to get Peyton to join their team as an analyst for either TNF or MNF. If he decides to do it I bet he would be like Romo in the way he can break down the game being a former player and a smart one at that.
I'd like that. Be an upgrade over Gruden. I thought Peyton wanted to own a team though. Maybe do MNF for a few years, then buy a team or be GM of a team. Or Both.
Maybe Peyton can become President of Football Ops for the Jets and be given complete control on football decisions.
If you have any doubt that the NFL is fixed, re-read your own post. A completely fair and honest game would not result in so many close calls going in one direction, game after game, season after season.
I'm a dinosaur too, but I much prefer the "good old days" of the AFL, the aerial circuses that played out every week. And I think most fans today prefer that too, which is why the NFL rigged things to give it to them. Which makes the Jets pigheadedness at trying to win with an "impregnable defense" all the more infuriating. There is no such thing anymore! Not unless, and until the NFL rolls back the rules and interpretations of those rules that favor a passing game. Oddly, as much as I like a high scoring, back and forth game, I also have come to enjoy soccer, and think it's superior in many ways to modern football: players play offense and defense; on field coaching is minimal; no time outs; limited substitutions; everyone needs to be skillful at handling the ball. And even though games are typically low-scoring, the "almosts" ratchet up the suspense and make each game a contest where either team could win almost to the very end. Imagine if we went back to pre-Sixties football where players played both ways; there were no "specialty"players - including no FG kickers or punters...those duties fell to someone already on the field; minimal equipment allowed so that players could no longer be "guided missiles", using their equipment to inflict damage on their opponent; limited subs; no instant re-play. If you're really a dinosaur, you ought to go for that.
If he's looking for a job, Woody/Chris should call him up and beg him to become their Pres. of Football Ops.