Denver had a great defense this season. Denver was a lot better on offense and defense than Baltimore this season. Baltimore's edge was special teams. But in the game, Baltimore won on offense and defense and lost on special teams. Randomness. Their secondary simply collapsed when it mattered most.
Champ Bailey was toast and that Moore kid I think his name was. If the Jets lost a game like I that, I would be so mad at whoever (probably Eric Smith) that was.
They may not been elite when they won. They have the talent. Look at the last ten SBs. Brad Johnson is the only QB that you would not consider a elite or very good QB.
Exactly, they didn't play elite. You don't need to be elite. Brady was an unknown at the time (didn't play half of the AFC championship game) and Eli was getting run out of town. They all showed flashes and the teams stuck by them and developed successful teams around them. That's the mistake people make when they say "only elite QBs win". Well Eli wasn't elite, Brady wasnt, Rodgers wasn't when they won. Only Peyton and Drew Brees were and neither played great in the SB like their counterparts. You need a talented QB but you can't only have an elite talented QB as we have seen recently
I never considered Eli, "Elite". Elite means you are consistent and can take an average team to the playoffs. Eli has missed the playoffs now 3 of 4 years. I dont recall Brady, Peyton, Rodgers, Marino, Favre etc missing the playoffs 3 of 4 years. Eli is what he is, a 2x Super Bowl Champ. His defense never allowed more than 20 points in either run. The defense was the backbone.
49ers with Kaepernick look scary. Given, it was against Packers D, but still... Hope they get to play against SEA, should get interesting.
Ive beem riding Seattle since the preseason, I was telling my friends they would win the West and that Wilson would be better than RG3 and Luck. Somewhere in September or Pctober I told em the Seahawks will go to the Bowl. Big game for them today, and Matt Ryan of course.
Did you see their schedule? Stats are only a part of the story. Yeah, they had a good defense but their D rank IMO was blown oop because of their Opponents. They were good but not a real top D IMO. Shit, I think they were better last year. Also, no way in hell am I rooting for Denver or Manning... the 4 teams I listed were the 4 I'm rooting for.. Except for ATL/SEA. Thats a toss up as I wouldn't mind seeing Gonzalez get a shot or Pete Carroll and Leon on Seattle....
DVOA adjusts for strength of schedule and Denver still had the second best D in the AFC. Any way you slice it, their D was far better than Baltimore's. Just saying that the teams with the best Ds aren't necessarily winning. Seattle did, Houston did (although Cincinnati's D was actually better down the stretch), Denver didn't, Baltimore did (last week)
Sounds good but then again, their schedule was cake and that will always make some teams look better in certain aspects than others. and at the end of the day, they let Flacco throw 3 TD's and Baltimore score 31 pts. at home... Elite?
obviously they had a bad day. But Baltimore's defense is certainly not elite. Allowed 43 to Houston, 34 to Denver in the regular season, 24 to the Eagles, 29 to Dallas, 23 to a Batch-quarterbacked Steelers, etc. If Baltimore faces New England, the line will be similar to what it was vs. Denver (Baltimore an underdog of like 8.5 points), because Baltimore simply wasn't nearly as good as Denver or New England during the season.
Bill Barnwell having fun on twitter below. Also shows you how much narrative drives sports. I mentioned in another post, it's been a big topic in basketball writing I read, but you see it all across sports. Like the Knicks are considered a "top defensive" team even though they haven't played like it since the first 5 games. They also have a wrose defensive rating than last year but their defense is supposedly "improved" because it fits the narrative of the Knicks getting better. Bill Barnwell @billbarnwell Brady: 20 INT/22 gms. PM: 21/20. RT @speefmoney: About as many as he'd have if he turned it over 4 million times in the playoffs like PM. Bill Barnwell @billbarnwell TB: 7 D/ST TDs. PM: 4 D/ST TDs. RT @Danobert7: how many rings would tom brady have if he had a special teams that returned 2 kicks for TDs? Bill Barnwell @billbarnwell You know who lost a playoff game where his team had fumble & INT TDs? Tom Brady! Guess who he lost to: Peyton Manning! http://bit.ly/11sVCvB Bill Barnwell @billbarnwell I don't really care about Manning/Brady debate. But idea that Brady is eons better than Manning in playoffs is silly/defense-driven. Bill Barnwell @billbarnwell Correction on the INTs: Brady has 11 in 11 Rd 1/2 games and Manning has 14 in 15 Rd 1/2 games. Bill Barnwell @billbarnwell Like he did in 2007? Or 2009? RT @BrianByrdman: how many rings would Brady have if he turned the ball over 3 times at home in 1 playoff game Just reeniforces my arguments that we tend to overrate how much impact a QB has on wins, playoff wins, and SBs
I want the Patriots and Seattle to win today. Love to see Baltimore slaughter the Pats next week. Then a great matchup between San Francisco and Seattle, two teams and two head coaches that despise each other. Don't really care who wins that one, because both teams are nasty and will make for a great Super Bowl against the equally tough and nasty Baltimore.
