I never said it wasn't expected, but it was far from the worst SB. Perhaps, if you just started watching football this millennium and weren't a Pats fan, it might be the worst.
All of the sudden, everyone's in love with the college coach aka NFL head coach castoff, the young upstart QB and all those Vegas odds makers are stoopid. Nah the outcome wasn't unexpected, I'm my own armchair quarterback in hindsight.
Props to Manning in this category: after the game he sought after Sherman and inquired about his injury, hoping it wasn't serious. How many players after a frustrating legacy denting loss seek out the opponent to ensure they are OK? I really like Manning, I just wish he had chosen a better team--but quite glad he didn't go to the 49ers! Else we would likely be sitting here talking about back-to-back 49er Super Bowls.
In his book, Manning says he is blessed to be able to ask God for guidance. He also says he is forgiven, but not perfect.
"I pray every night, sometimes long prayers about a lot of things and a lot of people, but I don't talk about it or brag about it because that's between God and me, and I'm no better than anybody else in God's sight," he wrote.
When it comes to football, the quarterback says he does not "pray for victory," but rather for the safety of the players on both sides of the ball.
The messages to Seahawks players at Bible study are reinforced during chapel services, which Payne holds at 9 p.m. the Saturday before home games at the team hotel. Twenty to 30 players and coaches typically attend, and Payne said he’s constantly coming up with new messages to keep everyone engaged.
In the 15-minute video "The Making of a Champion," quarterback Russell Wilson, tackle Russell Okung and others discuss the importance of God in their lives and careers.
A thread of evangelical Christian faith has been part of the NFL fabric for years, but the new video is a direct invitation from players to fans to join their religion.
"I play football to glorify Jesus Christ," long snapper Clint Gresham says in the video. "I would encourage you today to get involved with a local church."
Wilson, the Seahawks' heralded quarterback, talks about how his faith helped him overcome doubt and physical shortcomings.
"God's given me this amazing talent to throw the football," Wilson says in one of the video's interview-like segments. "Even though I'm 5-foot-11 and people said I couldn't do it, nobody can stop what God has for you."
The video also features safety Chris Maragos, and coaches Sherman Smith and Rocky Seto.
Historically, the tie between religion and football has only been strengthened by players and coaches who have been willing to speak out about their beliefs. In recent years, NFL stars such as Tebow, Reggie White and Kurt Warner, and coaches Tony Dungy, Joe Gibbs and Tom Landry have used their fame as a platform for talking about their Christian faith.
Suddenly, everyone's in love with the college coach aka NFL head coach castoff, the young upstart QB and all those Vegas odds makers are stoopid. What a difference a year/day makes. Nah the outcome wasn't unexpected, I'm my own armchair quarterback in hindsight.
Anyway, I still believe without the botched opening snap the outcome is way closer. Denver's offense became atypically conservative after that safety, major disappointment not seeing the game's greatest air out the ball.
I bet you the pre-season betting line on Denver winning the Super Bowl gets revised drastically down in light of the most recent Manning playoff debacle. Picking Manning for a Super Bowl win is a clear suckers bet.
If he comes back next year
This Super Bowl rates as a) one of the worst with b) the most shocking outcome. I wish the initial turnover never happened, as it disappointingly set the game's entire tone.
I know Seattle's defense is awesome -- no way are they (or their offense) 43-8 good. Though I do give them credit for never allowing Denver to catch their breath.
Defensively Seattle opposed Manning's play calling PERFECTLY. They never once allowed him to become the puppet master, a insufferable mistake for most teams. Seattle rewrote the book against Manning for all teams to follow in the future.
The best part of the game was the half-time show. Surprisingly, I actually knew all of Bruno Mars' songs. The guy is fantastically talented; his songs just lack much structure and sound one-noted after a while.
Ray Lewis is a horrible example. Oh, he found God now, but where was his Christian said when he was murdering someone?
One of the reason I like Wilson so much is that, despite him saying "God has given me these gifts", he doesn't let that stop him from working to be the best. He may have been born athletically gifted, but he also has worked a lot to get where he is, and hasn't forgotten that. It is the same with Manning, it seems.
Plus they have the balls to tell others that they're Christian and love Jesus which shows they don't give a fuck what you or i think. That is a big reason why they're champions and have zero fear of anyone, thing, or death while still remaining humble at the same time. They are true role models who live what they preach.
They forgot Ray Lewis. It shouldn't be a surprise that champions of the past two years (Baltimore, Seattle) were anchored in faith and felt they were on a divine path of victory. With faith, there is no fear of injury, no fear of death, and no fear of what others think. Without fear, maturity grows. A shame our pussified PC media was too scared to cover this on MSM, for it's what truly drives these men to achieve under extreme pressure and how they find their piece of mind whether you agree with it or not.
I don't think you get it. The fact that they are men of faith actually makes them classier and stronger than most normal men on a football field. Plus they have the balls to tell others that they're Christian and love Jesus which shows they don't give a fuck what you or i think. That is a big reason why they're champions and have zero fear of anyone, thing, or death while still remaining humble at the same time. They are true role models who live what they preach.
Edit: Ray Lewis is clearly a different old man than when he was a teenager. He wasn't inspiring anyone on that 2000 team, they did it all off talent. 2012 was off his spiritual leadership where he got his team to believe in divine intervention and they overperformed because of it. I think we can all agree that faith is an extremely powerful tool regardless of what you believe.
I don't think you get it. The fact that they are men of faith actually makes them classier and stronger than most normal men on a football field. Plus they have the balls to tell others that they're Christian and love Jesus which shows they don't give a fuck what you or i think. That is a big reason why they're champions and have zero fear of anyone, thing, or death while still remaining humble at the same time. They are true role models who live what they preach.
Edit: Ray Lewis is clearly a different old man than when he was a teenager. He wasn't inspiring anyone on that 2000 team, they did it all off talent. 2012 was off his spiritual leadership where he got his team to believe in divine intervention and they overperformed because of it. I think we can all agree that faith is an extremely powerful tool regardless of what you believe.
Suddenly, everyone's in love with the college coach aka NFL head coach castoff, the young upstart QB and all those Vegas odds makers are stoopid. What a difference a year/day makes. Nah the outcome wasn't unexpected, I'm my own armchair quarterback in hindsight.
Anyway, I still believe without the botched opening snap the outcome is way closer. Denver's offense became atypically conservative after that safety, major disappointment not seeing the game's greatest air out the ball.
The TLDR Cliff Notes: Seattle will mug Denver’s receivers (see: Patriots vs. Rams 2002) and pressure Manning (see: Giants vs. Patroits 2007). All-Everything offenses have been halted before, and Seattle is every bit as good as those Patriot (2002) and Giant defenses (2007).
While I have no problem with their faith, I'd say it would take more balls to come out as an atheist in the NFL. I will say that genuinely religious folk do tend to raise better kids though. Being raised to work hard for something and then at least ostensibly give an imaginary dude all the credit may seem crazy to me, but it certainly builds humility and character.
Saying Brady is the best in 2013 is fucking ridiculous. Going by PFF's vaunted and widely accepted advanced metrics:
Quarterback rating: Offering an alternative to the out-dated standard, we take into account dropped passes, throw aways, spikes, and yards in the air and further adjust the old formula so it makes more sense and is a more accurate measure.
Brady #10.
Accuracy rating:
The formula: ((Completions + Drops) / (Attempts - Throw Aways - Spikes - Batted Passes - Hit As Thrown))
Brady tied for 13th with RGIII and Cam Newton.
Deep passing of 20yds or more:
Brady #13
Under pressure:
Brady #20 of 26 with big names like Chad Henne, Carson Palmer, EJ Manual and Ryan Tannehill doing better.
Cumulative grading for 2013 which includes passing, rushing, and penalties:
Brady #8 at +16.3.
For reference, Peyton #1 was +43.3.
Best quarterback in 2013? hahaha. He's above average without pressure. With pressure, he's not even average anymore.
Now, let's see your "metrics" that support your preposterous assertion for Brady.
You are not giving Seattle enough credit. I posted about it above:
There were also a minority of analysts from NFL.com, CBS, and ESPN who picked Seattle big. Maybe you are too focused on Star Wars offenses to notice?
The fact is Seattle lead the league in Defensive scoring, yards, passing yards, yards per attempt, YAC, QB pressures, Interceptions, turnover differential, etc. The special teams have also been great. And for as "bad" as their offense has been they were 8th in scoring. Seattle played a lot of Top10 defenses down the stretch and had a much harder road to the Super Bowl.
Oh, and they completely shut down the best statistical offense of all time. This was the 85 Pats or 2000 Giants. The 2013 Broncos were an offense for the ages. So give the Seattle team their props.
As for the swing at the young upstart QB, I think you should take that back Wilson's line isn't great and they were missing Okung (LT) and Unger (C) for long stretches as well as their Right Tackle making a below average line even worse (Wilson was the most pressured QB and sacked 44 times). They also did not have Harvin all season and Rice for most of it--they were literally functioning with #3 and #4 receivers all season. And how did he do?
13-3 record, ~ 64% competition percentage, 26 TDs, only 9 INTs, 100+ passer rating, and like 500 yards rushing.
Look at his Super Bowl line: 18 of 25 (72%), 2 TDs, no INTs. Looking deeper you would see Wilson made a lot of timely plays (third down conversions through 3 quarters):
Third-and-9 from Denver 30: 12-yard completion to Jermaine Kearse.
Third-and-6 from Denver 14: Scramble for 5 yards (almost converted).
Third-and-7 from Seattle 31: 9-yard completion to Golden Tate.
Third-and-4 from Seattle 46: 6-yard completion to Baldwin.
Third-and-5 from Denver 43: 37-yard completion to Baldwin.
Third-and-14 from Denver 14: Incomplete to Kearse.
Third-and-4 from Denver 5: First down on pass interference (attempted pass in back of end zone).
Third-and-17 from Seattle 19: Complete to Tate for no gain.
Third-and-7 from Seattle 45: 12-yard completion to Luke Willson.
The problem with Wilson is the same issue with the Broncos: People over-weigh stats. The Broncos had 5000+ passing yards, 55 TD passes, and 4 players with 10 TDs or more. BRONCOS = BUFFED in minds of fans. Wilson only passes ~ 25 times a game and averages 200 yards. WILSON = NERFED in minds of fans.
And you are right, without the free safety the game would be 41-8. As for close, you maybe missed it, but Seattle let up after three quarters. They pulled Lynch early, pulled Wilson, and were clearly milking clock the last 20 minutes of the game to get it over with. The game could have been 57-8 if Seattle had wanted.
This game wasn't even close and Seattle's defense was great all year and deserves a lot of credit for stomping the best statistical offense of all time.
Your entire argument disappears like a fart in the wind as a QB is dependent on 2 important things, first, protection, NE usually has a decent OL, second, receivers, NE started the season minus Welker, Hernandez, Gronk, Lloyd, Woodhead, that accounts for 90% of the passes he threw last season not to mention a defense that had season ending injuries to it's 3 best players which constantly had NE playing from behind, Brady never gave up despite these conditions and even managed a comeback against Denver down 24-0 at halftime, 12 wins and a playoff win in this situation is enough "metric" for me that the man has the heart of a lion..
Your entire argument disappears like a fart in the wind as a QB is dependent on 2 important things, first, protection, NE usually has a decent OL, second, receivers, NE started the season minus Welker, Hernandez, Gronk, Lloyd, Woodhead, that accounts for 90% of the passes he threw last season not to mention a defense that had season ending injuries to it's 3 best players which constantly had NE playing from behind, Brady never gave up despite these conditions and even managed a comeback against Denver down 24-0 at halftime, 12 wins and a playoff win in this situation is enough "metric" for me that the man has the heart of a lion..
Curious as to your thoughts on if Seattle had Brandon Browner, would Denver have even scored a garbage time TD?
The excuses for this has-been-choker-in-the-playoffs-who-can't-win-anymore are getting old.
I was still a bit boozed up and angry over the death of PSH, and further angered by that boring ass game!
and you're right--we've all seen Manning and the Broncos put up points in a hurry, so we're all expecting it to start, even near the end of the 3rd quarter, but it just never materialized. Denver's D did look pretty good most of the game--they basically shut down Marshawn Lynch as best as one could hope, and they were also going into the game with no tape on Percy Harvin and what Seattle would do with him on the field.
The D didn't look bad until that throw up the middle where 5 Broncos missed obvious tackles that lead to a TD. I forget the player--a #2 TE, maybe?
Seahawk fans were celebrating while Bronco fans were...