2014 Football Season

[Jason]

I swear at least half the times I've played I've drafted last. Don't believe I've ever had a #1 pick.

Some guy in a 9ers jersey at the bar saw my Welker jersey, put 2&2 together that I was a Denver fan, and proceeded to tell me how badly he needs Manning, Ball and J. Thomas to do well for him that day. He lived and died with every good or bad play from them. Julius Thomas walked off the field for one play after some small injury. My new Bronco friend for the afternoon was less than thrilled. I thought the guy was gonna kill himself. "Fuck. WHYYY MEEE".

I do imagine either Graham or Thomas are producing the most fantasy points for the TE position. My QB strategy: If you can't get Peyton or Rodgers, focus on building a solid RB/WR set and get Andrew Luck in the later rounds. Would've paid off this year for anyone who implemented a similar strategy. I think his fantasy stats are highest among QBs?

P.S. Losing Prater freakin' blows.

[Man in Black]

I just don't pay people like that any attention... but it's easier for me because I have no social life and live and stay out here in the sticks (not complaining it's a choice I enjoy).

I do enjoy the chess game of fantasy football, but I never hope players get hurt or worry about my points when I see my players go down... they are people and I think of them that way first. It does add excitement sometimes to games I wouldn't care about otherwise... plus I've always been a prediction fanatic. Not saying I'm an expert, I just enjoy it.

Plus, don't take me serious in my last post... I may wind up losing in all 10 of my leagues. I was just being my usual silly self and if I took an IQ test today I'd be lucky to hit my age as become as scatterbrained have I... see did I what there?

[Jason]

lol. I am the same way. I know I don't live in the sticks, but I kind of live like I do. I like going to the local bar because people are pretty nice there and it is a great football atmosphere.

The fantasy guy I met seemed like a decent guy, truthfully. I shouldn't pass judgment on him like that. But it is true that fantasy is taking over the NFL fan base. I have a blast when I play it, I just decided to take a year off or two and just focus on being a football fan. I will likely be back in action next year, though. But I will probably only focus on just one league. It's a lot to keep up with. A lot of fantasy owners treat their team like they opened up an actual business. The economy would be so much better if they implemented that mindset into a career path.

My only fear with fantasy is a football player's fantasy scores can warp the image of what a great football player is.

[Jason]

If New England gets to the Super Bowl, I will vomit.

[Man in Black]

Nov 7, 2014 17:02:13 GMT -8 Jason said:

If New England gets to the Super Bowl, I will vomit.

Good grief... I was just thinking the same thing as I clicked on this thread. Yuck... the bad thing is that it looks like they are on a roll and all the other really good teams in the AFC are in tank mode. I don't think the Pats could beat GB right now... but that wouldn't stop them from getting there again.


Well, I sure wish Denver would have waited one week before playing their flop game - haha. Good luck this week... I hope it's at least a close game and Manning doesn't make our defense look ridiculous.

[Jason]

I won't be terribly upset. I've always liked Miami, and even more so since you're a fan. Plus, there is still a possibility they could win that division. You never know. Denver was once ahead in the division by three games with three to go. San Diego won out, and we lost out, and not only missed out on the division title, but missed the playoffs entirely.

New England is the luckiest team I've ever seen, though. They won't catch a bad break like that.

[Man in Black]

I'm not so sure the NE thing is all luck... meaning I think they get a lot of help from...

[Man in Black]

Jason, congrats on the Broncos win Sunday!

For the most part it was a great game. I knew it would be sloppy as soon as I saw Jeff Triplette was the official... he and his crew are terrible and they proved it again in that game with their pass interference calls every other play among about a dozen other missed calls going both ways. Luckily I don't believe they influenced the outcome, but they did their best to taint a classic. They have cost the Dolphins many games... they didn't cost us this one... I think that was all on #18.

That leads to my next post which I kinda thought would stand better on its own, so forgive the double post.

[Man in Black]

Unstoppable

There are only 4 guys (IMO) that can do what Peyton Manning did to the Dolphins Sunday afternoon. And only one is not connected directly to those 2 teams. Aaron Rodgers may be the best qb in the league at present... but if I have a buck thirty on the clock, down 4 with 1 TO... there is only one dude I want under center and he's the one that disemboweled a top 3 defense in the second half of that game.

Who are my 4 guys? Manning, Joe Montana, John Elway and Dan Marino.

There are moments when a team is up by a decent lead deep into the second half... yet they start to look nervous. Their coach feels it, the fans in the stadium sense it, and everyone watching on TV knows that the team with the larger score on the scoreboard is actually behind. There's nothing to be done really... you can run the ball and milk the clock, you can blitz or play prevent... but it's going to happen, you're going to lose.

Sure, it happens from time to time with other great qbs, even not so great passers, but these 4... it was (and in 18's case IS) what they did. Before Tennessee existed... Miami was our local AFC team and NBC showed the Dolphin game every Sunday. On almost a weekly basis the same scene would play out: I'd be in front of our black and white TV (occasionally fiddling with the tinfoil on the rabbit ears) fussing and griping about Don Shula trying to run the ball the entire 1st half. My Dolphins down 4 or 7 or maybe 11... I'd be in a tizzy. Many times my Grandfather would stand and watch a few plays here and there and if I had a dollar for every time I heard him say something similar to "Shit! They can't stop Marino, this game is over" well... I'd have a hundred dollars anyways.

And he was right. Dan would stop listening to Shula or Shula would finally give up on the run game (which is what he should have done at the exact moment of pick #27 in the 83' draft). The wide outs and tight ends were double covered and extra DBs were brought in... but it didn't matter. Marino would throw laser after laser... some right through multiple defenders - passes that NOBODY else could have or should have thrown - the long ones over the shoulder right on hands and right on stride - the short ones so fast that many times I couldn't even tell what happened until the slow motion replay. And then it was over, the Dolphins won.

To me... and sure I'm very biased... Dan Marino in his prime is the guy I'd want for one game with my life on line. Sure, he's not the leader in 4th quarter comeback stats... but his peers both had HOFers with them on offense (that's not a knock as without Elway and Joe... Rice and TD might not be there anyway). Marino... unfortunately he never had anything, not even ONE 1,000 yard rusher... and though I love Duper and Clayton nobody would remember their names if not for Marino as they were average or below for starting receivers.

But that is a debate for another day... these 4 guys were/are UNSTOPPABLE and each has had countless moments like the one I described with Marino where they single-handedly doomed their opponent just by stepping on the field with that look in their eyes. I encourage my son to watch every second that Manning is on TV because it is like watching the plaster dry into the cast of history and we may never see the likes of it again. Rodgers is the guy who has the best chance to raise the count to 5... but he's not there yet. Brady and Brees are very, very good... but neither has that killer instinct and consistency in these situations.

I'll finish with a perfect example that also highlights the difference between a great qb (Brady) and one of our unstoppable guys (Manning). November 15, 2009
Lucas Oil Stadium: Patriots vs Colts - NE, up by 6 has the ball, fourth-and-2 from their own 28 with 2:08 to go. Belichick decides to go for it.

Now... the fact that they didn't make the 4th down conversion is only part of the story. 1st - Brady failed to be... well... unstoppable. But the decision by Belichick which is still (IMO unfairly) criticized to this day just highlights what we all know: That there was no way NE could stop Manning from driving down the field for a TD if he got the ball. Like old Bill or not he made the 100 percent correct call - the Patriots best chance of winning was to go for it on that 4th down.

You can't take that 4th down out of context... Peyton was on fire, they'd already come from 17 down, NE's defense was fatigued physically and crushed mentally. If there was time on the clock... the Colts were going in the end zone. Everybody knew it especially Belichick, because in these Twilight Zone moments where logic doesn't exist and the grid iron is governed by a strange force dubbed momentum - these 4 pigskin wizards are... Unstoppable.

[Jason]

Excellent read, and to revert back to your first post, yes, the officiating did suck both ways, but they're not the reason Denver was down for most of the game. We didn't look like the Broncos for the first 3 quarters, and Miami was just flat-out taking it to us the entire game. All the way down to the wire. And I expected nothing less from them. It was a good game. The outcome wasn't effected by officiataing, but it did put a damper on it when they seemingly pull the flag every other play. I hate that in this era, after a deep throw whether complete or incomplete, or after a long run up the middle, I always have to wait to see if a flag is thrown. Since we're on the subject of officiating, I heard Joe Buck throw out a bizarre stat during the Philly-Dallas game about a certain group of NFL officials being the crew that throws the least amount of flags. Firstly, that goes to show that the rule book is now leaving room for "ticky-tack" calls, which some crews call and others won't, so there is no definitive ruling. Secondly, it is NEVER a good sign when the NFL officiating crews have their own stat sheet. NBA-level officiating, here we come.





On to the good stuff. Elway and Marino are easily the two guys I would want when it comes to crunch time. Manning is absolutely up there, but he has had his fair share of screw ups, too. Maybe it is because Elway and Marino are long retired that I'm not remembering the bad endings, but I know they've also crumbled at the end at least a couple of times. But in the end they did so many great things that it makes it easy to forget about the rare bad from them. I will say this, having Elway always helped my nerves in close games when we had the ball. He just finds a way. I am glad, but also bummed, that I only got to see us play against Marino twice. He just had the presence of a phenom and always delivered in all the games I watched him in.

I was lucky to acknowledge and understand the accuracy of Marino at such a young age. Hitting guys in stride no matter where they are. He is probably still in a league of his own. Lately, though, Manning has been throwing passes that make me think of Marino. Just last week against Miami he threw a laser to DT in heavy coverage that blew my mind and made me think of him. You know a player is special when a guy does something great in that regard of quarterbacking and you think of someone else. As far as accuracy, I don't think we'll ever see one on the level of Marino. I don't care how many "completion percentage" stats anyone pulls up.

I guess I will take Elway. Not just because of the 47 4th quarter comebacks, which is pretty impressive, but the era in which he carried his teams is remarkable. The Drive, I suppose is what ultimately does it. Give me a quarter, call it in the air and I'll tell you who I think was better.

If I had to pick a top 4 of all-time, that would probably be it. Manning, Marino and Elway are a step ahead of everyone, for me. The blueprint to creating the perfect quarterback lies within those three quarterbacks. But I would likely put Montana at #4. I know he is likely the majority leader among fans as the best ever, (ohmygod he has ringzzz!!) but Steve Young tarnished his legacy a bit, in my opinion, by coming in and filling in his position, almost as if he never left. Even Bill Walsh will tell you that Montana excelled in a system. I'm sure we all know the quote. "Joe Montana was a product of a system. Dan Marino was the system". Hell, Walsh even tried to trade away Montana to get Elway in the draft.
That Montana/Marino quote applies so accurately to Brady/Manning. I have no doubt that Brady would not excel anywhere near the level he appears to be if he didn't have Belichick. I would bet the farm and then some if there were a way to actually prove it, but as it is, Brady is going to be in the discussion with the greats by virtually everyone, while I wouldn't even have him in my top ten. Montana is in there because he did what he did in one of the toughest eras for quarterbacks, and also actually did excel outside of Walsh's system. Kansas City will verify my statement.

It is hard to properly judge a system quarterback and apply it to individual performance. Belichick, since he came to New England, has developed a team that suits his system, while all of Manning's coaches have developed teams that are suited for him. That speaks volumes about individual performances, for me. Walsh called the shots in San Francisco, Montana/Young and co. delivered. Belichick called the shots in New England, Brady and co. delivered. Manning called the shots everywhere, Manning delivered. That's why it just isn't even close, for me.