Post Super Bowl Wrap Up

If you paid attention on Friday you would have done like The Peoples Champ and given up the 3 points and taken the G-Men +130 on the money line and been counting your quickly devaluing Greenbacks today. You might also have taken the Giants winning between 4 and 6 points and gotten 5-1 odds on that. Yes, Vegas was giving away free money this weekend folks but beware.  Vegas doesn't have all those nice new buildings and shopping malls because they lose more than they win. In other words, be careful out there. It's gonna get ugly for the handicappers.

With that said, after contemplating the game and the post game reactions  (including Gisele's tirade) here is what we learned.


1. Eli Manning is officially "The Most Clutch QB in the NFL" right now and on the short list of Greatest Comeback QB'a of All Time. You want to still say silly things like "Eli isn't Elite" and that he turns the ball over too much, had only one very good statistical year, has great receivers, blah blah blah. Fine. There are some statistical proofs one might bring to back up those idiotic claims, but what one can't do is deny Eli's greatness with the game on line. A record 8 Game Winning comeback drives this season and now 2 comebacks on the last possession to win 2 Super Bowls (and MVP awards) affirms this claim. In 8 playoff wins, Eli has gone head to head with Brady twice, Farve and Rodgers on the road, Romo and Matt Ryan (both who just as recently as this preseason were ranked higher than Eli by more than a few talking heads).
The People's Champ has always held the position that Eli is a top flight NFL QB and  a great leader of men. Eli just keeps proving the point more and more each year.

2. Justin Tuck is the Eli of Giants defensive players. Before the 2007 Super Bowl, Tuck was considered a very good up and coming defensive lineman. In Super Bowl XLII, Tuck was arguably the MVP; playing one of the great defensive games in Super Bowl history and basically nailing the door shut on the Patriots last drive with a critical sack of Brady. Turn ahead the clock to this year, a very trying regular season for Tuck, who by all accounts had a very disappointing year(mostly due to injuries) until Week 15 when he got healthy and not coincidentally, the Giants D became a championship D. He also played his best game in 5 years in the Super Bowl with 2 sacks, one being the initial safety and the other a sack on Brady on 3rd down which put the Pats in Hail Mary mode.

3. To win a Super Bowl in the "new rules" NFL you need a great QB. I've heard a lot of talk out there that Baltimore and San Fran could have easily been here and were just as good as the Giants or Patriots. Well, you know what? They weren't and as good as Alex Smith was this year and as good as Flacco played the final 3 Quarters against the Patriots, the difference was Manning and Brady. Look at the last 11 years of Super Bowl winners and here's who the QB's are: Brady 3, Eli 2, Big Ben 2, Rodgers, Peyton and Brees 1. Only Brad Johnson and his win in 2002 doesn't belong. In other words, if you want to win a Super, get yourself an Elite QB and your chances go up astronomically. Personally, I thought San Francisco were the best coached and best defensive team I saw all year. Houston was the best all around team I saw in the AFC (I'll give them a pass because they sustained season ending injuries to their QB and best defensive player). The Patriots were mediocre at best sans Brady. They had an awful defense and a pedestrian running game but still Brady put up enough points to win 13 games. Same with the Giants. Their running game was awful. Besides their punter, their Special Teams was anything but special. Their defense was horrible all season until Week 15. Rex freakin Grossman shredded the Giants Defense twice. But they had Eli, who when given the ball 8 times (including the playoffs) losing in the 4th Quarter, he delivered.

4. Tom Brady is still Great. Another idiotic subject of yahoos out there is that Brady is overrated, not clutch and hasn't won anything since spy-gate. While the latter might be true, IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH SPYGATE. It has to do with the fact that Brady continues to do more with less than any QB in NFL history. The problem with Brady is that he's too good. If Brady was merely mortal and winning 8-10 games a year with this rag tag squad and keeping his untainted 3-0 Super Bowl record, no one would say a peep. The problem is Brady carries teams on his back with no running games, no defense and one good WR (this year he did have the two TE's though). He has carried 3 totally different offensive type teams to Super Bowls (name me one other QB who has come close to that challenge) and if not for a dropped ball made 99 out of 100 times  by Welker and The Tyree Catch (which could have been called back for 3 holding penalties and 2 in the grasps calls) he would be the only QB with 5 Super Bowls and Mr. Montana would be know as the Greatest QB who ever lived that wasn't named Tom Brady.

5. Belichek still has it.  The legend that is Bill Belichek really began the day the NE Patriots and an unknown QB named Tom Brady upset the Greatest Show on Turf- the St. Louis Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI. It was then that Belichek became known as the Master Game Planner- the Genius. Up to that point he had been a great defensive Co-Coordinator and Assistant Coach for the NY Giants and an unsuccessful coach with the Cleveland Browns. What changed that day was Belichek devised a game plan to hit the Rams receivers at the line (negating their huge speed advantage in a timing offensive scheme) and take Marshall Faulk (at the time the greatest fantasy football player of all time and the top offensive player in the NFL) out of the game by having 2-3 guys follow him at all times. NE would go on to win 2 more Super Bowls in the next 3 years and now people were talking about Belichek in the same sentence as Lombardi, Noll, Parcells, etc. All the accolades were deserved. However a funny thing happened along the way. The NFL changed the rules to make it incredibly harder to play certain type of defenses, NE defensive personnel got weaker and Belichek's once great penchant for drafting quality players late in the draft and filling in needs through free agency was waning. Well, he's still got it. As outlined in the Super Bowl preview, the Giants had far more talent. They also have an explosive offense with 2 great WR's and one good one. NE has been the weakest team all year against the pass with the worst secondary in the NFL. So what does Belichek do? He figures out a way to basically take Victor Cruz out of the game, eliminates any big plays by the Giants (except for the unbelievable throw and catch from Eli to Manningham) and then has the cajones to let the Giants score a TD and give Brady a chance with a minute left in the game. I thought this season, from beginning to end was his best job yet.


In the end the Giants are Super Bowl Champions for the second time in five years because they were able to do something no one else can. They figured out how to beat the Patriots. In the two Super Bowl seasons the Patriots were 32-2 against the NFL and 1-3 including two Super Bowl losses to the Giants. Figure out how to beat the Pats and there's a good chance you'll be wearing the ring.

Back in Business- The People's Super Bowl Pick

After yesterdays heart wrenching post, I felt it best to go back to my roots and start bringing The People's Blog back to The People. No, this isn't a one day "guest appearance" ala The Return of the Ultimate Warrior, and it's a far cry from the Ferris Buehller shill sure to be one of the best Super Bowl commercials even though everyone saw it already (thank you Honda for that much needed bathroom break in advance. I'll always have you in mind over Toyota and Nissan). Will The Champ post every day? Come on.....Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Creativity doesn't come in a bottle you know. With that we proceed.

I'm not going to break the game down like all the talking heads. You've heard all the angles, you've seen video, broken down the game tapes, listened to the crazy interviews at media day and even read poor Giselle's prayer to the Lord Above. No, I will tell you what will happen how it will happen and how at the end of the day, the Super Bowl Champ will be ____________.

To start, Boston has been a royal pain in the rear for New York for way to long, and despite 2007, 2004 really sticks in our craw. We could care less about the historic Red Sox collapse this past September/October (ok, that's a lie. We enjoyed it very much...) or that the Giants beat The Pats earlier this year with the JV starting. No. We need to bury Boston. Stick a fork in them and send the Patriots and Red Sox back to being the cursed franchises they always were.

NE last Super Bowl team was a squad that had a throwback defense- was tough, a team that would smack receivers down at the line, that was led by guys like Teddy Bruschi, Asante Samuel, Richard Seymour, Rodney Harrison and Mike Vrable, a team that intimidated, a team that stood toe to toe with the Greatest Show on Turf and came out standing. A team that is remarkably similar to this New York Giant squad.
This years version? Yes, they have the possible GOAT in Brady (as I have discussed prior), they have Belichek, who even though I think is slightly overrated is still an All Time great coach, they have the great Gronk- Hernandez TE combo; but in the end they lack toughness. They get pushed around. They get scored on. Even the GOAT gets a little frazzled when he gets hit.The toughest guy they have will be far from 100% (in Gronk).

The Giants? They are New York tough to the bone. They have a QB who personifies toughness. A guy a few years ago was being run out of town in ways that would embarrass Mark Sanchez. A guy that despite throwing 59 times and getting hit on approximately half those throws by the NFL's toughest and most turnover driven defense, kept coming back like Rocky Balboa, not turning it over and throwing for over 300 yards and 3 TD's and led his team to another NFC Championship ("he's not human" in Drago voice). They were battle tested all season, barely getting into the playoffs and then taking the toughest road possible (after beating a soft Atlanta squad- on a separate topic has there ever been a tough Atlanta squad in any sport?) by beating the defending World Champs and All World QB on their home turf and then doing the same to the NFL's toughest defense.The Pats? The best QB they since October was Tebow.

Did the Giants under achieve all season? Of course they have. Yes, they had huge injuries to Tuck and Osi but still. Everyone has big injuries. This is the National Football League for crying out loud! It's my biggest knock on why Coughlin cant be considered in the class of Belichek, Walsh, Parcells, et al.  His teams go to war with him but they also quit on him. Remember in 2007, he was on the verge of being fired before their great run. Still, when he gets the troops going, they go. And despite their 9-7 regular season record they have far more talent on both sides of the ball than does NE. It's not even close. If they put all their players in a pool and had a draft today, here's how it might come out.

1. Brady 2. Manning 3. Pierre Paul 4/5 Nicks/Cruz 6. Tuck 7. Gronk 8. Mayo 9. Osi 10. Light

Maybe you switch a guy here or there but generally the talent lies on the NY side of the ball. The toughness lies on the NY side of the ball. Even the GOAT is ofter now that he's married to Giselle (ok, I don't really believe it but you gotta love the New England paranoia that does) Experience? Even. Only advantage the Pats have are on Special teams as the Giants are very weak and vulnerable there. That's it. And I think the Giants find a way to adjust there.

At the end of the day, after all the wings, the beer, the stupid prop bets you made when you were  drinking too much and throwing around way too much testosterone, the New York Football Giants will once again be Kings of the Football Road.

ED NOTE: I am a full fledged Oakland Raider fan so no bias except a singular pure hatred of New England sports went into this post.

TPC's Post Super Bowl Thoughts

 An amazing game all around. Exciting from start to finish, an all time great performance (Brees), gutsy coaching as well as some very questionable coaching. In the end, this game created or sealed a lot of history for many involved.

1. Drew Brees enters the discussion of All Time Great QB's. His regular season statistics have always been superb (including his 65% all time completion percentage) and he now has a Super Bowl MVP and a career 103.7 QB rating with 13 TD's and 2 INT's in 6 career playoff games. He has now solidified his spot in the current Top 3, along with Manning and Brady and being the youngest of the 3, he has the most upside. He's obviously still behind the Montana, Brady and Unitas class, but he should now feel very comfortable in any argument to be in the top 20.

2. Peyton Manning, for all his regular season greatness- and he is the greatest NFL QB of All Time IN THE REGULAR SEASON, has once again showed his chink of armor in the Postseason. Consider Brees' numbers above, here is Manning's all time Postseason marks: 9-9 87.6 QB rating (as opposed to 96 for the regular season) 28TD's and 19 INT's. His QB ratings in AFC Championships and Super Bowls are in order:
35.5, 79.1, 81.8, 123.6, and last nights 88.5. Hardly the stuff of legends. With all that said, with a Colt loss last night, provided Manning was able to get them in the end zone and tie the game at 24, the arguments could still be made. However, notwithstanding Wayne's huge drop, Manning threw the game breaking INT, that Montana or Brady would have never thrown. You know how we know that? Because given the same situation with both QB's in numerous occasions, they always came through. Always. Manning doesn't. And for that reason alone, he stays in the class (albeit a great class) with Favre, Marino, etc.

3. I dont remember two huge consecutive coaching blunders than what we saw at the end of the first half last night. First, the Saints trying to claw back into a game in which they were totally outplayed early on, on 3rd and 4th down, try to run the ball when you have Drew Brees and all those weapons along side him. You see it so many times where coaches get too cute and try to do something different than what got them to that point. this was a classic case in point. The Saints are a pass first offense with an incredible Field General in Brees. let him win the game for you (which they finally did). So, of course the Colts stop them, and now with Manning who to that point was flawless, had the ball with 2 minutes left in the half, a 10-3 lead, and a chance to bury the Saints- especially considering they were getting the ball back to start the second half. So what does Caldwell do? He freakin runs it 3 times and gives the Saints back the ball. Brees drives them down the field, they get the field goal, erase the memory of the failed goal line attempts and gives Payton a reason to go for the onside kick. You have to let Manning bury the Saints there. You have to. Forgetting what happened at the end of the game, you have to assume Manning will at worst case, move the ball a little and get you better field position. Instead, they went 3 and out and gave the Saints back the ball at midfield.

4. Great job by the Saints kicker, Hartley. We all saw in the playoffs how costly missing field goals are, both in terms of not getting the 3 points and giving the other team great field position. All Hartley did was knock down 3 over 40+ yard jobs which has never been done before in the Super Bowl. On the contrary, up 17-16 the Colts try a 51 yarder, which missed and gave the Saints the ball back at the 41. Brees led them down the field for the score and the rest is history.

5. Back to Brees. Here is a guy who was one of the top QB's in the AFC for a few years, was getting run out of San Diego by their QB of the future in Rivers, on the last day before he becomes a Free Agent tears apart his throwing shoulder, possibly ending his career. Two teams show interest. The Dolphins and Saints. Miami passes, the Saints take him. Katrina happens. Brees gets down and dirty helping both physically and emotionally in the rebuilding of the city, the city embraces him, and now he delivers what may have been the best game ever played by an NFL QB (only Simms SB win could compare, but Simms had a much better running game to lean on). Great stuff for a truly good guy.

Super Bowl Thoughts

For the first time since I was legally able to drive (30+ years), due to a stomach virus, The People's Champ watched the Super Bowl alone in the friendly confines of The People's Palace. Ironically, The People's Son attended his first Super Bowl party this year at the age of 6. And he didn't even bring me home a beer!

We've read and heard all the cliches and all the accolades. A game for the ages. The Greatest Super Bowl of all Time, etc. etc. We've had four days to digest the results, so without further ado, here are TPC's post Super Bowl Thoughts.

Big Ben finally lived up to his potential, not withstanding a pretty pedestrian game besides the opening drive and the final game winning drive. He was brilliant on the final drive of the game with the title and his legacy on the line. Remember, his first Super Bowl was the worst performance EVER by a Super Bowl Winning QB (he ended with a 22 QB rating which would make guys like Dave Brown even laugh). His final stat line was 21-30 256 yards, a TD and INT. Nothing extraordinary, except he lit it up when he needed to. I still think he is a bit overrated but he showed me something there and now will probably be replacing Brett Favre as the "most gushed over QB who isn't nearly as good as people think he is".

You think Phillip Rivers is feeling the heat about now?

Kurt Warner played a great game, and possibly the greatest stretch of 15 minutes a QB has ever played in the NFL. His 4th Quarter numbers were 15-21 257 yards and 2 TD's against what people were calling one of the great defensive teams of all time. Warner proved once again what a great QB he is, how tough he is and what a big game player he is. Again, he is the best QB not named Tom Brady we have seen in the last 10 years and a first ballot Hall of Famer.

Larry Fitzgerald is at a level now that hasn't been seen since Jerry Rice. With the game in doubt all he did was score two 4th Quarter TD's, one on one of the most exciting plays in history.

The play they called a fumble on Warner at the end of the game, when they didn't even take time to review (and if they would have it would have been ruled an incomplete pass, setting up a dramatic Hail Mary situation with Larry Fitz going up for the ball!) is one of the most curious things we have seen ending a game in a long time. HOW DO THEY NOT REVIEW THAT PLAY??????????? HOW MUCH DID THE REPLAY OFFICIAL HAVE ON THE STEELERS MONEY LINE TO NOT REVIEW IT?????????????? Just a friggin joke.

For all the heart and courage the Cardinals showed, their coaches did an awful job all game. Four things off the top of my head.

1. The Steelers Secondary was playing way back. The Cardinals played into their hands all game until the 4th Quarter when they went hurry up and forced the Steelers to adjust. Why did they wait?
2. On the same note, why did it take them until the 4th Quarter to get the Best WR in Football involved in the offense. This is a classic mistake by over matched coaches. Instead of making them adjust to you and having them stop your best guy, you use your best guy as a "decoy". It NEVER works. NEVER. The numbers by Fitz were great, imagine if they would have used him the first 3 Quarters? There's a reason Phil Jackson won so much. It's because his best players were always better than the other guys and he made the other guy stop his. That simple. Jordan and Shaq were never decoys. You wanted to beat them you had to stop their Big Guys. Only Duncan was able to do it.
   
3. On the same token, the Pittsburgh offense did ZERO from the second drive of the game to the final drive. How did the Cards accomplish this? By pressuring Ben into making bad throws. This also eliminated a horrible running game (I told you all before the Super Bowl the Steelers Offensive Line is awful and the Cards will be able to get to Ben and stop their run). So what did the Cardinals do on the final drive? They took their foot off the pedal and let Ben drive down the field unharmed. Just utter stupidity and another reason why you never play the prevent D. I don't get how experienced and seasoned NFL coaches always do this.
   
4. How do the Cardinals allow the only good and healthy receiver on the Steelers constantly beat them (Holmes, who played a brilliant game)? How do you not adjust and double this guy? How do you let an inexperienced corner get burned by Holmes all day long, without making a slight adjustment? Just horrible coaching there.

With that being said, it was an incredibly exciting 4th Quarter and a relatively boring game up to that point. Yes, Harrison gave us some fun on his play (I would have sworn the Cardinals were done after that play. Amazing how they were able to comeback from that) but other than that and some decent play by Warner and the Cards D, not much happened after the first few drives.

The Boss brought it. "Born to Run" was the single non nipple revealing moment in Super Bowl Halftime History. There's a reason he's called The Boss.

I can't wait until I get the Fantasy Football 2009 Draft emails...... Only a few months away.

Super Bets- TPC Gives out the Props

I like the Cards getting the 7.
I like the over 46 but don't love it.
I like the Cards +115 to record the games first sack.
I like the Steelers -115 to make the games shortest FG.
I also like the Steelers -110 to make the longest FG.
Take the 3rd Quarter, +285 for most points scored in the game.
Take the over 2 1/2 for how many times NBC shows Brenda Warner during the live telecast. You also get +135 for that.
Take the Cards +550 to win the game by 7-12 points.
I like the Steelers -105 for their first Offensive TD to be passing.
Also take that bet +250 that the their first score period will be a passing TD.
I like the Cards +120 to have the games first intereception (caught not thrown).
Born to Run +125 will be the Boss's closing Song at halftime.
Take Larry Fitz +460 to win Super Bowl MVP.

Feeling Super

All season long, The People's Champ has been riding the theme of what a great and underrated QB, Kurt Warner really is. TPC has also said on numerous occasions that the Steelers really aren't as good as everyone thinks. What force will win in the end? The 2nd great Cinderella story of Warner's career or the Mighty Steelers Defense getting ring #6 for their storied franchise and famous Steel Curtain D?
The Cardinals are easily the most overlooked team to ever make it to the Super Bowl. Forgetting the fact that they have won more playoff games this year (3) than their last 61 years combined. Forget that they finished 9-7 and won what was arguably the worst division in NFL history. Besides beating the 2-14 Rams and 4-12 Seahawks (with 2 of their 4 wins coming at the expense of the Rams), the Cards finished the season losing 37-29 to the Giants, 48-20 against the Eagles, 35-14 against the Vikings and 47-7 against the Pats. amazingly just two weeks later they beat a heavily favored Falcons team, then they knocked off the #2 seed in the NFC (the Panthers) and then beat the same Eagles where the got crushed just a few weeks prior. All this while finding a rejuvenated Edgerrin James (amazingly Peyton Manning in his prime couldn't get him to a Super Bowl but Warner did it in Arizona!) a physical and opportunistic defense (12 Turnovers in their 3 playoff games) and a Wide Receiver playing at a level only reached before by the great Jerry Rice (Larry Fitzgerald).
Still, they face a daunting defense in the 2009 version of the Steel Curtain, the #1 overall ranked Defense in the National Football League. They face a QB who is gunning for his 2nd Lombardi trophy in his short but very successful career in Big Ben. They face a coach (Mike Tomlin) who amazingly made the city of Pittsburgh forget about their former Coach-legend, Bill Cower.
Historically speaking, when great defenses face great offenses, the great D usually win out. Look no further than last season when the Giants beat the Patriots, arguably the greatest offense in history. Same situation in 2002 when the Pats knocked of Kurt Warner and the Greatest Show on Turf in what was one of the great upsets in Super Bowl History. The one glaring detractor from this theory in the last 10 years was when the Colts beat the Bears in Super Bowl XLI. There are a lot of similarities between that game and this one, the QB trying to make his claim amongst the greatest of all time, the All-Offense- no defense team all of a sudden discovering a very effective and opportunistic defense during a great playoff run. Granted Ben Roethelsberger is no Rex Grossman, but lets not forget that Big Ben posted the worst QB rating and performance for any Super Bowl winner, ever.
The matchups are intriguing. Warner and the great passing game against the great and physical Steelers D. Fitzgerald over the middle with Polomalu all over him. The rejuvenated Cards D vs. an average at best Steeler Offense.
In the end, I think Warner will have a little too much magic left in his wand. I think Warner is the best QB in the last 10 years not named Brady and this game will just put a stamp on that. I think Edge wants that ring. I think Fitzgerald is playing at a level so high, he can dominate the game no matter how many guys try to cover him. Oh, and if he cant, another top 5 NFL wideout (Boldin) is on the other side and will make the Steelers pay. I don't like Ben in the big game and I have had doubts about their offensive line all season. I don't think they will hold up against this Cardinal Defense, which will capitalize on those Steeler mistakes.

Final Score. Arizona 28 Pittsburgh 20.

Kurt Warner- Better than Peyton Manning

Yes, TPC has been singing the praises of Mr. Warner for all eternity, but it seems Sports Illustrated and The Cold Hard Football Facts have finally caught on.
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