Jack M Silverstein’s brief thoughts following Super Bowl XLII
check this story out at profootballnet.com: http://www.profootballnet.com/content/view/2134/61
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WARNING!! SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Now that the New York Giants’ gripping Super Bowl XLII victory is in the books, you may find yourself involved in a Sports Debate over the coming weeks. Some questions and issues to consider during your debating that you A. should be ready for… B. may use in order to prevent stagnation:

1. Will the Patriots’ loss trigger another decline of Boston-area sports (a la 1986), a particularly cruel twist considering their nearly unprecedented high over the past six years, as well as their nearly unprecedented peak to that high since last September?
2. What does this do to Brady’s standing on The List? Is he above…
a. Aikman? (Jack sez: tie)
b. Bradshaw? (yes)
c. Elway? (yes)
d. Favre? (yes)
e. Manning? (yes)
f. Montana? (no)
g. Young? (yes)
3. What if this is the beginning of Brady as “Super Bowl choker?” What if he ends up having Elway’s career, except in reverse? Wouldn’t that be a trip?
4. How good will Simmons’ column be? I mean, how good? Pretty damn excellent, I say.
5. When you take into account athletic brilliance, game-significance, and play-importance, is it safe to say that David Tyree’s helmet-sticking back-bend catch has joined the top tier of the greatest catches in postseason history? Dwight Clark had “The Catch,” and now Tyree has “The Grab.”
6. Where does XLII rank in Super Bowl history in terms of…
a. impressive upsets?
b. overall game excitement?
7. Forget about the legacy of the 2007 Patriots. What is now the legacy of the Brady/Belichick Patriots?
8. How much will all of the camera/spying poo-cocky be discussed in light of New England’s loss?
9. Here at profootballnet.com, there’s nothing we enjoy more than a good old NFL bull session. And one subject that comes up quite often is QUARTERBACKS THAT HAVE WON ME OVER. We swap stories about Aaron Brooks against the Rams, Jake Plummer in ’98, Jake Delhomme in Super Bowl XXXVIII, and others of the like. Eli Manning has been a certain kind of quarterback for much of his career…if he ends up being that quarterback for the remainder of his career, has this run alone been enough to win you over?
10. Who’s Super Bowl performance was more impressive—Peyton’s or Eli’s?
11. When listing quarterbacks by just their last name from here on, do you think that you will begin qualifying Peyton as “P. Manning?” If not, what more would Eli have to accomplish to seal that for you?
12. Do you realize that since winning Super Bowl XXXIX, Tom Brady has twice failed to win a playoff game in which he had the ball for a game-winning drive? Do you realize?
13. Isn’t it weird that the last time the Patriots were in the Super Bowl, a possession receiver with the number 83 tied a Super Bowl record with 11 receptions, and then the next time they were in the Super Bowl a different possession receiver with the number 83 tied that record?
14. Do you think that Randy Moss choked on the final drive of the game? Did his performance during that final game change your opinion of his 2007 season?

And finally…

15. Where does New York’s final drive rank among potential game-winning Super Bowl drives?

THE BEST POTENTIAL GAME-CHANGING, LATE-GAME DRIVES IN SUPER BOWL HISTORY, IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE

Team, game Score Time/Yardage Final play
Colts, V 13-13 tie under 2 min, own 48 32-yard FG, O’Brien, :05 remaining
49ers, XXIII 16-13 Bengals 3:10, own 8 10 yards Montana to Taylor, :34
Bills, XXV 20-19 Giants 2:16, own 10 MISSED 47-yard FG, Norwood, :08
Broncos, XXXII 24-24 tie 3:27, opp 49 1-yard TD run, T. Davis, 1:45
Titans, XXXIV 23-16 Rams 1:54, own 10 9 yards to Dyson, stopped at the 1, 0:00
Rams, XXXVI 17-10 Patriots 1:51, own 45 26 yards Warner to Proehl, 1:30
Patriots, XXXVI 17-17 tie 1:21, own 17 48-yard FG, Vinatieri, 0:00
Panthers, XXXVIII 29-22 Patriots 2:43, own 20 12-yards Delhomme to Proehl, 1:08
Patriots, XXXVIII 29-29 tie 1:08, own 40 41-yard FG, Vinatieri, :04
Giants, XLII 14-10 Patriots 2:39, own 17 13 yards Manning to Burress, :35


I hope that is useful. Happy debating.

PEACE
Sincerely, Jack M Silverstein, The Faulty Predictor

On the John
ONE YEAR LATER…a look back at Super Bowl XLI
Completed February 3, 2008
check it out at readjack.com: http://readjack.com/08-02-03XLIlookback.html



One year later, here’s what I remember.

I remember…

…waking up and showering. Both were swift.

…putting on my Soldier Field game day best: Marcus Robinson jersey, blue warm up pants, blue Pumas with orange laces (bought specifically), and Bears hat, the baseball cap rather than the winter wool one. In addition to this dress, I remember being very excited as I put my homemade GROSSMAN handband on. I felt this was important for two reasons: support of our quarterback, a nationally-battered player, and as an homage.

…going to the Wilmette Bike Shop on that very morning to pick up the t-shirt I’d ordered the day before, blue with bright orange text. On the front:

SUPER BOWL
CHAMPS

And on the back:

AND DON’T
IT FEEL
GOOD?

…taking that t-shirt home and placing it at the bottom of my t-shirt drawer, telling no one. And when the great Urlacher gave his postgame interview in his SUPER BOWL XLI CHAMPIONS t-shirt, I would join him in my own. Awesome.

…not being able to stop barking “SU-PER BOWL! SU-PER BOWL!” as I marched around my parents’s place, as well as not being able to stop barking.

…being certain that we would absolutely deconstruct the Colts. I saw it so plainly. Hester hasn’t hit in the playoffs yet, and you know he’s going to break one. And Thomas Jones? That first score he had against Seattle, when crossing the goal line literally transformed him from a tailback to a woofing, ball-shaking maniac—remember that? He’s going to be that times fifty. Rex’ll be steady, and the play-pass is gonna be outstanding with Jones and Benson, and defensively we’ll be able to get at Manning with enough pressure to keep him off. We have the secondary to hang with their receivers, and wait’ll you see Alex Brown. He’s going to be a madman. I’m picking him for three and a half sacks, two forced fumbles, two batted balls, and the MVP. You’ll see.

…talking to my friends in Miami, including my buddy Ric, who was wearing the shirt I’d made following the overtime win against Seattle: ROBBY FREAKIN’ GOULD!!! Another friend of mine was wearing a shirt that read I CAME IN FROM AMSTERDAM TO GO TO THIS GAME, and without knowing of their mutual acquaintance, my two clever shirt-wearing friends greeted each other with an excited Bears-fan shake.

…feeling a thrill from the thought that, right now, at this very moment, 90 million people are thinking about MY football team, my Chicago Bears.

…being unshockingly calm during Hester’s touchdown runback. While the rest of the living room flock was on hopping foot, behaving wildly, cheering their lips off, I stayed seated, placing only my pumping fist in the air.

…shaking my head as Nate Vasher dropped a sure interception. “Peyton’s not gonna get many breaks like that.”

…being, again, unshockingly calm as Chris Harris picked off Manning, giving the Bears the ball, a 7-0 lead already in their hands.

…the first big “aww nuts!” of the night, when Manning, nearly sacked, slipped away from Tank Johnson and heaved a ball deep to Reggie Wayne, who entered our TV screen with no blue shirts to be found. The Bears’ young safeties had botched the coverage. Wayne strolled in untouched. A TD return, an interception, some near picks and near sacks…everything wiped out by one blown coverage. But then, a missed point after. Maybe? Maybe?

…the beginning of an ugly turnover night: the Bears fumbling the kickoff to the Colts, followed by Manning fumbling the ball right back.

…my first true “get up and holler” of the night, TJ heading over left tackle at our own 43, cutting back to the right, and breaking through for a 52-yard scamper setting up a first and goal. Brick on first down, brick on second, sweating on third as Rex dropped back to throw, sweating more as his pass zoomed behind Moose, but then: bam! Moose with the pluck! 14-6 Bears, as the rain began to fall.

…hoping for a field goal and a 17-6 lead, knowing that the biggest deficit a winning team had ever turned was ten points.

…Bob Sanders laying serious stick on Cedric Benson, the second year tailback coughing up the football like a kid with a cold coughing up phlegm. Benson limping away, a meager end to his second pro season.

…Indy’s ten straight points in the second quarter, a field goal from Vinatieri and a TD from Dom Rhodes. 16-14 Colts in the slushiest Super Bowl ever.

…Peanut Tillman playing like a man, pulling a triple play on the Colts’ Bryan Fletcher: holding him upright on the wrap-up, punching the ball free, recovering the fumble. Alright! Here we go! You wanna win a Super Bowl? You need statement plays from guys who are willing victory. Jones’ 52-yard run was one; Peanut’s strip and scoop was another. That is the way to do it.

…shaking my head as Rex gave the ball right back on the very next play. Aww nuts.

…watching Vinatieri miss a field goal at the end of the half, my team running to the locker room, their jerseys damp with rain, trailing by two. After a racing start, what?

…not eating during halftime, while the rest of our party stocked up on dinner.

…the Colts grinding us out in the third quarter, bagging another field goal. 19-14 Colts. No one is running away with this one, I thought, which meant that a loss would be due to a chip job, not a beat down.

…gripping my GROSSMAN headband at a Rex sack and another Rex fumble, the rain slamming down. Were we really going to lose the first Super Bowl played in Bears weather, and to a puff-ball indoor club like the Colts? Were those carpet-treading weenies really going to beat us by grinding out the clock and making big hit upon big hit? I want to vomit.

…watching another Colts field goal. 22-14 now, down by eight. Chip, chip, chip, closer and closer to that death-count of 10.

…watching the Bears begin their next drive inside Colts’ territory (courtesy of a roughness call on Indy), and mustering only a Robbie Gould field goal. Still in it at 22-17, but our points were all on three somewhat fluky plays: Hester’s TD return, Jones’ 52-yard run, and the roughing penalty. Into the fourth quarter, clutching tightly to life…

…the final choke-out from the Colts, or perhaps from Rex, or perhaps from that unholy #### Ron Turner. Down five, a blanket of rain, no one able to handle the ball, a leader at tailback, and a first and 10 after a 22 yard pass. And what do we do? Go right back to the air, Rex to Moose, and an easy pick by Kelvin Hayden. And he’s running, and I’m watching as I squat in front of the couch, and he’s still running, come on, someone get him, and down the sideline and into the endzone, and that is that. 29-17 Colts, up by 12, my head in my knees as I remain on the floor, and I hold ten fingers above my head as the booth announces to the viewing public that “no team has ever erased a deficit of more than ten points and won.” Over 11 minutes remaining, and my team seems cooked.

…keeping the faith. What else would I do? “Come on guys! Be the first! Make history!” And now I believe, and for a moment I think it will happen, and then Rex throws another pick. Back to the floor.

…trading possessions, watching the clock die. 29-17, 29-17. That’s how we’re going out.

…the clock continuing to roll. The realization that our story was complete, and it was of a team that no one outside of Chicago much feared or respected. In the end, as far as they were concerned, they were proven right. The Bears, anyhow, had done nothing to disprove them.

…looking at the ill-fated t-shirt, deep in my drawer, never to be unveiled.

…the feeling of loss. True loss.

…dealing with the L by gathering my thoughts, composing myself, and writing a column. Feeling better about everything. Feeling at peace. And feeling stone-certain that the Bears would be back in a year. We would be champions; the shirt would one day be worn, even a year late…

And now, one year later, I’m watching pregame coverage for Super Bowl XLII, New England set to face the NFC champion Giants, while my team sits at home, a sad 7-9, with nearly as much to do with this game as me.

Aww nuts.






Copyright 2oo8, jm silverstein

(strolls into coffee shop, wearing a suit) Greetings. Greetings and salutations. It's a beautiful day for a Conference Championship...(pauses, drums on table)...Let's play two!

First, in the American Football Conference…

It stands to reason that when you move to a new city, you will grow to either greatly like or terribly dislike the sports teams affiliated with that city. And so it is no surprise that my intense dislike of the Indianapolis Colts began in the fall of 2000, my freshman year at Indiana University. The year before, I’d enjoyed them from a distance. 1999 had been a season of firsts in Indianapolis. Peyton’s first Pro Bowl season. Marvin’s first 1000 yard season. Edge James’s first NFL season (and the first rookie to lead the league in rushing since Eric Dickerson in ’83). It was also the franchise’s first division title in 12 years, their first 10-win season in 23, their best record since the Merger.

But most of all, they seemed fun. The last Colts team I’d enjoyed was the ’95 club. They work black shoes and they had Marshall Faulk and they’d somehow turned Jim Harbaugh into a veritable folk hero, and a terrific quarterback to boot. Now they were back, the Golden Boy at the Q and an exciting rook running the ball, James fresh off his double catapult-job into our histories, first with his eye-widening performance in the Micron PC Bowl and then through the Colts’s surprising decision to select him ahead of Ricky Williams. The Rams weren’t the only team in ’99 that rode a surprisingly spectacular offense to a season of similar results. How could you not enjoy the new fantasy machine of Manning, James, and Harrison? They were a good one.

But then I came to Bloomington, and the whole thing flipped. I was surrounded by Colts fans and Colts coverage. The Bears were brutal in 2000, so we never got the games. Too young to drink, I had to listen to the games on the internet, though fortunately my dad was good enough to record them and send me the tapes. They arrived every Tuesday.

I soon found everything about the Colts annoying. The 2000 team was a mediocre 10-6. They blew a playoff game in overtime to the equally uninspired Dolphins. They played on turf. They played no D. Five years later, a year removed from graduation, I found myself back in the state, Indy-proper this time. That was the season the Colts began 14-0. A personal nightmare for me, annoying and sticky. I was contributing columns for NUVO, and when I wrote a story in October about why Colts fans should be excited about their team’s season (and its newfound defensive prowess), I was torn apart by readers who told me as impolitely as possible to return to Chicago and my 2-3 Bears.

Fifteen and a half months later, I sat in my living room and watched Peyton Manning and the Colts win their first Super Bowl…by running the ball and playing stout defense…all while adjusting to the first rainy game in Super Bowl history…against my Bears, no less.

And now this—the Colts flaking out at home against San Diego, thus preventing the third AFC Championship since 2003 between Indianapolis and New England, the only AFC playoff game anyone really, really cares about. Absolutely obnoxious…

If there is a bright side (and there always is a bright side), it is the fact that San Diego’s advancement in the playoffs makes the Patriots’s advancement to the Super Bowl that much more likely.

Which brings us to…

Can the Chargers upset the Patriots en route to their first Super Bowl appearance in 13 years while sending New England home with their first and only loss of their season?

Well of course not.

But, hang on. What if Billy Volek plays?

Still not happening. But if Volek does have to play, it may not be the worst thing for the Chargers. Volek has spunk, and spark. Plus he’s a flinger, among my favorite kinds of quarterbacks. He’s the type of QB that seems capable of pulling off an astounding upset, the kind that would involve something like a second half with three TDs and 200 yards, Volek flinging the go-ahead to Chris Chambers from 34 yards out on a play-action pass on third and two, a ####ed-up Tomlinson gutting it out as the decoy while the injured Rivers waives his towel, the Chargers taking revenge for New England’s mocking of Shawne Merriman’s dance after their playoff game a year ago…

But even that scenario is impossible, because the Patriots are way too good, and there is absolutely zero chance that New England—17-0 and winners of three Super Bowls—are going to drop their first game of the season before getting to Super Bowl XLII.

JACK SEZ:

New England 38, Chargers 20


Meanwhile, in the NFC…

Like with the Colts, I am disappointed in the Cowboys for losing to the Giants and thus keeping us from a Dallas-Green Bay NFC Championship. But again, I am most interested in seeing a New England-Green Bay Super Bowl, and by losing in the divisional round, the Cowboys handed the Packers home field in the NFC. Had you told me on December 1st that the Packers would be hosting the Giants for the conference championship, I would have said…

JACK SEZ: Green Bay 34, New York 10

…however, over the past seven weeks, the Giants have managed to turn themselves into a true force of a football team. Since losing 41-17 to the Vikings, New York has put together the NFC’s best record since December, and third best of all 2007 playoff teams:

SINCE DECEMBER 1st

San Diego 7-0
New England 6-0
New York 5-2
Green Bay 4-1
Indianapolis 4-2
Tennessee 4-2
Washington 4-2
Jacksonville 4-3
Seattle 4-3
Dallas 2-3
Pittsburgh 2-4
Tampa Bay 2-4

I will not be surprised if the Giants knock off the Packers at Lambeau. The Giants have the talent to do it. And a Patriots-Giants Super Bowl probably would not be the clunker that Denver-Atlanta was following Atlanta’s upset of Minnesota in the ’98 NFC game. But I still like Green Bay, and here’s why:

1. Favre
2. Eli at Lambeau in the freezing cold
3. Eli in his first NFC Championship
4. Ryan Grant
5. The Packers at home

It’ll be a close one. New York may even lead at the half. But Brady vs. Favre/18-0 vs. The Biggest Little Team in America must prevail!And so…

JACK SEZ:

Green Bay 20, New York 17 (ot)

On the John
Brady at the foul line, a shot on Ehlo…
Originally published at readjack.com on January 17, 2008




When last we spoke, we wondered aloud about the value of the two most-esteemed of modern quarterbacks, Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts. Some of us favored one, and others the other, but it was generally agreed that they were without peer. Perhaps McNabb in Philadelphia, but he’d been slipping…

…and so it was always Brady and Manning, Manning and Brady. One had the numbers, the other the rings. One was the artist, the technician, 6’5” with shoulders and cleats, marching to the line like Patton. The other was the leader, the winner, the Little Quarterback that Could, and what he Could was win Super Bowls, three of them in all and only 27.

Manning’s the better quarterback, the better passer. No rings, sure, but give the man a defense, and then you’ll see your Super Bowl. The Brady-People snapped back: Manning’s not the winner Brady is. No way he could lead the 2001 Pats to a title—no way! But give Brady James and Harrison and Wayne…ah. Then you’ll see your numbers.

So what happened? Well, Manning got his defense. And in the 2005 regular season, Manning lead his Colts to a franchise record 14 wins, and in the 2006 playoffs, Manning lead his Colts to a Super Bowl title (in the rain, no less). All the while, Brady and his receiver-light offense scraped out 12 wins, a playoff W on the road over the NFL’s best, and came within five points of topping Manning’s Colts in Indy. Reche Caldwell, Jabar Gaffney, a 35-year-old Troy Brown? Not even Montana had it that sparse.

But then it flipped. New England traded for slot receiver Wes Welker on March the 1st and scooped up speed receiver Donte Stallworth ten days later. The Patriots had upgraded…Brady had the best receiving crops of his professional career…and then they nabbed Moss, lifting him from the Raiders for the low-low price of a 4th round draft pick.

Eight months later, we have our answer.

Manning with a well-rounded team: one Super Bowl championship. Brady with the same: three. Manning with a video game offense: 49 TD passes, 10 picks, and 4557 yards. Brady with the same: 50, 8, 4806…and 16-0.

Advantage: Brady.

And when we say “advantage,” we mean career advantage. We always knew Brady was the better Brady. Now we know that he’s also the better Manning. To quote Jay-Z: “You made it a hot line, I made it a hot song.”

And now we reconvene, and as we do we find a new question waiting for us, because I suspect that “Brady or Manning?” will no longer field the kind of enthusiasm and dissent it once did. No, in my mind, the question is now: “Brady or Jordan?”

People always say that you can’t compare apples to oranges. I always disagree, claiming that they are both pieces of fruit. I then choose oranges. Granted, Brady vs. Jordan is much more difficult, but if we can make the apples-oranges leap, then perhaps we can find some honest, meaningful way to compare a 21st Century quarterback against a 20th Century two-guard.

As a basketball player, Michael Jordan was primarily two things. He was an individual aberration, and he was a champion, the ultimate team-leader. He wasn’t the gold standard; he was the Michael Jordan standard. And it was this specific excellence that cemented his reputation as the man most trusted to win when winning seemed least likely.

And that’s what Brady’s got. This isn’t about 4th quarter comebacks; that stat has always felt more like a novelty than a definitive measure of quarterback as leader. What Brady and Jordan possess is a faith-inducing quality, a feeling among spectators that their ability to take complete command of their abilities at just the right time is better than anyone else’s, that all things being equal, a team led by Brady or Jordan will beat a team led by anyone else.

Three seasons ago, I was undecided as to Brady’s Hall of Fame credentials. Three years later, I’m comparing him to the greatest team sport athlete of my lifetime. How did it happen? For me, it began when Brady dragged his undermanned Patriots to the AFC Championship. Trailing by three, Manning drove the Colts 80 yards, Joseph Addai scoring the go-ahead with 62 seconds remaining.

“Well, that’s it,” I said. “They just killed themselves. Brady’s got way too much time.”

Earlier that day, the Bears had advanced to the Super Bowl, and I was sitting there, terrified of one man. And when that one man threw a game-ending interception, I was shocked.

Maybe it was a bit too much to ask of Brady to get that team past Indy on the road. But that’s what I expected. It was the Jordan. And then came this 2007 season, and the game that solidified it was the season finale against the Giants. With the Patriots trailing 28-16 in the third, and 16-0 on the line, I received a text from a Boston-native friend of mine. “Anyone nervous?” My response was immediate: “Not at all. Brady’s got this. He’s the new Jordan.”

And now here we sit, Brady and his Patriots preparing for their fifth AFC title game in seven years, the quarterback eyeing his fourth Super Bowl…but that’s enough from me. Chances are you’ve heard this one.






Copyright 2oo8, jm silverstein

We all know Rex is a problem. He cannot evade pressure, and he gets nervous and does stupid things when said pressure is properly applied. But that does not mean that the Bears offensive woes will be solved simply by putting Rex on the bench and Brian Griese under center.

Take a look-here are the Bears top offensive problems in the season thus far:

1. Playcalling
2. Playcalling
3. Pass protection/blitz pick ups
4. Playcalling
5. Rex doing dumb things
6. Playcalling

As you can plainly see, four out of the team's top six offensive problems are playcalling. That's not good. Would bringing in Brian Griese make Ron Turner call more run plays, something this team desperately needs?

Cedric Benson carried the ball only 3 times in the second half. Two were on the touchdown drive (that he capped off) and one was a fumble (not good.) The game didn't really become the game that it has become until the 4th, when Rex threw a pick on first down that was returned for a TD. That was off a Dallas field goal, and at that point it was 20-10 with 12 minutes left in the game. In that situation, is there any reason to put the game in the hands (and brain) of your shaky QB?

In Lovie Smith's tenure, the Bears are 26-4 when the carry the ball 30 or more times. They are 6-19 when they don't. The Bears ran the ball 23 times Sunday night. There you go. Yes, it is possible that Griese is a smarter QB, but his arm is not better, and if he was such a great quarterback he'd still be starting in Denver. Or Miami. Or Tampa Freakin' Bay.

How bout this for a solution: let's just PRETEND that Rex is Griese. Or better still, let's pretend that he is Kyle Orton. Let's just pretend that it's 2005 and that we are playing with a 4th round rookie at quarterback, which means that we'll have to run the ball and play good defense (assuming the entire team isn't injured). And let's do another thing: let's help our confused and panicked QB by cutting the panic out of it and actually picking up a blitz here or there. That would be fun.

Rex used to be compared to Brett Favre. And quarterback, you are no Brett Favre. Hell, you're not even Tony Romo. But Rex is still the best QB on this team, the guy with the best arm, and the guy who has taken an absolute beating both physically and emotionally and managed to maintain some semblence of sanity and performance. Rex is a problem, yes. But he's not the only problem. It's high time that the Bears realize that and make some adjustments AROUND #8 lest they realize that numbers 14 and 18 need a running game and pass protection too.


CHECK ME OUT AT profootballnet.com