The Shield is Mightier than the Sword ...
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Tom Brady, after losing to Manning in the AFC Championship, looked relaxed and happy in the postgame. We remarked in the living room, wow, that looks like a guy who knew he couldn't win this game. There wasn't much pressure on him, because he was resigned to the outcome all week. Or so it says here.
That night, it was clear why. The 2013 Broncos, says Brady, "have probably the best offense in NFL history."
Bear in mind that:
- This was Brady-Manning XV, and they're both old, so it's legacy time
- Brady had won like 14 of the previous 14 games
- Brady has 5 Super Bowls to Manning's 1 ...
- ... so he can coast in from here, to a much greater legacy than Manning has
You gotta understand that Larry Bird did not praise the Lakers highly. Not while they were still playing, anyway. Can you imagine Bird saying, in 1984, wow. The Lakers are unbeatable. Or can you imagine LeBron James losing a series to Kevin Durant and saying, "It's his league now." Never happen.
For Tom Brady to offer that statement, was a lot like Roberto Duran saying "No Mas" ... if Duran had been ahead on rounds 8-2 at the time. If that happened, then something very, very weird occurred in that 11th round.
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In top-flight chess, this happens. A world championship match gets under way, and they teeter back and forth for a bit, and then ... one player just quits. Maybe he's even ahead. He understands that it's just a matter of time.
In top-flight chess, there have also been some wonderful STYLISTIC duels that, basically, served as statements of how CHESS worked at the time. In 1927, J.R. Capablanca was the unbeatable "chess machine," the defensive/positional player who literally went years at a time without losing. He faced the swashbuckling Alexander Alekhine and when Alekhine won, it changed everybody's minds as to whether defense had "solved" chess.
I think that's part of why NFL Super Bowls influence the draft so much. Football evolves, and teams rightly use it as a window into the state-of-the-art. If the Seahawks win, will the defensive backs helium to the top of the draft?!
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If Peyton Manning is THE BEST THERE HAS EVER BEEN, and the Seahawks' pass defense is also state-of-the-art, then --- > Super Bowl 48 will give us a lot of insight as to the way FOOTBALL works in the 21st century.
It's not just another game. It is offense, abstracted, against defense, abstracted.
Who knows more about football? Peyton Manning, after a lifetime of offensive film, or Pete Carroll, after a lifetime of defensive film?
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One reason the Broncos could win: they've got the best passing offense ever?! Well ... Dr. D (who is, ahem, a legendary intermural flag-football QB in his own right) has always felt, intuitively, that football passing should "break" the game. Passing should be unstoppable.
Think about it. You've got one guy, standing here. You've got another guy, standing over there. They're playing keep-away. All the receiver really needs is like 18", in ANY direction, and a proper pass will get to him. How is that stoppable?
Speaking as a flag-football enthusiast, I believe that the only real reason a pass would ever fail is that ---- > the QB needed to throw the ball better.
That TD pass, off Kaepernick's front foot, was maybe the greatest sports play I ever saw. Earl Thomas actually touched the ball. Anquan Boldin just barely got up to it, but he got it. In one magnificent play, I suddenly understood why Jim Harbaugh traded Alex Smith.
In theory, that could happen every single play. In the year 3014, human beings will complete every pass for a TD...
Or not.
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One reason the Seahawks could win: Manning is a stationary target. The Seahawks can rush four, period. All day long.
If Manning is so good he's going to be able to to pick out WR #4, #5, for little 6-yarders, fine... he's going to need a lot of those kind of passes. It's not like those 6-yard check-offs are going to be routine, either, like they usually are for Brady and Manning against AFC defenses.
Kam Chancellor looked thrilled to be facing Manning. He should be. The Broncos, in principle, are tailor-made for the Seahawks. Maybe they're the best offense ever? So the Seahawks get credit for facing an irresistible force when, to them, it's only a challenging force.
Look, amigos, Drew Brees is not substantially worse than Peyton Manning. The Broncos threw for 5,400 yards, sure, but ... the Saints threw for 4,900, you know. The Saints were as far ahead of the #3 passing team (Detroit) as the Broncos were ahead of them ... and the Broncos play, ahem, in the AFC.
Not only did the Seahawks kerrrrr-USH Drew Brees' passing attack in the first game, but ... given all the time he needed to adjust, Drew Brees did not ATTEMPT to confront the Seahawk pass defense in the rematch.
He said "No Mas." Drew Brees' implicit statement about the Legion of Boom was, nobody can beat it. You've got to sidestep it.
But that, of course, contradicts the way Dr. D feels about the basic game of "Keep-a-Way."
Enjoy,
Jeff