Seahawks Dominate in first Super Bowl Victory

Growing up in the 90's, I remember my parents telling me as I started to understand football, 'Super Bowl is
the biggest game of the year, but usually, it is not as good as some of the other ones.' What they said held true as many games were blowouts and out of reach by the fourth quarter. Since 2000, there were only a couple games where blowouts happened yet all in all, most games had been close and entertaining as hell. The game on Sunday was not. Seattle destroyed Denver, 43-8, in a rout of all senses of the word as Seattle came up big defensively once again, their offense and special teams added big plays plus why this was the only way Peyton Manning's legacy could get hurt.

Seattle's defense is the most feared in the National Football League. Seahawks made their team with unorthodox players and made it work to the best of their abilities. Legion of Boom along with mean pass rushers. Seattle's defense could have won MVP as a unit as Deadspin's Barry Petchesky pointed out this morning. This team had everything working against one of the best quarterbacks of all-time. I felt like Kam Chancellor set the tone early on with a huge, clean hit on Demaryius Thomas in the first couple plays of the game. They harassed Manning all game long with big rushes from Cliff Avril and others forcing a couple Manning turnovers.

One of the game-changing plays was Malcolm Smith picking off a pass returning for a touchdown. People forget Smith made the interception when Richard Sherman deflected the ball against Michael Crabtree in the NFC Championship Game. Manning had drove Denver down to the 40 yard line with the Broncos down 15-0. Even though it was 3rd and 11 when Manning threw the pick, it seems like they would at least get a field goal attempt out of this drive. Yet Smith picked him off an errant throw that Avril disrupted leading to Seattle being up by 20+ points, something no one saw coming at 5:25 pm on Sunday.

Russell Wilson is a young quarterback. People forget this because he acts like a 10 year veteran. He could have played out of control and seemed too big for the moment although that did not happen. Wilson played great on Sunday with a great game including two touchdowns. Darrell Bevell, Seattle's offensive coordinator, called a great game for Wilson early on. He did not have him do too much and stayed consistent with short runs. Given Marshawn Lynch was not really a factor on Sunday, Seattle needed Wilson to be resilient and he did just that on Sunday.

Seattle gave up a lion's share to get Percy Harvin on their team giving three draft picks. He only played three games this season, but he made it count on Sunday with a tremendous all-around performance. On the second play of the game for Seattle's offense, Harvin ran a fly sweep going for 30 yards immediately pushing the Seahawks down in scoring position. As the second half was set to begin with Seattle having a 22-point lead, Denver tried to keep the ball away from Harvin and did not work as he scooped up the ball near the ten taking it to paydirt to lead off the second half. This was the exclamation point in the Seahawks ass-kicking of Denver, and Harvin made sure Seattle would win this game.

I wrote on Monday that this game would have nothing to do with Manning's legacy unless he has a horrible game. By numbers, Manning did not have a horrible game as he threw for 280 yards and had 34 completions, a Super Bowl record, yet this felt like a horrible Manning game. The reason being is he threw a pick-six changing the outlook of the game as well as turn the ball over early to ensure Seattle's first touchdown of the game. He was responsible as anyone for this game being 22-0 at halftime. While he could not helped Harvin's kick return or Thomas' fumble, Manning struggled mightily for the first time this season leading to an offseason of questions.

Final thought on this game is there was nothing clearer than the NFC being the better conference than the AFC. Seattle-San Francisco felt like a Super Bowl game versus this one. AFC all year lived off smoke and mirrors of some of the better teams with bigger names than anyone in the NFC. Seattle's dominance will be remembered for a long time, and finally after 35 years of ineptitude, Seattle has a championship for the Pacific Northwest.

Charlie.

Sportandfashion-news Super Bowl Preview: 9.) Seahawks-Broncos Prediction

Yes, Super Bowl week is finally here. We will be sick of everything by Friday night yelling PLAY THE DAMN GAME, but it is only right to be excited about it for the first couple days. As we have done in years past, we will be numbering our Super Bowl coverage and then posting a big link dump on Saturday so you have it all at your fingertips before the big game. 

We have finally made it to the prediction time. I mean I could do it in one swift motion and make a quick prediction yet I am not about that life. At the very least, I need to put out some analysis as to who can be difference makers in this game. I a this is stuff are blatently obvious while a couple of them are not really talked about much at all deserving more credit.  

Peyton Manning is the biggest player in this game. No matter how much Richard Sherman talks or Marshawn Lynch does not, Manning is the biggest player in the game. If he were to have 350 yards with four touchdowns against Legion of Boom, one of the best secondary groups, it would be one of the greatest Super Bowl performances of all-time. The question is how will Manning get to 300 yards? It will not be with the deep ball rather delivering body blows throughout the game. 

Deep balls should not be a part of Denver's game on Sunday. Unless Manning truly believes Demaryius Thomas can get past by Sherman and others, there is no reason for him to unleash the cannon against this secondary. Eric Decker should be heavily involved with the slot more so than Wes Welker. Decker is a big dude that can handle the physicality of Seattle's secondary while I do not believe Welker can handle Seattle's secondary. Any of the loaded Broncos stable of receivers can be factors in the game yet it need to be executed right with them grinding them to core. 

There is a little too much being made about Denver's ability to stop the run. Terrance Knighton has been a revelation in the last couple of weeks, but do people realize Marshawn Lynch gives no shits how good a team is against the rush. It is rare Lynch gets shut down, and the added motivation from all of the hoopla from this week will drive him. LaGarrette Blount is not Marshawn Lynch, let's get that straight right now. Denver's rush defense has given up 15 touchdowns which ranks 23rd overall in the NFL. This tells me Denver does not excel at the goal line or tackling at times. Also worth nothing, people do not run ball very much on Denver. Why that is, probably due to a weak secondary and a better rush defense, but they have not seen a player like Lynch.  

Seattle does not have a group of receivers like Denver, but they can have a massive impact on this game. Let's remember Percy Harvin will be a factor in this game. I cannot think of one player on Denver's secondary that can keep up with him. Chris Harris went out with an ACL injury two weeks ago. Champ Bailey cannot play the slot against this team with Harvin and will likely struggle dealing with Doug Baldwin Jr./Golden Tate, both quick receivers. While the rushing attack is Seattle's strong point, they could exploit this Denver defense with their quickness. Obviously, Russell Wilson needs to get them the ball to make this all happen but it seems like the opportunity will be there. 

As for Wilson, he needs to play in control early and often. People might forget given his poise and his demeanor that he is a two-year professional, not a 10 year veteran. If Russell comes out a little tight like he did against San Francisco, it could get ugly with Manning staring him down on the other sideline versus Colin Kaepernick and a team who had more trouble scoring than I have in the City of Milwaukee. This is the job of Darrell Bevell too as he needs to keep Wilson in situations where he is not taking risks at least in the first quarter. If he were to outplay Manning whether they win or lose, it would build to his legacy and might anoint him the best young quarterback which might be hyperbole to its highest degree. 

Defense wins championships no matter what the sport. That is something I have heard since the days of TGIF on ABC. Seattle is the better defense, and one that can make a play when they need it the most. Seahawks get it done on offense with a steady diet of Lynch and Wilson then a Kam Chancellor picking off Manning late to seal the game for Seattle.  Seahawks 30-24 

Charlie.  

Tapping The Keg Podcast: Episode 73

For whatever this is worth, I will file this under Super Bowl preview. As you can see SoundCloud has a new interface, let me know if you like it because they still have the old one as well. Personally, I LOVE it.  Mitch and I (Charlie) spend the first 10 minutes or so talking about the other stuff with the Super Bowl, food, halftime performance, etc. We spend the next 15-20 minutes on the Super Bowl itself breaking down Seattle and Denver's respective chances to win. Our discussion moves to the Bucks where we talk Giannis Antetokounmpo's 'Rising Star' nomination and a little NBA Draft talk. We discuss All-Star reserves as well before moving to some Grammy's discussion because why not? This podcast goes in about 17 directions, but really fun.

Charlie.

Sportandfashion-news Super Bowl Preview: 1.) Peyton Manning's Bizarre Legacy

Yes, Super Bowl week is finally here. We will be sick of everything by Friday night yelling PLAY THE DAMN GAME, but it is only right to be excited about it for the first couple days. As we have done in years past, we will be numbering our Super Bowl coverage and then posting a big link dump on Saturday so you have it all at your fingertips before the big game. 

Peyton Manning will go down as one of the most revered quarterbacks of National Football League history. Many people will point to his statistics as well as his overall regular season success, and will see him as one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game. But the weird part about Manning is his noted playoff struggles that has only yielded one Super Bowl win in two appearances. People act like Manning's legacy will somehow be downgraded if he only wins one Super Bowl versus winning multiple ones. This is not accurate as Manning is playing with house money at this point of his career.

With the media today where everything is about 'now', people almost forget Manning won a Super Bowl against Chicago nine years ago.  The attitude is Manning is in a must-win situation this Sunday against Seattle Seahawks. It is not like he is Dan Marino here at the end of his career. It reminds me a great deal of Brett Favre in 2007 and 2009 where he already had one Super Bowl, but the importance of the second one put him in some other realm. The sole fact Manning will be in three Super Bowls no matter the result is impressive and deserves to be mentioned when people bring up the debate of the 'greatest quarterback.' Getting there is almost as hard as winning the Super Bowl.  Manning doing it with different teams, three different coaches deserves some credit.

Another big part of why this game does not matter for Manning's legacy is his near career-ending neck injury. There were people whom believed Manning would not be on a football field again after his neck injury cost him to miss the 2011 season. There were another group of people whom felt like even if Manning returned to the field, he would never be the same player. Denver's quarterback defied the odds of everyone, and put together two of the more stunning displays of passing in NFL history (Granted all of these stats will be inflated like home runs in late 90's in MLB, but I digress). People seemingly forget Manning suffered a serious injury and came back better than ever.

The only way a dent develops in Manning's legacy is if he plays an awful game on Super Bowl Sunday. If Manning throws three or more interceptions, fails to complete 50 percent of his passes and fumbles the ball away, I think people will point to that performance more so than his Super Bowl win due to the immediacy and everyone remembers a player's worst game versus their best one especially at a stage as humongous as the Super Bowl in New York/New Jersey area. Not to mention, the social media world likes to be assholes versus nice humans so there's that too. Manning playing poorly versus Manning's team losing the game are two entirely different things. If the first one happens, the second one would likely happen as well, but if Manning goes out there with a 300 yard performance in a losing effort, the only people rushing to throw darts at the quarterbacks are the ones whom enjoy low-hanging fruit.

There is a part of me that Manning does not buy into anything I just wrote in this blog post. Rather Manning wants this win so damn bad making sure everyone would shut the hell up about his legacy. While he will never do it, Manning should just do about 10 D-Generation X crotch chops if he wins this game.  The win would mean Manning joins the multiple Super Bowl winners club with Tom Brady, Troy Aikman, Joe Montana and John Elway plus a couple others. That's important to him, and he wants to silence the doubters that still exist yet Manning should know he already has his legacy sealed, this is just the cherry on top.

Charlie.

Manning Defies His Season in Denver's Big Win

For the last decade and change, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning arguably have the best individual rivalry in sports. It is about 'Who holds the key to the quarterback castle' along with other things. It pits two of the best going at it, and usually when they play against each other, you get their complete best. Denver delivered a dominating 26-16 win where they won by a lot more than actual score with Manning delivering a performance of a lifetime and New England finally ripping at the seams with all their injuries.

Maybe it is the media world we live in, or what happened last season but it felt like the pressure on Manning to win another championship was greater than ever before. He dropped the complete hammer on New England with a defining performance throwing for 400 yards only missing on eleven passes while completing over 30 and threw two touchdowns without any turnovers. Manning should have went with a Sam Cassell dance at the end of the game. Everyone talked for days, weeks, months about how Manning could not handle the big moment. Is this moment big enough or will he have to do it against the Legion of Boom for people to be impressed?  No matter what happens to this Denver team in two weeks, Manning should be recognized for his dominance of the American Football Conference all year.

I realize they give out the Most Valuable Player for individual performance during the regular season, but it really felt like this was Manning's game where everyone realizes why the Denver quarterback is taking home an MVP award next Saturday night. As well as realizing why he is one of the Greatest of All-Time in case anyone forgot over the last couple weeks.  One of the things that has bit him in the past was Manning making a mistake for doing a little bit too much. That did not happen on Sunday afternoon against New England. He utilized Eric Decker and Julius Thomas to the best of their abilities along with Demaryius Thomas whom had a huge day going for 134 yards with seven catches including a touchdown. Manning's ability to spread the ball around paid off big time.

Manning played great, and deserves every complimentary word about him yet Terrance 'Pot Roast' Knighton should get a ton of credit as well for paratolling the middle like one of the best defensive tackles in the league. Knighton came from Jacksonville in the offseason and is playingstrong in the last couple of weeks. After having three great games, Knighton played a part in shutting down New England's newfound rushing attack. LaGarrette Blount had only six yards on five carries making him completely obsolete. Knighton also made a key sack of Tom Brady on a critical fourth down play after he made a play to force it to a fourth down. Denver has their own injury issues this year, but the way Knighton played in the last six weeks has been a big reason why the Broncos had a resurgence on defense.

I would be remiss if we did not give New England some credit for the season they had this season. This Patriots team lost Vince Wilfork, Jared Mayo, Rob Gronkowski and countless number of others. New England still found a way to the AFC Championship. Bill Belichick did an excellent job with a team that snake-bitten throughout the season. Not to diminish what they have done, but this speaks to the futility of the AFC too. It is a night and day conference from the NFC. Peyton might love the conference, but it is nowhere near as good of a conference as the other conference.

Denver heads to their first Super Bowl since 1999 when John Elway went back-to-back, and it really confirms why the Broncos brought Manning to the Rocky Mountains. Even if they do not win the game, Broncos accomplished what they wanted to when Manning held up the 18 jersey. I cannot wait for Denver-Seattle. It is going to be a great one.

Charlie.

NFL Championship Weekend Picks

I cannot believe how annoying this week has been with the National Football League has been this week. People spent two days talking about what kind of pants San Francisco's coach wears for Christ sake. Those same folks talked about OMAHA, OMAHA for the entire week. People are asking Tom Brady and Bill Belichick about marijuana use in Denver. People are making ridiculous comparisons for Kaepernick versus Wilson. Needless to say, I am happy football will be here at 2:00 pm on Sunday. It is about damn time. 

New England at Denver 2:00 pm CBS - We all know about Tom Brady and Peyton Manning, and I promise we will get there shortly, but let's talk about the other pawns in this elaborate chess game. LaGarrette Blount is currently having a hot streak in the last several games, and become the key cog in New England's offense. Blount is a bruiser whom can wear Denver's defense down. New England could do many of the same things San Diego did the first time around. I think it would be foolish to not expect a big game from Blount. That being said, big ole Terrance Knighton has to be like his weight and be huge in this one. 

Knighton is having a breakout year for Denver manning the middle. It would be lazy and blogger-like to call him like Vince Wilfork, but honestly, he is having a Wilfork-like impact on Denver's defense. If there is one player on Denver's defense that can affect Blount running the football it is Knighton. He would be my defensive player to watch for the Broncos although I am willing to assume all eyes will be on Quentin Jammer as he fills in for the injured Chris Harris who is out with an ACL injury.  

Tom Brady has to be licking his chops with guys like Jammer and Champ Bailey playing in the secondary. Both are past their prime. These guys can be contributors on a good team, but they can be your starters especially when you are staring at Tom Brady. I understand the receivers Brady has right now are comparable to Taco Bell ground beef, but still, Brady found all sorts of ways to make it work despite the lack of talent. 

What is sort of lost on people when talking about New England is how good their cornerbacks are and if the officials let them play, I could see Peyton Manning have some issues and forcing some balls. To that point, Manning needs to be in control and look for shorter passes underneath to tear up the weak linebacker core. It is really not a game where Manning should be looking deep rather take his time and control the clock. 

In the end, I like New England. I feel like the Patriots are completely patch-worked but still know how to win this game. Blount becomes the key while Brady delivers some big plays taking advantage of a vulnerable secondary. NE 38-34  

San Francisco at Seattle 5:30 pm FOX - Did you know there is no love lost between these teams? Do you know these coaches do not like each other? Seriously, we all get it. Just like the Steelers-Ravens in 2010, we get the best rivalry going right now playing for the right to get to the Super Bowl.   

Russell Wilson is really the player to watch in this one. People hate saying bad words about golden child Russ, but he has not been in good in a month. He is essentially Alex Smith'ing or Trent Dilfer'ing his way through the playoffs. Wilson needs to come up with a couple big plays for Seattle to win this game. Not having Percy Harvin this week I actually think does not hurt as much as others might believe. They had to rework their offense a bit to get Harvin in on more plays, and now they are back to what they have been for the whole year.

One thing I noticed when watching a limited amount of tape is Colin Kaepernick tends to underthrow the football against Seattle. I assume this is a problem for him overall, but for whatever reason, Kaepernick still goes for the vertical option. Wilson is a game manager right now (I am not saying he is one for the record, rather that's what he is doing to help his team while he struggles if that makes sense), and Kaepernick needs to play that way as well. If he makes an early mistake, the demons of his struggles against Seattle with the 12th man will all return. If Kaepernick comes out blazing hot in this game, we could be in for quite the show from here plus it would probably put him on a special pedestal if he pulled off the upset.

The thing about Seattle's defense is I struggle to find a weakness for this team. Seattle did give up 300 yards of passing last week, but that was not indicative of how they played throughout the game. While with San Francisco, I am looking at how they struggled with Eddie Lacy earlier this playoffs and now face Marshawn Lynch, a guy whose been great against San Francisco in years past, seems like all sorts of trouble for San Francisco. The biggest thing for stopping Lynch is not letting him to get to the second level, and when the first hit happens, it needs to be the last one.  

I hope this game has some flow to it. I am worried we will get a lot of penalties, one team might take advantage early and not look back from it. I hope I am wrong though. I have Seattle in this game. I think Lynch is too much and Wilson will have his first big day in a long while. SEA 24-16 

Charlie.  

Tapping The Keg Podcast Episode 71

Mitch Pratt and Charlie Tritschler taped yet another podcast where this week we talk about the density of people using social media, preview both Championship games starting with New England-Denver and then San Francisco-Seattle. We move on to discuss Joel Embiid who is the new 'pop star' of college basketball as Charlie likes to call him. It continues on to a Milwaukee Bucks hypothetical and then a conversation about Larry Sanders which includes why Milwaukeeans need to get behind him. We finish up the podcast talking about the Clayton Kershaw deal which somehow leads us to some quick words on Australian weather. Enjoy!

Charlie.

Divisional Round Recap: Denver's New Look Ball Control Offense

The first three games in the divisional round playoff weekend went as planned with all of the favorites winning meaning San Diego-Denver game felt like the perfect recipe to screw it up. There is no way we could be #blessed to get Seattle-San Francisco and New England-Denver. But the Broncos made sure we get a dream final four by beating San Diego, 24-17, with a convincing win by Denver for three quarters with an efficient day from Peyton Manning, a slowed down Denver offense and how the fourth quarter would worry me moving forward.

Everyone wanted to see another bad Peyton playoff performance. I have no idea when it shifted from people sort of haphazardly defending Manning's struggles to everyone expecting him to succumb to the pressure. Manning is a great quarterback no matter if it is in the regular season or the playoffs. He did not press at all in the game, and Manning's interception really did not affect the game although it could have put the game out of reach early in the first game. Additionally, it was not the typical Denver performance where the offense moved up and down the field. They were a controlled attack giving San Diego a test of their own medicine.

The whole year San Diego has been known as a team who controls the clock and wears you down with Danny Woodhead, Ronnie Brown and Ryan Mathews. Denver basically decided to play copycat and used their own version with Knowshon Moreno and Montee Ball. Denver duo had 133 yards on 34 carries, and while they only averaged about four yards per game, they still slowed down the game to keep San Diego off the field. With the year Manning had this season, people forget this team can run the football at an above average level. Yesterday, they needed it more than ever. I think it controlled Manning putting him at a more relaxed state which is important to him and his success. This will need to be how Denver plays for the next couple of games if they want to win the Super Bowl.

If people forgot, or they decided to give in for a significant other, female roommate, sister, brother, male roommate who wanted to watch the Golden Globes Red Carpet, San Diego scored 17 points in the final quarter. People will probably not make much of it, but it should be one of the things that should scare the living hell out of Broncos fans. Remember Denver's coach is John Fox, and one of the biggest criticism of Fox throughout his Carolina years was his ability to turn into the biggest conservative play caller when his team has a big lead.  Fox showed that on Sunday, and in fact, he showed it when New England and Denver met for the first time. I realize this is not Fox's philosophy, but he really needs to put the foot down on the throat when they have a chance. Do not worry about the 'what if' and just finish the deal.  Broncos and Fox made it too close for comfort in the final quarter on Sunday.

The narrative shifts from 'Manning cannot win the big one' to 'Brady versus Manning' and the debate that comes with it. Manning has a chance to make it to his third Super Bowl while Brady could break a record for Super Bowl appearances with six. This will be a top notch football game, and you just hope conditions are perfect for a complete duel between these quarterbacks as this might be the last time we see it in the playoffs.

Charlie. 

The Tap Ten: 2013 NFL Stories

This is the beginning of our 2013 end of the year lists for sports.  I know we will do one for MLB, CFB, CBB, NBA, PGA and NFL. I probably will do a top 20 list of overall moments and if we get real frisky, maybe top 20 figures in sports giving away our first annual Tapper of the Year or something dumb like that. Also as always, these are my lists and I can imagine you have a different one, cool story. 

10. Josh Freeman drama - Remember this happened earlier this football season? People were thinking Greg Schiano was going to get fired because of it, and everyone went to Freeman's aid thinking he had every right to be mad. Both sides overdid it to the extreme with leaks coming from all corners of the Tampa Bay organization. Once Tampa Bay released Freeman, they became a better football team, and people seemed to rally around Schiano again. Buccaneers are currently 4-3 since their 0-8 start with Freeman being around for much of it. Was he the problem?  We will likely never know the answer.

9. Atlanta and Houston goes from first to worst - Both the Falcons and Texans are model franchises for why NFL is filled with parity. Kansas City too for that matter. But I think Atlanta and Houston's struggles are much more drastic. Both teams made the playoffs in consecutive years, Falcons in the last four out of the five. Honestly, I could see Houston bouncing back with a couple additions on their defense, and a new quarterback (Hello Jay Cutler or Teddy Bridgewater) plus their division is not good besides Indianapolis for the short-term. Atlanta is in big trouble with a horrible defense, a retiring tight end and a ton of money tied up at one position plus NFC South is loaded including Tampa Bay who have many more pieces than Atlanta.

8. Colin Kaepernick hits the big stage - I do not know why Green Bay decides to pull this shit, but they do with young quarterbacks in the playoffs. Kaepernick had a great game against the Packers to lead San Francisco into the NFC Championship game and then the Super Bowl. Even though I am a Packer fan, I could not have been more impressed with how easy it looked for Kaepernick for the entire game. It looked like his moment to the big stage and truly, it probably ensure him endorsement deals that very night. People starting to make assumptions Kaep would be one of the best in the league, and he struggled mightily to begin the year as he was without Michael Crabtree and others throughout it. He seems much better in the last month, but we will see whether Green Bay-San Francisco is the start of it all, or just an aberration.

7. Johnathan Martin/Richie Incognito saga - Honestly, this would have been higher on my list if it imploded Miami's season, but they have a chance to make the playoffs in the final week of the season thus making it just a story between these two men versus their entire team. I have no idea if this story will ever be more than a player felt like he was picked on while the supposed bully felt like it was two friends just giving each other shit with Richie being the guy whom takes it too far more often than not. I am curious to see what Miami does with Martin as he is still under team control, and I can almost guarantee someone gives Incognito a job again.

6. Robert Griffin hurts knee again; hits the sophomore slump - I think we will always remember Robert Griffin III's knee injury because he led Washington back from 3-6 record on an incredible run only to rip up his knee. A lot like Kaepernick in the following week, everyone believed Griffin III would be a part of the next generation. Instead, Mike Shanahan and Washington rushed him back from injury leading to an awful Redskins season as well as criticism for Griffin III grew rapidly. I have no idea how Mike Shanahan kept his job for the entire season, but here we are. RGIII's microscope will continue to be big until he starts winning again. Media is a cruel world, and it will be curious if anything changes. They need to get deeper as a team and a defense.

5. Peyton Manning... Another divisional round home loss, breaks records - Whirlwind year for Peyton Manning. He came back in 2012 leading Denver to the number one seed in the AFC and then a home playoff overtime loss against Baltimore in what was the game of the year. Manning made his presence in his second year with Denver breaking the touchdown record and is 266 yards away from breaking the passing record. We did make mention earlier in the week on how Manning's numbers are a little easier to obtain given today's rules yet he still needs to get there with consistently big performances almost every time Manning went out there this season. He will be the Most Valuable Player for 2013. Denver is not a great team, but there are not many good teams this season either. It might be the year for Manning to get his second ring.

4.  Baltimore Ravens win the Super Bowl amid a blackout - I think I remember this football game more for the blackout, and how Baltimore thought the whole thing was a conspiracy to make the game closer when really Baltimore should have blown out San Francisco rather than nearly Exorcism puking all over their shoes in the third quarter. The game was over at halftime, but San Francisco came back to nearly tie in the fourth quarter at 31 but they missed a two-point conversion. My assumption is people will always remember it for the blackout rather than it being a pretty solid football game. This was also one of the most chippy Super Bowls I can remember in quite some time which is appreciated and need more of it.

3. Aaron Hernandez arrested for murder - With more information coming out about this case, it is still crazy one of the biggest players on one of the most public teams was arrested for murder. When the news first broke my assumption was one of Hernandez's good friends made the murder and somehow he became an accessory to it yet that did not end up being the case as Hernandez would be charged with murder. We would soon find out more and more information about Aaron Hernandez's life as well as watch people connected to the case die off with three people dying since Hernandez's arrest. This will be a great movie when we find out all the details about what happens with him. I do not think we will have all the answers until early 2015.

2. Player's safety concerns reaches an all-time high - This year featured a year where the NFL settled a concussion lawsuit and more times than not, people are cringing with big hits instead of reacting like it is the best thing since Napster. Every time a player goes down with what looks like a head injury more times than not, it is indeed a concussion. Wes Welker had two in three weeks. Jermichael Finley might never play football again.  Additionally, there are many people writing columns, blog posts and talking about how they will not let their son or future son play football. I do not really know where this is going yet. I feel like it can go many ways, and we have not seen all of them just yet. I do think the more we try to protect players from concussions, the better it will get in years to come.

1. Aaron Rodgers breaks his collarbone - Easily, the biggest story in the state of Wisconsin for the last
couple of months.  It is at a 'Derrick Rose' stage where people are waiting and wishing he will come back only to get disappointed. I have no idea where this is headed for the Packers quarterback. I feel like if Green Bay had Dan Marino, Jim Kelly instead of Brett Favre, Rodgers would not be insecure about having to explain this is not his fault he is sitting out with a broken bone injury. It is kind of a shame. Rodgers' collarbone and Braun's PED stuff being number one kind of sums things up for Wisconsin fans in 2013.

Charlie.

NFL Liquor Cabinet Week 16: Everybody is drunk

For the entire NFL season, we will be breaking down the rest of the NFL not named Green Bay by looking at it like a liquor cabinet. Why did we choose this method? I like to booze and it makes things really easy to determine what's great, average and poor. 

I usually do not put a tag, but I really think I have no idea what's going to happen in the playoffs. Like we are heading for a 'Red Wedding' style playoffs where no one is safe. I cannot believe I said multiple times on Sunday, 'Philadelphia might be the best NFC team.'  Let's talk about it I guess and try to make sense of all that happened this week. 

TOP SHELF 
Talk me out of a New England-Philadelphia Super Bowl -  Here's where the NFL season has left me folks. These are the two best teams right now in both divisions. San Francisco is pretty good, but giving up 350 yards to Matt Ryan at home worries me a bit. Philadelphia seems to be cooking on all cylinders, and I feel like the Minnesota game is a blip on the radar. New England keeps winning games no matter who is lining up on both sides of the football. Tom Brady's statistics might not be great, but he's playing great this season for what's he's been given this year.

Cam Newton's big balls performance - While Robert Griffin III suffered all the criticism after he had a successful rookie season, Cam Newton received it during the draft process, his first season, second season and to think there are still losers whom still call him Scam. He led Carolina down the field late in the game trailing and notched a victory for the Panthers. I do not care if he only threw for 181 yards. That took massive testicular fortitude, and I am impressed with his season. Cam Newton is winning an MVP award before 2018.

Indianapolis leaves me uneasy like an STD - That might be a little too extreme, but I do not know what to make of the Colts. I am starting to think Indianapolis plays down to their opponents hence the reason why they have some brutal losses in juncture with impressive wins against Seattle, San Francisco, Denver and others. They will get a home game against this Kansas City team, but I also wonder if Andy Reid played a vanilla offense/defense showing nothing to Indianapolis which is very possible. We have seen this before with teams.

Cowboys come back and Romo gets hurt? - Dallas made a valiant comeback against Washington with Tony Romo leading a comeback to beat Washington and set up an NFC East showdown next Sunday. But they could be without Romo as he has a back injury. First, it was a herniated disk, then it was day-to-day injury and now it is back spasms. I have no idea what to think about this Dallas team although I will admit it would be the most Romo thing ever for Kyle Orton to lead Dallas to a playoff appearance.  

MIDDLE SHELF 
I feel legitimate bad for Arizona - As someone who cheers for an NFC North team, I feel bad Arizona might miss the playoffs with an 11-5 record. That would be insane. I mean the NFC West is an excellent division, but still it feels wrong in all sorts of ways for Arizona or New Orleans missing the playoffs although more so the Cardinals who have been playing great of late.

Peyton breaks the record, but how much meaning does it have? - I am really happy for Peyton Manning's season because it in large part won me 260 dollars so for that I thank him, but at the same time, passing records post the new NFL rules will be looked at like the steroid era numbers in baseball. All of these records being broken and re-broken by others in the last couples years is honestly pathetic, but it is not Peyton's fault for taking advantage.  

Somehow Andy Dalton is sixth in passing - See what I mean about what I just ranted about above?

Jeff Fisher is the king of .500 - I probably should not call him the king, but he is the prince of it. In eight of his 18 seasons of a full-time head coach, Fisher's teams have been either 7-9, 7-8-1 or 8-8. That's incredible. I do not know what that says about his teams or his coaching. Just find it interesting how it always seems to Ihappen with Fisher.

BOTTOM SHELF 
DETROIT..... Football :( - We were at Lambeau, and they showed the highlights of New York-Detroit... Right before they did it, my buddy Seth goes 'I bet Stafford threw a pick-six here.' and sure enough, he did throw that interception and sure enough, Detroit lost the football game.

Miami pulls a Dan Marino - For as long as I could remember, Dan Marino was famously known for choking in December football games on the road. He could not win in the cold to save his soul.  Apparently, this version of the Dolphins do the same thing as they were shutout by the Bills, the same team who gave up 33 points to Jacksonville. Thankfully, Miami has New York Jets at home.

I have no control in Week 17 - I absolutely hate how I have no idea how things will pan out next week. I am exhausted from this season.

Charlie.

Tap's Thursday Night Pick

We have come to an end with this blog post. It is the final Thursday night game for the National Football
League meaning this blog post ceases to exist. I mean we could do NBA games, but that's probably not in the cards.  People have said multiple times how much they hate Thursday night games, but honestly, I think finally players are starting to figure out how play on a short week. The last five weeks we have had close football games and they were played at a pretty high quality. I feel like this is an encouraging sign for the future of Thursday night games especially when NFL is flirting with the idea of a second Thursday night game.

I feel like we are at a juncture where Goodell is going to pull a Charlie Day and go WILDCARD BITCHES YEEHAWWWW with the schedule in the coming years. We already saw it with the 8:30 am game in London next year with Atlanta-Detroit.  I would be shocked if the NFL does not make a deal with Google to stream games on YouTube for a price of course. That is the great frontier right now. NFL is too smart to not recognize more and more people are not cable subscribers and they could make a massive deal with Google meaning even if someone owns say an XBOX 1 or Playstation 4, they can stream the game right from their video game. If they do not want to stream fully, it might be the Thursday games at very least.

Notice I said games because I do believe they will try to add a second Thursday night game although I have no idea how they would do the TV schedule. I guess one game would begin at 6 pm and the other one would be 9:15 pm meaning the second game will have to feature one of the West Coast teams at home. Although the other thing they could do is start the first game at 6 pm and the next one at 8 pm with the game saying the game will be shown on YouTube and then on the NFL Network when the first game is over. I am real interested to see where the NFL goes from here.

As for the game tonight pitting Denver Broncos (10-2) against the puzzling San Diego (6-7) with Broncos being a 7.5 point favorites at home in chilly Denver where temperatures are expected to be a low of 29. Peyton Manning will be able to exploit the San Diego defense, and even with Phillip Rivers' December record, I do not think they have enough to overcome the Broncos at home in a primetime game.
Denver 35 San Diego 24 

Charlie.