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: Blount Bullies Colts Advancing New England

Indianapolis-New England never really struck me as a rivalry like CBS Sports tried to claim on Saturday night. It was more like Tom Brady versus Peyton Manning, an individualistic rivalry, with the two teams being caught in the middle of it. But as individual rivalries can spring up overnight, ask any PGA golfer, meaning that if Andrew Luck could beat Brady in Foxboro on a wet, windy night, we could have a new NFL rivalry. Yet that did not happen as New England used their newfound power running game along with Luck's inconsistent performance to win this football game in blowout fashion.

New England really uses three running backs, and it seems to be a flavor of the week sort of thing like you might see at a Baskin Robbins or if you catch yourself listening to American Hi-Fi. Usually the flavor happened when the other two running backs find themselves in Bill Belichick's doghouse. LaGarrette Blount has been the bees knees in the last month for New England, and he delivered one of the best performances of his career with a physical rushing style the Patriots have not had on their team in a quite some time.  It is hard to remember a game where Tom Brady really had no hand in the game. Blount rolled Indianapolis' defense for 166 yards and four touchdowns on only 24 carries for nearly seven yards a game. 

Given Blount's recent explosion, is New England the 'hot' team in the playoffs? This team is completely different than some of the previous Patriots teams who rely on Brady to push them ahead. They actually have a running game where New England can control the clock and dominate time of possession. This is something the Patriots have not been able to do since the days of Corey Dillon. Brady threw for under 200 yards, did not throw a touchdown and granted he did not turn the ball over, but this team still scored 43 points. That should scare the remaining three teams in the playoffs. This team might have more injuries than anyone else, but they are the most dangerous team left. 

While he is one of the better young players in the league, Luck really did look like a young quarterback on Saturday night. He threw four interceptions albeit two were receiver issues; Luck made critical mistakes setting up New England in the best possible field possession. He also made some unreal passes especially the 38 yard touchdown to LaVon Brazill where you can see a Most Valuable Player award in his future. Inconsistency in a big game should be an expectation for a quarterback playing in only his third playoff game in his second full season. Indianapolis will definitely have another chance to make it in the coming years. The future is bright with this team, and Luck will only get better.

New England now heads to Denver where the reason people thought Indianapolis-New England was a rivalry, is why this is a rivalry game. These two teams have also met countless times in the playoffs adding more meaning to it. New England came back to win their first matchup where Blount only carried the ball two times for 13 yards. I have a feeling it will be a lot different this time around. 

Charlie.