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OUT OF LEFT FIELD |
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FOR QUARTERBACKS
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Favre, Sanchez, Manning
had memorable outings
of TheColumnists.com
When this pro football season is competed there will be unhappiness all over the National Football League landscape.
The Detroit Lions, Oakland Raiders, Cleveland Browns, Washington Redskins, Seattle Seahawks, Buffalo Bills, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, St. Louis Rams, Jacksonville Jaguars, Carolina Panthers, Kansas City Chiefs, Tennessee Titans, Atlanta Falcons, Denver Broncos, Houston Texans, Chicago Bears, Miami Dolphins, New York/Jersey Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, San Francisco 49ers, Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, Cincinnati Bengals, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, San Diego Chargers and Minnesota Vikings will be unhappy.
The loser of the Super Bowl between the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints also will be unhappy. Only the winner of the Super Bowl--and the New York/Jersey Jets and their fans will not be unhappy. The Jets will have little regrets because they had a good season, far surpassing expectations of most observers by lasting into the next-to-last week of play.
That is the nature of the NFL beast. Every
team and its fans lust to win the Super Bowl.
But only one team can win it. So you almost have to wonder if
the agony suffered by the losing teams’ fans throughout
the league is worth the hopes and aspirations with which they
start each season.
After New Orleans beat Minnesota in overtime Sunday to advance to the Feb. 7 Super Bowl against Indianapolis, Saints linebacker Scott Fujita said, “Brett Favre was a good story, but the Saints were the better story.”
For him, yes, but not for everybody. Not for me. As the game action developed, it was Favre who was at the center of the drama almost every time the Vikings were on the field. With Favre being knocked down time and time again, it began to feel like watching a boxing bout where one fighter was taking such a beating, you were inclined to yell at the referee to stop the fight.
Favre was battered 15 of the 42 times he threw a pass. The worst instance was when he handed the ball off and was out of the play, but the Saints’ Bobby McCray rammed into him knocking him to the ground. It was obvious for a long time that the Saints were programmed to target Favre, and this was the worst hit of all.
After a while, it seemed that Favre got up limping and in pain after every hit. Then there was the time a teammate fumbled the ball and none other than Favre made a futile attempt to tackle the Saint who had recovered the ball--and was rolling on the ground again.
At one point the Fox telecast showed Favre’s wife watching the action with concern. And then it showed both his mother and his wife absorbing the scene. Dramatic stuff.
Announcers Troy Aikman and Joe Buck began to wonder what effect the hits were having on Favre. Though he didn’t throw the ball with high accuracy all the time, he did seem to be throwing hard enough and accurately enough most of the time.
But then came the moments that lost the game for Minnesota and probably would haunt Favre through his retirement--assuming he is wise enough to realize at 40 that he had a wonderful, if painful, last hurrah.
The Vikings were in position to win the game when they moved to the Saints’ 33-yard line with just under a minute to play in regulation time. Here they stalled and were pushed back out of field goal range. With one more play in this series, Favre faded back to pass. Scrambling, he didn’t have anybody to throw to. As the announcers pointed out, he did have a clear few yards to run to get the ball back into field goal territory. But the man with the battered body did not--or could not--run. He made a desperate, foolish throw across his body that was intercepted. This enabled New Orleans to survive into overtime and win the game, 31-28.
Favre did not get another chance with the ball.
Two other quarterbacks dominated the two conference championships. Payton Manning dazzled as Indianapolis came from behind by 11 points and won by 13, 30-17. He cut the Jets up, completing 26 of 39 passes for 377 yards and three touchdowns.
Mark Sanchez, the Jets’ rookie quarterback, had what was probably his best game. He completed 16 of 29 for 257 yards and two touchdowns, including an 80-yard pass to Braylon Edwards for the first score of the game. He didn’t match the success of Joe Namath winning the third Super Bowl, but he actually had a better all-around game. Namath’s fame has rested on his cocky pre-game boast that the Jets would upset the Baltimore Cols. He benefited from conservative play calling and the steady running of Matt Snell.
When the Jets were leading, 17-6, in the first half, the CBS telecast showed a quick shot of Rex Ryan, the Jets’ flamboyant coach, wearing a sweater with words crowning the Jets as champions of the 44th Super Bowl. Ryan did a terrific job bringing the Jets as far as he did, though he may have overreached himself at one point.
When the Jets’ first drive of the second half stalled, he had his man Jay Feely try to kick a 52-yard field goal. It failed. The Colts took advantage of the good field position and went in for a touchdown that enabled them to take the lead for the first time and win handily.
Warning: tune in to CBS in the coming days and suffer a clock counting down the days, minutes and seconds leading up to the Super Bowl.
©2010 by Stan Isaacs. The Stan Isaacs caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. This column first posted Jan. 25, 2010.
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