Peyton Manning: The NFL’s Bully

After yet another fourth-quarter comeback against the Texans on Sunday, Peyton Manning is just further securing his legacy. Not as the greatest quarterback ever, but as the league bully.

It seems like Peyton enjoys seeing other teams take big leads against him, only to crush their hopes as he leads the Colts on a game-winning touchdown drive.

Would any of us be surprised to see postgame pictures of Peyton putting Tom Brady in a headlock with his underwear pulled up over his head? Or putting Andre Johnson in a full nelson and taking his lunch money?

What will Peyton do for an encore this week? Beat the Titans, then pull down Chris Johnson’s pants in front of the whole stadium?

Seriously though, has any athlete ever been such a sure bet to succeed?

In the ’90s, if the Bulls were down by 10 with two minutes to go, you thought, “Well, they got Jordan, so they can still do this.”

In the ’80s, if the Oilers were down by two with a minute to go you thought, “Gretzky could still pull a miracle.”

But if the Colts have the ball down by six with a minute to go, the thought isn’t “maybe.” The thought is, “This game is over; Colts win.” No one else has ever been such a sure thing.

Mariano Rivera is a sure thing, but he only comes in when the Yankees are already ahead. If you have a six-point lead in the last minute, you should be very confident you will win.

But against Manning, you really know there is no hope. He will beat you.

Say what you will about Brady and Brees; Peyton Manning is the NFL’s best quarterback. He makes throws that no one else can and makes it look easy. There really is no throw Peyton can’t make.

He pushes the rest of the league around and demoralizes them for fun. He really is in a league of his own. Thinking about Peyton as a kid leaves me with just one thought: poor Eli.

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Roughing The Passer Rule Needs To Change: Why Tom Brady Needs to Stop Complaints

When did quarterbacks stop being football players?

When did they become so soft?

Football has always been a tough game. There’s a reason there are only 16 games in an NFL season. Players need time to recover from being beaten up for 60-minutes every week.

But, if breathing too hard on a quarterback is a penalty now then do they really need a week to recover?

For those that haven’t seen the plays in the Patriots-Ravens game on Sunday, there were two very questionable roughing-the-passer calls.

Terrell Suggs barely touched Tom Brady’s leg and Brady started complaining like Tonya Harding hired someone to come after him.

The second was when Haloti Ngata grazed Brady’s helmet. Maybe Brady was worried Ngata would mess up his hair because again Brady begged for a flag to be thrown.

Now I’m all for protecting the quarterback, if your an offensive lineman.

I understand that quarterbacks have to stand in there and take hits when they are basically defenseless. And roughing-the-passer should absolutely be called when a quarterback is hit hard late.

But looking threateningly at a quarterback is not a penalty.

At what point do we just give these guys a red jersey and make it a game of touch-football?

Maybe Rodney Harrison said it best, “Tom Brady, if you’re listening, take off the skirt and put on some slacks.”

If quarterbacks don’t stop complaining every time someone gets near them, maybe they should just wear those pink shoes and wristbands every week.

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T.O. Causing Trouble Again? Not This Time

Terrell Owens has talked his way out of every NFL city he has ever played in, from San Francisco to Philadelphia to Dallas.

Now he is working on talking his way out of Buffalo too. Or is he?

Despite being egged on by reporters during his entire press conference on Sunday, Owens refused to say anything bad about his team.

For the first time in 185 games, Owens didn’t catch a pass in Buffalo’s 27-7 loss to New Orleans on Sunday.

And even though TO was clearly upset by this fact, he had nothing bad to say.

Reporters were clearly trying to get Terrell to complain about the play calling or his quarterback Trent Edwards, as he has been known to do.

It started with simple questions about why the Bills lost and why they couldn’t execute. Fine, just trying to get his perspective on what they can do to improve next week.

Then they moved to questions about the play calling to which Owens responded, “I’m just going with the plays that are called.” Ok, looking for answers about offensive strategy from an offensive player.

Owens was asked if he was frustrated with these plays. This is flirting with the fine line between looking for insight and looking for a cheap story.

But when he was asked if he and Lee (Evans) were being wasted in this offense that was where they crossed the line. If Owens wants to throw his team under the bus again, he has proven he can do that perfectly fine without help from the press.

There is no reason to try to talk Owens into being a problem.

When TO refused to give a yes or no answer to that question, the reporter started suggesting answers. This isn’t reporting anymore, it’s trying to find a story where there isn’t one.

I understand the job of a reporter is to get the story. But when you are trying to force a story to develop, that isn’t getting a story anymore.

Believe me, I’m not a TO apologizer. I don’t like his attitude just like I don’t like the whole “prima donna” receiver attitude. But it isn’t right to try and force Owens to get himself into trouble.

He can do that just fine by himself.

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Jaguars Talking Draft Already?

With only 31 short weeks until the NFL draft, the Jaguars are already thinking about who to pick. Owner Wayne Weaver was quoted as saying the idea of drafting Tebow was “very compelling”.

This is a bad idea no matter how you want to look at it.

Tebow is a hero in Florida, there’s no doubt about that. But to draft a player as a business decision is something no team should ever consider doing.

No matter how popular a player is, the best thing a team can do to sell tickets is win. If you think there is a player available that could help your team more, that is the guy you have to pick.

Tebow is tremendous athlete. We all know that. But there is a lot of doubt about whether or not he can be a productive NFL quarterback.

According to some reports, Tebow may go in the first round. A guy who may or may not produce at the quarterback position is way too much of a risk to take in the first round. Especially with Names like Colt McCoy and Sam Bradford in the same draft class.

Even with all these great quarterbacks coming out, there is no real reason to replace their current quarterback. David Garrard had a down year last year, but the year before he was excellent in leading Jacksonville to the playoffs.

Now Tebow may become a productive tight end. But to spend a first round pick on a guy who needs to switch positions is a horrible idea.

If Tebow falls to Jacksonville in the second round, that may turn out to be a great pick for them. But to take Tebow in the first round is too much of a risk for a team that could be a serious contender in the coming years.

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Giants Passing Game Off To Good Start

Coming into the season, many experts questioned whether the Giants receivers would be effective enough to give the Giants a chance to win.

Well that question was answered on Sunday.

The Giants passing game was just fine in their 23-17 victory over the Washington Redskins.

Eli Manning routinely had an open receiver to throw to.

Whether it was veterans Domenik Hixon and Steve Smith or rookie Hakeem Nicks or tight end Kevin Boss, there seemed to always be someone open downfield.

And on the rare occasion that there wasn’t, Manning was able to dump the ball off to Brandon Jacobs or Ahmad Bradshaw.

As expected, Steve Smith was the Giants most targeted receiver, catching six passes for 80 yards. Smith was able to shake coverage seemingly every play, despite lining up on the edge most of the day. Smith has shown throughout his career he is more comfortable as a slot receiver.

But Manningham caught Eli’s only touchdown pass of the day, a 30-yard reception on a wide receiver screen. Manningham finished with three catches for 58 yards and a touchdown.

If Manningham can be the receiver he was while at Michigan and become a reliable pass catcher, it will help the team tremendously—not just because of what he would do, but also because it would allow Smith to move back to the slot.

Rookie Hakeem Nicks also added two catches for 18 yards before leaving his NFL regular season debut with an ankle injury.

Eli Manning was very efficient, completing 69 percent of his passes for 256 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

At this point in his career, no one is expecting Eli to be Peyton. Eli isn’t a quarterback who is going to put up record breaking numbers.

Eli has become more of a game manager, which is perfectly fine. As long as he controls the ball and the clock, the Giants passing game will be more of a strength than a weakness.

They key to the passing game was the offensive line though. They have been playing together for a long time now and work very well as a unit.

Manning rarely had to deal with pressure from the defense, even with newly signed Albert Haynesworth on the line.

Without any pressure, Eli was able to take his time to find the open man.

If the Giants are able to repeat Sunday’s performance throughout the season, they will be a very tough team to beat.

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Lack Of Star Recievers Make NFC East Anyone’s Division to Win

With the release of Plaxico Burress and Terrell Owens, there are no established star recievers left in the NFC East.

However, all four teams have recievers that are capable of having big years.

In Dallas, they are making former Detroit Lion Roy Williams their No. 1. He has proven he can put up big numbers but lacks consistency.

The Giants have first-round pick Hakeem Nicks to go with Steve Smith, who has shown great progress over his first two NFL seasons. People also tend to forget about Mario Manningham, who—had it not been for injuries and legal troubles at Michigan—would probably have been a first-round pick.

The Eagles got a great year last year out of rookie reciever DeSean Jackson. This year they hope to get the same production out of first-round pick Jeremy Maclin.

The Redskins still have Santana Moss, who has been very inconsistent. They are also hoping for a big season from second-year reciever Malcolm Kelly.

With every team having big question marks at the reciever position, this division will be wide open.

The rushing attack is also very equal across the board in this division.

Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw give the Giants two different running styles to keep opposing defenses off balance.

The same can be said in Dallas with Marion Barber and Felix Jones.

The addition of LeSean McCoy to the Eagles backfield should help to keep Brian Westbrook healthy and fresh late in the year.

And of course, Clinton Portis has quietly been one of the most consistent running backs in the league the last 5 years.

Eli Manning, Donovan McNabb, Tony Romo, and Jason Campbell are all in the same ballpark, too, meaning this division will likely come down to defense.

The addition of Albert Haynesworth may have been the biggest for any team this offseason and will undoubtedly make the Redskins a much stronger run-stopping team.

The Eagles will look for a repeat performance from their top-5 defense last season. The losses of Brian Dawkins and Lito Sheppard will hurt, though the acquisition of Ellis Hobbs should help to ease the pain.

Without a pick in the first two rounds of the draft, the Cowboys weren’t able to do much to improve their defense. However, they did lead the league in sacks last year and still have Demarcus Ware.

The Giants, though, have arguably the best defensive line in the league. The Giants had a top-5 defense last year without Osi Umenyiora playing a single down. This year, they added Michael Boley, Chris Canty, and Rocky Bernard along with Clint Sintim in the draft.

With the improvements to an already dominant defense along with an offense that doesn’t turn the ball over, the Giants are my pick to win this very tough division.

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