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Manning Squared; And lines for the weekend
Topic Started: Oct 28 2005, 04:11 PM (33 Views)
KCGirl
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Shaper of Young Minds (aaahhhhhh!)
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Manning-a-Manning
By Bill Simmons

This hasn't been the happiest NFL season so far. Katrina. New Orleans. The Superdome. Thomas Herrion. Wellington Mara. Lake Minnetonka. Ken Hamlin. Mike Martz. Dwayne Carswell. Owens-McNabb. The ongoing subplot of Tom Benson possibly abandoning New Orleans and moving the Saints to San Antonio, the equivalent of somebody's wife getting into a debilitating car accident, then her husband filing for divorce while she's still in the hospital.

By the way, we're only in Week 8.

So that part has been a little sobering. As for the actual games, can you remember this many yellow flags, late-game screw-ups, coaching brain farts, inept offenses and killer calls that went the wrong way? Other than Colts, Redskins, Giants and Steelers fans, none of the 32 fan bases seems that happy with its respective team (whether it's bad coaching, bad QBs, leaky defenses, crushing injuries, even an inability to beat a certain rival or come through when it truly counts), and an inordinate amount of coaches and quarterbacks have been on the bubble since Week 1. Even from a fantasy standpoint, I can't remember hearing this much complaining before, between Deuce and Dillon, Johnson, Clayton and Burleson, Julius and Kevin Jones, Trent Green and Marc Bulger, Manning and Harrison, Denver's RB platoon, and prolific fantasy serial killer Daunte Culpepper (who wiped out tens of thousands of teams from coast to coast).

So what has been fun about the 2005 season? I'm going with Manning vs. Manning, maybe the most compelling subplot in any sport right now. Forget that an all-Manning Super Bowl could shatter the pregame hype record as we know it, that Archie Manning probably would have to pull a Richard Williams and skip the game or watch it in someone's basement, even that Eli has a chance to legitimately own New York for the next 15 years. There's another dynamic at work here, and it's unlike any situation that has ever happened in sports.

Imagine A-Rod putting up huge numbers over the past 10 years, then coming up short when it mattered pretty much every time. (You don't have to imagine it because it happened. Just bear with me.) Now, imagine he had a younger brother. And imagine that same brother was a highly regarded shortstop for the Cubs, and maybe his stats weren't as good as A-Rod's stats, but unlike A-Rod, he had a knack for coming up big when it mattered. Not only that, but his teammates loved him and believed in him. And imagine this kid ended up carrying the Cubs to a 2006 title over A-Rod and the Yankees and becoming an MJ-like demigod in Chicago.

That would be pretty crazy, right? Well, this could actually happen with the Manning brothers in less than four months. Peyton has Hall of Fame stats; Eli has All-Pro stats and an extra something that can't really be defined. You just know it when you see it. Jeter has it. Brady and Big Papi have it. Favre still has it from time to time. I think David Wright has it in him. So does Ginobili. Certain guys just seem to stand out in big spots. They have that extra something.

And that something manifests itself in little ways. Like the way Eli struggled in the past two games against good defenses (Denver and Dallas) but somehow sprang to life when the Giants needed him most. Like those occasional "Wow!" plays he makes (the ultimate sign of greatness), like the reverse scramble to keep a third-and-4 alive in the Denver game, or an impossible completion to Burress to keep the Dallas game alive. Like the way his teammates mobbed him after the winning TD in the Denver game (you know the QB is clicking with his team when the defensive players mob him after a big play), or all the "As long as we have Eli, we know we have a chance" quotes that filtered out of Jersey this week. He's special. You can see it.

Does that mean his brother isn't special? Of course not. But something happens to Peyton in certain big spots, and you can see that, too. He gets a little jittery. Makes that weird face like he just stepped in dog poop. Gets frustrated easily. Misses throws he normally bangs out. On the sideline, his teammates don't have that "I'd kill for this guy" look in their eyes. Again, it's nothing tangible, but that's the great thing about football -- not everything has to make sense on paper. For instance, if you examined the Steelers-Bengals box score from Sunday, you would see Bettis' 56 rushing yards and assume he couldn't possibly have been the key guy in that game. Not true. It wasn't just the yards, it was when they came and how they affected his team at the time. When the "Bus" is rolling like that, the Steelers take on a different swagger. They can beat anybody.

And that's the problem with Peyton Manning, the two-time MVP, as well as the quarterback of a team that's 7-0. There's still something missing. He doesn't have that same galvanizing effect on his team. He doesn't get better when it matters. Like A-Rod, Karl Malone, Jim Kelly and some other greats over the years, Peyton always seems to peak in safer situations, like with a 10-point lead in the second half, when the wheels are coming off an opposing team and he settles into a deadly groove. Going back to college, Eli peaks when he's down a score, when his team needs him to come through, when he doubles as the only hope on the football field. Some guys rise to the occasion, other guys shrink from it, and in this case, the two extremes just happen to be brothers.

Hey, maybe this plays out with Peyton winning a Super Bowl and ending the "can't come through when it matters" argument once and for all. Maybe this plays out with neither Manning making it to Detroit. Or maybe, just maybe, this plays out with Eli toppling the Colts on a last-minute drive in February.

Now that would be something. Almost enough to make you forget what a sobering season this has been so far.


On to the Week 8 picks …

(Home team in caps.)

GIANTS (-2) over Redskins
Let's see … the 'Skins win their first three games by a total of six points (with two of the games being legitimately blown by the other team) … then they drop two to the Broncos and Chiefs … then they destroy a horrendous 49ers team … and suddenly they're getting less than a field goal in the Meadowlands against a quality Giants team? Seems a little early to break out the Popsicles, doesn't it?

(While we're here, shouldn't Rich Hall create a sniglet to describe that weird fantasy football feeling of anger/envy/hatred/betrayal when someone like Santana Moss randomly becomes an elite player, only it didn't happen when he was on your team? It's vaguely reminiscent to dating a virgin in college, getting the Mr. Miyagi treatment for a few months, dumping her, then finding out two years later that she's suddenly pulling a Paris Hilton on your entire class. Whoops, bad analogy -- there are no virgins anymore. That one would have worked great in 1995. Oh well.)


(Rest of article in case ya care about the rest of the weeks picks.... The rest of the story....
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Eli_Manning_10
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If your not a New York Giants fan then... what the hell are you?
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i like to think that chad morton is gonna get a pr for a td against the skins. B)
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Halfmoon
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Crazy, but in a good way. Honest!
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i like this guy.
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