Cam had an excellent season; his best ever. But in no way did he put this team on his back and carry them. Carolina is built like Seattle and San Francisco before them: a strong defense with a good running game, an above average offensive line, and a QB who can run the ball and has a strong arm. Cam is stronger and more physically talented than Wilson or Kaepernick, but he didn’t “carry” this team any more than those two QB’s did.
You stated it correctly. I don’t hate THAT he has fun, I hate HOW he has fun. If it was just for TDs it would be OK, but he would get a first down and then go through a 10-second pantomime.
I don’t know, maybe I’m just getting old. I remember when Mark Gastineau would do a sack dance, and the opposing fans would boo him.
That was a shitty coaching job by Belechick today
You are down 20-12 with 2:30 left and you go for it on 4th down instead of kicking the FG to cut to 20-15? Then if your defense gets another stop you will be going for the win instead of a TD and a 2 pt conversion:smack:
Peyton is the most annoying QB I ever seen and hope his team loses 54-0 in the SB
I doubt that the people who find his childish behavior annoying actively dislike him. Some probably think he is kind of a dick while at the same time respecting his abilities.
Nothing like Rothlisberger. That guy is as easy to dislike as that stuff you wish you had not stepped in.
Atleast Big Ben is not afraid of pressure like Brady
Point taken. My exuberance (and a few beers) got th ebetter of me. Belated congratulations to the Cardinals for a good season.
Early in his career he definitely did that. He has matured quite a bit and you don’t see that anymore.
If a fan of the opposing team puts up a banner in your stadium proclaiming it to be their territory? Tear it down every time.
Well, in advance, I don’t think the odds are very good of a defensive stop and a TD drive with 1:30 and no time outs. I’d rather take my chances with a 4th down try, myself.
Sure, the stop and scoring drive happened in actuality, but I don’t think it was a good bet. And even then, if you know you’re going to get the ball back, why not try and get the TD now, so you only need a FG when you’re running out of time?
I was not a fan of Cam Newton when he was entering the draft out of Auburn. Did not think his game would translate to the NFL. But you can make a strong argument that he was the best QB in the league this year. He’ll probably win MVP. And yes, he’s fun to watch.
All that said, I’m still rooting for Peyton to go out with another ring.
What I noticed about the NFC Championship game is that Carolina learned the lessons of letting Seattle back into the game in the Divisional game the week before.
This was the “Keep Pounding” Panthers I was expecting.
I wonder if the Cardinals getting on the scoreboard late in the first half, and the Panthers responding with a touchdown, may have helped the Cats stay aggressive. Having your opponent score on you shortly before going to the locker room probably helps shake a team out of the kind of complacency that let Seattle start a comeback attempt.
The strategy I usually see is get the points you can now and get the points you need later.
That is, if you’re 4th and goal and you need 8 points with a minute and a half, you need two scores to win (you play for a tie at home, a win on the road). If you need two scores and it’s 4th down, go for the FG.
I realize that is easy to say on Monday morning, but you see that strategy nearly every Sunday during the regular season. Going for the touchdown in that situation is more like something you’d see on Saturday.
The fact that there’s a large number of people who like Peyton Manning and his disingenuous, market-tested, media-approved shtick, and there are people who don’t like Cam Newton’s unrestrained and unfiltered enjoyment of playing a sport and being really good at it… I dunno. It has to be a cultural or upbringing point-of-view thing.
(FWIW: Denver’s D was excellent yesterday, and congrats to them on the win. I’m not a Von Miller fan on a personal level, but that’s one of the most dominant big-game star-player defensive performances I’ve ever seen. I hope Carolina beats them by 40.)
Disingenuous is not a word I’ve ever heard associated with Peyton Manning. That is an interesting point of view.
Don’t forget DeMarcus Ware towards the end of that game, too. He was up in Brady’s face every other drop back.
I don’t get too het up about the personalities of sports stars but the Peyton whining around the office today is about some HGH scandal when he claimed that his wife was the one who ordered the drugs.
Are you serious? Cam Newton’s “unrestrained and unfiltered enjoyment” is completely staged, planned, designed and about as unfiltered as an opera diva. He’s putting on an act. Seems more than obvious to me.
Your bias is showing…
Personally, I like Peyton’s approach to the game. I find it, frankly, amazing that Peyton is recognized as one of the best although his performance is probably best rated as “pretty good”. Like his father, he is clearly recognized for more than his won/loss record. As far as his “disingenuous, market-tested, media-approved shtick” goes, that comment reminds me of a comment I heard Ray Wylie Hubbard make once to a fan who said he admired him for not “selling out to the man”. RWH said “I didn’t have the heart to tell they guy nobody ever asked me to sell-out”. (RWH is a little-known country singer who had a novelty hit in the 1970’s). That is, those that have it use it; those who don’t either complain about those that do or keep trying.
As far as Cam goes, he is fun to watch. That’s the whole point, isn’t it, to have fun? That’s what makes it entertainment, right? I get the impression that those that don’t like to watch Cam are those who forget that it’s just a game, who feel that it’s way too serious to treat so lightly. I have to admit, however, his shtick has been market-tested and media-approved as well. As far as disingenuous goes, do you think the big reason he gives those footballs away is for him to make one kid out of thousands feel good or to make millions of people watching make him feel good?
Ware was really good too, obviously. One big part that was pretty consistent as the game went on is that both of the edge rushers were timing the snap counts extremely well. A lot of that was because Brady was going down to the last second on the play clock, but even then most teams don’t manage to do it that perfectly. There were at least three times I thought it might have been offsides but the replay showed it was just perfect timing.
Re: Manning - the national presentation is an aw-shucks advertiser’s dream package, exactly what certain crusty Important Sports Journalists love and respect, along with a quick look-and-ignore at anything that might pass for remotely unsavory. Now, mind you, that’s a brilliant job on his and his agent’s part - it’s made him many additional millions, and avoided making him look like the kind of general toolbag that someone like cough Brady cough appears to be when you get too much of a peek behind the curtain. From everything I can tell, there’s probably a Regular Dude version of Manning that would be pretty cool to watch a game with. But the over-management of a PR-dream personality is just as annoying from him as it is when pop stars or other carefully curated celebrities do it.
Thoroughly agreed - sell out all day, take the money and run. Doesn’t mean I have to buy it. Completely independent from him being an undoubtedly awesome QB over the course of his career.
Also agreed on Cam to a degree. I’m sure he’s got his PR guys who have vetted everything, and he’s going to make more than enough money. The shtick itself seems more genuine, though… as much as one can tell that sort of thing when one’s observation amounts to a couple dozen sports games and related publicity events each year.
From an athletic ability stand point, Peyton Manning is almost certainly dead last among NFL QBs in 2015-16. In his entire career, he was never a better than average NFL QB in terms of athleticism. And yet, he’s one of the greatest ever. Can’t help but admire that.
And now this word from Nelson Muntz:
HA-[SIZE=“3”]ha![/SIZE]