At this time of the year things are slow and we are all thinking about and writing about the Draft and the 08 Dolphins. I was looking at some safety stats to reply to Dol-Fan-Dupree about my comment concerning Jake Scott and about Scott being unheralded and I got side tracked. I ran into a site called coldhardfootballfacts.com which lead me to read several papers about Super Bowl Quarterbacks. They named the great, the good, the almost, and the also ran’s (my words) with Tom Brady rated as the #2 best behind Joe Montana (modern era and 6th all time) but this is before the loss in SB 42. It made me curious as to why Brady went belly up after such a great regular season (Manning and Marino like). Tom Brady takes a QB rating of 117.0 into the post season and loses his first SB, why? Of course we all know why; it was the Giants defense. But that doesn’t answer the question about Tom Brady and why he failed after such a great season and a great career, up to this point, and will he fail in the future? Let’s look at Tom Brady’s stats this year. He has always had good stats his whole career but this year he rocked into space with 50 TDs/8 INTs/21sks with a QB rating of 117.0. Randy Moss sets a record 23 TD catches to beat J. Rice’s 22 TD season. Wes Welker is catching everything (112) thrown his way and that makes them the unbeatable team of the season. No one can stop them and they will surely join Miami as the only other unbeaten team in the history of the NFL. Then they hit the post season and things went down the tubes. Now Brady’s stats look like this: 6TDs/ 3 INTs/ 8sks and the running game that they didn’t need suddenly became the running game they didn’t have. I can think of several teams that this mirrors but the one that stands out the most, to me, is the 1984 Miami Dolphins. In Dan Marino’s second year both he and the Dolphins took off into space. No one had ever seen anything before like it. Dan’s regular season stats are HOF: 48TDs/17INTs/13sks and a QB rating of 110.0. The Marks brothers are unstoppable with Clayton grabbing 18 TDs alone but then comes the post season. Dan’s numbers take a hit and are: 8TDs/5INTs/4sks and the brothers disappear in the sunset. Another stat stands out to me both the Pat’s and the Dolphin’s O-line gets mauled in the Super Bowl. Neither Dan nor Tom is able to step up into the pocket because the way the defense plays against them and they can’t run so before the first half is over they are both counting on their arms to get a win and it just ain’t happening. Dan’s post season QB ratings are 90, 135, and 66 total = 97 while Tom’s are 141, 66, and 82 total=96. In looking over their numbers I was just blown away as to how close they are and the fact that the out come was a Super Bowl loss for both of them. All of this leads me to speculate that unless the powers at the Pat’s can rein in Tom’s quest to be the greatest passer known to man, like just maybe, taking away his candy (Randy Moss) or get him a running game and get his feet back on the ground. Tom Brady may have seen his last Super Bowl because it takes more than just having the greatest passer as your QB to win the Super Bowl and if we, as Fin fans, don’t know anything else we sure as **** know that don’t we? And that also leads me to one last statement, a warning if you will, Bill no matter who you take with the first pick of the draft don’t forget to FIX the o-line or you can trash your 3 year plan. Take whoever you want (I’m sure you will and don’t need my advise) but I won’t be happy unless you add some talent to the 3 good o-line we now have no matter where you draft them.
I was yawning a little until I got to the bold part, you make some excellent points, then the OUTSTANDING point in bold.
I'll give it to you in three words. Pressure. Pressure. Pressure. The Pats OL simply could not deal with the Giants overwhelming DL. You get that amount of pressure on any QB, much less the best QB in the league, and it's going to take an elite team and some good fortune to even stay on the field with you. It's football at its core.
Actually, you barely touched on perhaps the most important thing, and in fact was true for both Brady and Marino. Neither had a running game. This allows a talented Gints defense to go hell-bent all out after Brady. Ironically is that if Billycheat spends more time running the ball during the regular season instead of running up the scope, things could've been much different.
About Dol-Fan-Dupree, Den54, and it's my own fault for not being on my toes my but I'll get back to him, I hope.
You are right, of course, but also what made it so great was the kind of pressure. By that I mean the 49ers used two guys to attack Dwight Staphenson in the second half, not done before all year, and the Giants attacked the Pats at their weakest point of the line which they weren't able to do in the regular season game. I would really like to know just what it was that they saw; that made such a difference in the SB game. I was so hyped up because the Pats were losing I didn't pay any mind to that part of the game.
I know but it's because both coaches relied on their QBs arm to win games. The running game for both teams during the regular season was so alike it's scary. For example: Miami - 434 running plays @ 4.0 per. NE - 451 running plays @ 4.1 per Not great but also not bad; middle of the pack is my guess. Total offensive plays: Miami - 1070 @ 6.5 per NE - 1058 @ 6.2 per First downs: (rushing, passing, by penalty) Miami 115 - 243 - 29 NE - 124 - 243 - 26 Anyway didn't mean to put anyone to sleep Just had to rack my ole noggen to see if there was anything left up there.
I think it's because of randomness, chaos theory. It's impossible to determine why no passing champion ever won the SB. Tom Brady isn't more or less spectacular. Same thing for Randy Moss. Did the pass rush of the Really Tall Guys stymie the Greatest Offense Ever because of its relentlessness? Who knows. I'm one of those who prescribe more credit to Eli than most. Without his improvement in play, do the Giants win that game? Absolutely not.
i think both teams did for different reason though, miami didn´t run the ball because they couldn´t , NE didn´t run because maroney was hurt most of the season, when he came back at the end of the year and was just used a little bit more, he flat out delivered
Obviously losing Stephen Neal in the first half was a blow to that interior. But Strahan and Umineyora were beating up Light and Kazcur 1-on-1. And Justin Tuck was in there too, along with a couple other guys. Granted there's always a method behind it. But by and large I thought the Giants were flat out winning the physical battles up front.
