SuperBowl analysis

Not bad!

The real Colts, and the real Bears both showed up. Peyton has the monkey off his back and the Bears show they are going to be a factor for a few years.

I reestimate Grossman... he isnt that bad, and he'll continue to grow into it.

Commercials were the biggest letdown:

Best: Rock paper scissors for last beer, Rock!

Runner up... the Mouse one

Worst: GoDaddy... Get OVER IT! how many times you gonna use the same theme!

Halftime: That to me was the biggest surprise. I am sick and tired of running out the big names from ten years ago... and I wasnt expecting much.. In fact I've never cared much for Prince, whatever he currently calls himself.

But he pulled it off. It was pretty good... and i liked it.
His performance not the production... old and tired and nothing new... Tired of filling the field with 'fans' which I think started with 'up with People" and the old tired 'Michael Jackson' light show!

Of course my expectations have been lowered considerably over the past ten years, but I have to say he's best of the 21st century.

I think the greatest POSSIBLE SB Half Time would be Weird AL doing his concert program as a parody on Super Bowl half time shows.
Think about it... that would NEVER be topped.

Anthem: - sigh- there will NEVER be another 'Whitney Houston' stand-out performance and I predict every year her effort will be played more and more.

But that's not fair to compare that to Billy Joel ... so I'll just judge him, on his own merits.

It sucked!

 

Re: RE: SuperBowl analysis

Right on.

 

The selection for Peyton Manning as MVP is defensible. First, generally a MVP award goes to a player; I don't think one can give it to 5 guys (the O-line, who did an AMAZING job last night). Sucks, but that's the way it is for offensive linemen - they aren't going to be stars (Tom Brady's O-line a few years back notwithstanding). Second, Joseph Addai and Dominic Rhodes were both key; but Rhodes was the only one of the two to score on a 1-yd. run. That's just as many touchdowns as Manning threw. Addai and Rhodes were superb in keeping drives alive as both ran for 191 yards total; but they both did it together so neither one of them really stood out as much as Peyton. As far as keeping drives alive, the same can be said for Peyton's passes. Forget Rex Grossman, the Bears defense forgot to show up last night. They were picked apart at both in the air and on the ground. 25 for 38, 247 yards, and a TD after a poor start (an INT and 2 dropped balls); Manning was a key offensive contributor.

OK, it's not the best argument ever; but it's not as if Manning did nothing in the game.

The game itself was very good. I disagree heavily with the front page article Tom wrote, the game was entertaining, it was close for a majority of it, and it had a lot of moments that will be remembered. Such as Devin Hester's run back for a touch down, Manning's bomb to Reggie Wayne, Rex Grossman dropping 2 fumbles, Grossman falling back about 9 yards prior to a sack, Dominic Rhodes' 36 yard run through the middle to embarass the Bears' D, and Hayden's run back for a TD after picking off Rex Grossman.

 

Yeah, we're all human and I know where Tom's coming from...I'm a Bengals fan remember? I saw their two Super Bowls in the Eighties as failure to perform... not showcasing the excellence of Montana, Walsh and the 49'ers.
Looking back, I'm proud of the Bengals because they put in the effort to make those games among the best up to that time.

I think Tom will get over his disappointment in a few days and see what I saw and referenced.

Until late in the 4th quarter, Chicago ALMOST lived up to their rep of the last two seasons and could have put it together to win despite the dismal stats.

And I'm sorry to have to disagree with Don in a topic NOT related to politics. Grossman is INDEED NFL quality. If he isnt, then neither are Michael Vick or Drew Brees or... dare I say it.. McNabb. All of whom have come a cropper at one time or another.

And who of us doesnt think Eli Manning has a chance to come close to his brother's performance?

 

The game had its moments of excitement but I just did not think it was that great of a game. Eight turnovers from both teams is sloppy football. The conditions were horrid and the Bears offense was nowhere to be found. Hell, the defense was lost as well.

The Colts played okay and were clearly the better team, but a part of me thinks the Bears lost that game as much as the Colts won it. After the interception return for a touchdown it was over. There was no doubt about it. There was some excitement and hope the Bears might be able to pull the game out before that, but in the back of my mind, I had a feeling that was NOT going to happen.

To me the Super Bowl is an overhyped, overdone production. Most years I could care less about it and some times do not even watch it. As I said on the main page, I am just very happy the game and season are over.

 

Thanks Don! I posted it on soccernet in the Correspondents section. Not sure if they will do anything with it, but it is there for them. I will send an email to them.

FYI...the comments section is being turned off. The spammers use them to post their garbage.

 

Exactly my point, that's why I used those examples, but I see it's clear as mud ... just as my official MB post on how those wanting to stand and sing can get their way.

Oh well.

 

Are you sure that's okay with 'Graham' on T-F-I?

Heh...

 

Speaking as a Giants fan, Eli isn't CLOSE to being able to match his brother.

 

Thus the use of 'has a chance'...

And how do you know he doesnt have a chance? How long has Peyton been in the league? What is the difference in the Colts and Giants organizations?

 

I'm a pessimist. So while I don't *know* he doesn't have a chance, I *believe* he doesn't have a chance. As for *why* I believe that...

The prevailing view about quarterbacks, as I understand it, is that their third NFL season is when they "make the leap" - when the game starts to slow down for them and they elevate their performance.

In Peyton's *second* season (hey, some people progress faster), he completed 62.1% of his passes at 7.8 yards/attempt, for 26 TDs and 15 INTs; his QB rating was 90.69. His third season he completed at a slightly higher percentage for about the same yardage, but boosted his TDs from 26 to 33 while throwing the same number of INTs.

This past year was Eli's third. He completed 57.7% of his passes at 6.2 yards per attempt, with 24 TDs and 18 INTs; his QB rating was 76.99. That's not good. That's not even average. Hey, I hope he does better, and what optimism there is in me says that maybe, because he only played 9 games in 2004, *next* year is when he'll make the leap. But I'm not overly optimistic about it happening.

 

as a Brit and a neutral watching this game I gotta agree with everything you said petty except I thought Grossman was quite good all season and this game was by far he's worse.

And you really are being very kind to Billy Joel it was worse than SUCKED!!!

Prince was entertaining too.....

 

RE: Re: SuperBowl analysis

Let's look on the bright side, at least you guys aren't Lions fans.

P.S. best commecial is between the hitchhiking beer commercial and rock paper scissors.

 

RE: Re: SuperBowl analysis

First of, I agree, Billy Joel was horrible. Some of the folks in the American Idol tryouts could sing the national anthem better than he did.

Second, I'm not a big Prince fan (although I appreciate his excellent guitar playing and musicianship) and I get tired of the commercialized crap that is the halftime show but hearing Purple Rain in the rain was pretty cool.

The game itself was the first Superbowl I've cared about since 1985. I grew up a Bears fan and still am but having lived in Indy for 4 1/2 years, I've adopted the Colts as well. So, it was tough for me to decide who to root for. I'm glad the Colts won, though. They are a quality organization with a great coach.

As for Rex, I say this: taking your team to the Superbowl in your first full season is not too shabby. I think people expected him to be better than he can possibly be given his limited professional experience. He'll learn a great deal from this season and will turn out to be a great QB.

Having said that, I have to say WHAT THE HECK LOVIE? You have an experienced veteran QB on the bench (Griese) and your rookie starter is turning the ball over left and right. This is no time to prattle on about loyalty to your QB. It's the f'ing superbowl! Everyone in the world could see that a Rex-led offense wasn't going to beat the Colts. Give Griese a go and see what happens! I'm just floored that with a game of that magnitude on the line, Lovie didn't do anything in that regard.