We all went into Sunday afternoon's game of Brady vs. Manning Part 16 thinking we would get another classic. Instead, it was the second biggest blowout of any game between the two ever.
This game alone does not prove or say that Tom Brady is better than Peyton Manning. No, that was known before the game. However this game brought up some points to prove further why Brady is a slightly better quarterback than Manning that was missed in the pre-game legacy check.
First of all, going into the game, I had thought that even though Brady was the slightly better quarterback, Manning would win the game 24-20 because he had the better team (the argument many Manning supporters use to say that Brady has had better teams, which as shown in my previous article is not true. Both were fairly equal, Brady having defense, Manning having offense).
Manning had arguably a top three offensive arsenal of all-time, and the second ranked defense in the NFL currently, with Von Miller and Demarcus Ware rushing the quarterback off the edges and Aqib Talib and T.J Ward anchoring the secondary. All Tom Brady had going for him was special teams and home-field. And that proved to be enough.
Brady was superb all day, with the exception of one throw early in the game where he missed Brandon LaFell for a touchdown. His lone interception came off a tipped ball and he had four touchdowns. He carved up the second ranked defense the same way he had carved up the Bengals early in October, who were at the time the top ranked defense in the NFL.
Manning struggled all day. He got tricked into throwing his first of two interception (the second was dropped by Welker and was not Manning's fault), when Rob Ninkovich dropped in a zone and Manning threw an errant pass that swung the momentum while the game was still close. Brady threw a touchdown to Brandon Lafell on the very next play. Manning couldn't even get all of his weapons involved, as Julius Thomas didn't have his first target/catch until the third quarter.
This game really just furthered the point why Brady is total is a better option than Manning. For Manning to truly be successful, he needs perfect conditions around him. He needs great weapons at his disposal and ideal weather conditions. For Brady, it isn't necessary.
As I said before, Manning is superior in stats to Brady because he played in the Indy dome for the first 12 years of his career. In Indy and in Denver, he has always had a better supporting cast than Brady, with the exception of 2007.
With the game time temperature being just under 40 degrees, Manning's loss put him at 8-12 all time when temperatures dip below 40. Brady? Oh, he's 32-4. Winds were gusting in Foxboro, yet Brady didn't miss a beat. But Manning seemed to be a little off, even with an amazing supporting cast.
If you want to be considered the best of all time, you have to be consistent. You can't say he's the greatest BUT temperatures need to be warm. BUT he needs guys around him. BUT it can't be the playoffs. No exceptions.
On game doesn't answer a questions, but it was more ammo to add for Brady's case, while Manning's case against Brady remains a weak one.
No comments:
Post a Comment