There are many answers to this question; that’s the point. Will you remember him for his tenure with the Indianapolis Colts, one in which he shattered the record for touchdowns in a single season with 49 in 2004 and won Super Bowl XLI? Will you remember Manning for his days with the Denver Broncos, the ones in which he broke the single-season touchdown record…. again, and won Super Bowl 50?
Will you remember Peyton for the commercials? Yes, those commercials. The ones for MasterCard, Gatorade, Papa John’s, Nationwide (Chicken Parm, you taste so good….), among others. The ones that made us talk about Manning in a completely different light, not only as star quarterback but also as pitchman, funnyman, everyman.
But, as we speak about looking at Peyton in a different light, will you look at him differently because of a Title IX lawsuit against his alma mater, Tennessee, in which Manning is mentioned for improper behavior toward a trainer and then conducting a smear campaign against her and her family to impugn her name? Would that change your opinion of him, if the allegations are true?
Will your remember Manning for his regular season successes or his playoff losses? His broken records or ultimate January failures? His nice-guy reputation or the allegations of sexual harassment and steroid use?
That’s the problem with Peyton Manning’s legacy; it’s complicated. It isn’t clear-cut. It leaves a lot of questions unanswered. And because of this, the opinions of Manning and his career accomplishments run a very wide spectrum; one only has to look here and here to see that wide range of opinions.
If you’re of the belief that statistics and production are the two most important things for a quarterback, you would say that Peyton may be the best quarterback ever. If you believe that playoff wins is the be-all, end-all of a starting quarterback’s career, then Peyton wouldn’t even be in your top five. The general opinion of him, in some ways, is even more scattered than that of Tom Brady, and he may be one of the most polarizing athletes in sports.
And while he is polarizing, he did get to go out (mostly) on top with a win over the Panthers in Super Bowl 50. While he played absolutely no part in the victory other than to not turn the ball over, he did win the game. The defining moment of the postgame celebration, in the minds of many, was who Manning first greeted after the big win:
So, this is the summary of events on that night: Peyton wins a Super Bowl after many previous playoff disappointments, plays basically no part in the victory, then gives a celebratory hug and kiss to…. Papa John? The entire sequence is the dream of both Manning haters and Manning lovers alike. Why? Because many fans and pundits value different qualities in quarterbacks. While some reviewed that sequence of events and wondered why it was Papa John receiving the greeting instead of a teammate or family member, others saw that occur and thought of it as little to nothing; lots of players have endorsement deals, Peyton just has more than everyone else.
The pro-Peyton crowd would have just said that the haters are gonna hate and that in the moments after winning the Super Bowl, he could do whatever he wanted.
But, he isn’t going out on top like others in sports have. When John Elway, Michael Jordan, Ray Bourque, and Ray Lewis went out with their championships, their names were clean of any allegations of cheating or misconduct. Yes, Lewis almost went to jail for murder and had that whole deer antler spray thing before his final game, but public opinion of him at the end of his career was probably better than that of Peyton.
The allegations, both of sexual assault and HGH usage, put a damper on the retirement of one of the greats to play the game. However, that didn’t mean he couldn’t give a great retirement speech. That’s what he did today… for the most part.
While Manning’s farewell was rife with emotion, full of heart, raw, honest, and real, he did have to face questions after it was over. Most, honestly, were of the softball variety (i.e.: tell us about that time you flipped off Gary Kubiak) until USA Today’s Lindsay Jones got her crack at the future Hall of Famer. She asked him about the allegations, brought about by Dr. Jamie Naughright, the former Tennessee trainer, in the aforementioned Title IX lawsuit. This was the end of his response:
Quoting Forrest Gump, which is appropriate at almost any other time in one’s life, was not appropriate at that particular time. The allegations are serious, and while the reporting of New York Daily News justice reporter Shaun King is more than a little flawed and far too personal, Manning must answer to questions about the lawsuit with utmost seriousness and respect.
In any event, Jones tweeted out a brief explanation of why she asked Manning the question. It’s more than justified:
Manning deserved a chance to respond to what everyone has been saying about him for the last month. I had to ask.
She absolutely had to ask. To be very frank, I’m happy she did. In an event where reporters and VIP guests wanted to venerate Peyton, Jones decided to be the one person in the room who had the guts to ask one of the questions that should be on everyone’s mind. While her Twitter mentions are exploding, and not in a good way (even she admits this), she did her job and should be applauded for that.
But, in getting back to Manning, his legacy, with the allegations, endorsements, wins, losses, and records, is incredibly complicated. Part of it is still unwritten, with verdicts forthcoming in the courts of justice and public opinion. No matter what he does next with his life, though, we’ll still keep talking about him, for better or worse.
And maybe, just maybe, that is the ultimate legacy of Peyton Manning.
Trying to peg down college basketball this season is nearly impossible. Of course, since this is the case, we’ll try to do so now.
Here are a few thoughts on the NCAA Tournament and, more specifically, the teams in it.
Wichita State Still Deserves a Ticket to the Dance
Photo Credit: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images
Here’s something to think about: there are two teams, team X and team Y. Team X, according to Ken Pomeroy, has a .903 Pythagorean rating, 10th in college basketball; team Y is right behind with a .897 rating. Team X has the number one adjusted defensive rating in the country while neither of team Y’s offensive or defensive ratings is in the top 15. Team X went on a run to the Sweet 16 in last year’s NCAA Tournament, as did Team Y.
Here’s the caveat, though: team X is on the tournament bubble while team Y still has a chance at a number one seed. It’s time for the reveal.
Team X is the Wichita State Shockers. Team Y is the Xavier Musketeers.
The previous exercise was not meant to take down Xavier. I think they are one of the teams that have a serious chance to win it all this year and they might be my title pick if the season ended today. That being said, it’s hard to deny Wichita State a tournament berth. But why are the Shockers in this position in the first place?
For one, their loss yesterday to Northern Iowa certainly doesn’t help. When you consider that this is the second time the Shockers have lost to UNI this season, with neither loss coming at home, you can start to put together that their resume might not be the greatest in the world. And it isn’t; the only top-50 RPI (Rating Percentage Index) win Wichita State has on its schedule this season is a home victory over the Utah Utes, a team that could make a run to the Final Four this season. The problem is that that win came on December 12th. Even worse, that’s the team’s only win against a tournament-caliber team this season; they lost to USC, Alabama, Tulsa, Iowa, and Seton Hall in out-of-conference play.
This is why I’m willing to give the Shockers one more chance, though: they have experience. Upperclassmen Evan Wessel, Fred VanVleet, and Ron Baker are back from last year’s Sweet 16 squad. In addition, the team has the best defense in college basketball, both in adjusted rating and points per game.
While their resume doesn’t give them any hope to make the Tournament, they deserve to go because they can play with anybody. Unfortunately, as yesterday showed, they can lose to any team, too.
Appreciating Bill Self
Photo Credit: Bill Rieger/USA Today Sports
After Roy Williams made the decision to leave Kansas after the 2002-03 season and jump ship to North Carolina, the program was in a brief state of flux. Out went Williams, but who would come in to take his place?
That question was answered in the form of Bill Self, and all he has done in his 13 seasons in Lawrence is make the Jayhawks the most consistent team in the sport. Not bad, huh?
And this year, he might have his best team in his Kansas tenure. The Jayhawks, led by seniors Perry Ellis and Jamari Traylor, won its 12th straight (twelve!) regular season Big 12 Title. Over this time, Kansas has lost exactly nine games at Allen Fieldhouse. If you’re keeping score at home, that’s a 4:3 ratio of conference championships to home losses. If that doesn’t make you think Self is one of the best coaches in college basketball, I have no idea what will.
This year’s team is ranked number one in the country and has run the Big 12 gauntlet basically unscathed. They’ll probably be the team to beat when March Madness comes around in just over a week, and they’ve earned that distinction. Their resume is unparalleled in college basketball, with wins over every good team in the Big 12 and a home win over Kentucky. They’re virtually unbeatable right now, as the team, with a championship in the conference tournament, would be well on its way to a number one overall seed in the field of 68.
And even if they don’t win it all this season, one has to credit Bill Self for building his team to be this consistently incredible year after year. After year. After year.
Sparty Yes: Why Michigan State Should Be a One Seed
Photo Credit: Rey Del Rio/Getty Images
The argument against Michigan State being a one seed can be found in a one-week stretch from January 14 to January 20. In that stretch, the Spartans lost three games to Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska, and in each game, Michigan State had most of its best players, including the previously-injured Denzel Valentine.
However, the team began their turnaround with a win against Maryland on January 23, and they’ve only lost once since then. That being said, they haven’t received the respect they deserve for their recent, sustained success.
For example, in the latest iteration of Joe Lunardi’s bracketology, he has Michigan State (the second-ranked team in the country) as a two seed behind North Carolina, Virginia, Villanova, and Kansas. While three of those teams belong there, one does not: the Tar Heels. Here’s why.
While Sparty has one more bad loss (meaning: a loss to a team with an RPI of 50 or worse) than Carolina, it’s obvious that Michigan State is playing better than UNC right now. For example, look at last night’s North Carolina-Duke game. The Heels outrebounded Duke 64-29; Duke only used seven players in the contest. Given this information, it’s safe to say Carolina should have won by a wide margin; in real life, they won by four. While Duke-Carolina is a rivalry in which records, rankings, and point margins should be thrown out the window, the fact that North Carolina dominated the game but not the scoreboard is nothing short of concerning as we near tournament time.
Michigan State, on the other hand, has taken care of its last six opponents by at least 12 points in each game, with impressive home wins against Indiana and Wisconsin. During this time, the Tar Heels have had a close call with Syracuse and losses to Duke and Virginia. While this really is splitting hairs and North Carolina is one of the best teams in the country, they probably don’t deserve a one seed.
The team that does is the Michigan State Spartans.
If you’ve been following football since the Super Bowl, you know that the NFL Combine took place last weekend. If you’ve been following the NFL Combine, you definitely know who Ohio State cornerback Eli Apple is.
Apple is one of the best secondary prospects in this year’s draft and is likely to be a first-round pick. At the Combine, however, teams like to speak with players one-on-one and gather information about them that goes beyond their physical talents. So while Apple will probably be employed by an NFL team after the first night of the draft, teams would like to know a little bit more about him.
But what would teams ask about? One would think that questions would be about a player’s family, experiences in his life outside of football, or other things about him that teams may not know. One of the teams interviewing Apple in Indianapolis was the Atlanta Falcons.
And, needless to say, they took their questioning way too far.
Instead of asking Apple potentially pertinent questions in regard to his personal life, an unidentified team employee started out his inquiry with this line:
So do you like men?
That was the question: ‘Do you like men?’. There have been bizarre lines of questioning at the Combine before, but never has there been an open and honest question so appallingly bigoted as this one. The reason that this question is so offensive, though, is not only in the mere asking of it but also in the context in which it was asked.
Let’s be honest here: what in the world could the Atlanta Falcons be getting out of a potential employee of theirs by asking him about his sexual orientation? While the team may be looking to expel distractions in the locker room, a crazy question like this makes you wonder if the NFL has really progressed in terms of their acceptance of homosexual players and employees.
All this being said, this is not the only ridiculous question that has been asked at the NFL Combine; not by a long shot. In fact, here are just some of the absurd interrogations teams have performed at the combine, replete with 100% real questions:
“As a white running back, do you feel entitled or like a poster child to other white running backs?” – posed to Stanford running back Toby Gerhart
“What team do you play as in Madden and why?”
“Would you rather be a cat or a dog?”
“How many different things can you do with a paper clip?”
“Can you share your internet history with us?”
These are all certifiably crazy questions, and they aren’t the only crazy ones that have been asked. However, with the latest incident, we need to not just talk about the NFL’s tolerance problem but also about whether the combine interviews are necessary at all.
This is why one could say the NFL Combine interview is unnecessary and meaningless: what are the teams actually getting out of it? While each team employs a sports psychologist and the answers to these insane questions help the teams in their psychological evaluations of draft prospects, does it really matter if a prospect plays as the Packers in Madden instead of the Seahawks? Is it really that important if a player would rather be a cat than a dog?
Let’s put it this way: if Cam Newton decided that he could only put papers in a paper clip, should that answer derail his career? In no other sport are questions nearly this stupid asked of players, and even if they are, there is little to no importance placed on the answers unless the player says something offensive.
During the course of the Super Bowl, was anyone wondering if Von Miller wears boxers or briefs? I don’t think so. When we look back on the 2016 NFL Draft, we will very quickly forget what player x’s answer was to the inane questions of the Combine interview. It won’t matter to anyone if a player can’t do anything with a paper clip other than put papers in it (Note: off the top of my head, I really can’t think of any way to use a paper clip besides the obvious one, so I wouldn’t judge a player if he’s stumped by this question, too).
On the other hand, if teams and talent evaluators really want to take these interviews seriously, they should ask more serious questions. The only people who can effect actual change to this process are the people who are asking the questions. If the interrogation were much more serious and the inquiries much more professional, players would never be asked if they liked men or if they feel entitled because of their race. These questions should never, ever be asked in the first place, but if the atmosphere surrounding the interview was much more professional, the thought of asking such dense and unintelligent questions would never come into the mind of those conducting the interviews.
When all of this is taken into account, though, let’s remember that this is a very serious matter. An NFL player was asked a question about his sexual orientation as if there was a right or a wrong answer; there is no right or wrong answer to that question. It is even more deplorable to think that if Apple gave the “wrong” answer to that question, his chances of being drafted into the league could decline. (For the record, Apple answered “no”, but that shouldn’t matter here.
However, when we take the seriousness of this matter into account, it is only ironic that the anonymous Falcons employee who asked the question felt compelled to do so because of the relaxed, jokey atmosphere that surrounds the Combine. The fact that an employee of an NFL team could ask a bigoted, hateful, useless (and, by the way, illegal) question of a potential employee should be a signal to the league that maybe the interviews need to be taken a little more seriously. If they aren’t tightened up, we may see more incidents like this in the future, and while Apple seemed to take the question in stride, another prospect may not.
Which is why the NFL Combine interview may not be necessary at all.
They’re not gonna keep ’em off the field tonight! – Rod Bramblett
The wild, wacky, impossible-to-figure college basketball season continued on Wednesday night with ninth-ranked Arizona’s loss to Colorado. But we’re still talking about it two days later, and not for the right reasons.
You can watch the end of the game here, but this is the important part: Colorado’s students stormed the court and Sean Miller, Arizona’s head coach, complained about it. A lot.
I have no problem being a great sport, but eventually what’s going to happen in the Pac-12 is this: An Arizona player is going to punch a fan, and they are going to punch the fan out of self-defense. And only when it happens will everyone take a deep breath and say, ‘We have to do something to protect both teams.’
I don’t like whining in sports, but I particularly don’t like whining from coaches. I don’t appreciate it because it often detracts attention from the game itself. In this case, though, Miller absolutely has a point and his comments reflect a greater concern in college sports about player and fan safety during field and court stormings.
So what precedent does Miller have for his comments and frustration?
The public debate about rushing the court and field was, at least in part, brought about by legendary Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski. After an upset loss at Virginia in 2013, this is what Coach K said about the fans’ rushing to the center to the floor; see if you can find the similarities between his comments and Miller’s:
Look, do you know how close you are to — just put yourself in the position of one of our players or coaches. I’m not saying any fan did this, but the potential is there all the time for a fan to just go up to you and say, ‘Coach you’re a [expletive],’ or push you or hit you. And what do you do? What if you did something? That would be the story. We deserve that type of protection.
Both coaches were and are right here. Player, coach, and fan safety is a huge issue when thousands of fans are rushing to the same place at once; it would still be an issue if only a hundred students rushed at the same time, so you can only imagine the risks involved in having this occur on such a frequent basis with so many people involved. It’s almost like America’s equivalent of the Running of the Bulls. The only caveat here, though, is that Pamplona is not just the location of the rush in our country; it’s a tradition, a way of college sports life, and a near-nightly occurrence.
However, since rushing the court is such a tradition, how can we still have it happen and also make it safer for all involved? It’s not nearly as complicated as you think.
First of all, there should always (always) be more than a sufficient amount of security at these games. The reason I say this is because I watched the video of the end of the Arizona-Colorado game about four times over, purely in an attempt to find security guards and/or an organized security force. I found neither of these things, which, quite simply, is nothing short of horrifying. Besides from the fact that security would’ve been really helpful in organizing the student rush, the point of having security guards is to answer to conflicts in the stands that invariably spring up over the course of a game. Because of the lack of security presence, there was no control over anything going on the stands; what if something far, far worse had happened that night? Thankfully, nothing else did. But it could have.
Anyway, these security guards would be deployed to line the front of the student section to make sure the court storming is orderly and safe. This would occur when it is clearly established that the upset could occur (well before the game is over).
The other thing that I noticed from the end of the Colorado game is that the rush of the court was nothing more than a moshpit in the stands, with students pushing and shoving one another to get down to the court. With this, there is obviously the risk of people getting caught underneath the pile and suffering serious injury. By using the rule of common sense (rocket science, right?), the students could use space in front of the student section, if it is available, to stand for the final minutes of the game. That way, there won’t be any issues with students pushing from the back to get to the front.
The final piece of the puzzle that must occur before the storming is that all players, coaches, referees, and anyone else who could be at risk of injury must leave the floor. Until this takes place, absolutely no student should be allowed to set foot on the floor or field. This goes back to the gripes of Miller and Coach K: with this plan, players won’t need to punch fans out of self-defense; they won’t be able to.
After everyone leaves, the students can rush. They must do so in a safe manner (obviously) but once the rush starts, it’ll basically be the same court/field storming we’ve come to know and love. Yes, some of the spontaneity will be lost, but it is way more important to protect everyone than to have sports’ equivalent of the release of the latest iPhone on a nightly basis.
With all of these being said, when will we see any proposal like this actually be put into effect? Miller voiced concern for the fact that the Pac-12 has done little to nothing to fix this problem, but it isn’t like the NCAA has done very much to rectify this, either. Think about the NCAA as the national government of the United States and each conference as the states of the Union. While states’ rights are a vital piece of the governing puzzle in this country, there are some matters in which the national government simply has to supersede the states. In this case, the NCAA has to flex its power over the conferences (especially the major ones) and create a policy that is fair and just to all parties involved. If and when they do, college sports will be a better place. But don’t hold your breath waiting for it; this is, after all, the NCAA we’re dealing with.
This is my proposal to help coaches, players, and fans stay safe in the event of a storming. It isn’t perfect; nothing in sports is. But it is a step to rectify the problem that is the Running of the Bulls storming of the field or court. It would keep everyone safe and the students would still get the most out of this truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.
However, no matter what is wrong or right with this proposal, we can all agree that something needs to be done about this disaster. Because that’s what it is; an unabated disaster that could lead to far more serious problems in the future.
And until something is done about this unabated disaster, we’ll see more ugly scenes like the one we saw in Boulder on Wednesday night.
The NBA trade deadline is today at 3 PM Eastern Time. I’ll have you covered here with updates and analysis throughout the day; please check back here all day for more!
This move is all kinds of wow. The winner in this move is probably Los Angeles, as the Clippers have been looking to move Lance Stephenson all week. And look what they got for him:
Our @ZachLowe_NBA says it’s Jeff Green for Lance Stephenson. Deal DID beat the 3 p.m. buzzer
I’m not so sure about this trade for the Grizzlies. They give up a solid player in Green for a massive personality in Stephenson, one who doesn’t quite fit their roster at the present moment. They’re not a contender and really had no need to make this trade.
But they did, and they just executed the biggest blockbuster of the 2016 trade deadline. Holy schnikes.
UPDATE: Per Marc Stein, the Grizzlies get a cherry on top of the deal:
Grizzlies also acquire a first-round pick in the deal
The Bulls’ backcourt has been very crowded for the last couple of years, with Derrick Rose, Aaron Brooks, Doug McDermott, and others. The odd man out in that rotation, invariably, was Hinrich, and now he’ll be the backup point guard on a Hawks team that needed one after this morning’s trade of Shelvin Mack.
Atlanta makes a good pickup while the Bulls shed some salary.
While this seems like it could be a surprise, teams simply did not want to give up their futures for Howard. Even though he is one of the most talented big men in basketball, teams like the Hawks, Heat, and Celtics deemed that he wasn’t worth the high asking price Houston GM Daryl Morey was requesting.
The Houston Rockets will remain broken for another two months.
Ryan Anderson was one of the most pursued players in trade talks this week, so it’s at least somewhat surprising to see him pulled back by New Orleans now. However, New Orleans couldn’t get the right deal for him and so he will remain in a Pelicans uniform until at least this summer.
In Morris, the Wizards get a player who can score off the bench and shoot at a decent clip from deep as they try for one last push to the playoffs. If you’ll remember, Morris went berzerk when his brother Marcus was traded to Detroit last summer.
This move is best for both sides, no matter what the Suns receive in return.
UPDATE: This is what Washington is giving the Suns:
This is another trade that is basically a lateral move. Napier would see more playing time in Chicago while Brooks could mentor Elfrid Payton in Orlando. An interesting move for both sides.
The last sentence is the key part. Dwight Howard isn’t fully entrenched in Houston just yet because Daryl Morey can find the right deal in a heartbeat. If he does, D12 will be playing in another city at the end of today.
This isn’t a huge surprise. They’ve done enough today and it looks like they have decided to keep the rest of their team intact for the rest of the season.
Such a deal would likely involve Michael Carter-Williams as well. The trade would essentially be a swap of point guards who can’t shoot, which is why the mere discussion of this deal is puzzling. Rubio doesn’t offer very much to Milwaukee that Carter-Williams does not, but it would be interesting to see what Jason Kidd could do with him as his starting point guard.
The Mavericks haven’t been linked to any major trades and there isn’t very much they can do to overcome the top three teams in the West. This shouldn’t come as a surprise and Donnie Nelson is making the right decision here.
Mack will be a solid point guard for the Jazz and could maybe even start for the team if Trey Burke struggles. Solid, although somewhat nondescript, move for Utah.
Foye would be a home run for the Thunder as they are already one of the deeper teams in the league. He would add to this depth and provide a steady presence as one of the best locker room guys in the game to boot.
This seems like a no-brainer for the Cavaliers. Varejao is playing the least minutes of his career this season and has rarely seen the floor behind Timofey Mozgov. In Frye, the Cavaliers get a player who can stretch the floor, something Varejao could not do. Frye’s presence will give Cleveland’s offense one more serious perimeter threat, something that could help new coach Tyronn Lue’s fast-paced offense.
Varejao will give a young Portland roster legitimate playoff experience, which the team lacked with the obvious exception of Damian Lillard.
It’s very likely that Houston will get this pick this year, as the Pistons could very well make the playoffs. At worst, they’ll probably be at the back end of the lottery, which would add even more value to the pick for Houston. Also, if Detroit continues to improve over the next two years and stays out of the top ten of the draft, they would surrender their first round pick to the Rockets.
Maybe this wasn’t such a bad deal for Daryl Morey and the Rockets after all.
To recap: Van Gundy fleeces the Rockets of Motiejunas and Thornton, all while only giving up Joel Anthony in the process. This was a steal because Detroit gets two players who can come off the bench and contribute immediately to a team that is on the verge of the playoffs. As the late Jack Buck once said, “Pardon me while I stand up and applaud.”
Motiejunas is a 41% three-point shooter this season, and Anthony only plays four minutes per game. For a team that is trying to make the playoffs for the first time since 2009, this move could help.
WE HAVE A TRADE!….. but it doesn’t mean very much. Jarnell Stokes is going from Miami to New Orleans, as reported by Shams Charania of Yahoo’s The Vertical:
The Miami Heat are trading forward Jarnell Stokes to the New Orleans Pelicans, league source tells The Vertical.
This is nothing more than a cap-saving move for Miami, as all they are acquiring in the deal is a protected draft pick. But it’s the first trade of the day, so let’s go sufficiently nuts.
If Lawson is not moved to Utah or bought out, it would seem as if the Rockets would have no other choice but to keep him. It’s not like the team can command very much for his services, especially given his poor play this season.
This is an interesting one. While this news doesn’t necessarily have to do with the trade deadline, it probably takes one team out of trade discussions for today. As first reported by Marc J. Spears of Yahoo:
Nets announce hiring of Sean Marks as general manager.
This is an excellent hire for Brooklyn, as the Spurs executive will get the chance to rebuild the Nets’ roster from scratch. It won’t be easy and it will likely take a couple of years, but Mikhail Prokhorov has brought in the right man for the job.
As for the immediate impact on today, the Nets will likely lay low and not make any deals. That means keeping Joe Johnson and Thaddeus Young, two players who were thought of as potential trade targets for contending teams.
While the Boston Celtics could reasonably make a blockbuster deal today, it looks as if they aren’t willing to give up primary assets for an elite big man. Via Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
Sources: So far, Boston’s showing unwillingness to pay premium prices on rentals for Al Horford and Dwight Howard.
Trading for Howard or Horford would likely mean parting ways with a part of their young core, which includes Marcus Smart, Jared Sullinger, Avery Bradley, Kelly Olynyk and Jae Crowder. Even though the team is third in the East right now, going for broke this year probably isn’t the smartest idea. Boston would have to go through the Cavaliers just to win the East and then would have to beat either the Spurs or Warriors in the Finals. Both scenarios are unlikely, so this is probably a good decision by Danny Ainge to keep his young squad together… for now, anyway.
According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, Ty Lawson may be the first domino to fall today, as the Rockets have reportedly had enough of the troubled point guard:
ESPN sources say Rockets, if Ty Lawson trade talks with Utah were to collapse, would strongly consider waiving Lawson if they can’t move him
Stein is also reporting that the trade with Utah would involve Trey Burke. Such a move would need to involve other pieces because Houston is over the salary cap and the difference in the salaries of Burke and Lawson is almost $10 million. Therefore, it wouldn’t be out of the question to see a third team get involved; if not, Utah would need to move other pieces to complete the trade.
Either way, Houston is committed to moving Ty Lawson. His days as a Rocket are over.
The NBA All-Star Break is here, and needless to say, the first half of the season provided us with an array of storylines. The Warriors have gotten off to the best first-half start of all-time (48-4) and need to win 25 of their last 30 games to break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ record of 72 wins in a regular season; additionally, Stephen Curry is the surefire MVP of this season. There’s also the Kobe Bryant retirement tour, which will conclude on April 13 with a home game against the Jazz. Kobe played in his last All-Star Game this Sunday, against two players (Andre Drummond and Anthony Davis) who were four when he played his first in 1998.
However, despite popular opinion, there are other happenings in the NBA besides from Kobe, Curry, and the Warriors. So here are five observations as we head into the second half of the season.
Who, What, Where, When, Kawhi: The Spurs Are Historically Good Too
Photo Credit: Edward A. Ornelas/San Antonio Express-News
The above headline isn’t actually something I came up with: I heard Mark Jackson say it on an ABC telecast of a Spurs game a couple of years back. Anyway, what has made the Spurs historically good this season has been their defense. And yes, the Spurs to date have been a historically great team in NBA history.
This is why: they’ve allowed 91.8 points per game this season. There have been 100 teams, including this year’s Spurs, that have surrendered fewer points on average over a full season (and amazingly, twelve are Gregg Popovich-coached San Antonio teams). Out of those 100 squads, the Spurs have the best winning percentage of all of them (.849). At this rate, they’re on pace for 70 wins, two short of the current record.
If that won’t convince you of San Antonio’s historical greatness, this will: no team in NBA history has ever scored 105 points per game and allowed less than 92. The Spurs would be the first, and they’re on that pace as we speak (scoring 105.0, allowing 91.8). If that isn’t impressive, I don’t know what is, especially in a season like this.
In addition to this, the team has added LaMarcus Aldridge since its last title run. Kawhi Leonard is having the best season of his young career. And there will always be the core of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili. This Spurs team is one of the most historically dominant ever, particularly defensively. This and other reasons is why they can absolutely beat the Warriors come playoff time.
Live on TNT, They’re Flexing: The 6IX Will Be Crazy This May
Photo Credit: Brad Penner/USA Today Sports
Don’t look now, but the Toronto Raptors are within three games of the Cavaliers for first place in the East.
When I wrote my NBA preview just before the season, I thought the Raptors could be the second-best team in the East. The reason why was because of Kyle Lowry, who I thought could help the team take the proverbial leap in the Eastern Conference after his offseason weight loss. Sure enough, the point guard is having the best season of his career, helping propel the Raptors to second place in the Eastern Conference and legitimate championship aspirations.
However, the real leap the Raptors have made has come on the defensive side of the ball. After being tied for 18th in points allowed a season ago, general manager Masai Ujiri signed defensive stalwart DeMarre Carroll away from the Hawks. The move hasn’t yet paid dividends for Toronto, as Carroll may miss the rest of the season with a knee injury. So how have the Raptors improved so much on defense?
By playing the game at a very slow pace, that is. Their 93.3 pace is actually faster than last year’s, but their defensive rating has leaped from 25th to 9th. With the improved defense and the slow pace, the Raptors are built perfectly to win in the Eastern Conference playoffs, in which the games are generally lower-scoring and played at a slower tempo. If they reach the Conference Finals, they would most certainly play the Cavaliers, which would be a very difficult matchup. However, they’ll have a better chance of making a run this year because of their defense, their higher seed in the playoffs and the better first-round matchup that results from it.
Also, they likely won’t have to deal with Paul Pierce this time around because he is in the Western Conference. That’s a good thing.
Houston, We Have a Problem: The Rockets Really Are Broken
Photo Credit: Gary A. Vasquez/USA Today Sports
If you subscribe to the notion that conflict works, you may not want to watch the Houston Rockets anytime soon.
The Rockets are a team in conflict. There is living, breathing proof of this; just ask Jason Terry:
Jason Terry walks through the media room on way to the locker room. “No chemistry with that group. F****** horrible.” #CSNBlazers#ripcity
It is horrible. The team, believe it or not, went to the Western Conference Finals a season ago, and while teams improve and fall off from year to year, the Rockets’ descent has been nothing short of stunning.
Their coach realizes it, too. JB Bickerstaff, Houston’s interim coach after the Kevin McHale firing, had this to say about his team and their chemistry:
We’re broken. It’s that simple. We’re a broken team, and we all need to use this break to figure out how we’re going to impact change. If we don’t want to impact change, then we need to be made aware of that, too, and we’ll go in a different direction.
“We can’t continue to go out and play this way. It’s easy to see it’s a fragmented bunch. You can’t win that way.
The Rockets can’t win this way, and they haven’t. At the All-Star break, they’re 27-28, out of the playoffs, and in no position to make a run at a championship. There’s also the minor problem of Dwight Howard.
The team is reportedly trying to ship him and the remaining two years on his contract to another team. Howard’s name has been linked to discussions with the Hawks and Heat, and a deal with the latter would likely involve Miami center Hassan Whiteside. The Rockets look like they’re trying to finish a deal before Thursday’s trade deadline, and whether they can or not may help define the future of the franchise for years to come.
But with or without Howard, this year’s version of the Houston Rockets are just one thing: broken.
Celtics Climbing Up the Topsails of the East
Photo Credit: Michael Dwyer/Associated Press
Moving on to things that aren’t broken, the Boston Celtics have been one of the NBA’s pleasant surprises this season. Currently, the team is third in the cluster that is the Eastern Conference and in a position to host a playoff series this April. Whether or not they finish there remains to be seen, but even though Larry Bird, Kevin McHale, and Robert Parish aren’t walking through that door, the team has still exceeded expectations without sacrificing their future as of yet.
The reason why is simple: a solid core of young players paired with the coach who, in my opinion, is one of the best in the NBA: Brad Stevens. Under Stevens’ tutelage, the team went from 25 wins in his first season to 40 wins and a playoff appearance a season ago. This season, they’re on pace for 47 wins and the third seed in the East. How did this happen?
Last December, the team traded Rajon Rondo to the Mavericks for Jae Crowder and other assets. Crowder is now the third-leading scorer on the C’s. Then, the team would acquire Kings guard Isaiah Thomas at the trade deadline. With these two players, Avery Bradley, an improved Evan Turner, Kelly Olynyk, and Marcus Smart make up the existing Celtics core. This core could come into play when the team tries to sign a major free agent in the stacked summer of 2016.
But let’s enjoy this season for what it is in Beantown: a renaissance of the Celtics and the emergence of a team that could make some noise come playoff time.
The Cavaliers’ Locker Room Won’t Be Smelling Like Champagne in June
Photo Credit: Nathaniel S. Butler/Getty Images
Time for a real talk. If and when the Cavaliers make the NBA Finals, can they realistically beat the Thunder, Spurs, or Warriors in a seven-game series?
Honestly, my answer would be no. The team they would have the best shot against would obviously be Oklahoma City, but even they would give the Cavaliers a serious run for their money; they could also give Cleveland another Finals loss. And if the Cavaliers end this season with another one of those, then they’ll have to seriously look in the mirror and assess their chances, as they are currently constituted, of ever winning a championship.
This is why I’m pessimistic about the team’s title hopes: they don’t play fast enough. Remember how I talked about the Raptors playing a really slow pace? Well, the Cavaliers play slower than the Raptors. While the Cavs’ pace is remotely near that of the Spurs, their ball movement is not. Also, the pace of the Thunder and Warriors is way faster than Cleveland’s. Translated: any of these teams could run the Cavaliers out of the building on any given night.
So when Steph Curry talks about the visitors’ locker room still smelling like champagne, he has a point. He also could be foreshadowing what the future holds for the away locker room at Quicken Loans Arena when another Western Conference team gets to celebrate an NBA championship.
Because the one team that definitely won’t be celebrating when all is said and done this season is the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Warning: article will touch on mature subject matter and violent themes that may be disturbing for some readers.
Johnny Manziel’s NFL career is in serious trouble.
This is not due to his on-field play; rather, it’s due to yet another off-field incident, one much more serious than all the others he’s amassed in his short college and NFL career.
News of this most recent incident was reported on by Dallas television station WFAA 8’s Rebecca Lopez. These are the harrowing details:
The ex-girlfriend of NFL quarterback Johnny Manziel told police that the Heisman Trophy winner told her “shut up or I’ll kill us both” after forcing her into a car, hitting her, and dragging her by the hair.
On Thursday, News 8 learned harrowing details of last week’s alleged assault of Colleen Crowley by Manziel, who is currently on the Cleveland Browns roster, but is not expected to return next season.
This is easily the worst in the long line of Manziel incidents, ranging from fake ID to middle fingers to rehab to the first domestic dispute with his girlfriend and much, muchmore. It’s obvious he has a lot of talent; he showed this throughout his college career and even in brief periods during the last two seasons in Cleveland. However, his off-the-field exploits have always been his undoing, and anyone who knew about his problems in college could have foreseen a self-implosion at the professional level.
And the problem is, the people closest to him did. This is what Johnny’s father, Paul, said in August 2013 in an ESPN article about how his son’s life could fall apart:
“Yeah,” Paul says one evening, driving in his car, “it could come unraveled. And when it does, it’s gonna be bad. Real bad.”
He imagines a late-night call, and the cable news ticker, and the next morning’s headlines.
“It’s one night away from the phone ringing,” he says, “and he’s in jail. And you know what he’s gonna say? ‘It’s better than all the pressure I’ve been under. This is better than that.'”
While one would hope that his statement would be proven untrue, Johnny came very close to fulfilling it last weekend. And he’s not out of the woods yet: his ex-girlfriend, Colleen Crowley, was granted a restraining order against him today. Additionally, the Dallas Police Department announced Friday that it was opening a criminal investigation into the domestic violence and assault allegations.
So why have things gone so far off the rails for Manziel recently?
Well, the short answer to that question is that they always have been. Going back to his college days, there was a little bit of a wild side to him; this manifested itself in the way he played on Saturdays. After missing the first half of Texas A&M’s 2013 home opener against Rice, he returned in the second half and did this:
While the Aggies won the game and eight more that season, the incident was firmly etched in the minds of many in the NFL and college football. For some strange reason before then, however, he wanted to get out of College Station, sending (then deleting) this tweet from June 16, 2013:
Bulls— like tonight is a reason why I can’t wait to leave College Station… whenever it may be
In reality, though, this was probably one of his bigger mistakes. Yes, he had gotten in trouble with the law and the NCAA, but football has always been the one constant in his life. And quite frankly, let’s face it: Texas A&M enabled much of Manziel’s shenanigans since the time he arrived in College Station because they realized his talent. For crying out loud, Manziel basically built them a new football stadium, made the university and athletic program a boatload of money and got almost nothing in return…. except a free pass on many of his transgressions.
That’s where this whole problem began. If Texas A&M would have had more of a no-tolerance policy with Manziel, he may have realized the consequence of his actions a long time ago. They could have suspended him for a full game or more for his NCAA violation in the summer of 2013. They did not. They could have suspended him in the wake of the fake ID incident the summer before that. They did not. They could have taken the opportunity to change Manziel for the better. They did not.
Which is why the last thing he needs at the present moment is football. His entire identity in life has been football; just look at his nickname. Without the football, he’s just Johnny. That is to say, he’s nothing. I’m not saying this from the standpoint of actually knowing him personally, and I can’t pretend like I do. However, I can say that Manziel needs some kind of wake-up call. One that doesn’t involve football.
And at this point, it’s really a personal issue for him. It was strictly a personal issue when he reported to rehab last winter to get himself clean; football was pushed to the backburner, as it should have been then and should be now. His father says that he has turned down rehab twice in the past week. He also says that “if they can’t get him help, he won’t live to see his 24th birthday.” The problem with that comment, though, is that Paul Manziel is kinda sorta part of the problem here.
This is how I’ll put it: everyone has different parenting methods that work. Parenting doesn’t seem to be a one-size-fits-all type of thing. But why on earth did Paul Manziel out his concerns through the press? Has he even said these things to his own son’s face? I understand that he is concerned about his son’s well-being, and he should be. But if I was Johnny Manziel and my father said that for everyone to hear, I would not be happy. At all.
Also, why does the elder Manziel talk about “they” when he talks about getting his son help? Isn’t that responsibility on him and his family? We’ve already established that the Browns are moving on from him; while they should help Manziel, they really have no professional obligation to do so, like they did last year. And if none of his friends are going to intervene, then it’s up to Johnny Manziel’s family to help him. It’s almost like his father doesn’t want to take any initiative in fixing his son’s problems. While it should be up to Johnny to sober up, someone else in his life needs to help him realize this. And at this point, it doesn’t look like that person is going to be Paul Manziel.
Obviously, Johnny Manziel needs a lot of help. He needs to get his life turned around in the worst way. If he doesn’t, it’s going to be bad. Real bad.
And maybe, just maybe, losing football will be the critical wake-up call he needs to get his life going in the positive direction. Because his livelihood and well-being are what he needs more than the game or anything else right now.
The Pro Bowl may be the one exhibition game in professional sports that the players have no desire to participate in.
This has probably always been the case, but the players’ attitude toward this year’s game seems even more apathetic than in years past.
In actuality, think about the Pro Bowl as opposed to all other all-star games. It’s the only one that takes place after the regular season, after sixteen games and seventeen weeks of the most grueling sport on the planet, one that causes most former players to have CTE, the disease that slowly but surely destroys the brain in those who sustain multiple concussions and sub-concussive impacts. It also makes most players, especially those who made the playoffs, feel worn out and in need of a break from the game. This was never more evident than in the amount of withdrawals from this year’s Pro Bowl.
This year, 133 players were invited to Hawaii to play in the game. By my count, only 94 are actually making the trip, and the 133 invites set a new record for the amount of players who were asked to play. The NFL has taken numerous measures to attempt to make the Pro Bowl more appealing to viewers, but it’s kind of hard to appeal to a viewing audience when you can’t even appeal to your own employees.
Among these measures is having Hall of Famers pick the teams for the game. Instead of having an AFC vs. NFC format, the league decided to have legends such as Michael Irvin, Cris Carter, Jerry Rice and Deion Sanders pick the teams. This practice began in 2013, after years of Pro Bowl irrelevance. Unsurprisingly, the presence of the former players changed approximately nothing in terms of the relevance of the contest.
What exactly is the problem with the game? All you have to do is watch it for five minutes and you’ll see. It just isn’t played like a regular game; it isn’t physical in the least and the players who are playing in the game really don’t give it much of an effort. If you want one sequence to serve as a microcosm for what the game has become, you need to look no further than this play in the 2013 game, when referee Ed Hochuli set the record straight on how the game was being played:
“Yes, there are penalties in the Pro Bowl.” Truer words have never been spoken. I hate to say it, but the game has become soft, which is certainly a far cry from when the late great Sean Taylor temporarily ended the life of Bills punter Brian Moorman.
Football is the last sport in the world that can be described as soft, so watching the Pro Bowl is essentially not like watching real football. However, the MLB All-Star Game is not exactly like a real baseball game; the same is true with the NBA All-Star Game. So why is the Pro Bowl so much more irrelevant than the exhibitions of other sports?
It’s simple; the players aren’t interested. Eli Manning is starting the game for Team Rice, and while he is one of the best quarterbacks in football (don’t get me started on that one), he isn’t one of the two best available quarterbacks for the game. The fact that players competing in the Super Bowl cannot play thins the talent pool some, but you can still find two quarterbacks better than Eli Manning. This is a byproduct of the withdrawals of Philip Rivers, Aaron Rodgers, Carson Palmer and others.
The other reason why the Pro Bowl struggles is because the game just isn’t that fun. While you can tell that LeBron James, Steph Curry and Kevin Durant don’t care all that much about the NBA All-Star Game, they actually make the game more fun by attempting more entertaining plays, like some of these from last year’s contest:
The NBA players do not take the game seriously, but that is part of what makes it an enjoyable watch. The other enjoyable part of the NBA and MLB All-Star proceedings has nothing to do with the games themselves; rather, the most enjoyable things about these games have to be the skills contests. Baseball has the Home Run Derby, which is one of the best events on the sport’s calendar. It gets all of the great players of the game in one place and creates another night of fun for fans of the sport during the All-Star break. And, the NBA, of course, has Saturday Night of All-Star weekend all to itself. The Three-Point Contest, Skills Contest and Slam Dunk Contest have the same effect as the Home Run Derby; they give the players a stage all to themselves to do things we wouldn’t see during games. All-Star Saturday night is one of the great events in sports, and it’s something that the NFL could have… if the league wanted it.
The NFL could have the players engage in some type of skills contest before the game. The idea of holding some type of punt, pass, and kick contest with professional players could be a good idea. Moving the NFL Honors show, which presently occurs the night before the Super Bowl, to the night before the Pro Bowl, would make more players go to the game the next day; however, holding an awards show in Hawaii might be a challenge.
Or, the NFL could do what I think is the best idea of all, which would be to just get rid of the game altogether. This is what Greg Bedard wrote for Sports Illustrated in a roundtable about improving the game:
Get rid of it. No one cares and it stinks. Look, football isn’t baseball, basketball or hockey, where you can have an all-star break in the middle of the season and the game might loosely resemble the real product. The injury risk is too high. Combine that with the fact that the true stars of the game never actually go, and exactly what are we trying to accomplish here? The lone possible alternative would be some sort of combination of Battle of the Network Stars, MTV’s The Challenge and a skills competition. All-star games are cool for one reason: All the best players are in the same place at the same time. I don’t care if it’s for a dinner party at midfield at Aloha Stadium—find something that can do that for NFL players.
He’s right. The NFL needs to find a way to get all of its players together in the same place. Until they do, we as fans will continue to be wholly disinterested in the Pro Bowl.
Cleveland Cavaliers head coach David Blatt was improbably fired on Friday, despite winning 68% of his games in a year and a half and taking the team to Game 6 of the NBA Finals in his first year on the job. However, General Manager David Griffin made the move on Friday, reportedly not consulting any Cavalier players in the process, and using this reasoning for his decision. These are his words:
I have never seen a locker room not be as connected after wins as they need to be. We’ve only been galvanized when expectations were not high.
This is the General Manager speaking, not any of the players or assistant coaches. And no, despite popular opinion, LeBron James is not the coach or General Manager of the team. So why on this planet would Griffin be making a decision on firing his (very successful) head coach based on things he’s seen in the locker room?
Maybe this is part of the problem, as ESPN’s Brian Windhorst writes. Here, he relays a story from last season about how players really didn’t think all that much of Blatt:
That didn’t stay a secret. James’ and other players’ complaints about Blatt’s style got out quickly. During games, Cavs players complained about the coach to opposing players. Once, while on the road, an injured Cavs player used the home team’s therapy pool and complained about Blatt, with his thoughts literally echoing throughout the home locker room.
First of all, that’s a really low maneuver to resort to; using the home team’s therapy pool just so you could complain about how bad your coach is? Come on, there’s got to be a better way.
But, besides that, the coaching move would seem to make sense. Blatt did not really seem to have the pulse of the locker room, and while it’s easy to look straight to the Cavs’ record and wonder why the organization could make this move, there is more to the decision than wins and losses. Also, the people questioning the change probably did not watch the team play the Warriors and, subsequently, trail by 43 late in the third quarter. Something had to be done, but was this it? If the therapy pool story and the others that Windhorst told in his piece are true, then the right move was made. If the players actually respected Blatt, then maybe the firing is a mistake.
All this being said, we really need to toss locker room dynamics to the side here. This is the problem with the Cavaliers: maybe they just aren’t good enough to win an NBA title. Maybe the issues go far beyond coaching.
Think about it this way: the Cavs are a big fish in a little pond. With all due respect to the Eastern Conference (which has improved mightily from top to bottom this season), the team is easily the best in the East. Realistically, can the Heat, Hawks, or Raptors beat them in a seven-game series if Cleveland is fully healthy? The answer to that question would have to be no.
Remember the analogy about the fish and the pond? Well, the Western Conference is a very big pond, with two enormous fish filling it. The Spurs and Warriors are clearly the two best teams in the NBA right now, and it’s really not close. To make matters worse for Cleveland, they haven’t beaten either team this year; with one more game against San Antonio and having already finished their slate against the Warriors, they are running the serious risk of not getting a win against the two teams they will have to realistically go through to win an NBA championship. That really doesn’t bode well for them if they want to finally bring a title back to the city of Cleveland.
Here is the other problem for the Cavaliers: Kevin Love. If you know what Love accomplished in his early days with the Minnesota Timberwolves and you see what he has been relegated to in Cleveland, you can probably understand why the team may look to move on from him. After the Blatt firing, ESPN’s Cavaliers reporter (yes, really), Dave McMenamin, sent out this cryptic tweet:
According to a team source, Blatt firing means “everyone is in the crosshairs right now.” Pressure only mounts from here for Cavs.
So, let’s see who that could be. The player who hasn’t found his way offensively since arriving in Cleveland. The player who was really great on many really bad teams early in his career. The player who is posting the worst numbers of his career since his second season in the NBA. Add everything up, and you get one result: Kevin Love.
Another player that could be out in Cleveland after Blatt’s firing is center Timofey Mozgov. Rumors have circulated around the league that this is a possibility, and my intuition says that a Mozgov deal would be common sense for the team. Think about it: let’s say the Cavaliers play Golden State in the Finals again like they did last year. With Mozgov at center, how can he defend Draymond Green when the Warriors go to their Uh-Oh lineup? This was the Cavaliers’ main problem after Game 3 of the Finals last season when the Warriors started Andre Iguodala and moved Green to center. Cleveland tried to counter by putting Tristan Thompson at center for most of Game 5. It didn’t quite work.
Do I believe going to Tyronn Lue is the right move for the Cavaliers? Yes, I do, because the players respond to and identify with him more than they did with Blatt. The NBA is a players’ league, and while coaching isn’t always the most important thing in the league, the players’ identification with a head coach’s philosophy and personality is. That being said, why did Griffin stay with Blatt last year, with the team at 19-20 in the middle of January? This year, the team was 30-11 at the time of Blatt’s firing and leading the Eastern Conference.
This is not a question about whether or not the Cavs can come out of the East. That question has been answered. However, Cleveland will have serious issues if they are matched up with the Spurs or Warriors in the Finals, and they may get beaten handily by either team.
Which is a fact that neither David Blatt, David Griffin nor Tyronn Lue can do anything about.
Four teams remain in the NFL playoffs after last week’s Divisional Round saw all four games decided by seven or fewer points. The New England Patriots, synthetic weed, left behind K-Balls and all, defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 27-20, en route to their fifth-straight AFC title game. In the other half of the conference, the Denver Broncos defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers 20-13, but in particularly ugly fashion, as this play shows:
Peyton goes down, Peyton gets up, Peyton completes pass. Does not appear to be touched on the 2nd view pic.twitter.com/6eVqjZS3PU
Nonetheless, the Broncos won, setting up Brady-Manning XVII, likely the final meeting between the two Hall of Famers.
On the NFC side, the Arizona Cardinals struggled their way to a 20-13 lead over the Green Bay Packers, but due to horrid clock (mis)management, Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay offense had one last chance to tie the game and send it into overtime. What happened next is nothing short of indescribable:
Then, of course, there was the coin that didn’t flip, and the Cardinals got the ball first in overtime. That’s when Larry Fitzgerald got to work, in a big way, catching two passes, one for 75 yards and the winner from five yards out:
In the other NFC game, the Carolina Panthers jumped out to a 31-0 halftime lead over the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle would come back to bring the game within seven, but would not get any closer. Was it an entertaining game? Sure, but nothing like the spectacle that was Packers-Cardinals.
In any event, here is a preview of the two conference title games.
AFC Championship: Patriots at Broncos
Photo Credit: Denver Post
The clear undercard to the NFC Championship Game, this game still features intriguing storylines. However, the biggest question in this one will be if Peyton Manning and the Broncos offense can keep pace with the high-flying, and now fully healthy, Patriots offense. If the answer is, by some bizarre revelation, yes, then we are in for an outstanding game. If this answer is the more likely solution, no, then things could get out of hand, and quickly.
Manning’s health and his steep decline have been well-documented, and the latter was fully on display against the Steelers. His lack of arm strength and his inability to fit the ball into tight windows has been his, and the Broncos offense’s, downfall all season long, and at this point, the team should seriously consider turning to Brock Osweiler. It’s a shame, but Denver’s offense is limited by Manning at this point. The rest of the team is good enough to win a Super Bowl, but the most important position on the field is in flux.
On the other hand, the Patriots offense is far from being in flux. With the greatest quarterback in the history of football and his full assemblage of weapons fully healthy, the team and the offensive unit are looking more and more dangerous as time goes on.
Also, the most important Patriot offensive player not named Brady or Gronkowski is back, too. Julian Edelman, who missed seven games due to a foot injury suffered in November, announced his presence in a big way against the Chiefs, racking up 111 total yards and ten catches. He’s Brady’s favorite target, too: he’s averaged over ten targets per game, more than any other New England receiver (including Gronk).
Here are some stats to show just why Edelman is the second-most important player in the Patriots offense:
It will be the task of the Broncos defense to stop the Patriots. It’s something they were able to do in the first meeting of the teams in week 12, but in that game, the Patriots were missing Edelman and Danny Amendola; also, Gronkowski left the game in the fourth quarter with what looked to be a serious knee injury. Luckily, it wasn’t.
And for the Patriots, they’ll have their full cast of offensive characters this Sunday. Look out.
The Pick: Patriots 31, Broncos 13
NFC Championship: Cardinals at Panthers
Photo Credit: Bob Donnan/USA Today
I have been torn on this game since about Monday. While both teams are as good as any in football, they both showed their flaws last weekend. For example, the Panthers’ flaw has to be allowing teams back into games, while the Cardinals’ flaw is offensive inconsistency, especially when quarterback Carson Palmer struggles. However, the one I’d have to be much more concerned with is that of Carolina.
Did you know that the Panthers have almost blown five fourth-quarter leads this season? Granted, that’s out of fifteen wins, and the team still has the best point differential in the NFL (+192; the Cardinals are second at +176), this is staggering and very concerning, especially when you consider that Carolina nearly blew a 31-point halftime lead to the Seahawks a week ago. The team has a tendency to start strong and then tail off, but that strategy isn’t going to cut it against Arizona this week.
Statistically, the Cardinals have the best offense in football, but the more impressive and important statistic is that their defense was the fifth-best in football during the regular season. Just as importantly, their defense is top ten in both rushing and passing yards allowed, which is going to be very important as the team tries to defend dual-threat quarterback and soon-to-be-MVP Cam Newton.
However, the most important thing of all for the Cardinals will be to get running back David Johnson going. Johnson has started every game at running back for the Cardinals since primary, lucky-to-be-alive running back Chris Johnson suffered a fractured tibia in week 12 against the 49ers. The team has won every game in which David has accumulated over 100 all-purpose yards. He hasn’t reached that mark since playing the Packers in week 16, and he was mostly held in check against the Packers in the Divisional Round. If the Cardinals want to go to the Super Bowl, they’ll need their running back to have a big day.
Another thing to watch with this one is the weather. While the actual weather for Sunday will be favorable, a storm is hitting the Carolinas Friday and Saturday. The reason why I’m mentioning this is that the field for Sunday’s game may be glorified mud, which probably means advantage Panthers.
However, despite the weather and Newton, I’m going with the upset and taking the Cardinals. This game will hopefully be a classic, and the gap between the teams really is not wide. I’m most concerned about the Panthers’ fourth-quarter habit, but especially if they start slowly and don’t pull out to their usual lead.
This one really could go either way, but the Cardinals will win in a close one.
The Pick: Cardinals 23, Panthers 20
Enjoy the games, and for those on the east coast, stay safe in the upcoming blizzard.
