Nice look at what they did verses Indy
The difference was largely in the safeties and coverage focus. Manning was dared to check to runs and throw underneath. Brady was dared to check to runs and throw over top. In the end, Manning didn’t have the reliable run game or underneath options needed to churn out yards, make tough catches and extend drives. And Brady didn’t have to deep threats able to stretch the field and take advantage of one-on-one coverage. It’s funny: for as far as Randy Moss has fallen, the Patriots sure could have used him on Sunday.
Some will turn this into a Manning versus Brady argument, but I think the larger focus should be on what the Jets did, how they mired each offense. In this league, passers like Manning and Brady are expected to give superhuman efforts to compensate for areas in which their team might be lacking. Often they do. But this postseason, neither could quite do enough to counter the Jets’ brilliant gameplans. I would argue that Manning at least kept his team in the game and drove for what should have been the winning points — do experts expect him to play special teams and defense in that last 50 seconds, too? But ultimately, each quarterback was stymied by Rex Ryan’s defense and prove the doubters wrong.
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