Big time tip to Stan who finds this gem from the heart of Brady Country. It contains one of the funniest lines I’ve ever read…Simple Jack Farve…I’m still laughing myself sick.
And this is when Ryan did something that seemed all too familiar. After a solid Jets drive to start the third quarter stalled, he had Jay Feely attempt a 52-yard field goal. Wide right. Well, you don’t need to be have the script in front of you to know what happened next. An eight-play drive (all passes) that ended with a 4-yard Garcon catch. Colts, 20-17. The Jets never led again and it was all over except for the shouting and an awkward trophy ceremony with Edgerrin James (who I don’t think was ever in the mix for “Meet the Press” hosting duties after Tim Russert’s death.)
And here’s what I mean by “all too familiar.” I think against every other team in the NFL, Ryan punts in that situation. But I think he felt the need to put points on the board vs. Manning and decided to force the issue, to ignore the percentages. Manning has now done this to the top two defensive minds in the NFL in a span of about 10 weeks. No small feat.
For years I heard that Manning had the weapons. That’s why he put up huge numbers. Edge and Harrison and Wayne and Clark. Well, he was throwing for 4,000 yards before Wayne and Clark were in Indy and he’s throwing for 4,500 yards after Edge and Harrison are gone. And have any Colts players on offense done anything after they’ve left? Marcus Pollard? Terrence Wilkins? Jerome Pathon? He was never a product of the system. We’re not talking about just plugging any actor into a CSI show here. He made the system. He IS the system, dammit!
(And yes, the odds of Peyton Manning appearing in a CSI episode sometime in the next three years is 4-to-1. The odds of Cooper Manning getting his father to love him as much as he loves his other sons is still a 250,000-to-1 shot.)
And now we all know that he is a “winner.” The comeback vs. the Pats and the Super Bowl win over the Bears put that question to sleep forever (I think the win over the Pats meant more to Colts fans than the Super Bowl, I really do. Which game do you think they talk about more? Not unlike the 2004 Red Sox with the ALCS vs. the World Series.) Of course, winning 13 games in his second year as a starting QB with Wilkins as your second wide receiver, Jim Mora as your head coach and a defense in the bottom half of the league might have been a sign as well. And he has won at least 10 games in all but two of his 12 seasons in the league.
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