Jody Mac
02-06-2012, 02:42 PM
Super Bowl 46 is in the books and Eli Manning and the NY Giants have done it again to the New England Patriots. A late drive that ends in a game winning touchdown in the contest's 60th minute, this time giving the G-Men their fourth Super Bowl Championship. It was a no win situation for Eagle fans going in. Can't root for the hated division rivals from New York and could you really pull for the glamour boy Tom Brady, the man who short circuited the Eagles only Super Bowl appearance in the last 30+ years. Going in it was a pick your poison type of game. Coming out it was probably the less desirable result. In the 46 year Super Bowl era, an NFC East team has walked off with the Lombardi trophy an even dozen times. That scoreboard reads Dallas 5- New York 4- Washington 3 and Philadelphia 0!! (Won't attempt to find any solace in the St. Louis/ Arizona Cardinal years spent in the division, misery doesn't need that kind of company)
Eli Manning not only proved his doubters wrong...again..but put himself on an even higher level. Yes Tent Dilfer and Brad Johnson won Super Bowls as quarterbacks. They didn't win two. Eli now has. He's won them with game winning, lengthy drives as well. He has beaten superior teams, on the road in both championship runs. It may be that he forced his way out of San Diego when he was the first overall pick in the draft. It may be that he's part of the First family of NFL quarterbacks, the Mannings. It may be his "awe shucks" personality, or lack thereof. For whatever the reason, many people have not wanted to give Eli his due. Still not as good as Peyton. Lucky catch by David Tyree. Giants win because of their defense. He has put all those excuses in his rear view mirror. He rallied this team that gave up 400 points during the regular season and lead them to six straight elimination game wins. In the Big game, he once again outplayed the future Hall of Famer Tom Brady. He now has two championship rings to his brother's one. You must recognize ELI Manning is star quarterback!!
The problem for the Eagles is he may still be an improving quarterback. At age 30 he just had his best year as an NFL QB, an MVP type season. He has a trio of wide receivers in Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham who are all 25 years of age and or younger. Yes the Giants have some ageing veterans on their offensive line that may need replacing soon but that Giant passing game looks rather formidable for the next several seasons. Nnamdi Asomugha has his work cut out for him. As does Juan Castillo, the present and still defensive coordinator of your Philadelphia Eagles. Birds fans, does it bother you more that Andy Reid couldn't convince Steve Spagnuola to rejoin him on the Eagles staff or that Castillo is back for his second term in office, knowing that his boss was ready to replace him if he had been able to cajole coach Spags into a return engagement. The off-season plot begins to thicken for the Birds and we are just getting started!!
If it is any solace Eagle fans, Tom "GQ" Brady's legacy does take a hit. His early "intentional grounding safety" was a dumb play that you don't expect an all-time great to make. His interception to Rob Gronkowski was a Favre-like heave, throw it up for grabs and hope for the best, and his 4th quarter pass that went off Wes Welker's hands was a poorly thrown ball to a wide open receiver in which he should share the blame evenly on a play that may have iced the game for the Patriots. Instead of jumping up to a level with his idol Joe Montana, as arguably the greatest QB in the modern day era, he is a QB that hasn't won a Super Bowl in seven seasons. Not since 2005 when he beat.... oh yeah, that's right, sorry about that!!
The Sixers two-week testing ground period is half way home and so far the results have been impressive. 3-1 against teams with winning records since last Monday. Yes, the beat down at the hands of the Heat was painful but the win the next night in Atlanta should have removed some of the sting. Three good Western Conference teams come into the Wells Fargo this week (Lakers, Spurs, Clips) starting with Kobe tonight. The Sixers second unit continues to be a dominant factor in the NBA. What other threesome comes off the bench for any other squad in the league that can compare to Williams, Young and Turner? My answer is none!! Couch Doug Collins has gotten his rotation working like a charm. He understands the ebb and flow of a game as well as any coach in the league. When another team ebbs, Collins bench comes in and flows right over them.
Two weeks ago I was suggesting that the Sixers might be well advised to consider striking while the iron is hot and looking to make a blockbuster trade for the pre-requisite super star needed to win a championship, say like Derron Williams. After watching these last two weeks, I have changed my tune. In this wacky, strike shortened season, maybe the NBA norms have changed. Maybe continuity and youth and superior coaching are the key ingredients over mega-star talent. This group deserves to take their shot as is. Don't do a thing to this mix; unless of course they lose four in a row or six out of seven, then all bets are off before the league's March 15th trade deadline!!
I don't want to over-react to the Flyers lost weekend.... but right now their goal tending is a mess. Bobrovski gets lit up for a six spot in less than 30 minutes on Saturday and Bryzgalov allows three Mr. Softees against the Rangers Sunday. People talk about the curse of Philadelphia not winning a championship that last 25 years (Yes I believed that Billy Penn had a huge hand in Philly's karmic championship drought), how about the missing between the pipes piece for the Flyers since Bernie's 70's heroics. Have the hockey Gods turned their noses up at all Flyer's net minders for the last 36 years. Even when Ron Hextall was good enough to earn a Conn Smythe trophy as the finals MVP back in 1987 he was one of only two players to do so in the last 42 years on a LOSING team. The other, of course a Flyer, Reggie Leach in the 1976 final which denied the orange and black a tree-peat before we knew what a three-peat was. Are there higher powers at play here?? Just saying!!
The Super Bowl signifies the end of the football season. But it also marks the fact that baseball is just around the corner. Eight days and counting till pitchers and catchers report to sunny FLA for the fightin' Phils. 'Nuff said !!!
Sporting snackies for your nibbling pleasure...I thought Madonna's half time show at the Super Bowl was one of the best we have ever seen. The production value was off the charts and she was pretty dame impressive with her moves in her own right for a 53 year old master performer. I did not catch M.I.A.'s one finger salute during her part in the performance. It is unfortunate that she chose to take the attention off the Material Girl's phenomenal show and place it at her own attention grabbing feet. Unlike Janet Jackson's nipple - gate from years ago, this one flew completely under my radar. I knew I saw something the night Justin Timberlake caused the infamous wardrobe malfunction, I just wasn't sure what I had seen. I did not see this Bird fly at all. But the FCC surely will have and NBC will have to pay a price. Live entertainment in front of the largest TV audience of the year is a sticky and at times. costly wicket !!...The other Super Bowl past time, the costly commercial viewing was far more disappointing. There were a couple cute spots and you can never go wrong reprising Ferris Buehler or the soup Nazi but all in all the commercials were not very memorable. If I were shelling out 3.5 million dollars for 30 seconds I would hope my creative advertising team would give me 30 very memorable seconds!!
Eli Manning not only proved his doubters wrong...again..but put himself on an even higher level. Yes Tent Dilfer and Brad Johnson won Super Bowls as quarterbacks. They didn't win two. Eli now has. He's won them with game winning, lengthy drives as well. He has beaten superior teams, on the road in both championship runs. It may be that he forced his way out of San Diego when he was the first overall pick in the draft. It may be that he's part of the First family of NFL quarterbacks, the Mannings. It may be his "awe shucks" personality, or lack thereof. For whatever the reason, many people have not wanted to give Eli his due. Still not as good as Peyton. Lucky catch by David Tyree. Giants win because of their defense. He has put all those excuses in his rear view mirror. He rallied this team that gave up 400 points during the regular season and lead them to six straight elimination game wins. In the Big game, he once again outplayed the future Hall of Famer Tom Brady. He now has two championship rings to his brother's one. You must recognize ELI Manning is star quarterback!!
The problem for the Eagles is he may still be an improving quarterback. At age 30 he just had his best year as an NFL QB, an MVP type season. He has a trio of wide receivers in Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham who are all 25 years of age and or younger. Yes the Giants have some ageing veterans on their offensive line that may need replacing soon but that Giant passing game looks rather formidable for the next several seasons. Nnamdi Asomugha has his work cut out for him. As does Juan Castillo, the present and still defensive coordinator of your Philadelphia Eagles. Birds fans, does it bother you more that Andy Reid couldn't convince Steve Spagnuola to rejoin him on the Eagles staff or that Castillo is back for his second term in office, knowing that his boss was ready to replace him if he had been able to cajole coach Spags into a return engagement. The off-season plot begins to thicken for the Birds and we are just getting started!!
If it is any solace Eagle fans, Tom "GQ" Brady's legacy does take a hit. His early "intentional grounding safety" was a dumb play that you don't expect an all-time great to make. His interception to Rob Gronkowski was a Favre-like heave, throw it up for grabs and hope for the best, and his 4th quarter pass that went off Wes Welker's hands was a poorly thrown ball to a wide open receiver in which he should share the blame evenly on a play that may have iced the game for the Patriots. Instead of jumping up to a level with his idol Joe Montana, as arguably the greatest QB in the modern day era, he is a QB that hasn't won a Super Bowl in seven seasons. Not since 2005 when he beat.... oh yeah, that's right, sorry about that!!
The Sixers two-week testing ground period is half way home and so far the results have been impressive. 3-1 against teams with winning records since last Monday. Yes, the beat down at the hands of the Heat was painful but the win the next night in Atlanta should have removed some of the sting. Three good Western Conference teams come into the Wells Fargo this week (Lakers, Spurs, Clips) starting with Kobe tonight. The Sixers second unit continues to be a dominant factor in the NBA. What other threesome comes off the bench for any other squad in the league that can compare to Williams, Young and Turner? My answer is none!! Couch Doug Collins has gotten his rotation working like a charm. He understands the ebb and flow of a game as well as any coach in the league. When another team ebbs, Collins bench comes in and flows right over them.
Two weeks ago I was suggesting that the Sixers might be well advised to consider striking while the iron is hot and looking to make a blockbuster trade for the pre-requisite super star needed to win a championship, say like Derron Williams. After watching these last two weeks, I have changed my tune. In this wacky, strike shortened season, maybe the NBA norms have changed. Maybe continuity and youth and superior coaching are the key ingredients over mega-star talent. This group deserves to take their shot as is. Don't do a thing to this mix; unless of course they lose four in a row or six out of seven, then all bets are off before the league's March 15th trade deadline!!
I don't want to over-react to the Flyers lost weekend.... but right now their goal tending is a mess. Bobrovski gets lit up for a six spot in less than 30 minutes on Saturday and Bryzgalov allows three Mr. Softees against the Rangers Sunday. People talk about the curse of Philadelphia not winning a championship that last 25 years (Yes I believed that Billy Penn had a huge hand in Philly's karmic championship drought), how about the missing between the pipes piece for the Flyers since Bernie's 70's heroics. Have the hockey Gods turned their noses up at all Flyer's net minders for the last 36 years. Even when Ron Hextall was good enough to earn a Conn Smythe trophy as the finals MVP back in 1987 he was one of only two players to do so in the last 42 years on a LOSING team. The other, of course a Flyer, Reggie Leach in the 1976 final which denied the orange and black a tree-peat before we knew what a three-peat was. Are there higher powers at play here?? Just saying!!
The Super Bowl signifies the end of the football season. But it also marks the fact that baseball is just around the corner. Eight days and counting till pitchers and catchers report to sunny FLA for the fightin' Phils. 'Nuff said !!!
Sporting snackies for your nibbling pleasure...I thought Madonna's half time show at the Super Bowl was one of the best we have ever seen. The production value was off the charts and she was pretty dame impressive with her moves in her own right for a 53 year old master performer. I did not catch M.I.A.'s one finger salute during her part in the performance. It is unfortunate that she chose to take the attention off the Material Girl's phenomenal show and place it at her own attention grabbing feet. Unlike Janet Jackson's nipple - gate from years ago, this one flew completely under my radar. I knew I saw something the night Justin Timberlake caused the infamous wardrobe malfunction, I just wasn't sure what I had seen. I did not see this Bird fly at all. But the FCC surely will have and NBC will have to pay a price. Live entertainment in front of the largest TV audience of the year is a sticky and at times. costly wicket !!...The other Super Bowl past time, the costly commercial viewing was far more disappointing. There were a couple cute spots and you can never go wrong reprising Ferris Buehler or the soup Nazi but all in all the commercials were not very memorable. If I were shelling out 3.5 million dollars for 30 seconds I would hope my creative advertising team would give me 30 very memorable seconds!!