A sports blog by and for Midwest Sports Fans
Eric Mangini, in a discussion on this morning’s First Take about whether Eli Manning would be a Hall of Famer if his career ended today, mentioned that Eli led the league in interceptions in 2010 and asked, “How many Hall of Famers have led the league in interceptions?” (Neither Mangini nor Skip Bayless thought that Eli had done enough yet to deserve Hall of Fame induction.)
Naturally, I stopped what I was doing and went to databaseFootball.com to answer Mangini’s question.
Two weeks between the NFC and AFC Championship games and the Super Bowl seems like way too long.
I’m a Packers fan, so I’ve been on both sides of the spectrum. Last season, I could not wait for the Super Bowl to come, the anticipation building each and every day.
This season? I can’t wait for it to be over.
No, sorry, it’s not Marisol Gonzalez. As tremendous as the asset-shaping, crimson-colored IU dress (that’s how I imagined it, anyway) was that she wore to Super Bowl Media Day, it’s far from the best photo taken so far from Super Bowl 46.
And no, sorry, as cool as the picture of the lined-up Indy cars is, it’s not the best photo either.
Here is the best Super Bowl XLVI photo that I’ve seen of the many coming coming out of Indianapolis this week:
Just because there’s no real football this weekend doesn’t mean we won’t have anything to talk about. Join MSF’s fantastic football foursome, Amanda Lawson, Drew Lange, Tyler Juranovich and myself for this week’s edition of “The NFC North Report.”
The most compelling NFL franchise right now outside of the still-playing Giants and Patriots is clearly the Indianapolis Colts.
After a decade of 10-win seasons and playoff appearances, Indy went 2-14 this season without Peyton Manning under center. Now Bill Polian is gone, Jim Caldwell is gone, Rob Lowe is causing Twitter firestorms with suggestions that Manning is retiring…and it all has Peyton feeling a bit out of sorts, as he described to Bob Kravitz of the Indianapolis Star.
In addition to determining Manning’s playing status for next season, the other big decision the Colts must make is who their head coach will be. Former Ohio State coach Jim Tressel’s name has been bandied about, but as our Chris Callaway wondered last week, why not Manning as player/coach? As absurd as the idea sounds (and is), is it any more absurd than Manning attempting to operate under the ultra-conservative direction of Tressel?
These thoughts, and a few choice photos of lovably eccentric Colts owner Jim Irsay, coalesced into our latest photo story.
I’m not sure what the Indianapolis Colts were thinking when they fired Jim Caldwell.
In his three years as coach of the Colts, he went 14-2 in 2009, 10-6 in 2010 and 2-14 in 2011. Yes, Indianapolis was terrible this year without Peyton Manning under center, but just two short years ago, with #18 healthy, the Colts won the AFC and played in Super Bowl XLIV. In 2010, Manning threw for a career-high 450 completions and 4,700 yards to go with 33 touchdowns.
The Colts relied so heavily on what Manning could do that they were lost without him in 2011. It’s not surprising that Indianapolis wen’t 2-14 this season.
This past weekend featured two highly anticipated quarterback matchups – Brady v Tebow and Manning v Rodgers – and a third that unexpectedly ended up being the most thrilling of the weekend – Brees v Smith. And as quarterbacks are wont to do after competing on the field of football battle, these duos all met at midfield after the game for quick makeout sessions in front of the leering press.
Wait…what?
By now we have heard every angle possible about either drafting Andrew Luck and getting rid of Peyton Manning, or keeping Peyton and trading the pick, or drafting Luck AND keeping Manning so Luck can sit a couple of years.
I have a different idea. It may sound crazy, you may not like it, but here it goes…
If you paid any attention to professional football in December you know that 2011 was a historic year for quarterback productivity.
Here is a list of the many passing and receiving records that were broken or tied during the 2011 NFL season:
I love to argue.
I love to argue so much that when I was in college I joined the school debate team.
I loved that so much that when I was a junior I changed my minor to speech.
I loved that so much that when I graduated I became an English and Speech teacher – so I could teach kids how to reason and think every single day.
Debate is OFTEN one of the most fun parts of sports. If you watch a game, follow a given team, or cheer for a certain player, you can develop opinions. But after a while, your convictions on said game/team/player grow, and you become entrenched in your opinion. If anyone disagrees with you, you almost feel that you are being personally attacked.
I have spent hours arguing over Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. I have spent days arguing over the NBA and college basketball. I have probably wasted weeks of my life arguing over Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
That last one hurts me the most.
Why? Because I may never get to appreciate Peyton Manning on my team again.
Outside of Tim Tebow, the two players most discussed this season by NFL pundits and fans alike have combined to take zero NFL snaps through 8 weeks.
I am referring, of course, to Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, two quarterbacks whose futures become ever more entwined as the Colts get closer and closer to having the first pick in next April’s draft (and as the news about Manning’s neck continues to worsen).
How many teams would trade their current QB, right now, for Cam Newton?
This is a question I’ve been thinking about a lot over the past several weeks, as I continue to be more and more impressed (and surprised) by how well Cam Newton is transitioning to the NFL in his first season.
A few weeks ago, Verizon Wireless contacted MSF with an amazing opportunity. If I agreed to try out one of their phones (equipped with NFL Mobile) and one of their tablets, and blog about my experiences, they would give me the phone, give me the tablet, and fly me to Chicago to stay in the Hard Rock Hotel and attend the Packers/Bears game.
If you are thinking, “No way…that’s too good to be true”… you aren’t alone. Unbelievably though, there were no “catches,” and the experience has been amazing. Over the course of this season, I’ll be updating you on my experience with Verizon’s products – the good and/or the bad, as my opinions are my own and beholden to no one – but so far so good.
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I have been a Sprint man ever since I was in high school. I started out with Sprint for one reason: it was what my parents had…and they were paying for my phone.
As I grew older, I stayed with Sprint because it was what I was comfortable with. By and large, it was cheaper than all of the other companies, and I didn’t feel like trying anything new. Of course, I knew that I would drop calls constantly, and I had heard that other companies had better service…but I was stuck in my ways.
Then, about a month ago, Verizon offered me the opportunity to try some of their products free of charge. They handed me the new Droid Bionic, and gave me the freedom to do whatever I wanted with it. As soon as I made the switch, I realized one thing: when it comes to cell phones, you get what you pay for.
Really, that’s what we all desire every time we make a purchase. It doesn’t really matter how much we spend, as long as we get what we pay for, we feel good about it.
It’s funny that I was so eager to spend $10 less a month on a device that I use almost non-stop throughout the day. Most of us wouldn’t spend $10 less a month on a car if we knew it was clearly inferior to another one, but there I was, saving money…and driving myself crazy every time I dropped a call IN MY OWN APARTMENT.
One of the greatest things about my new Bionic is that it came with NFL Mobile. What an amazing app. I can turn on the app, start playing the Red Zone channel, and then plug that into my television and watch it in crystal clear HD. In a year that the Colts have been so dreadful, NFL Mobile has saved my season.
NFL Mobile has also enabled me to keep tabs on one of my favorite players – Tim Tebow – a little better as well. And how has he fared? Well, I’m sure you’ve heard.
What may surprise you, however, is that I feel completely different about his start. I disagree with what the media is trying to sell you. In my opinion, the Denver Broncos have gotten what they paid for with Tim Tebow…and frankly, it has been mostly good.
For the second week in a row, Sunday Night Football will feature one of the worst teams in the league this season. Last week it was the Vikings, and this week the 0-6 Colts get to feature their talents during primetime.
This game was described as a rematch of Super Bowl 44 on a commercial, which would have been a great advertisement at the beginning of the year. Now that Peyton Manning is out, it should not even be considered close to a Super Bowl rematch.
The 0-3 Indianapolis Colts will face the 2-1 Tampa Bay Buccaneers for your Week 4 Monday Night Football entertainment. The Buccaneers beat the Atlanta Falcons in Week 3, while the Colts struggle to pull themselves together and make something happen without Peyton Manning.
