Not this again! #Patriots

By Michael Parente

Looks like we’re back to square one again, allowing an epic, back-and-forth Sunday night thriller at Gillette Stadium to digress into another Tom Brady-Peyton Manning sword fight with no real winner or loser, unless you count the thousands upon thousands of losers who subject themselves to reading the obligatory Brady vs. Manning column the following morning.

This is not one of those columns. The Brady-Manning debate deals in too many absolutes. Brady always gets it done when it counts. Manning can’t win the big game. Manning can’t win in cold weather. None of them are true. They’re myths, much like the Loch Ness Monster or Nicki Minaj’s butt implants, myths based off of small, outdated sample sizes that have taken on a mythological life of their own in recent years.

The ebb and flow of this debate is proof you can spin any such sample size into your own certificate of authenticity. The idea Brady is infallible in postseason play is an argument somehow still on life support despite the fact the Patriots haven’t won a Super Bowl in eight years, or despite the fact Brady is a pedestrian 8-7 as a starter in the playoffs since that last Super Bowl win. The overall 17-7 playoff record is a wonderful keepsake, but some of the rust begins to show when you realize Brady was once 9-0 in that same category following his first four years as an NFL starter. The fact he’s lost two Super Bowls to Eli Manning – Eli Manning! – since 2007 and three home playoff games in the last four years does little to help his legacy. Nobody’s perfect, but no else has done that. Not Joe Flacco. Not even Mark Sanchez. They both have winning playoff records during that same stretch. Brady doesn’t. Food for thought, unless you abide by the eyeball test in lieu of statistical analysis.

For what it’s worth, Sunday’s game at Gillette Stadium probably won’t make the final cut on Manning’s posthumous highlight reel, nor will it go on interim head coach Jack Del Rio’s resume as he vies for the coveted coaching job at the University of Southern California. In fact, if I were on that hiring committee, I’d probably run Del Rio’s resume through the shredder after watching him call for 47 running plays in lieu of giving his best player – not to mention one of the greatest players in the history of the sport – the opportunity to choke the life out of the Patriots.

Who’s to blame? Did Manning pass the buck, or did Del Rio try to run prevent offense in the second quarter? The Monday-morning critics who deadpanned Manning’s perceived inability to execute in cold weather or make plays when he needs to make them conveniently ignored his fourth-quarter drive in which he completed 5 of 9 passes, including the game-tying 11-yard touchdown pass to Demaryius Thomas. The guy’s good – real good – and he wasn’t too shabby in overtime either when he led the Broncos to New England’s 39-yard line before Del Rio again sucked the life out of the team with back-to-back running plays that netted a grand total of two yards. They might’ve scored on their first drive, too, had Eric Decker not done his best Tony Parker impersonation by practically screening a New England defender in the middle of the field, negating a first down at the Patriots’ 48 and instead putting the ball back at the Denver 42.

What’s shameful is Decker’s penalty and Del Rio’s curious play-calling never gave the Broncos a chance to make Bill Belichick pay for foolishly deferring the winning coin toss in overtime and electing to kick rather than receive. Citing the swirling winds as the motivating factor, Belichick instead decided to let Denver begin overtime on offense with the wind in its face. Even with the new overtime format, which allows the defensive team one chance to respond if the receiving team scores at least a field goal on its opening drive, this was about as dumb as Rick Vaughn intentionally loading the bases to pitch to Jack Parkman in Major League 2.

Belichick’s suddenly a genius again because the Patriots won the game, but the wind had nothing to do with Decker’s brain cramp or Del Rio’s unbridled fascination with Knowshon Moreno. The icing on the cake, for those who stayed up well past their bedtime to witness this miracle, was Wes Welker’s lack of communication on special teams and subsequent muffed punt by Tony Carter that gave New England the ball at the Broncos’ 13. What might’ve ended up as a tie instead wound up as a dramatic win for the Patriots when Welker a.) failed to call for a fair catch and b.) failed to warn his teammates to stay away from the live ball. The Patriots recovered, kneeled on it twice and kicked the chip-shot field goal for a 34-31 win.

What does this have to do with Manning, sub-zero temperatures, or the greatest quarterback debate of the modern era? Nothing whatsoever. As great as Brady was in the second half Sunday (344 yards and three touchdowns on 24-of-33 passing) he was relatively ineffective in overtime, completing just 3 of his 7 pass attempts before Welker’s game-ending gaffe.

Sunday’s wild finish may go down as the most bizarre chapter in this unending Brady-Manning narrative, but it failed to shed any additional light on which quarterback leads by a nose heading down the stretch. This game had too many extenuating circumstances, unforeseen roadblocks and indefensible mistakes, both physical and mental – perhaps a microcosm of this rivalry as a whole. Turns out this was one of those columns after all.