Now, over a week since the Ravens bested the Denver Broncos in a divisional AFC Playoff game, the Broncos' fans remain hyper-delusional on what would have transpired had Peyton Manning only been allowed to play with 31 seconds (and 2 timeouts) left at the end of regulation. Denver Post sports hack Mark Kiszla, for example, yelped two days ago: "John Elway would NEVER have taken a KNEE with 31 seconds left and two timeouts!" Other indignant yappers, calling in to Denver's KOA-850 Radio, berated John Fox for his "lack of guts" and 'Hey! Looksee what Matty Ice did with those Falcons last week, and he only had 31 seconds left too!"
As Fox correctly responded (Dpost, p. 6B, yesterday):
"Some people love comparing it to the Atlanta game. It's not close to the situation because you're going to lose the game if you don't score. Ours is completely different because we get to fight the next round."
Fox, as coach, also would have kept tab of the Broncs' sorry- ass pass stats in trying to go down the field. In the case of the 31 seconds at the end of regulation, Manning would have had to take the Broncos at least 45 yards in order for Matt Prater to have a fair chance of winning the game with a FG. (Prater had already missed one of 43 yds.) This would have been no 'gimme' given Denver had only one pass play longer than 21 yards during the whole game: a 21 yard catch and run gain by Eric Decker.
Then again, the Manning led Broncs' would not only have had to overcome an increasingly ferocious Ravens' pass rush, but the shock of that 70-yard Jacoby Jones catch that tied the score. As ESPN's Trent Dilfer put it: "It's like getting kicked in the groin!"
So, they'd have had to psychologically overcome that "groin kick" and a ravenous Ravens' D hell bent not to give one more pass yard to Peyton.
So let's do a reverse time scenario, for maybe three parallel universes, and see exactly how Manning's efforts would have unfolded in those other, parallel cosmi, for the same Jan. 12 game:
Universe A: Manning heaves a pass over the middle to Brandon Stokely for what appears to be a 25 yard gain, but it's intercepted by safety Ed Reed who runs it into the end zone for a Ravens' win: 42-35.
Universe B: Manning back pedals as Suggs, Lewis, Nagta crash through the O-line and Ed Reed comes in on a safety blitz causing Manning to fumble on the 6-yard line, recovered by Ngata who scoops it up and runs it in for the TD. Ravens' win: 42-35.
Universe C: Manning makes a desperation pass over the 35 to Eric Decker as the Ravens' pass rush crashed through. Decker bobbles the ball after a ferocious hit by Ed Reed, and it's jarred loose into the hands of Corey Graham- who runs it into the endzone for the winning score. Ravens 42, Broncos 35.
The dispirited Broncos' fans refuse to admit that those are the other scenarios on how their season would end, but they are reality challenged. Mayhap it's the shock of their team's defeat when all expectations were that they'd go to the SuperBowl in Peyton's home town of New Orleans, and he'd get his second ring.
As Trent Dilfer put it, when he pooh-poohed the 31 second gambit:
"The (Denver) receivers couldn't get off the jam. They couldn't get down the field. There was no chunk yardage in the passing game. So you take all that into account and it's a tie game and momentum has just swung to Baltimore. And from my perspective it was a no-brainer to take a knee."
Yes, well, try telling that to the Broncos' fans who all remain trapped in their personal fantasylands....that had Peyton just had the ball in those final seconds he'd have overcome everything and won that game!
Especially to another Denver Post Über -hack cum Crybaby, Woody Paige ('Take a Knee? It's Still the Wrong Decision by Broncos) who brain-farted in today's paper:
"There should be a sign at the football stadium "No Game Today" . Because the Broncos went down not trying. While the Ravens and the Patriots meet in New England, the Broncos sit, not play, at home Sunday. Their guitar gently weeps.
Forever linked in infamy in Broncos lore will be the phrases "Half-A-Loaf" and "Take-A-Knee."
And Oh, BWAAAAHAAA!....cry me a river. Grow up, Woody! Your readers expect more of you. Or ....maybe not!
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