Brady hyping it up as he leads his Patsies down the field in SB LIII
I confess that, initially, wifey and I had no intention of watching the travesty that passed for a Superbowl game yesterday. We were still enraged at the New Orleans Saints being denied their rightful appearance in the 'show'. Saints' QB Drew Brees 3rd down incomplete pass ought to have been flagged for blatant, BLATANT - as in 'in your face'-- pass interference, e.g.
But wasn't as the ref (left) just stood there gawking like a drooling, recently lobotomized zombie as Rams's cornerback Robey-Coleman committed the mugging on receiver Tommylee Lewis. Even admitting with a smirk he expected a flag but the "football gods" let him get away with it. No the football gods did no such thing! A cowardly, two-bit weasel of an official did that. Many pundits have called it "mistake" or "missed" call, but it was clear to me it was plain, yellow -bellied cowardice.
Look, when you have the Rams' gangsta corner (Nickell Robey-Coleman) even chuckling about it in the aftermath you know it's a game time crime - that effectively decided which team got to the Super Bowl. In this case, the inferior team, as we beheld yesterday - with an inexperienced 3rd year QB (Jared Goff) and his equally inexperienced head coach (Sean McVay) exposed as pretenders on the nation's biggest sports stage. But more on this in a bit, as I argue the Saints would have beaten the Patsies and handed Brady his 4th SB loss - given they'd be fielding a QB every bit as talented and experienced (Brees) and a savvy coach in Sean Payton - already a Superbowl winner too.
Clear as an asteroid crash, no doubts and no ambiguity - pass interference on a Richter '10' scale. Call the damned penalty - at least throw the red flag - and N. O. has first down on the 10 with time to run down the clock and score with a FG at least. That gives the the NFC championship and a Super Bowl berth with two confirmed stars: Brees vs. Brady. But what really happened here? The ref saw the penalty as clearly as the rest of us but opted not to call it because he feared allowing the game outcome to depend on it. His febrile brain probably rationalized along the lines of "Well, even if I don't call it the Saints' still have the chance to pull it out!"
But he didn't reckon in the devastating effect on the Saints' offense of having essentially been denied prime field position, a first down and the chance to put the game away. Also, the defense - already running on fumes - would have been deflated on realizing they'd have to go back out again, and then again (in overtime) when they didn't need to.
There were a litany of pundit excuses and blather in the aftermath, all of which had Janice ready to blow her top. (She's been particularly irate about the no call, almost as if it had happened to her Ravens.) The excuses included: "the refs are only human and make errors", "the Saints had plenty of time to come back", "the defense just didn't get it done", and (from Shannon Sharpe) "they should have just done run plays, no pass plays to run off clock".
But the dumbest ever rationalization came out of SI (Scorecard, Jan. 28-Feb. 4, p. 14) from a Michael Rosenberg who actually argued the poor referees are now like "being stuck in a marriage with 100 million angry spouses." And why is this? Because we now have HDTV and can spot every tiny little blemish, every flaw, ever ref miscue. Yeah, right, like anyone needed HDTV to see the outrageous no call committed by the gutless zebra - more worried about the game being determined by a flag than having the right team represent the NFC in the Superbowl.
The result? A team of inferior offense was exposed on the big stage, with the young, inexperienced Goff looking like a flag football QB suddenly thrust into the tackle game --- in the Super Bowl. I think Janice and I counted 8 successive Ram punts before we went to get our chili and garlic bread dishes, nachos. My argument? Interject Brees and the Saints and you have a highly competitive Super Bowl with the Saints winning it in the end - Sean Payton having two weeks to prepare really good D-schemes. The result? Brady is 5-4 in Super Bowls and we cease hearing this infernal nonsense about him being the "greatest quarterback ever". NO - he is not!
How can I say this? In a separate SI piece it was noted how the game has "evolved" in the past thirty years or so with defenses declawed and offenses now replete with star boy QBs - almost like China dolls. They can no longer be leveled by linebackers in the style of Deacon Jones, Ray Nitschke and Lawrence Taylor. (Google Lawrence Taylor's hit on Joe Theismann. E.g.
Lawrence Taylor Hit - YouTube
In other words, Brady's SB wins must be taken in the context of the defensive rules that have been essentially neutered. As even one SI piece admitted (as the likely consequence if the same NFL defenses existed now as 30 years ago): "Would you really want backup quarterbacks like Deshon Kizer getting more game time than stars like Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers or Drew Brees.?
Well no, but we would want more honesty in acknowledging that today's star QBs play in a weakened defensive rules era - designed to highlight offense and the passing game. That means the QBs of old - like Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw - who had to play against the likes of Lawrence Taylor or Mike Singletary, merit vastly more consideration in the G.O.A.T game. Indeed, by my reckoning, both Bradshaw and Montana (with 4-0 SB records) merit more consideration as G.O.A.T. than Brady - who'd be 5-4 had the Patriots played the Saints instead of the LA Shams.
The presence of the Saints would also have meant a much more competitive and entertaining game as opposed to the schlock that passed for a Superbowl yesterday. At least in New Orleans they could properly celebrate in their own way knowing deep down they were the rightful winners, and the NFC team that played were a bunch of pretenders dubbed the "Shams" by N.O fans.
Lastly. even if the Saints had played the Patsies and somehow lost that would not mean Brady is the "greatest of all time". As noted in a piece in today's USAToday,
https://ftw.usatoday.com/2019/02/super-bowl-bill-belichick-mvp-patriots
the game showed Bellichick never needed Brady to win a Super Bowl and indeed may not have needed Brady to win any. That means that while Bellichick may well be the "greatest NFL coach of all time", Tom Brady is not the greatest QB. If he was, he'd be indispensable to Bellichick's (and offensive coordinator Josh McDonald's) offensive plans.
See also:
Super Bowl ratings plummet as Who Dats strike back
The NFL got the matchup they wanted -- and the game got the viewership Saints fans think it deserved.
And:Saints would’ve spiced up bland Super Bowl 53
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