Denver Might Play Everybody To Scratch, Claw, Win.

Although football ain't basketball, this basketball coach still can't understand why starters get more shine than finishers; and why is there a huge need for fans of my Denver Broncos to pigeon hole the team or their head coach Gary Kubiak over this quarterback decision.

Conventional wisdom in most team sports does request a narrowing of the lineup come playoff time, and a declaration of starters just to keep the conspiracy media hounds from hunting until you do.

On the other hand, common cliche's declare that every team needs a leader, and that having two starting quarterbacks usually means that you probably don't really have one.

Cliche's are mostly annoying because life makes them perpetually relevant even while bothersome to read or hear.  Once again, these common cliche's are annoying the local masses because the Denver Broncos organization and two mediocre quarterbacks brought the cliche's into question. Is Brock not quite the leader they need him to be or are the Broncos stifling the future by delaying the development of our future quarterback?  Annoyingly, my answer to that question is to offer a question myself.  Does the issue of Brock's current development matter as much if Denver wins it all?

What happens if Peyton Manning gets some of that
Colorado weather that we are famous for? Does he health
instantly make him a better backup to Brock?

 If Brock doesn't play at all in the playoffs, he will miss out on valuable development regardless of the outcome. It took both injury and Tom Brady to send Drew Bledsoe to the scrap heap. Osweiler didn't do that to Manning. He merely played okay. Which  probably tells us all we really need to know about him. Until he changes our view, Brock has joined that dreaded potential/upside zone that special players never find themselves.

Brock is not yet, and may never become the quality of leader that the Denver Broncos will need to win it all. What he is is an important player on a team that is, collectively, one of the top teams in the NFL lead by an aging quarterback who is now nursing achy feet and a nasty helmet to the back from a  Steeler's safety blitz.

However ugly or unconventional it might appear, my AFC West Champion, American Football Conference, number one seed Denver Broncos have just as good a chance of winning it all as any team remaining. From a football fan perspective, the beauty of this playoff season is that it is an uncertain horse race, and who best to overcome this very tight horse race if not a Bronco?

Who is the American Pharoah this season? 

K.C. was dangerous simply because they were left for dead and playing with house money. Now they are dead, and there is no dark horse or clear cut triple crown horse left in the NFL playoff race. Seattle was lucky to have the Vikings hook it left, but not lucky enough to overcome 31 points in the first half from Cam Newton and the Panthers. The Panthers got out of the blocks quickly, and have already eaten a rather large Seahawk (making a Cardinal a seemingly small appetizer), but this is a horserace, not a bird hunt.

Early odds have N.E. as a 3.5 point favorite to win the game in Denver.

Tom Brady's Patriots are always a reasonable selection to win it all, but they too must overcome the mystique of a city that Brady has not fared well in (2-6 all time in playoff games at Mile High), against a  team that snapped their undefeated streak, sending them on a Patriot version of a season ending tailspin that cost them the very home field advantage they may soon regret having lost.

But enough of these other teams.  We got rid of Jim Rome and Dan Patrick on Denver's main sports talk radio station because Colorado and the Denver Broncos have created their own sports universe.  In Denver, we really don't demand a bunch of national conversation and outside sports debates to give us a reason to watch the NFL. Tim Tebow altered ESPN sports forever, and I, for one, have had enough of the Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith's First Take act that began primarily because of debating over Tebow and my Denver Broncos. Denver Broncos skepticism is now a sport and a category of viewer of a unique but significant sort. In other words, there are a lot of lovers and haters watching my Broncos these days.

Keep in mind that my Broncos are not only the team that shocked the football world by pulling off that number one seed in the AFC, the Denver Broncos organization has shocked some of their own fans into questioning what the heck are they doing at QB, and why aren't they doing it another way?

No really. In Denver, they are still screaming for that dummy Kubiak to take away their heart attacks and just place them in the grave by inserting an inexperienced quarterback into a situation that he has hardly proven he can endure. 

In Broncos country, there are just as many fans of the Broncos who are convinced of Brock being the better bargain as are those vying for old man Manning to get it done.  Though the team is winning and advancing, the immense social divide on the Manning/Osweiler topic hasn't been seen in colorful Colorado since that OJ trial, as the debate rages over who deserves to play and will Kubiak make a switch at any moment now.

I can't say that I didn't have a similar question when our offense seemed to stall out against Pittsburgh. What remains without question is that it would take 10 teams in the league to adopt the Chip Kelly model (how did he get another job?) or for the Seattle Seahawks defend and run style not being in the mix again and again, to make Elway and many others general managers think otherwise about the defend and run approach. What we are frustratingly watching from the Broncos is partially from lack of execution (dropped passes and missed opportunities), but primarily it is the exact design of the plan.

If the original plan of building a defense in Denver and running the ball is still in place, Manning is the clear cut current choice to make the right reads and exploit the correct run or pass play when the defense offers that look. Love or hate either quarterback, or the way in which we've won, this Broncos team has done it in this exact fashion throughout the entire year, and they are fully prepared to continue winning in a fashion that most teams avoid mightily.

Elway was correct to decree the scratching and clawing road to victory just as he was correct in his 'find the coaches and build the defense' method of making it happen. Which is why I shall repeat my consistent praise of Elway and his coaches.

The great defense we see now is basically the same good defense that we have had since Elway brought it here along with the best coaches he could find. Every season, the rest of the league has hired prominent coaches from Denver's coaching ranks and placed them at the helm of their teams, evidencing the quality of the Broncos coaching tree under Elway. 

It was a coached up Tim Tebow who performed those miracles that lead the Mile Hi mass revelation of Elway's defensive salvation plan. Manning was a saviour of another sort when he dropped from heaven and into Elway's lap to save Denver from a quarterback who also finished off the Steelers during the playoffs, even though he could barely throw the ball.

If we actually are getting the best of the last of Peyton Manning, it is in great credit due to John Elway, Gary Kubiak and even defensive coordinator Wade Phillips whose defense provides the old man all the time he needs to find his stride in any game, while playing patiently enough to take some chances but avoid turnovers.

When Manning brought in his fast paced, fast scoring style that excites the crowd, he inadvertently concealed some of the very strengths of the same great defense that Tebow had. Suddenly, Denver's defensive workload doubled, and the opportunity for fatigue and exposure to injury and big plays did as well.

That was, of course, until this current magical season when the defense matured, and Manning mishapped so damn much that he maintained the league lead for most interceptions even after missing several games with an injury that he'd concealed from at least as far back as preseason. 

Despite the woes and changes at quarterback, it has been our consistent stifling run defense, a dominant pass rush, takeaways and defensive touchdowns that  have kept Denver's D atop the charts throughout the season. In essence, this years defense has had the divine benefit of great talent, great coaching and average to crappy quarterbacking to help sharpen and reveal their mettle, developing them into the top defense in the league on the number one seeded team in the AFC.

Manning or Osweiler? Osweiler or Manning?

The last time Manning dealt with NE in the playoffs, it did not
end well.  Will Kubiak quietly endure mediocre Mannnig?

From my perspective, the answer to which quarterback should play is as clear as can be.  Both quarterbacks should play, and both quarterbacks should remain a continuous threat to play for the entirety of the playoffs, be that a real threat or for the sake of shenanigans.

Why not? Has anyone seen that injury report out of New England yet? Do you think Pittsburgh intended to let us know that Big Ben was able to throw just fine before they went for a bomb on the very first play from scrimmage?  Would they have phoned Denver on Friday if Ben's throwing wasn't great just to get us ready for Landry Jones or Michael Vick?

For a legitimate reason, Osweiler  had weekly questions from reporters about retaining his starting role. It wasn't because of his clear posture as a capable backup, it was because of his cloudy stand as a certain starter.  Keep in mind that Osweiler has been a backup for a really long time, and playing backup is not a role that he is suddenly uncomfortable with or utterly deflated by.  If the Broncos were sitting him for Johnny Manziel, I would understand the deflated sentiment.

The Broncos have not only replaced Osweiler with the team starter (Kubiak never declared Manning as anything but unhealthy), they replaced him with a quarterback who just so happens to be of Hall of Fame certainty. The notion that Osweiler or his supporters would think that he instantly is the better choice after game managing a few wins in the absence of an injured Hall of Fame starter is asinine.

Being "injury" benched for a fairly green backup that went in and did a bang up job in your absence is humbling, and humility is the sports therapy that Manning has needed the most in the waning moments of his career- even more than therapy to his foot or neck. The ability to make "that play" when "that play" needs to be made takes a combination of wit and grit. Manning to Benny Fowler on 3rd and 12 against Pittsburgh was exactly that play at that moment of truth.

Brock has plenty of grit but a limited amount of playoff situational wit or the resume to invoke immediate confidence in the players and fans who will look to him for confidence. Brock should be ready as a change of speed guy if you want to run the QB sneak, or a safer choice for Manning's health if the score gets out of hand for either team.

Too cold or too snowy for Manning's stiff neck and bad feet and I instantly go to Osweiler and the ground and pound, dink, dunk and defend game and make Manning help coach him through the challenge. With fairly healthy feet and favorable weather conditions in Denver, Manning brings an ample dose of grit and a double dose of wit along with a legacy that has a huge question mark at the end of it despite the list of accolades, including a Superbowl victory.

Aside from one of these aforementioned scenarios, Manning is the correct choice to start because he is instantly the smartest, humblest and very likely hungriest quarterback in the entire NFL right now.  He is not fully healthy, but neither is Osweiler. Among our two hobbled quarterback's, Manning is more healthy and more likely to recognize the blitzes and get rid of the ball, or audible to a run play as needed.  Great blitzes or a line failure means both quarterbacks get a couple of hits. With a green QB, that potential (and the wasted play or fumble) increases exponentially..


Opposing defenses realize that a young, inexperienced quarterback is usually a one trick pony who locks on the play called and the player targeted from the sideline like it's his football lifeline and not just a good idea designed around an assumption of the defensive tendencies.  No play caller can foresee the future and/or make the pre-snap and post-snap adjustments that will send Manning to the Hall one day and Osweiler 's tall thin frame in the hospital if placed into the wrong moment of this playoff run. Don't forget that Osweiler, who is 3 inches taller than Manning (6'7" vs 6'4"), is nearly the same weight (240lbs vs 230lbs).

What Happens If Denver's Offense Ever Does Play To Their Potential? (Huh?!  I bet you never imagined that idea!)

I hope Osweiler can be the man one day, and that we aren't still in search of our team's future quarterback. But now isn't the time to worry or investigate all of that. Now is the time to instill fear in the defensive secondary, check down into a run or screen whenever the defense exposes that availability, and to execute the fast break, no-huddle (call your own plays) when a team gets back on their heels from the fear and uncertainty of a quarterback who is notorious for burning you when you gamble, or worse when you don't gamble enough. If all of that works, Osweiler should be ready to play to close out a Denver blowout game.  If none of that works, Osweiler should be ready to play to change the game.

Did the limitations of starter Chris Harris Jr.
create the scenario that saved the season?
With takeaways being so vital for Denver,
Is Roby's ballhawking  the key to victory?

Brock might be a little more comfortable than Peyton is with playing both shotgun or under center, but he doesn't make a defense afraid, so he won't make them back up enough to give the offense the space it needs to be special.  Manning doesn't prefer to be under center as much (slow footed planter fascia might explain that some) and can't scare people like he used to. Nonetheless, Manning's presence makes everybody on the offense a little more special; assuming Broncos receivers don't have yet another case of the
dropsies.

Injuries will be significant, since several players have hobbled their way back into the lineups for both AFC Championship contenders. Broncos pro bowler Chris Harris Jr. has a major bruised bone in his shoulder limiting his ability to do what he does. According to his own description of the problem, he can cover, but he can't tackle. Safety and return specialist, Omar Bolden has a PCL tear that has ended his season hampering a somewhat special Broncos special teams unit. The Patriots are nursing their own injuries, though they are notoriously tight lipped this time of the year, so only they know the extent.

Every team typically has injuries in January and is technically scratching and clawing their way to the finish line. This season in particular, Denver's offense won't need to be as pro-bowl filled as Elway's championship team was, or even as good as the all-time great offensive teams of any past season.  They only have to be better than the competition in a season when nobody stands out as a clear cut favorite to win it all.

To date, no one has quite seen Denver's defense play its best on the same day that the offense and special teams have done their jobs too.  Either it's been the tale of two half's with the offense, or the tale of two half's with the early season takeaways that have greatly diminished in the closing parts of the regular season.  Elway formed this team with the hopes of them scratching and clawing their way to the finish line and playing their best football at the moments that matter. A Bradley Roby scratch, followed by yet another DeMarcus Ware claw to gobble it up and save the Broncos season is exactly what the boss had in mind.

Brady might be 2-2 in the playoffs against
Manning, and 2-6 when playing in Denver,
 but he is 0-1 against Brock Osweiler. js

Will Osweiler see playoff action with a fire in his belly to prove himself capable, or overwhelming butterflies in his stomach from the challenge of winning a Superbowl for a proud organization, but also for an aging legend while that same legend looks over his shoulder?

That is the million dollar question that has forced Brock to look over the shoulder of the legend instead of the other way around.  If Elway's mantra is truly to do it scratching and clawing (aka., anyway that you can), it's a no brain'er to fearlessly prepare to play either of these somewhat injured, less than perfect quarterbacks- especially the one who beat New England and Tom Brady last.

Brady's DeflatGate Response? Poor Performance So Far

Wells Report Is Finally Released.

The hottest scandal in America, DeflateGate, has finally issued a report, an in true Washington style juris prudence, millions of dollars have been spent just to tell us what we already knew, that Tom Brady is a jerk, and he "most likely" did it.

Before today, I hesitated to explain why this "Gate"  is the only "Gate" deserving of the label, and how the outcome was soon to become as disappointing as Ferguson was to so many.  That was before today, or shall I say before Dan Patrick put the heat on Tom Brady in a way he won't easily recover from.

Actually, Patrick's heat was on the designated mouthpiece for the Brady camp, agent Don Yee.  Yee did a great job throughout most of yesterday's release of the Ted Wells report, bouncing from station to station making it clear that the evidence in the report does not give direct accusation- only indirect assumption based upon a preponderance of the evidence.

Translated, the league will fine you $25,000 and additional penalties if you are CLEARLY guilty of this particular offense.  If you are only LIKELY to be guilty as the report concludes, Yee believes the league will be forced to penalize lightly, simply from the details of their own indecisive report.

The king of the sports interview, Dan Patrick, allowed former ESPN anchor Bill Simmons to talk himself towards employment death (Simmons was released a day after a Brady related rant, a rant that Patrick skillfully enticed on his show), while attempting to defend Brady and the Pats from the stupidity of the subject and of many people (that Simmons specifically named) including the NFL officials handling this mess. Today, Patrick used the same smooth skill to force Brady's agent into sounding more guilty than the guy he was supposed to be representing.

Prefacing the introduction of Brady's agent, Patrick disarmed Yee by declaring that he too, the great Dan Patrick, thought the whole deal was silly. And then he let Yee sink his client into a corner that he most likely won't fully recover from.  Patrick does his homework and clearly has an arsenal of questions that he will use as necessary in order to dominate the interview battle.  If you are disarmed by anything he says, he is positioned to keep you there for as long as your conversational capacity leaves you weaponless.

Patrick started the cornering with a simple question.

Is this a witch hunt?

Before today (or Pre-Patrick if you will),Yee's statements seemed to suggest that Tom Brady, the face of the entire NFL, is a guy the the NFL wants to besmirch. Again, Patrick does his homework, so by the time of the Yee interview, Yee seemed much less eager to step his foot into the hole he sort of created with the suggestion that outside forces, witches if you will, are conspiring to bring down Brady.  According to the report, a team did blow the whistle on Brady and Belichick who were accused of having deflated balls against the New York Jets, cluing the league to check for similar behavior in the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts.  Instead of standing by a full denial of his clients participation, Yee focused on the fact that the Patriots and Brady never got the clue that the league was watching them like they gave Sean Payton and the New Orleans Saints before suspending people for the Bounty-Gate issue.  Is it a coincidence that the Patriots have the least amount of turnovers in the NFL, and does that point to a concern reaching wider than just the guy who takes snaps at center? Did the Patriot history of rule bending cause the league to remain undercover in their investigation or has the NFL always tried to sweep the Patriots mess under the carpet?

Should the league have warned Brady to "cut it out" like they did three times for the Saints before causing them worldwide embarrassment? During a scheduled event in which Jim Gray was assigned to lob the softball questions at the Superbowl MVP, Brady was reticent to talk much himself because he had not completed "the process he was going through", as he stated to Gray. When Patrick asked Yee for a clarification of the "process" that Brady's undergoing before he comes out with a statement, Yee eluded to the NFL review process and not some mental balancing process that Brady sort of seemed to suggest.

Patrick is constantly pursuing his moment and saw a chance to snatch Yee's tiny .22 caliber pistol out of his shaky hand by asking him directly,

"Did Tom take part in this"?

Yee was quick and did not equivocate in his answer.

NO!

If the process of report review and punishment decision is still in motion, No is a good answer, but its not the best answer of those available.  Yes is a pretty good answer in that the face of the league who admits to impropriety would probably be able to quickly resurrect his place on NFL's mount Rushmore, despite the squishy balls that keep forcing his image flat before our eyes.  Without access to Brady's telephone records, the Wells report could not stick him with anything stronger than a strong likelihood of involvement, so Brady could have chosen to take indirect blame by making a claim that equipment managers were independently acting upon a known preference. In other words, he did not need to reassert his preference before the AFC Championship game and was indirectly not involved. In this way, he could try to massage his agent's original answer into this area of caveat- but "Yes I did it" is quickly leaving the table, along with the forgiveness that comes with quickly laying down on the knife. The longer you wait, the bigger the knife gets.

Patrick wouldn't let Yee off the hook so easily with his answer of "No".  Abject refusal of guilt is the kind of stuff that defamation law suits come from, so Patrick turned the corner that Yee least expected- into the alley where he finally took his weapon right out of his hand.

"Since this could stay with Tom his whole life, will you sue for defamation?", asked Patrick. Yee hadn't planned for the turn because he didn't really think anyone believed in his witch hunt theory as anything more than an agent's ploy to minimize damage.  When the question smacked him, Yee needed a moment to gather himself, so he reached for a Twix  candy bar by using the age old "can you repeat the question" question just to buy some time.  Patrick repeated and clarified the question, but suddenly, Yee was no longer willing to work in hypothetical situations.  Without a gun in hand, Yee shot back with the first thing that came to mind, forgetting about the 24 hours he'd just spent operating in that  hypothetical theory about some kind of Brady witch hunt.

Patrick must have anticipated tripping up his interviewee with certain questions, so he equipped himself with the weight to keep him down if he fell.  When Yee thought he'd gotten up from the defamation question, Patrick pushed him back to the ground by asking,

"Why didn't he (Brady) surrender his phone?" The league had access to the phone's of the equipment guys since they belonged to the team, but Brady is getting presidential with his best Hillary impersonation involving personal records. When it came to the phone question,Yee reached for a shield of cover by saying "I don't want to get into all of that and gobble up all of this air time", yet 7 mins later he was still on air with Patrick trying to clean up his clients mess and the extra spills he had added himself.

In the twisted fate of Gate lore, Brady's Washington style dishonest behavior is likely what kept him from attending the presidential presentation that is customary for those who win championship titles.  Rumor blames Brady's absence on conservative politics, but it seems rather peculiar that the player who is the face of the league would be allowed to let politics to get in the way of an awesome PR moment for the team, the league and Brady himself. Is that the Superbowl picture that you just don't put in the den or refuse to explain your absence to the kids as they grow up?

Did Obama find out  about the ultra conservative Brady when the rest of the family showed up for dinner without cousin Tom in tow?  Did Obama roast the Patrriots during the presentation with the potential that they would be innocent or was he told that Brady had a pending punishment?  While most people seem to think that the NFL draft had something to do with delaying  the release of the 5 million dollar investigation, I am of the assumption that the league was trying to use the White House visit and $25,000 as their penalty to Brady for getting busted while cheating and then lying about it.

Patrick got Yee to declare that his client won't admit to obvious guilt and might fade into the sunset with the stain of cheating and lying on his resume.  Will it be an asterisk?  As much as cheating and lying can ever be legacy stains when the subject is football .psi. Cheating comes in many forms in fashions in the NFL, and even this rule has the potential to be conformed to fit Brady's fancy.

Will Brady do time from the phone messages of 2 angry employee's.

On the other hand, the cheating legacy of Brady will soon be synonymous with the organization that made him famous while tip toeing around the edges of rules the entirety of his tenure with the team.  This season, the league will fix the mess that New England created with their bending of substitution rules last playoff season, although the Pats were actually inside of the rules, just so close to the line that the NFL had to erase it  and redraw it far away from the temptation of rule bending players and coaches like the Patriots. In reality, Brady's asshole legacy is really the only thing that was solidified by the Wells report, which mostly aired the beefs of a couple of angry equipment guys.

Is Tom Killing His Own Legacy?

Tom's seems unwilling to accept that angry coworkers who get mistreated so readily are unlikely to be advocates when you get caught up in a scandal directly connected to your mistreatment of them. Yet, these stupid coworkers- whose names Tom couldn't remember during the Super Bowl song and dance over deflategate- are far from a significant part of this story.

Will more people find a reason to hate a proud
 cheater than already hated the proud winner?

The real story is how and why would it take 5 million dollars and so many months to uncover a story when the main culprits were angry coworkers willing to talk?  The pattern of botched investigations- of sorts- has started to make a really wealthy and classy league look like a really calculated manipulator, much like Bill Simmons tried to levy at the NFL when it cost him his 5 million dollar job with ESPN.  Maybe they needed to employ their really expensive investigators to get these equipment guys to give up their company issued telephones, or maybe the NFL is just as loose with rules and rule enforcement as is their poster boy quarterback and their banner team that he plays for?

I didn't expect much of anything to come of this report because the rules against football .psi are limited even for admitted malfeasance.  In Brady's situation, 5 million dollars couldn't corner him into clear guilt, although his loose lipped agent will force the entire Brady camp to stand on their statement that
they did not participate in this act.

These words will change into something that we can actually forgive Brady for, or they will be the proud last words of a foolish man who can't recognize when its time to give up the fight.  Sort of like the way he plays football, except this ain't about football and it ain't impressive like he usually is on the field. So far, this is  one of those rare, poor Brady performance.

Good Officials And Boston Being Flattened By Deflate-Gate Inaction

It would be nice to think that every result of professional sports competitions would remain exclusive to the arena of competition, but I am here to further my theory that God is a serious football fan, and HE, much like the rest of us, must be wondering why the NFL has not given an official response to the matter of Deflate-Gate. Whether the footballs were deflated on purpose or not should be secondary to the necessity of punishing someone for allowing it to happen.


What is a good official?

The problem is that nothing has been properly officiated in this matter, whether on the field or off.  Why not establish a penalty that happens during the game for infractions that are discovered during the game- even deflations?  This problem began with bad officiating and continues for the same reason.  No punishment will fit the crime now, it will only tarnish the image of all of those involved, especially those responsible for officiating things like this.

Now the matter is out of the hands of the game officials (Roger Goodell included) and has been elevated to an ethereal realm of retribution.  Karmic gods impact every game, but most of the time their balancing act occurs before the final buzzer sounds.  The league of manufactured story lines tried its darn'dest to quiet the Patriot infraction that it discovered and fixed at halftime (were New York game officials also informed), but  to date they continue to delay punishment until they can clear as much dust as possible.

Officials failed us all, and now, even the reputation of good officials are being tainted by this unchallenged infraction. Good leaders realize that what must be done eventually is best done immediately.  Good officials understand this frame of thought too and use it to succeed in their inexact role of game officiating. A good official will also unashamedly give make-up calls because they realize that it free's them from tilting the sports karma unfairly against one team or another.  The more you coach or officiate games, you eventually are forced to accept that there really are angels in the outfield- so to speak, and sports karma is both real and exacting. From top to bottom, deflate-gate has been so poorly officiated that it can never be properly penalized, so it needed  karmic elevation to well above the NFL commissioner's pay grade. From on high if you will.

Every sport has karmic god's and good officials establish a goal of consistent calls, not perfect ones, since perfection is a concept that comes from on high as well.  A good official rarely has a problem discussing calls with coaches because they realize that they can only control call consistency, not the game outcome.  Karma will eventually balance out official ineptitude and crown the victory to the rightful champ. Karmic gods are dispatched to balance out human ineptitude, but even these ethereal officials don't get to pick winners or losers since GOD is a fan of the competition, not of Tim Tebow or any of the teams involved.

Congratulations remain in order for the New England Patriots who walked off of the stage with the crown this season.  Deflate-Gate karma appeared to be against them as the game neared its end, but intelligent fans think Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll sealed his teams fate by tempting fate with a goal line pass.  That play was the best hope for the Patriots who needed a pass play more than anything for a last chance at victory. NFL Superbowl karma should never be challenged so blatantly, and Carroll's arrogance quickly became the Patriots blessing. In essence, running stupid goal line plays in the Superbowl is a bigger karmic infraction than letting a little air out of the football during a bad weather AFC title game.

Nonetheless, somebody let the air out of those footballs, and somebody needed to pay for it.

Wouldn't want to be Boston right now.

Is it just me. or does it seem like Boston is getting flattened with snow for what happened to those footballs? Though most of us do hate the Patriots, only HE controls weather patterns, and boy has HE focused a great deal of post Superbowl attention (see; snow) on the championship city of Boston.

By the time Boston gets to move around to celebrate the thrill of victory, the thrill will be gone. For certain there's nothing that the NFL can do that will be worse than the punishment New England is receiving right now.

Patriots Use Squishy Balls. Have They Tainted Life In America?

If Belichick approved of cheating, has Brady
been a complicit or innocent participant?

What we know right now is that the New England Patriots were proven to have used 11 out of 12 game balls in the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts that were under inflated.  What we also know is that Tom Brady prefers a ball that is a little squishy, "so to speak", especially when throwing in the cold weather. What we don't know is who deflated these balls, and more importantly, who knew that it happened.

Love 'em or hate 'em, the Patriots are the most successful NFL franchise for the entirety of Tom Brady's stellar career that is quickly concluding its second decade.  The love or hate of this team is partially connected to its Hall of Fame coach Bill Belichick, but Belichick remains just another good coach absent the discovery of Brady as his Hall of Fame quarterback. Together, they are the kind of guys that only a mother or a New England Patriot fan can love. They not only beat you...a lot- they rub your face in it with touchdown spikes from the quarterback and pompous interviews from the coach.  As much as haters like myself would love to consider this team just another bunch of cheaters, we all know better.

That being said, these guys might be a bunch of cheaters.

Going into the AFC semi-final, there was a key controversy over the Patriots distorted use of a "fair" substitution rule in which they un-declare a lineman and then set him out wide to confuse the defense and disrupt the substitution response.  The move is entirely legal but it might be changed as a result of the way the Patriots have used it.  This is the team famous for Spygate and for the worse interpretation of the Tuck Rule in recent memory, so bending the lines on linemen substitutions while softening the balls in an AFC Championship game are typical and mind boggling infractions for a team that seems not to need the extra advantage.

On one level, there is an obvious understanding that every fierce competitor has towards Belichickian behaviors.  We created the saying- "if you ain't cheatin' you ain't tryin'"- for reasons that even champions understands clearly.  I too have coached my own basketball players to test rules under the guise that it is only illegal if the referee calls it.

Whether you only pull jerseys or you actually pinch private parts in pile-ups, cheating comes in lots of forms, but most of them are expected- and thus regulated. Cheating that bends the lines or occurs outside of them is like first degree murder of cheating and deserves the kind of punishment that we reserve for premeditated abusers of the public trust- especially when you have done things of the sort in the past, and particularly when you have forced a league of fans to question your righteous placement in the most important game in America.

Stephen A. Smith of ESPN FirstTake fame has declared it, and I will repeat it.  If Belichick has cheated the fans of America from an opportunity to love or hate the Patriots purely for their football brilliance, then he deserves to be suspended for a season just like Sean Payton received for his part in the New Orleans Saints BountyGate scandal that Payton was only found guilty of obstructing the investigation.

When the 9-11 massacre took our beloved twin towers away, we healed ourselves with football.  We heal ourselves every week with football and the Superbowl has become the biggest worldwide fellowship day outside of Easter Sunday- with no guilt or getting dressed up required. Tim Tebow, and now 5'11" Russell Wilson, have forced legitimate arguments over whether or not God cares about football too. Most people seem to answer MAYBE!

I don't personally care for the Patriots or the Dallas Cowboys who are supposedly closer to being America's Team than are my Denver Broncos, but when Detroit Lion Ndamukong Suh stepped on Aaron Rogers' ankle to try and injure him recently, I sensed that karma, or God, or whatever you want to call it, would come against the Lions because they allowed Suh to play in the playoffs despite his unsportsmanlike behavior and initial suspension. If you saw how Dallas beat Detroit, you probably think karma had some impact on the Lions just as it later impacted the Cowboys who beat Detroit in a questionable fashion themselves.

Has cheaters karma been the reason that a really excellent organization has not reached the highest peak of the mountain over the course of an entire decade?  Will it be the reason that Russell Wilson gets to do a Tim Tebow like interview at the end of another Superbowl? I'm praying against the Patriots, but I know that great teams can overcome stupid coaches and sometimes players hit freethrows even when nobody fouled them. In other words, the ball does lie. Are these freethrow shooters making good on previous missed calls, thus they are pure in karmic energy? Maybe, because the more I involve myself in sports on any level, the more it seems that forces greater than ourselves are regulating the thing called luck.  Luck has always leaned towards the team that is working the hardest, but is that just a human way of hoping that pushing yourself so hard provides some added benefit?  Does a losing team have just as many, or more lucky opportunities but discounts them due to the loss?

New England probably cheated and probably will still win the Superbowl, but the asterisk will live on Wikipedia until the end of time right along with Spygate, the Tuck Rule, the Substitution Rule (coming soon) and whatever else comes to the light when speaking of an organization that has now made this a part of their legacy.  If they lose, karma will get the credit and Belichick will get a reduced punishment like lost draft picks since losing the game will be part of his reward.

Goodell must remind the Patriots how important the NFL is to all of us. Even if Belichick loses a year of duty as opposed to just a couple of draft picks, he will not be able to take away the stink he's created of our beloved game.  We'll watch the game and the Patriot fans might even enjoy it as if the squishy ball scandal never happened.  Everybody else will watch it- or not- and hope the Patriots get what they deserve from taking away the purity of our favorite day of the year. The Colts don't deserve to be in the game, but the Patriots don't deserve to win it either. Hopefully God, or karma or Russell Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks will restore the balance of integrity that makes the NFL a reason life in America is so good.

Coach Fox and Coach Manning Confess Their Faults. Is Father John Watching?

Analyzing coach speak is an art of a particular kind.  Sometimes you are forced to digest the bits and pieces of crumbs that come from the tight fisted, poker players like Belichick in New England or like John Fox used to be before last weeks butt kicking by the Patriots.

When you do a proper assessment of the Broncos, you have to listen closely to all of the coaches because they don't actually share a unified voice out in dove valley.  Their head coach and dude in charge, #18, has loads of NFL records including being the quarterback to run for the fewest yards in the history of earth.  He may seem unflappable at times, but he uses his distinguished accomplishments to snub his nose at the critics.  My point is not to deny Peyton Manning the right to snub his nose at me or anybody who denies his greatness.  My assessment of this coach is that, good or bad, he is listening to everything that is being said about him.

What does that mean?

"Running the ball is football religion.  Nothing is more
powerful than something you can not stop." - Elwayian Proverb

If Manning has decided to NEVER run the ball HIMSELF, it is a conscious snub for certain.  Had Manning NEVER won a Superbowl like his coach John Fox, he might be compelled to listen to him. He does not.

Or maybe he does, in which case Fox is overriding Adam Gase, the Offensive Coordinator who notoriously met Manning out on field several weeks ago because he kept emptying the backfield and  declaring the run game...or the lack thereof.  The humility to run the ball week in and week out will be the most uncomfortable career experience that Manning shall endure on his way to a championship season.  He can endure a game or two of ball control offense, but under stress (ie., any game against the Patriots/Belichick/Brady) Manning reverts to his comfort zone.

Gase has finally introduced himself recently in the nature of the running attack that started to become the buzz of the NFL up until last week.  Coach Manning and Coach Fox both quickly took ownership for their failure to execute the age old formula for winning tough games on the road; run the ball and control the clock.  Coach Gase seems to be in good graces\ with the doctrine of John (Elway), so he is the only voice in the news this week that's is blaming poor execution on the field and not himself like the other two coaches have suddenly begun doing.

Few should have expected the Broncos to go on the road and win that game, but the surety of the run attack that they had developed in the previous games was reminiscent of high level little league football with the 3 or 4 teams that have a quarterback that can pass.  The teams that pass too much rarely win the Superbowl, even in little league, while teams that never pass seem to get shocked by a timely passes in here and there.  Whether little league or NFL, balance is the key to the chess match, and the chess match is the key to the crown.

No matter how ugly the page, every team has to be on the same sheet of paper to truly be successful.  Elway wrote the script for championship journey's at the latter stages of one's quarterbacking career. His doctrine is law and he is not leaving it to chance that EVERYONE, including coaches, recognizes the plan.  Paying for one high profile defensive player is a nice addition- adding three is a definitive statement to the entire league.  Emmanuel Sanders might prove to be the best free agent acquisition, but he was a less expensive swap that happened to work out.  This team was built to play defense and defensive approaches begin with  the run game.

The Broncos had better return to a run-first, defensive approach or Coach Fox and Coach Manning will be sounding more and more like they are preaching the Gospel of John.  Elway is a "no excuse" kind of person and the compulsion to take ownership for your own crap is Elwayian for certain.  The more Manning and Fox face the music says they've spent time in Father John's confessional box.  And what did Father John prescribe for his flag football loving quarterback and the coach who allows it?

Tell the world how bad you played in the game, even though you produced nearly 500 yards, and tell assistant coach Fox to review the Seattle Superbowl tapes in which his team didn't even step off of the plane, and then both of you take ownership for fixing the problems instead of doing your customary asshole interviews.

If this team needs a divine intervention to make it all the way, father John is going to do his part. To that I say, Amen.