Misplaced criticism of Wes Welker — is Tom Brady untouchable?
With a little over four minutes remaining in the Sunday’s Super Bowl game, The Patriots were up by two points and were driving to put the game away. It was second down and 11 at the Giants 44 yard line. Wes Welker found himself wide open in a seam on the left side. It would have been a first down and much more. As the ball neared the wide open Welker, he suddenly was seen going backwards, body twisting, ball hitting him in the hands, then falling awkwardly. The critics came out of the woodwork after the game and even much more on Monday.
Eli overcomes long shadows to win another Super Bowl MVP award
Giants 21 Patriots 17 | Super Bowl XLVI
The first score of the game was a bizarre safety — New England quarterback Tom Brady called for intentional grounding from his own end zone. It made the difference.
At the other end of the game, with the Giants driving inside the Patriots’ 10 yard line, down two points, and the clock nearing a minute to go before confetti time, New York had to score a touchdown in order to force New England to score their own TD instead of a field goal. The Giants indeed did score that TD, with a bit of the bizarre there, too. But, without that safety, it would have only taken a Pats field goal at the end to force an overtime.
The Voice of God
It is Super Bowl week, a time that means so many different things to so many different people. If your team isn’t participating, then you are left to your own devices as to how you relate to the game. A social event? Holding a grudge against a participating player or team? My team is not in Indy, and there is little in the way of personal interest in any of the particulars (my fanship of Eli Manning notwithstanding).
Super Bowl nerd store
Did you know that in the St. Louis Rams’ victory over the Tennessee Titans in the 2000 Super Bowl, the Rams had a -2 turnover ratio?
Did you know that in the 1971 Super Bowl, the Baltimore Colts lost 4 of their 5 fumbles but still defeated Dallas?
Do you even care?
Well, if you are a football nerd like a lot of us, you can find such tasty morsels at the Super Bowl Head-to-Head site run by Thomson.co.uk (of all places).
Kudos to Football Outsiders for pointing me in the site’s direction.
