Bruno Boys Fantasy Football

The Conference Championships are over and done with as the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints, both the No. 1 seeds, will represent their respective conferences in the Super Bowl. As per usual, with football being played, another batch of story lines need to be examined. In Whooley’s Weekly Words, I, Bruno Boys Whooley, tackle just a few of the more interesting items to catch my eye from the weekend. This week, I’ll be discussing the legacies of two of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre.

Peyton Manning - A Football Savant

Tony Dungy’s departure from Indianapolis this off-season and all of the changes that resulted from it stirred up whispers among the NFL community as to whether the Colts could continue to play up to the Championship level that has come to be expected of them. Seeing as the team is currently finalizing plans for a trip to Miami and the Super Bowl, we think those whispers have been answered.

A big reason the Colts are still a Championship caliber club has to do with Peyton Manning. Manning earned an NFL record fourth MVP trophy this season. Yes, part of the reason the award was bestowed upon him had to do with his final stats as the QB threw for 4,500 yards, 33 TDs, and 16 INTs during the regular season; however, the bigger reason Manning took home the hardware is the fact that despite all the changes that occurred in Indy this past off-season, one thing stayed the same - he was the man behind the center, and that my friends is all the stability the Colts need. No player means as much to their team’s success than Manning does to the Colts. Take him out of the line-up, and there is no way we are discussing Indy as we head towards Super Bowl Sunday. In fact, without Manning, I’m not even sure we would have mentioned the Colts throughout the playoffs at all.

Manning is a special player with a God-given gift to read defenses much like Bobby Fisher was able to read chess boards. Sure, the Jets caused Manning some headaches and confusion during the first half of this past weekend’s AFC Championship Game, but as Manning has shown time and time again, it’s only a matter of time before he’s going to figure things out. And, that’s exactly what he did this past Sunday. With Darelle Revis blanketing stud wide out and Manning’s favorite target, Reggie Wayne, the Colts’ QB looked elsewhere to get the job done, leading to 100+ yard days for both rookie wide out, Austin Collie, and second-year man, Pierre Garcon and a 30 to 17 win for the Colts.

While it’s hard to feel sorry for anyone preparing for a trip to the Super Bowl, there is one man I wouldn’t want to be right now and that’s New Orleans Saints’ defensive coordinator, Gregg Williams. Because, really, at this point and time, is it even possible to shut Manning down?

Vintage Favre Returns at Wrong Moment

During the regular season, Brett Favre threw just seven interceptions, his lowest total in any season since becoming a starter, which is quite a feat considering he undertook starting duties back in 1992. Why the sudden improvement? Simple, it seemed the wily vet had finally figured out merely to take what opposing defenses gave him. With a solid team all around him, the gunslinger was no longer trying to do too much; thus ill-advised passes across the grain and crazy flips to a running back with their back turned to him were no longer part of his repertoire. Well, at least, they weren’t until this past weekend.

With the Minnesota Vikings and New Orleans Saints tied at 28 apiece late in the fourth quarter, Favre marched the Vikings down the field into what appeared to be field goal position. Unfortunately for the Vikings, a 12-man huddled bumped them just out of field goal range. Perhaps it was then that Favre decided that it was all on him to win the game for Minny, but in reality, no one will really know. What we do know is that facing a 3rd-and-15 just outside of field goal range, Favre rolled out to his right, and despite having plenty of green in front of him, enough to give Ryan Longwell a shot to nail a game-winning field goal, Favre threw the ball across his body and the field of play right into the arms of Saints’ cornerback Tracy Porter. The result? Overtime and a Saints’ win.

Favre’s reckless abandonment with which he plays the quarterback position is indeed what has made him the Hall of Famer he is today, but it’s also the reason he’s come up just short so many times throughout his career, including here in the 2009-2010 season.

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