Like it or not, this is happening right now. Week by week, as the games roll on, this is the match-up that’s taking shape in my eyes. I don’t like what I see, but I’m not convinced I see any other teams ready to stand up and stop them.
A Giants/Jets Super Bowl would effectively end a period of football dominance shared by New England, Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, and other teams with A+ QB's like New Orleans and Green Bay, and it’ll usher in a new age in the NFL -- one in which having a truly great quarterback on your roster is an afterthought. Since 1992, only a handful of teams have won with quarterbacks who weren’t in the top 5 of their time -- the Skins in ‘92, the Bucs in ‘03, and the Giants in ‘08. Yes, the papers today have all proclaimed how elite Eli is. But let it not be forgotten that only 24 hours ago, most NFL analysts were questioning his elite status. And those who did rank him as elite seemed unsure of their convictions. It’s strange how the Giants’ Super Bowl win over New England didn’t earn him elite status, but winning yesterday in the regular season did. It’s nonsense. One regular season game cannot solidify a theory.
We can argue about the potential elite natures of Eli Manning and Mark Sanchez, but we can probably all agree that they’re not in the top 5 QB’s in the league right now. But if a Giants/Jets showdown occurred, it would rewrite the fundamentals of assembling a modern team in the NFL, especially since we’re often told this is a “quarterback league” and that you need an elite thrower to win championships (the anti-Tim Tebow argument). It would stab a significant hole in the theory that you need a great quarterback to win in this day in age, since both the Giants and the Jets have proven they can win big games without their quarterbacks having unbelievable games, simply because their defenses are so air-tight. During the games yesterday, as the analysts centered around the New England defeat and the Baltimore victory, I was noticing that a subtle but significant shift had begun to take shape. All of a sudden, the Giants and the Jets seemed to me as if they were on a very serious mission.
Every morning when Tom Brady wakes up, he’s a newer version of himself. He was a Super Bowl champion in 2001, 2003, and 2004. In 2007 he was voted NFL MVP. He was awarded MVP again last year, winning it in a unanimous vote for the first time in history. And this year, he’s playing better than he’s ever played. And yet, there’s an absence of fear in his opponents. Teams don’t fear him the way they once did, and they don’t fear Drew Brees either. I think it’s because we’re seeing the fall of the finesse quarterback. Power is coming back in style. If you can knock a great quarterback down, then it doesn’t matter how accurately he can throw a football. Eli and Sanchez are not top 5 quarterbacks, but they are the perfect quarterbacks for their jaw-crushing, bone-pounding, defense-first teams. A Giants/Jets Super Bowl would send a message that defense wins football games and you can win with inconsistent quarterbacks at the helm, thereby forcing coaches and managers to reevaluate the way they’ve been making soup for the last 20 years.
This is an ongoing stream of football theory, concepts, critiques, and criticism by a devoted New England Patriots fan. Sometimes you'll also find Celtics and Bruins articles here as well. Thanks for stopping by. - Marc
