Thursday, January 26, 2012

Peyton Manning's Future With Colts, Super Bowl Brief: Your Sports First NFL

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Hello my Avenue,

Welcome back to another edition of Your Sports First on BlvdAve. This week brought us a conclusion to the NFL Conference Championship games, giving us a repeat of the 2007 Super Bowl match-up between the New England Patriots and the New York Football Giants.


Peyton's Future In Indianapolis


Is Peyton done? Or is there more in the tank?
Eli Manning and the Giants will travel to Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, IN, but he won't be the only Manning in discussion over the next few weeks. Lucas Oil is the home of the Indianapolis Colts, a team led by Manning's older brother and future Hall of Famer Peyton Manning. Peyton sat out this season with a neck injury, the Colts went on to win just two games, earning the No. 1 overall draft pick.

Peyton Manning has meant more for the Colts over the past decade then any other athlete in professional sports. Manning turned a 3-13 Colts team into a 13-3 within a season. And the Colts never looked back, finishing with no less than 10 wins twice in over 13 season's. Not only has Peyton turned the Hoosier state into a football state, he has emblazoned his name on the local Indianapolis Children's Hospital, now named the "Peyton Manning Children's Hospital". To say that Peyton Manning is the Indianapolis Colts is a true understatement.

Which makes this situation none like any other of it's kind. For the first time in football history we have a quarterback of Manning's elite level potentially up for grabs. Why you ask? Manning's neck injury has been the most perplexing of injuries of the 2012 season, and with the potential of landing a young quarterback like Stanford's Andrew Luck or Baylor's Robert Griffin III, and Peyton Manning approaching his 36th birthday, the Colts are stuck between a rock and hard place.

It has been widely asserted that a 36yr old, 60% Peyton is still better than taking a shot on a rookie QB to develop. With Manning on the field, Colts offensive coordinators have an easier job drawing a game plan, because they practically don't have to. Manning has long ran the offense from the line of scrimmage, being allowed to audible at his own volition. The Colts offense has been ran almost solely by Manning for over the past decade. Which makes this situation a little more volatile. Since the Colts are "blowing up" the franchise in light of "change", do they include Manning and his cerebral approach to the teams offense. Without Manning it is without doubt that the organization would have to go another route with the way they approach the offensive side of the ball.

The Colts, who have been a staple of stability in the NFL, have completely overhauled the organization. From the firing of team president and GM Bill Polian to the axing of head coach Jim Caldwell, the team clearly is taking a step in the next direction. Now with the hiring of Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano, it seems that the Colts are clearly going in the other direction. It is presently unclear whether or not Peyton Manning is apart of those plans moving forward.

Then there is the $28mil owed to Peyton.

The Colts will owe Manning over $28mil this season, due to contract language. A well deserved amount of money for a leader and face of the organization. It can be argued that the site of the 2012 Super Bowl Lucas Oil Stadium is the "house that Peyton built", as he has brought millions of dollars in ticket sales and ad revenue to the team that enabled them to launch the $735mil construction. No Peyton Manning, no 2012 Indianapolis Super Bowl. Period.

Note to Colts: In this situation you can have your cake and eat it too.


Until We Meet..... Again.
The New England Patriots are a clear definition of a modern day dynasty. In a time where free agency, trades, and a win now attitude shape the way business is conducted in the NFL, it is hard for teams, even Super Bowl winners, to repeat success. That hasn't been the case for the New England Patriots over the past 11 seasons, have reached the playoffs eight times, of those eight appearances they won 3 Super Bowls. All of this under head coach Bill Belichick and with quarterback and future Hall of Famer Tom Brady.

The duo own the records for most playoff wins by a head coach/quarterback combo, and also are positioning for the all-time Super Bowl record for a HC/QB combination. The Pats have went to the Super Bowl 4 times under the evil empire. losing only to the team in which they face in two weeks, the New York Giants in 2007. The Patriots at the time were 18-0, looking to complete a historic season.

The Giants sacked Tom Brady 5 times, the most he had been touched in an entire undefeated season. Eli Manning was money when it mattered, scoring two touchdowns in the 4th quarter and executing perhaps the most memorable play in Super Bowl history, hitting David Tyree on the Giants final drive, sticking the ball literally on the receivers helmet is what is now called the "Gum-helmet catch".



Plaxico Burress aka. "Cheddar Bob" ended up scoring the game winning touchdown that lifted the Giants over the Patriots 17-14, giving the Giants organization their first Super Bowl win in over 17 years. And fueling the debate on who is the more successful Manning, Peyton or Eli.

The Pats' and Giants will meet on February 5, 2012 at 6:29pm ET.


When Twitter Goes Wrong.....
Twitter has now become for many the primary source for information by the minute. When news breaks, it is typically Twitter that gets the information before the Associated Press. From Rob Lowe to Jessica Capshaw and T.O., many celebs are using the platform to expell information to their fans and followers first, then the national media.

But there is another side to Twitter, the vulnerability of an account, that has some people raising their eyebrow. In the case of San Francisco 49er Kyle Williams, that couldn't be more evident. The second year players was the most recent victim of Twitter-hate, receiving death threats and personal attacks after two consecutive miscues during the NFC Championship Game that seemed to have cost San Francisco an opportunity to play in the Super Bowl. Williams muffed a punt and fumbled another, both costing the 49er's the ball and leading to two scores, icing the game for the Giants.




Williams received Tweets like,

@KyleWilliams_10. I hope you, youre wife, kids and family die, you deserve it"
"@KyleWilliams_10 HOPE U RUN n2 A BULLET DA WAY U RAN INTO DAT BALL..."
"Jim Harbaugh, please give @KyleWilliams_10 the game ball. And make sure it explodes when he gets in his car." 


 Williams has since seen a multitude of support ranging from Deion Sanders to 49er President Jed York. However the outlash from followers may change the way he Williams looks at Twitter forever.


Stay tuned to BlvdAve for more sports updates and NBA news!
Also read more from me @ www.chicagonow.com/asiseeit

2 comments:

  1. The 3½-hour ceremony kicked off with uplift: Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band premiered We Take Care of Our Own, and host LL Cool J followed with a brief prayer in memory of Whitney Houston.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The release of the movie "Sparkle," Whitney Houston’s final recorded work, has been the subject of intense interest since the pop star died in Beverly Hills on Saturday.

    ReplyDelete

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