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Super Bowl Random Thoughts

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So, the 1988-9 Flames have now been demoted to merely One of Two Championship Teams I Will Ever Root For. Some observations:

  • Condolences to Broncos fans — losing in the Super Bowl is always terrible, and losing like that is another level.
  • The idea that this game should raise questions about Peyton Manning’s “legacy” is really dumb.  That was, as much of the casual American public is now aware, a historically good pass defense he played.  LosGatos beat me to it in comments, but consider what happened when Joe Montana went up against a great defense in the playoffs — anyone think he wasn’t clutch?  Or how about Tom Brady — at his absolute peak he went up against a defense that…was better going into the Super Bowl than its ordinary-plus regular season numbers would indicate, but was still an outstanding pass rush with a meh secondary coached by Mr. Steve Spagnuolo. Mot on the same planet as the 2013 Seahawks, in other words, and it held Brady to 14 points.  Manning is the most accomplished QB in NFL history, and yesterday doesn’t change that.
  • As badly as he screwed up Super Bowl XL, Seahawks fans must give Mike Holmgren immense credit for trying to build a team around Trent Richardson and Brandon Weedon with Russell Wilson just sitting there the whole first round.  (And while Carroll’s rah-rah approach doesn’t work in all circumstances, it was a comparative relief yesterday.  If the sequence where Carroll lost the challenge although the challenged spot was wrong by nearly a yard had happened to Holmgren, he would have regained his focus sometime in the third quarter.)
  • As I’ve mentioned before, Wilson being available was a classic Moneyball inefficiency — he was a clear elite draft pick except for his height, and it was never clear why being an inch shorter than Drew Brees made NFL success impossible.  But to put together a team like Seattle’s you have to be lucky as well as good, and Seattle had blundered by giving a big contract to Matt Flynn after one de facto exhibition game.   Still, understanding the sunk cost fallacy is another Moneyball dictum, and you have to give Schneider a lot of credit for taking Wilson when he was there and Carroll for playing the best player irrespective of the contracts.  A lot of organizations would have stuck with Flynn no matter what once they made the deal.  (For that matter, I’m sure more than one NFL GM would have fallen for the Tebow! hype and not pursued Manning.)
  • Not that it mattered, but from the irrational challenge to giving up midway through the third quarter, John Fox had a brutal game.  I don’t know if a better option is out there, but if I were the Broncos I’d be wondering if he’s the coach I want for the rest of Manning’s very narrow window.
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