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A Point Conceded

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Denver Broncos training camp at Dove Valley

In the NFL preview thread, Denverite said the following in response to Paul saying that the Denver defense looked very good but that Manning looked about done:

I’m like 100% not surprised. Denver’s defense is really good. Historically so. Their offense is iffy.

He may or may not have taken some  good-natured ribbing for this assertion subsequent threads for aggressively defending this proposition throughout the year. Rumors have been spread that I argued that Buffalo had a comparable defense, although these are obviously lies being spread by the Cruz campaign. At any rate, given that Denver just won a Super Bowl with QB play that would have been improved by signing Brandon Weeden, I think we can consider the argument closed.

Yes, Carolina played far from its best game, and whoever pointed out that Carolina’s lousy special teams could be a factor was also prescient. Yes, Rivera was awful from soup to nuts (I’m hoping Barnwell revives Thank You For Not Coaching in fact if not in form tomorrow.) Yes, the officiating was horrendous and favored Denver on balance (although there were plenty of bad calls to go around.) But Denver was flat-out the better team. It needed the defense to be great, and it was. What happened today, for reasons I laid out earlier in the week, is unprecedented. Seattle rode a dominant defense two years ago, but they had a very good QB who has become elite (I wouldn’t have traded him for Cam Newton even before tonight’s game.) Trent Dilfer was more mediocre than terrible. The Broncos defense had almost no margin for error, they played a Hall of Fame QB in the divisional round, the best QB in the league in the conference championship game and a very good one in the Super Bowl, and won all three. It’s an extraordinary accomplishment.

One final point: tonight’s game is an excellent illustration of how dumb the “how many RINGS did he win” theory of player evaluation is. In terms of how he should be evaluated by history, today’s championship should mean absolutely nothing for Manning– at least 30 QBs could have won a Super Bowl with this defense. And had he never won a Super Bowl, he’d still be an inner-circle Hall of Famer. He doesn’t become a greater player because John Elway and Wade Phillips put together a historically good defense.

Congrats to the Broncos and their fans. I’m guessing that the 17-1 bet Denverite refused to hedge will heal the pain of tomorrow’s hangover nicely.

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