Couple quick thoughts following championship Sunday. Apologies to my erroneously calling Jim Johnson Joe Johnson. This is what happens with no editor.
Best sign of all time goes to the Cards fan with the "We are who we thought we were" sign. You can't beat that.
Well, we got one right and one wrong. We’ll take 4-2 (both against the spread and with outright winners) in the last six playoff games. Better than just about every “expert” out there. Ravens were very much in that game and things could have been very different if Polamalu did not get the pick six, doing his Ed Reed imitation. Roethlisberger clearly outplayed Flacco, much to my chagrin. However, the gushing about the Big Fraud remains greatly misplaced. Yes, he is excellent at avoiding the rush and extending the play. Yes, he made three big plays that produced points. Passes of 65, 45 and 30 yards to Holmes, Ward and Miller respectively. However, two of these passes easily could have been intercepted.
The opening drive pass to Ward was into blanketed double coverage and was a hair away from being intercepted by Ed Reed. On the TD to Holmes, the receiver was blanketed and it likely would have been an interception if the defender did not fall down after BF’s wobbly, fluttering pass was thrown. The one to Miller was, admittedly, very nice by BF. However, of his 255 yards, 110 of them came on those two passes that were very nearly interceptions. As for the rest of his performance: under 50% completions and bad throw after bad throw to wide open receivers. BF badly missed on at least 10 throws, and if had not missed open receiver after open receiver, this game would have been a drubbing. With Leftwich at QB, this game would have been a blow out. BF’s inability to hit open receivers kept the Ravens in the game.
It’s all about accuracy when you are a QB. Look at the Eagles-Cardinals games. If Donovan McNabb was not erratic and inaccurate (Tavaris Jackson-style), the Eagles win. When McNabb is good, he’s very good. But when he’s bad, he’s awful. He, like the BF, missed open receiver after open receiver and easily could have turned the game his way with some accuracy. His completion percentage: 59.6%. Warner’s: 75%. Think that wasn’t the difference in the game?
As for Flacco’s uneven performance, you have to give credit where credit is due and the same with blame. Pittsburgh’s defense is unreal. As good as any I have seen. I cannot compare it to the ‘85 Bears since I was 9 years old that season. But I have not seen a better defense and that includes the 2000 Ravens. Defensive line: dominant. Linebackers: terrifying. Secondary: unbelievable. Flacco had time on a number of occasions and everyone was blanketed. However, he gets his share of blame for locking on to receivers and telegraphing passes. Admittedly the Raven’s receivers are sub-par, but that was an absolutely dominant and smothering performance by the Steeler’s secondary. Flacco will be back though and in five years he will be a far superior QB to the BF, because he has a stronger arm and is more accurate.
As I proclaimed prior to this game, Larry Fitzgerald is the NFL’s best receiver and he made sure to prove it. More yards than Jerry Rice in a single post-season, staggering. With his Superbowl performance to come, he will set a mark that may never be broken. I had the displeasure of listening to some Patriot fan loonies claiming that Randy Moss is better this morning. Their position was that the very idea that Fitzgerald was better was ridiculous and absurd. Up here in Patriot land, the fans are a little biased, to say the least. That is a laughable proposition. Larry is head and shoulders the best receiver in the league. His last five games including 3 playoff upsets, 650 yards, 8 TD’s on 31 catches. That’s 21 yards per catch. He was also covered by a top 3 (if not the single best) cornerback in Asante Samuel and he absolutely torched him. Randy Moss largely disappears (particularly in recent years) with double coverage. With Larry, it doesn’t make a difference, just throw it up. Cardinals only let the Eagles back in the game by not throwing to Larry for most of the 2nd half. I don’t care if he’s covered or even if you can’t see him. Just throw it in his general direction and he’s going to go up there and get it. Randy Moss was almost a complete non-factor in the Patriots Superbowl loss. Sub Fitzgerald for Randy and the Patriots would have been 19-0.
Aside from his rookie year and the year he struggled with injuries, every year (and there’s only three since this is his fifth year) he’s gone for over 1400 yards and double digit touchdowns. He has just under 6000 yards and 46 touchdowns in the regular season. That does not include the playoffs and leaves him just 28 shy of breaking into the top 25 all time receiving TD leaders. And he’s in his 5th season. If averages just the 9 touchdowns that he has been for his career so far, for another 5 years, he will be in the top 10. This is an all time great receiver and he is far better than anyone in the league at the moment. He has the best hands and leaping ability of any receiver all time, and he is deadly after the catch. These playoffs have been his coming out party and the Superbowl will be his ultimate stage to shine. Larry Fitzgerald vs. one of the best defenses of all time. If he does it again, no one will ever again be able to credibly question his greatness.
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