[Shinrei]

Brujah, on 01 January 2014 - 12:19 AM, said:

I think defense wins championships, so Seattle has a good shot, but I think Peyton Manning is just too much for anyone. He's the difference maker.

This is a tired old adage that doesn't really hold water in the NFL as it is today. If you've got two shootout caliber offenses, and one teams defense is better, that gives you an edge to be sure. Really though, these days it's more about who gets hot at the right time. Like the Giants a few years ago. They got no respect, were picked by every analyst to lose every playoff game and they won the Super Bowl. They got hot at exactly the right time and went all the way. Same for the 2010 Packers.

And until Manning gets the cold-weather monkey off his back, I'll take Rodgers in the playoffs any day as the man who tilts the field. If it was the Broncos vs. Green Bay in New York for the Super Bowl (where it will be cooooolllld), Manning throws 5 picks and the Packers skate to their 5th Lombardi trophy.

This post has been edited by Shinrei: 02 January 2014 - 03:01 PM

[Shinrei]

Furthermore, if we had Rodgers we would most likely have beaten the Eagles (and would now I believe). We lost the Bengals in whacky game, but just as easily could have won it.

As for the Packer's defense, if you look at the season as a whole they became shit once Rodgers went out and suddenly time of possession was skewed by 10 minutes in favor of anyone playing the Packers. That'll put strain even on the best defenses in the league. I think one of the most under-appreciated thing that happened was the injury to Seneca Wallace. It's possible he could have beaten the Eagles, and perhaps won another game or two. Then, suddenly we're asking our 3rd QB (signed from the practice squad), and then a re-signed Matt Flynn to lead the offense.

[Tapper]

Apparently Manning's cold weather stats are not exceptionally horrible. Bill Barnwell wrote a little bit about it on Grantland, iirc.

[Obdigore]

Tapper, on 04 January 2014 - 06:08 PM, said:

Apparently Manning's cold weather stats are not exceptionally horrible. Bill Barnwell wrote a little bit about it on Grantland, iirc.

They aren't, he just has a history of losing playoff games against good teams, often in outdoor stadiums. Manning's stats aren't any worse, game for game, in cold weather, than the majority of QBs. Its just that he (until he signed with Denver), played for a Dome team, so his only real cold weather experience is going to an opponents stadium in the playoffs as the lower seed.