Brady vs. Manning – The Sequel: The games with Tom Brady facing Peyton Manning-led teams were the marquee NFL events for the first 15 years of the 21st century. It was bigger than the teams themselves; when Manning moved to Denver, Indianapolis all but disappeared from the radar and Denver vs. New England became the game everyone circled on the calendar. But after four straight games decided by three points, two of which went to overtime and the other two of which were decided by last-second field goals, and having Cincy and KC in the last four Super Bowls, we now have a successor to Manning vs. Brady. Because even with the league filled with a boatload of talented young quarterbacks, after the last two AFC title game thrillers it is clearly Patrick Mahomes vs. Joe Burrow. Both have the same coolness under fire, with the added dimension of greater mobility to use their legs when needed, as Mahomes did in Sunday’s cataclysmic play. And with great weapons to collaborate with on offense, sturdy young teams behind them and having a coach who’s much better than it seemed two years ago and another whose next stop will be the Hall of Fame, Bengals vs. Chiefs will be the NFL game to circle over the next 10 years.
Rollin’ into the Hall: I’ve got nothing against Scott Rolen. But after seeing him voted into Baseball’s Hall of Fame last week I will say the “everyone gets a trophy” generation strikes again! Because like in the case of Harold Baines, not once during his career did it ever occur to me that Rolen might be a Famer, let alone should he get in. Not to knock him, because he was a very good longtime player, but sorry, the Hall is honoring greatness, not very goodness. Now my attitude has changed a little bit on it, just being about peak greatness to give a little more deference to guys who rack up numbers because of their longevity, because the durability to do that is a skill.
As for Rolen, they tell you you can’t play “what about him”-ism when it comes to Hall voting. But I say why not? When I heard Rolen was likely to get in I came up with 10 guys, like Dwight Evans, Albert Belle and Dick Allen, who were clearly more impactful in their time than Rolen was. But let’s focus on just two who played the same position: Joe Torre and Graig Nettles. Rolen’s numbers were .281 BA, 316 homers, 1287 RBI, 7 All-Star games and 8 Gold Gloves. But remember, making the All-Star game was taken far more seriously in the past, while Gold Gloves depend on who’s in your era.
In the case of Torre, he outhit Rolen (.292), had more RBI, more 100-RBI seasons and made 9 All-Star games, which he did at three different positions (C, 1B and 3B). Only Pete Rose did that besides him. He had the signature season of 1971 that Rolen never came within three area codes of when he won the batting title (.363) with 230 hits, 137 RBI and was MVP. For good measure he also sometimes hit clean-up for the Braves between Hank Aaron and Eddie Mathews, who for the historically challenged hit a combined 1,266 home runs. In short: Him not being in while Rolen is in is a joke.
The case for Nettles is a lot closer as some of his numbers come from longevity and batting average was not his thing. But he’s got more homers (390), more RBIs (1,314) and a home run title and was a better fielder, though not as many GGs because he played when the spectacular Brooks Robinson did when he always got in on reputation whether he deserved it or not. Plus, Nettles was stationary defensively in the 1978 World Series, while Rolen hit .220 in the postseason.
AFC Championship Game: There are two things that distinguish football from other sports: how the players have to adapt to conditions around them by playing in anything from the searing Miami heat of September to last week’s driving snowstorm in Buffalo, and coping with the injuries most teams have at this time of year. This week was no different, with a 10-degree wind chill in KC, and SF having to play the Wildcat after its third- and fourth-string QBs got knocked out of the game and the Chiefs surviving after losing all but one wide receiver. Not to mention having their QB come into the game a week after suffering an injury that annually took Kelly Olynyk two months to recover from when he was a Celtic. But there was Mahomes throwing for 300 plus and making the game’s most crucial play on a mind-over-matter scramble to get the first down in the final seconds he always seems to get in crunch time before getting smacked out of bounds to get the 15-yard penalty that made the 47-yard FG that sent KC to the Super Bowl doable. So move over, Curt Schilling, because, as young’n Tony Romo astutely mentioned during the broadcast, this one goes up there with the bloody sock game, Willis Reed limping into Game 7 at MSG, and flu-stricken Michael Jordan going for 37 in the NBA Finals. Bravo, Patrick.
NFC Title Game Notes: (1) Nick Sirianni has a very similar resume to Coach B, with a D-III playing career and a million jobs before becoming a young HC at 40. But by getting to the SB in Year 2 he’s five years ahead of Bill. (2) Philly is a lot better than I thought they were. (3) Coach B, please pay attention to how adding two dynamic outside threats (A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith) turned the waiting until someone better comes along Jalen Hurts into an MVP-caliber player, because Mac Jones was better at Alabama than he was.
Email Dave Long at dlong@hippopress.com.
