Well, I guess I was wrong about Manning and the Broncos. They look like the real deal. I expect them to make some real noise in the playoffs.
DENVER — Peyton Manning threw three touchdowns, including one to defensive tackle Mitch Unrein, to help the Denver Broncos wrap up the AFC West with a 31-23 victory Sunday over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The Broncos (9-3) won their seventh straight and the Tampa Bay (6-6) loss clinched the NFC South for Atlanta, which won on Thursday.Manning threw for 242 yards. He now has 29 touchdown passes on the season, moving past Jake Plummer and John Elway for the most by a Denver quarterback in a single year.
via Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. Denver Broncos – Recap – December 02, 2012 – ESPN.
13 users commented in " Broncos clinch AFC West "
Follow-up comment rss or Leave a TrackbackCongrats on your Broncos, Cosmic! I haven’t watched a game yet this season.
But, I’ll try to catch The Broncs in the playoffs.
For the first five games of the season they looked pretty bad, and of their two wins, one was against an abysmal San Diego team that just threw the game away.
For the next three games they looked barely mediocre, but managed to win on the strength of Manning’s arm.
For the past four games they have looked solid on offense, defense and special teams. Right now I think they are one of the top three AFC teams.
Can you imagine Peyton Mannings value to the NFL past his playing days? Coach,GM,President all wrapped up in one, that is unless the networks outbid the teams.
Go Broncos.
Man, I’m not sure I was (or you were) wrong about Manning. But, I sure in heck was wrong about every other team in the division.
Kansas City looked like they were getting back in form at the end of last season – looking like they had the year before. But. No. They truly, truly suck.
Oakland, I thought, would jell this season with Palmer getting the playbook down and their oft-injured RB finally putting two seasons back to back. Nope. They are really bad as well.
San Diego. What can I say? This is the worst season they’ve had in the Phillip Rivers era.
And, the Broncos plays these craptastic teams twice a year. I expected 8-8 or 9-7 from Manning. He might go to 11-5, but I don’t know how much of that is his play (which has been pretty dang good) or the suckage against which he’s been playing.
Drax- probably a combination of both for Manning’s performance. I thought he would struggle a bit after his neck issues, and wondered if he would be healthy enough even after knocking off the rust.
I’m glad he has done this well. Then again, I like the older players still keeping up their game beyond expectations of the talking heads on ESPeeN. I loved watching Favre play, especially after his GB days.
I don’t think any team is a real standout team this year. They all have flaws and troubles. It makes it interesting, but overall this season just seems a bit flat.
Hope Manning can lead the Broncos deep this year, as I enjoy watching him play well. I like Eli as well, though they are totally different in the way they play. Just as long as Brady fails, I’m happy.
Heh. I’m with you on all of that.
ESPECIALLY the Brady thing.
LOL, Brady-haters….
If not for two complete freak plays in two separate Super Bowls, Brady would probably have five SB rings now, instead of three.
If not for the efforts of a kicker, Brady played well enough in two of “his” wins to have lost – leaving him with only 1 Superbowl. (And, the road to one of those wins happened only because of a “freak play,” i.e., the “tuck rule.”)
As I have consistently noted, football is a team game.
Brady is a good QB, but I think he is a bit over rated, and there is just something about him that I just can’t stand. If he is playing against a team, unless he is losing, I turn off the game.
Hate seeing him in commercials and won’t buy anything he endorses.
I don’t know why, but he turns me almost as much as Obama does. At least I fully know why I can’t stand Obama.
Brady is an interesting case from a celebrity perspective. I assume you are reacting to his celebrity status since his football skills are fairly well documented, and I’ve never seen any indication that his football playing generates much, if any, controversy.
I remember when Brady was the outsider looking in. When he was the sixth round draft pick who unseated Drew Bledsoe as the QB, when Bledsoe was highly popular both in Boston and around the league. Brady was the kid who just won when everyone expected him to lose.
Then he won a Superbowl and people called it a fluke. Then he won two and people started to wonder if Brady’s stellar statistics didn’t actually indicate that he was something special. His image and appeal then was based on a Tom Saywer “Aw Shucks” personality and a sense that he was over-performing.
Then he won three Superbowls, married the premier supermodel on the planet, and became the NFL player with the highest commercial income and a reputation as a jetsetting celebrity. Sometime in that period people realized that he was better looking than most hollywood “hunks”.
Now he’s NFL and Hollywood royalty and his vacations are followed by as many paparazzi as Lindsey Lohan. His wife is photographed in bikini and everything he does is carefully scripted and cultivated.
It’s been quite an education watching the celebritization of Tom Brady. It is truly an NFL Cinderella story, every bit as compelling as Kurt Warner’s. But because he has adapted to celebrity so flawlessly and appears to have become the image he projects, that seems to rub a lot of people the wrong way.
It will be very interesting to see what Brady does post-NFL. I would not be surprised to see him in politics.
What I don’t like about Brady is that he plays for Billicheat.
I won’t take from the cheater his coaching acumen, although he hasn’t won since being caught.
I just believe that Brady’s success is in greatest part due to the scheme rather than the QB. I further believe that much of his great play (mostly his completion percentage) is due to that same scheme, i.e. throwing the ball in “dinks and dunks,” a scheme which made a star out of Matt Cassell – and we all know how well he has done elsewhere.
In no other team sport is one person awarded “wins” and “losses” to the degree that an NFL QB is – and undeservedly.
See. e.g. Cassell. Or Alex Smith. While the QB is the most important person on the team, his success (or lack thereof) is HEAVILY predicated on the SCHEME. Put a Cassell in NE and he wins 13 games. Put him in Kansas City and he ends up riding the bench. Give Alex Smith a succession of offensive co-ordinators and he is a “bust.” Give him Harbaugh and he leads a Superbowl caliber team and becomes a competent “game manager.’ (Who, incidentally, won the offensive player of the week before he got conked on the head and, then, benched.)
I haven’t a clue how Brady would do elsewhere. But, put him on Chicago’s team with its porous offensive line and his skittish feet under fire and I doubt he’d win more than 8 games a season.
Au contraire mon Drax ami…
Baseball is all about awarding wins and losses to one player.
As is Hockey.
In fact of all the major sports I would say that football only exceeds basketball in awarding wins “unfairly” to one player.
I dunno how Brady would do in Chicago, but I will say he was harassed pretty well by Miami and still kicked their ass.
I said – undeservedly.
The pitcher can “win” a game by – all by his lonesome – keeping the other side from scoring a run. A goal keeper (in hockey or soccer) can “win” a game by keeping the other team from scoring a goal.
Now, the rest of the team actually has to score, but, in those two sports, the goalie and the pitcher DESERVE their “wins” and “losses.”
The QB can do absolutely NOTHING and “win” a game by handing the ball off over and over and having special teams and the defense score points. A QB can play almost PERFECTLY and lose a game because of special teams and the defense.
If a goalie or a pitcher play PERFECTLY, the other team doesn’t score. (Of course, both need help, but … not to the extent that a QB does.)
And, I’m sorry, but in basketball, individual players aren’t awarded “wins” and “losses” UNLESS they’re SUPERSTARS. And, then, there is quite a bit of consideration given to the team upon which they played. Ask HOFers Reggie Miller, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, John Stockton, etc. For the most part, you’ll never see something like “LeBron lost against the Lakers last night.” whereas you’ll frequently see something along the lines of “In another great matchup between Manning and Brady, Brady won again, making the score 10-6 in Brady’s favor.”
Again, the QB generally has the greatest impact on the game. And, once in a while, a great play by a QB makes all the difference (or a poor play) between winning and losing. But NONE of the QB’s effort is SOLO whereas EVERY shot by a basketball player is solo; EVERY pitch by a pitcher is solo; and EVERY block by a goalie is solo.
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