Bad Rules, Ignoble Endings

GM,

Similar to your prediction that the Steelers would win or lose each game by three points this year (it actually happened six times!), your Brett Favre prediction was nothing short of prophecy:

...Favre will end this season with a crucial interception--we're all waiting for it.... -Dec. 21, 2009

And it killed me. This was one of the best games any of us have ever seen, and it was ruined by horrible league policy. In this case, the NFL's failure to fix what is obviously the worst OT system in all of sports--just edging soccer's "To hell with trying to actually score; we'll just kick several times from 10 feet away" arrangement--undermined the game's legitimacy and tainted what will surely be another Colts championship. Like the conference semi-finals between the Spurs and Suns in 2007, which involved two suspensions that simply mocked logic, the fans deserved better in this one.

Forget sudden death. I'm acknowledging Sunday's first 60 minutes and no more. For the purposes of this entry, Minnesota and New Orleans tied yesterday. And what a tie it was....

Favre's second INT ruined the Vikings' chance of victory, but what made the moment so historically significant was that it was the culmination of years of abuse that somehow never sidelined football's iron man. The "Gunslinger" rolled out to an empty flat, and with his football awareness, the amount of time he had to decide on running or passing was an eternity.

Fortunately, whether you like Brett or not, you've seen into his career quite clearly. You've seen it in chapters. He was the highly-touted rookie who became the ultimate bust due to personal problems and poor work ethic. Then he became the perfect story of redemption, winning three straight MVP awards and a SuperBowl. Interceptions had always plagued his career, though, and we began questioning whether he could still play in 2005 when he threw a record-worst 29 picks. But he stuck around to break almost every career QB record. Finally, after several offseasons of indecisiveness, he shut all his doubters up with his best statistical season--only seven INTs. It appeared that the right system, an elite running back, and years of accumulated wisdom had made for the perfect fit--maybe even for one more season.

Favre entered Sunday's game looking nimble, even youthful. A few punishing hits later, he looked too feeble for the NFL. Not surprisingly, he stayed in to make a few decent tosses and get away with some bad ones. And when he rolled to the right and saw the open turf before him, he probably knew he could get enough yardage for field-goal range. He probably knew he could slide or get out of bounds to avoid contact entirely. But with his legs weakened and fatigued--his thoughts mired--all he could rely on was the old gun. Such impulsiveness had made him, and in perfect symmetry, it broke him.

I wanted a Manning-Favre SuperBowl as much as anyone. The game could have been billed as "Man vs. Machine." As much charisma as Peyton Manning has in commercials and interviews, his game is simply robotic. Favre, on the other hand, has a style of play so human that it mirrors what we assume to be his personality. That's why I want to see the man on football's biggest stage. He always gives us a heck of a show.

-JW

JW,

I got sleepy and tried to nap during the second half of the game you're calling one of the best ever, and I'll be damned if Joe Buck didn't wake me up every five minutes with another Vikings turnover!!!! My goodness, that team wanted to lose. As I joked on the telephone Sunday evening, if Buck had saved his pipes for clutch field goals, I could have slept through the entire playoffs.

Anyway, since you're refusing to acknowledge the last ten minutes or so of Vikes/Saints, allow me to fill in some blanks. If you're a Vikings fan, the NFL just screwed you. Forget about the coin toss--professional football's answer to Powerball, blackjack double-downs, and unsafe sex--and focus on the pass interference call against Ben Leber (6:29, here), made despite the fact that Brees' pass to Thomas was not a pass at all but a please-don't-sack-me throwaway. Focus on Meacham's twelve-yard "completion" (6:43, same clip) that ended the game for all intents and purposes (that's "intensive purposes" to you, Saints fans). If nothing else, this game proved for all time that NFL refs are afraid to cross a home crowd riding a generation-long crest of political sympathy--that not even Brett Favre can combat the magical formula of Disaster + Black People = Bandwagon Fans and Make-Up (For Acts of God) Calls. Once overtime hit, it would have taken Team Haiti to beat the Saints in New Orleans.

Now that the Super Bowl is upon us, I'm predicting a devestating Colts win. The Saints are inexplicably inconsistent offensively, and Peyton Manning is utterly shameless about seven-yard-slanting his way to victory, over and over again, ad nauseam. Too bad that the exact matchup I've been hoping for since week five promises to be as lopsided as the Manning family's distribution of genetic gifts. They should have played this one in September.

-GM