Somehow we’ve gone five days without a Peyton Manning post, which feels like at least three weeks in Manning time. Yes, Manning time is a real thing now. We’re functioning solely by Manning’s clock as we walk into the abyss that is the 2012 offseason.

And that clock isn’t exactly moving quickly.

Bob Kravitz is a prominent, well-connected reporter from the Indianapolis Star who’s followed Manning throughout his career in Indy. Kravitz spoke to Tony Kornheiser on his ESPN radio show Tuesday, and he said that he knows some of the people who’ve seen Manning throw, and those people haven’t relayed glowing reports.

Via Pro Football Talk:

“I know some of the people that have seen him throw. They say he’s not throwing like an NFL quarterback yet. That doesn’t mean he never will.  This thing is going to take time. Structurally, he’s sound. Structurally, he can take a hit.”

Kravtiz also dropped the dreaded “noodle arm” label, meaning that at this point the velocity of the ball when it’s released from Manning’s arm is on par with the velocity it would have if it was possible for a cooked spaghetti noodle to throw a football. Sadly, that noodle would still complete more passes than Tim Tebow.

When a quarterback is given that title, there are usually gasps in the room, followed by the sound of scouts and/or general managers erasing the QB’s name from a sheet of either potential draft picks or free agents. But this isn’t just your average mid-tier free agent or draft prospect. This is Peyton Manning, and although he’s ready to absorb physical contact and would be in no long-term health danger if Ray Lewis came unblocked and creamed him, his recovery process is still a delicate one.

Actually, it’s beyond delicate. Far beyond. Manning and his agent or father can keeping slipping lines to the mainstream media, but we have no idea if Manning’s arm will ever return to its MVP form.

Yet even as we sit right now in early February and we can’t confidently say what kind of arm Manning will have in August or September, columns begging owners to do everything in their power to secure this franchise-saving veteran are being written by respected columnists. And when the Cardinals hire a new wide receivers coach, a noted insider is sure to tack on the convenient fact that the hire is also Manning’s former QB coach.

There are plenty of hints, nods, and nudges of both the gentle and not-so-gentle variety, and the glimmer of this likely free agent prize could far exceed the gains.

50. Baltimore chokes at Gillette: It seemed like every NFL playoff game came down to the wire, but the biggest heartbreaker might have come in Foxborough, where Lee Evans dropped a potential game-winning touchdown moments before Billy Cundiff did his best Ray Finkle impression by hooking the hell out of a game-tying field goal:

49. Sam Hurd gets in extremely hot water: Late in the season, the Bears receiver was arrested and slapped with federal drug charges for allegedly distributing large quantities of marijuana and cocaine. How large? He allegedly told an informant that that he needed 5-10 pounds of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana every week.

48. Marshawn Lynch revives his career: We thought Lynch deserved the league’s comeback player of the year award. The former first-round pick had toiled in quite anonymous fashion for much of his career before busting out in 2011. He went over 100 yards six times in an eight-game span, and at one point scored at least one touchdown in 10 straight affairs.

47. Patrick Peterson becomes the NFL’s new clutch returner: As a blue-chip prospect out of LSU, Peterson’s return skills were only considered to be an added bonus on his résumé. But as a rookie, Peterson was a game-changing return man. He tied an NFL single-season record with four punt return touchdowns, with three of those essentially being the difference between a win and a loss. The most impressive of those returns came in walk-off fashion against St. Louis:

46. James Harrison is finally suspended for an illegal hit: It finally happened. Harrison became the first player in NFL history to be suspended for a helmet-to-helmet hit after nearly decapitating Colt McCoy in Week 14. The NFL, which is trying to clamp down on illegal hits by threatening stiffer punishments, went from fine territory to banning Harrison for one game without pay. And was it ever fitting that Harrison was the first major victim of the league’s crusade…

Luck undoubtedly plays a large role in sports. And before I look at a few good breaks that put the Giants in position to win the Super Bowl, I should note that, in terms of injuries, Big Blue was actually quite unlucky this year.

This is a team that lost a starting corner (Terrell Thomas) and starting middle linebacker (Jonathan Goff) before the season started. They also saw top draft pick Prince Amukamara go down for significant time, and second-round pick Marvin Austin never played a game. Goff’s backup, Clint Sintim, also missed the entire season, while they had to endure the midseason loss of starting left tackle Will Beatty. Oh, and receiver Domenik Hixon, who was expected to play a big role in the passing game, missed all but two games.

Call it karma, but the team’s bad fortune with injuries was balanced by some big breaks during the regular season.

This was, after all, a team that surrendered more points than it scored — the only 9-7 team to make the playoffs. But because their division was so weak, they got to host the Falcons on wild-card weekend, gaining a significant amount of momentum in a home victory over a team that is much better in the Georgia Dome than it is away.

The NFC East was terrible. The Eagles were a tremendous disappointment — if they had their stuff together and established chemistry earlier (in other words, if not for the lockout) they probably would have won the division easily. The Cowboys botched three games they had no business losing. The Redskins plummeted after a fast start — but even they were able to beat the Giants twice during the regular season. New York finished with a 3-3 record within a bad division, but still snuck into the playoffs…and actually got a home game to set the tone.

That’s break no. 1 (although you could argue that there were multiple breaks within that singular break).

For another one, let’s go back to Week 4, when the Giants barely survived against the Arizona Cardinals. Arizona had a 10-point lead with less than four minutes to play. Against a quasi-competent team, New York loses. But I won’t call playing a bad team a complete break. Where the break came is when a terrible ruling led to the game-winning score. Here’s how I explained it at the time:

Victor Cruz made a catch, fell to the turf, got up and dropped the ball. He was never touched. The “fumble” was recovered by the Cardinals, but the officials didn’t see it as a fumble, claiming instead that Cruz had “given himself up.” A play in which a player “gives himself up” isn’t subject to review (because it’s clearly a judgment call) and thus Ken Whisenhunt wasn’t able to challenge.

Manning hit Hakeem Nicks for six points on the next play and the Giants shut down Arizona on its final drive, moving to 3-1 and remaining in a first-place tie in the NFC East.

Watching the play, it’s hard to imagine that Cruz was giving himself up. Instead, it looked as though he stumbled and then tried to get up, assuming he’d been touched. I understand why referee Jerome Boger couldn’t review the call, but I can’t comprehend the call itself. Neither can former NFL officiating czar Mike Pereira, who thought the play should have been ruled a fumble. He noted on the game broadcast that the officials were essentially protecting Cruz “from his own stupidity.”

“We got a break on that one I think,” admitted Manning after the game. “I thought it was going to get ruled a fumble and I saw it pretty clear. I don’t know what the call was or why.”

Some said the victory deserved an asterisk. Without that play, the Giants might not have won. And without that win, they don’t make the playoffs.

OK, I’ve got another one for you. This time, the Giants trail the Cowboys 34-22 with less than four minutes remaining. And Dallas, at home, completely chokes. The Cowboys commit three penalties, go three-and-out with an inexplicable incomplete pass with the clock a factor, and have a game-tying field goal blocked. That block came after Dan Bailey had connected successfully, but that play had been blown dead due to a New York timeout. The freeze was successful.

I know, the Giants found a way to win, and you can’t blame them for the incompetency of their opponents, but they were extremely lucky to win both of those games.

And then there were the breaks the Giants got within the Super Bowl itself. If Tom Brady and Wes Welker don’t fail to connect on a wide-open pass in the final minutes (I’m refusing to call it a drop), the Giants probably lose. If Rob Gronkowski is healthy and able to box out Chase Blackburn on the game’s only interception, the Giants probably lose. And if the ball on that final Hail Mary bounces 24 inches to the right, the Giants lose.

It’s a game of inches, of being in the right place at the right time. That’s part of the Super Bowl equation on nearly an annual basis. The Giants deserved this title, of course. They got hot at the right time, and they found a way not to be the chokers like the Cardinals and the Cowboys. Brady and Welker failed to connect on that pass, but Manning and Mario Manningham found a way to make it happen on their big completion.

That’s what it is — a combination of good play, especially in clutch moments, and good fortune.

Merely calling Chad Ochocinco’s first season in New England a poor year would be incredibly insulting to players who’ve had poor seasons. That label often sounds far worse than what it really is, and it’s typically reserved for players who still contributed, but their contributions fell far below their usual standards.

Tampa Bay’s Mike Williams had an poor year following his impressive rookie season, but he still had 771 receiving yards, and averaged 48.2 per game.

Two years ago Carolina’s Steve Smith had what could be deemed a poor year when his receiving yardage descended to 982 after his 1,421 in 2008.

Ochocinco didn’t just perform poorly, or under-produce for his standards. He was an irrelevant afterthought.

His non-existence this year and disappearance is well documented, but let’s review it one more time so the year-end numbers of a player who was once considered an elite receiver are firmly ingrained. Including the playoffs, Ochocinco was dressed for 17 games, and he was benched for the AFC Championship game against Baltimore. In those games, he had only 16 receptions for 297 yards.

His previous career low was 540 yards during an injury-shortened season in 2008 (he played in 13 games), and over an 11-year career he’s had only four sub-1,000 yard years. He’s also averaged 66.6 yards per game throughout his career, and only had 18.4 in 2011. For the most haunting contrast between the once quick and agile Chad Johnson to the now slow and sluggish Chad Ochocinco we can look to Week 10 of 2006, when he had 260 yards against San Diego. In one game, that’s only 37 yards short of his total this year.

Ochocinco’s 2011 stats reflect a receiver who was deemed useless, because he was barely glanced at let alone targeted in the Patriots’ offense. So consider this a post-mortem on a season that could easily turn into a post-mortem on a career, with Ocho’s professional football life ending when he’s cut some time this spring or summer, and then given the Randy Moss/Terrell Owens treatment. That possibility isn’t just very real, it’s very likely.

Look at those numbers again. Then look at some generic page ranking the league’s passing offenses. Now, keep using that deductive reasoning, and think about a place where a rapidly declining receiver could be useful, perhaps to help a rebuilding team with either a young receiving corps, or a young quarterback.

Anything?

It’s remarkable that Ochocinco lasted the entire season on the Patriots’ roster despite demonstrating an obvious inability to do what he was acquired to do: stretch the field deep from the wide receiver position. When that inability became clear, Bill Belichick accelerated his shift to the duel tight end system, and any wideout not named Branch or Welker was ignored.

Ochocinco is now slated to make $3 million in each of the next two years over the final seasons of a contract that will end when he’s 36. That means he’ll have the fourth largest base salary on New England’s roster, and without agreeing to a massive pay cut there’s no conceivable way he’ll retain a roster spot.

Nick Underhill of Masslive.com agrees, noting that although the Patriots led the league with 72 completions of 20 yards or more, only 23 of those passes traveled the entire 20 yards through the air. Wes Welker is a free agent and could be franchised, and Deion Branch is taking a cannonball into the free agency pool too, although he hopes to remain in Foxboro.

There’s still a need for a deep presence out wide where Ochocinco failed, and the answer could be the most coveted free agent on the market this offseason.

His name is Brandon Lloyd, and he’s quite familiar with new Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels after playing for him in Denver and St. Louis. As the Broncos head coach, McDaniels rejuvenated Lloyd’s career after he had languished for seven seasons. Lloyd had 1,448 receiving yards in 2010 under McDaniels, and prior to that he averaged just 338.6 yards per year.

In late December while contemplating his next move, Lloyd couldn’t hide his desire to follow McDaniels wherever he goes.

“I can’t even lie about that. I’m tied to McDaniels. He uses me differently than other offensive coordinators used me in my entire career. He uses me as an every-play receiver. The short game, mid-range game, gimmick passes, deep balls.

“I do everything in this offense as opposed to other coordinators who would just run me off as the deep guy; run me off into double coverage and then say I’m not open. So I really like how Josh uses me within the offense. I’m extremely comfortable in the offense.

Lloyd isn’t young (he’s 30), but he’s still four years younger than Ochocinco. That means younger legs, a body that hasn’t absorbed nearly as much pounding, and likely a few more years of high-level production before the late-career drop off begins.

Lloyd has flare and familiarity, while Ochocinco now has little more than age.

Credit Justin Tuck for the role he played in both of the Giants’ Super Bowl titles in the last four years.

In the two victories, Tuck had a total of four sacks, nine tackles, a forced fumble and a forced safety. In Sunday’s game, he made two of the most important defensive plays of the game, pressuring Tom Brady into his first-quarter intentional grounding penalty that resulted in two New York points, and sacking Brady in violent fashion on a third down in the second half. After that latter play, Brady was never the same again.

As a result, Tuck was a top-tier MVP candidate in both games.

In Super Bowl XLII, he was arguably the Giants’ leading candidate for the award until Eli Manning led the Giants on an 83-yard, game-winning touchdown drive in the final moments, making big throw after big throw — headlined, of course, by that historic completion to David Tyree.

Obviously, Manning was the MVP.

In Super Bowl XLVI, Tuck was again probably right there with Manning. If not for the safety created by him, the Giants would have needed a touchdown, not a field goal on that final drive, and thus New England wouldn’t have let them score. And in all likelihood, the Pats would have only needed a field goal on that final drive.

But it was again Manning who led the way on a final, game-winning drive, completing another pass for the ages and going 5-for-6 to essentially put the Patriots away.

Tuck’s hilarious reaction to that second Eli masterpiece was: “That guy stole my MVP again.” But here’s the problem with that logic: if not for Manning’s heroics, the Giants would have lost both games, and the MVP in both cases would have gone to a member of the Patriots such as Brady or Wes Welker.

If Manning comes up big, Tuck loses the MVP. If Manning doesn’t come up big, Tuck loses the game, and in turn, the MVP.

Tuck was clearly the defensive MVP of both Super Bowls, and considering that the Patriots averaged less than 16 points per game in those affairs, that counts for something when assessing his legacy as an elite defensive player. Unfortunately, though, there’s no such thing as a defensive Super Bowl MVP award.

Don’t worry, he wasn’t hurt. He was just played to look like a damn fool, but really, when you attempt to climb up to a window that’s two floors up after being egged on by people yelling from said window, you know what you’re getting yourself into.

Or at least you should. Most building climbers at team rallies or parades aren’t especially intelligent, and forethought isn’t a particularly prominent skill. This guy quickly became the poster boy for such stupidity, but we’ll let the description from the Youtube video below explain the sad ballad of our little climber:

A Giants fan climbs up a building during the Ticker Tape Parade in an attempt to reach the window, from where a couple of people had been watching and encouraging the guy to climb up. Once he got up there, they shut the window and refused to let him in, and the poor guy was left hanging. He eventually fell and the cops arrested him. #Fail

Fail indeed.

We assumed that he wanted to get a better view of Mark Sanchez, but that’s incorrect, because a man claiming to be the climber commented on Busted Coverage‘s post to defend himself and explain his rationale.

Im the crazed fan you see in those videos and honestly my idea wasnt to go up that high I just wanted a better view. The crowd started getting me riled up and said to higher, and so I did. Was it foolish yeah but the Giants just won the Super Bowl and it was self expression. I do want to state however that I didn’t fall and land into the arms of police officers. I landed on my feet. Then was arrested. Hahaha however feel free to say what you all will call me an idiot or crazy you’ve got all the right to do so on the Internet.

It was just self expression, that’s all.

It’s also remarkable that his fall apparently wasn’t cushioned, and he landed on his feet and was unharmed. The anonymous climber seems to have discovered a skill, and now he has to figure out how to use it for monetary gain.

Window cleaning? Fear Factor? Cirque de Soliel?

Thanks, Busted Coverage

When you have an excuse to post a picture of a guy in a Patriots shirt pretending (or maybe not pretending) to be overly inebriated and passed out in the snow in front of a doghouse and amongst his various bottles, you do it.

Since the Internet demands that we acknowledge its ability to turn even the tiniest fragments of pop culture fodder into a never-ending mountain of absurdity that eventually becomes impossibly annoying, Bradying has been created, and it first surfaced yesterday.

Similar to Tebowing, Bradying is the act of playfully mocking Tom Brady through a pose in an interesting or funny location. The difference is that while Tim Tebow drops to his one-knee prayer position at least half a dozen times per game, the Brady pose that’s the subject of Bradying is much more rare.

Brady’s sunken-head look is reserved only for especially crushing moments, and Bradying was started when he struck this pose after being intercepted by Chase Blackburn early in the fourth quarter Sunday.

There’s already a site dedicated to Bradying, and the Bleacher Report declared the new Internet trend an insult to all things Brady, when really it’s just the Internet being the Internet, and a bunch of people with far too much time to stage stupid pictures are doing just that in a joking manner.

So basically, it’s been given the Interweb stamp of approval, and like planking, it won’t die until somebody nearly dies Bradying.

Eight years and four days after that Mickey Mouse Club guy introduced the world to Michael Jackson’s sister’s right breast, we have a new controversy stemming from a Super Bowl halftime show. This time, a rapper who goes by the name M.I.A. flipped the cameras the bird.

To be clear, I was not offended by either act. Like the majority of the 100-odd million people who saw both incidents, I have been personally flipped off before, and have — believe it or not — seen a female boob. Thus I am not haunted by the sight of either, and I’d imagine that the rest of you are in the same boat.

That said, doesn’t it strike people as odd that the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake Nipplegate episode seemed to garner significantly more outrage than M.I.A.’s middle finger?

In the first case, we were exposed to something synonymous with love, sex and even motherhood. Oh, and the majority of the nipple was concealed by a pasty. You can see more skin in that exact same time slot on prime-time television any night of the week. Correct me if I’m wrong, but very few men and women strongly dislike boobs.

In the second case, we were told to f— off. Who the hell wants that?

When comparing the two events on the surface, I think the M.I.A. act was more malicious, more disrespectful and more inappropriate.

But for whatever reason, Jackson’s right headlight inspired mass anger, a record fine from the FCC, lawsuits and a 4,600-word Wikipedia page. Everyone involved apologized, but it was still called a travesty. “It’s truly pitiful that my children can’t watch the Super Bowl now,” wrote Maureen, a Dallas mother and Helen Lovejoy impersonator.

M.I.A.’s finger hasn’t caused close to the same stir. Instead, we’re defending her. We seem to grasp that this was, at the very worst, a publicity stunt, and for the most part, we’re refusing to buy in.

So why the separate reactions?

Maybe it has to do with the Western world’s discomfort with sex and the body, compared to its obsession with violence and intensity as seen everywhere you look in American pop culture. Then again, that would entail some serious hypocrisy — why cry foul over a partially exposed breast while laughing and clapping as M&Ms lose their innocence and GoDaddy does its best Brazzers impression?

Maybe it’s just progress. Maybe we were desensitized a bit by Janet and now are less susceptible to becoming shocked and offended by incidents that, frankly, aren’t supposed to shock or offend us.

• We’re all curious to see where Ricky Williams‘ intelligence takes him next, because he was a guy who played football much more than he was ever a football player. He’s simply a fascinating person, and he provided more evidence of that yesterday during an interview with Dave Hyde of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Williams was asked why he was retiring, and his response came in the form of a question when he said “why am I playing? That’s the question. If I could do anything in the world, and it’s do-able, why wouldn’t I do that?” Then when Hyde wondered what we’re all wondering and asked Williams about his plans, the Heisman winner said that a Nobel Prize “would be pretty cool.”
• Jake Ballard‘s Super Bowl injury looked very serious because it is very serious. Ballard tore his ACL.
• Remembering where you parked your car in a massive stadium parking lot leads to fewer awkward conversations with local authorities. Right, Giants fans?
• The Internet insists on keeping this Gisele Bundchen story alive, which isn’t remotely surprising, and it likely won’t fade until the end of the week. But at least now we’re seeing a few columns supporting the supermodel, like the one written by Time’s Doug Glanville.
• It’s officially Day 3 of the offseason now, a time when we begin to make the painful turn from Super Bowl dissection to silly season prognostication. For the Super Bowl loser, Wes Welker is the most pressing concern with his expiring contract, and BenJarvus Green-Ellis isn’t far behind.
• Noted Boston homer Bill Simmons had no problem finding 15 silver linings in the Patriots’ season.
• The odds of Santonio Holmes being in a Jets uniform next fall just increased significantly, because he’s now reportedly guaranteed $7.5 million next season.
• And maybe that’s not a bad thing, because when he’s behaving well Holmes can still be a productive receiver. The problem, of course, is that those times of good behavior have been rare. Earlier this week Holmes attempted to start the process of mending his broken bridge with Mark Sanchez, tweeting his quarterback and saying that he’s pumped for the journey towards 2012.
• The league is beginning to feel the wrath of Bill Polian, who said that prior to the 2010 draft Rob Gronkowski failed his physical with the Colts.
• Joe Theismann thinks that the Redskins pursuing Peyton Manning if he becomes available isn’t a good idea or a bad idea. It’s a horrible idea.
• Bolt Hype revisits the 2004 draft when the famous/infamous Eli Manning trade was orchestrated, and the Chargers landed Philip Rivers. Ben Roethlisberger was also on the board, and now out of those three quarterbacks, Manning and Roethlisberger have combined for four Super Bowl rings, while Rivers has none.
• I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m incredibly excited for mock draft season. The draft is already being mocked relentlessly in some corners of the football blogosphere, and one mock has the Bengals trading up to take Trent Richardson.
• Tony Romo will be Tiger Woods’ playing partner when the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am tees off tomorrow, and he’ll be heckled by Woods’ caddie, who’s a long-time Giants fan.
• Michael Vick is still the most disliked athlete in sports, according to a poll conducted by Nielson and E-poll Market Research, which shows once again that his dog-fighting conviction will forever resonate with the general public.
• And we finish off with another painful Peyton song from some fans in Tennessee who can’t let go of the past…

In her defense, she’s celebrating hard and has another human being on her shoulders, so maybe she just lost focus. Or maybe she thought she was at a parade honoring the San Francisco Giants, inexplicably in Manhattan and delayed by about 15 months, for their 2010 World Series title, and she simply wanted to see Jonathan Sanchez.

Okay, I’m reaching. But us blondes have to stick together in moments like these.

(Via Shutdown Corner)

Ricky Williams has announced his retirement from professional football, but I’d imagine he’s only scratched the surface in terms of what he has the capability of accomplishing over the course of his lifetime.

Williams’ interests and strengths expand far beyond his football life. He treated his NFL career like a job, and he played to live, rather than living to play.

In his retirement press release, issued this afternoon by the Ravens, Williams wouldn’t even call his time as a pro football player a chapter in his life. Nope, it was just a single page.

“The NFL has been an amazing page in this chapter of my life,” Williams said. “I pray that all successive adventures offer me the same potential for growth, success and most importantly, fun. I want to thank all my fans, teammates, coaches and supporters for the strength they’ve given me to overcome so much.”

Other pages in this chapter: Ricky’s sudden 2004 retirement, only a year removed from winning the league’s rushing title. His random stint in Toronto, in the prime of his football career, as a member of the CFL’s Argonauts. And of course, his time spent studying holistic medicine in Grass Valley, Calif., also smack dab in the prime of his football life.

The first page would probably be his time in Texas, where Ricky ran for over 6,500 yards and won the Heisman Trophy as a junior.

The second page might document his experience at the 1999 draft, when Mike Ditka sold the entire farm to move up and take Williams with the fifth pick.

Williams outlasted Edgerrin James, who was selected one pick before him that year. He also outlasted Deuce McAllister, whom the Saints figured could replace Williams when they shocked the football world by trading him to Miami in 2002. McAllister had a few big years, but he wasn’t Ricky.

One more page would have to be dedicated to his penchant for smoking weed. The punishment for his reliance on marijuana was, after all, what spurred him to ditch the game eight years ago. It’s the only reason he was in Grass Valley, and the only reason he came to Canada.

Another page — or maybe more than a page — would probably cover Williams’ struggles with clinical depression and social anxiety disorder. He’s one of the oddest characters the NFL ever employed. Super shy, sneaky clever. Agree or disagree with his premises, the guy was brilliant. Interested in philosophy and fresh, outside-the-box thinking? Check out his Twitter feed.

I had the chance to talk to Williams when he was with the Argos in 2006. Despite being soft spoken, he’s very deliberate with his words, making each one count. He looks you in the eye and genuinely cares that all of those words reach the intended target with his design for them still intact. There’s no ego there.

The problem is that many of those who talk to Williams don’t get the message he’s sending. The problem is that he’s smarter than most of us. He knows that there’s a lot more in this world for him, which is why he’s walking away despite averaging a respectable 4.1 yards per carry with fresh-for-34 legs in 2011.

“As for what’s next,” Williams said. “I am excited about all the opportunities ahead – continuing my education, running The Ricky Williams Foundation and whatever other opportunities present themselves.”

I’m excited to find out what presents itself to Williams, and what road he takes. The only drawback is that some of those potential roads are unlikely to include Wi-Fi, reporters, cameras and microphones. There’s a good chance that, from the perspective of the mainstream media, Ricky Williams is about to disappear.

Yesterday was sort of depressing. To diehard football fans, the day after the Super Bowl is kind of like the day after Christmas. You go from the most important day in the football world to a cold, snowy wasteland with seemingly no end in sight.

What the hell are we supposed to do, watch basketball or hockey?

Fortunately, the NFL offseason is stocked with a series of merry football events, starting in two weeks with the NFL Combine, which brings the football world back to Indianapolis. Free agency begins on March 13. The draft? End of April. Minicamps and OTAs will at least provide fodder in May and June, and by the time August arrives we’ll be previewing the 2012 season.

But with all due respect to the NFL preseason and the CFL regular season, we won’t see real football again until Sept. 6, when the Super Bowl champion New York Giants host (fill in the blank) at MetLife Stadium in prime time.

And although that’s 212 days away, it’s never too early to start breaking it down. Based on the eight teams the Giants are slated to host this year, here are top potential matchups we’d like to see on that Thursday night, from favorite to least favorite to completely out of the question:

1. Packers at Giants: A battle of the last two Super Bowl champions, just like we had last year when the Packers hosted the Saints in the prime-time kickoff game. Plus, this is also a rematch of a 2011 playoff affair. A lot will unfold between now and September, but I’d have to imagine this would be the tightest spread — maybe even a pick’em.

2. Saints at Giants: This isn’t likely to happen, because I doubt the NFL would schedule New Orleans for three consecutive nationally-televised openers. But they’re the only other 2011 NFC playoff team on New York’s home schedule.

3. Steelers at Giants: Only twice in 10 years has the league scheduled a non-conference opponent in the opener, so this isn’t likely to happen either. That said, the Ben Roethlisberger-Eli Manning battle is superb. The two 2004 first-round picks have combined to win four rings and make five Super Bowls in only eight seasons.

4. Eagles at Giants: Michael Vick and the failed dream team will probably be almost entirely intact, and based on the way they finished 2011, they’ll be expected to give New York a run for their money in the NFC East.

5. Cowboys at Giants: If the Cowboys hadn’t choked in astonishing fashion back in Week 14 against New York, the Giants wouldn’t have even made the playoffs. A good, competitive division rivalry here.

Not happening: Redskins/Browns/Buccaneers at Giants.

The defending champion has never lost in this game, going 8-0 since the league adopted this format. But before that, they played the Thursday night opener for two years between two more random teams. And in the first-ever prime-time opener, back in 2002, the Giants actually lost at home to San Francisco.

After winning the Super Bowl in 2007, New York won this game in ’08, holding the Redskins to just seven points at Giants Stadium.

Tom Brady made this Tom Brady face because of the Giants defense.

While the quarterbacks get most of the publicity (and MVPs) in the Super Bowl, the defense continues to make big play after big play without getting enough credit. That changes now, as I delve into a halftime adjustment made by Giants defensive coordinator Perry Fewell that helped New York win the Super Bowl.

Fewell’s personnel packages were normal in the first half, consisting of the NASCAR package that features three defensive ends, and a Nickel package that was made up of three safeties unlike the typical three cornerbacks that teams put out on the field. Where it got interesting was in the coverage concepts that Fewell implemented, some of which featured straight man coverage, while at other times it was pure zone. Both of the philosophies came out of 1 and 2 high safety shells, with the former being used more while the Giants played Cover 3 — a 4 under, 3 deep zone coverage.

Cover 3 diagram courtesy of Smartfootball.com.

This was not much different than what was seen in the Week 9 matchup between these two teams. New England’s quick-footed pass catchers got the best of the Giants’ pass defenders, separating from them at the break point of their underneath routes multiple times and consequently moving the chains en route to 10 points in the second quarter.

However, the second half of the Super Bowl would be different as Fewell and the Giants defense made a coverage adjustment that would pay dividends late in the game. They still played their Cover 3 concept but with a slight alteration of responsibilities that would see the middle linebacker drop into the deep third area in the middle of the field, while a safety would replace him underneath in coverage. This showed that they were not concerned about the vertically challenged Patriots attacking deep, an area in which they failed all night, instead settling on short passes out of three- and five-step drops.

This coverage variation was seen on the final Patriots drive late in the fourth quarter. With the Giants leading 21-17, they turned to their coverage adjustment that they made while Madonna was performing the shuffle and some one-hit wonder was flipping the world the bird.

On this play, the Patriots came out in their 11 spread gun personnel package that has a single back in the backfield and a tight end flexed from the end of the formation, while the Giants looked to operate out of their 40 Big Nickel package — four-man line (40) and five (Nickel) defensive backs, three of which are safeties.

The Giants' coverage variation sees the middle linebacker drop while the safety comes underneath.

Tom Brady’s view of the coverage pre-snap was interesting, as he looked to the middle of the field to identify how many safeties there were, yet right across from him stood a linebacker fifteen yards off the line of scrimmage. To each side of the linebacker were the safeties — what were they going to do post-snap?

Looking at Tom Brady's view of the pre-snap defensive alignments.

When Brady snapped the ball, the MIKE (middle) linebacker dropped deep along with the two outside cornerbacks, splitting the field into thirds evenly. Underneath, the three safeties along with linebacker Michael Boley divided the field into fourths, with safety (left) Antrel Rolle and Boley being the Curl-to-Flat defenders, while safeties Kenny Phililps and Deon Grant became the Hook (middle) defenders.

Giants safeties stay while the MIKE linebacker drops deep.

After scanning the field, Brady threw the ball and targeted receiver Deion Branch. Branch, who ran an inside-breaking route, was open in the middle of the field, but the Patriots signal caller had to make a difficult throw. He got just enough air under the pass to put it through the hands of Philips…

Phillips reaches sky-high for Brady's pass.

But ultimately, the ball placement is what caused this pass to be incomplete, with Brady throwing it behind his intended target — something he doesn’t do very often.

Bad ball placement haunts Brady.

While it appeared that Branch ran freely into the middle of the field, the Patriots did not complete the pass that would have given them a significant gain.

This play was merely one example (and the best for diagramming) of many that the Giants had success on while in this coverage. The coverage concept switch-up administered by Fewell proved to be a big halftime adjustment because it allowed the Giants to become more athletic underneath, thus negating the Patriots’ matchup advantage and cutting down the yards after catch opportunities on quick passes thrown by Brady.

By now you’ve seen the picture above of Rob Gronkowski knowing that we’re all here for a good time, not a long time, and drowning his sorrows on stage with LMFAO during the Patriots Super Bowl party late Sunday night/very early Monday morning.

Gronk’s offseason detox process involves intoxication, and little clothing. Realizing that it’s only six months until training camp starts, Gronkowski was sure to start his offseason training program in the first hours of his free time. That’s dedication to your craft, kids.

The pictures were good enough, but now there’s a video circulating. (via Barstool Sports Boston)

There are actually several videos, and they’ll likely all provoke the same reaction from Patriots fans still itching to find their scapegoat. They’ll say something about Gronkowski not caring, and that he must be indifferent to a loss in a massively important game if he’s bouncing around on the dance floor hours later.

They’ll also object to his grinding, noting that his ankle looks like it’s in pretty good shape while he’s gyrating with blond girls. And they’re all just being fans.

Expecting every athlete to sink into some deep, dark hole of depression that lasts for days after a Super Bowl loss (or even your standard playoff loss) is wildly unrealistic and absurd. That does happen often, and it’s exactly what Tom Brady did when he was unable to do much more than stare at the floor for over 20 minutes in the Patriots locker room Sunday night.

But Brady is 34 years old, and he’s married, and has a family. Gronkowski is a rich 22-year-old kid, and his personal time is any time that he’s not playing football, or participating in any football-related activity. He’s entitled to do whatever he wants with that time, and during the evenings he’ll generally act like a muscular athlete in his early 20s with plenty of disposable income, and the ability to pick any girl at the bar.

Wouldn’t you?

Most importantly, did he roll with the obscure prop bet that predicted an obscene gesture at some point during the halftime performance? Those questions and more will likely be answered in this season’s final edition of the Red Heat podcast below.

Your Super Bowl hangover should be gone now, and the confetti has been cleaned up as we wait for more to fall during the Giants’ parade. So kill some time at work, and relive the game once more from the perspective of a few guys who either made or lost a sizable chunk of their paychecks.

• What kind of blogger would I be if I passed on a chance to lead a post with a picture of what Maria Menounos looked like after she lost a Super Bowl bet?
• Also in fun pictures: Aaron Rodgers at the Playboy party with Shaq.
• The second that a string of profanity in defense of her husband came out of Gisele Bundchen’s mouth during her post-Super Bowl sorrow, it was obvious that the Internet-browsing public would make sure her F-bombs exploded into a massive shaming. And that’s fine if you’re an entertainment reporter or columnist, because without celebrity missteps, those fine journalists wouldn’t be employed. But when writers who call themselves sports columnists are opining at length about Mrs. Brady, they’ve reduced themselves to a discussion so meaningless and frivolous that it’s on par with staring at a bikini-clad Maria Menounos.
• For the record, Kristin Cavallari approves of Bundchen’s strong defense of her man…sort of.
• Eli Manning wants to stop playing football, but his dad will only let him if he dies.
• There were many fake laughs when Eli made his appearance on the Late Show with David Letterman last night, but they briefly discussed one topic that isn’t a laughing matter. Eli told Letterman that “everything’s good to go” with big brother.
• It’s become clear over the past several seasons that there’s a disturbing anti-animal nickname trend developing in the NFL. Grantland’s Shane Ryan did some thorough investigative research and discovered that there are 15 teams with animals nicknmes in the NFL, yet somehow we’ve gone five years without a championship from one of those teams. The PETA letters should be piling up on Roger Goodell‘s doorstep.
• The speed of the NFL’s calendar dictates that only a day after making a heroic catch, pending free agent Mario Manningham has to answer questions about his future, and he doesn’t have an answer yet.
• Tom Coughlin isn’t planning on retiring any time soon. He has an intense passion for the game and drive as a coach, but beyond that his motivation for sticking around may be far more simple. Coaching is how he enjoys spending his time, even if he’s now the oldest head coach to win a Super Bowl.
• Todd Haley is reportedly set to become Pittsburgh’s new offensive coordinator.
• To the surprise of no one, Peyton Manning has said that he plans to meet with Jim Irsay this week. He’s made that statement twice, so now we’ll just wait for that meeting to actually happen.

This guy was part of the 111.3 million.

Yawn, right? Another year, another Super Bowl that had really, really incredibly amazing ratings. This is barely a blip on your news radar, and you’re tempted to roll back over in bed while that Super Bowl hangover continues to subside.

And I’m here to tell you that this is worth your time, because the Super Bowl setting the record as the most-watched television show in U.S. history for the third consecutive year is kind of a big deal.

First, here’s the breakdown:

• An estimated 111.3 million people watched last night, according to the Nielson ratings, which narrowly beats the 111 million who saw the Packers beat Pittsburgh last year.
• The close game kept viewers engaged, and kept more rolling in. The last half hour of NBC’s broadcast topped out at 117.7 million when Mario Manningham made his improbable catch.
• The last three Super Bowls join M*A*S*H as the only shows to draw over 100 million eyeballs in American television history.

The ratings this year were also significantly higher up here in the Great White North where 8.1 million people tuned in, which is a 12 percent increase over last year.

Again, the mere fact that a lot of people watched a really important and exciting football game isn’t shocking. That’s especially true after earlier this the power of Tebow led to regular-season ratings that eclipsed the ratings for the final game in the most recent championship series for the other three major North American sports. That Tebow game in late December between the Broncos and Patriots also topped the average rating for the Red Sox’s curse-breaking World Series win in 2004.

And all that still doesn’t minimize what was accomplished last night. We’re nearly one year removed from the beginning of a lockout that rigidly divided players and owners, but more importantly, it created a gap between fans and the game. The paying customers were angry about the mere threat of a product they love being ripped from their television sets, and in vein they threatened a blackout.

Sunday’s ratings prove once again that the NFL and the Super Bowl are impenetrable, and in North American sports there’s nothing that even remotely compares to the spectacle of the big game in early February, and the vast audience it’s able to draw.

I know, New York was only a three-point dog for this game and many predicted they’d win. And the fact that a team with similar key contributors won the Super Bowl only four years ago means this isn’t exactly Jets over Colts in ’69.

But still, when you consider the expectations (or lack thereof) heading into the season, as well as the expectations (or lack thereof) as late as December, the fact that they’re on top of the football world is astonishing.

This is a team that didn’t get into the playoffs until the final game of the year. They’re the first-ever 9-7 team to win the Lombardi Trophy.

This wasn’t easy for me to dig up, but on Dec. 24 — just 44 days ago — I declared that the G-men didn’t even look like a playoff team, adding…

This has the looks of a team that should probably be seen as an underdog in the first round of the playoffs, regardless of where the game is. They have big-play ability on both offense and defense, and Jason Pierre-Paul has been a revelation. But they’re an all-or-nothing team, which doesn’t bode well for their chances in January against stiffer competition.

Considering the injuries they’ve dealt with, the Giants might have done enough to save Tom Coughlin’s job. Still, this is a team that will require some serious tweaking in the 2012 offseason.

Embarrassing, I know. But I was in the majority.

This is a team that was ravaged by injuries in August, losing Terrell Thomas, Prince Amukamara, Marvin Austin and Brian Weatherspoon on defense. An aging offensive line was going through a transitional period following major offseason changes, and the receiving corps didn’t scare anybody, especially after Steve Smith walked as a free agent and Domenik Hixon tore his ACL in Week 2. And on top of all that, Osi Umenyiora was disgruntled over his contract, threatening to sue Jerry Reese and requesting a trade.

It was messy.

So why, with the Eagles, Cowboys and even Redskins seemingly getting better, would anyone pick the Giants to reemerge out of nowhere in 2011?

Here’s what I wrote about them in my team preview last August:

Can they really say they got better? This is still a talented team, and they still won 10 games despite the injuries and the turnovers last season, but I wouldn’t be surprised if they took step a backwards in 2011. Let’s give ‘em eight wins, maybe nine.

Another thing that made us laugh at the Giants in August: Eli Manning, who, coming off of a 25-interception season, essentially called himself elite. Despite what happened in Super Bowl XLII, few of us agreed with Manning’s assertion.

And those critics just gained more traction when the Giants started the season with an abysmal performance in Washington.

But everything changed when it mattered most in December, January and February. The line developed cohesion, the pass rush went from good to great and Manning locked Bad Eli in the closet for the remainder of the year.

So maybe we overreacted to early signs of trouble. After all, it’s about peaking late in this league. Maybe, we should have just listened to this dude from the Bleacher Report way back in August…

It’s officially Day 1 of the offseason, and with the speed of the NFL calendar we’ll get just a few days this week to finish digesting and dissecting the Super Bowl before we turn our scrutiny towards free agency early next month, and the Scouting Combine that starts in just over two weeks.

We’ve also heard that there’s a decision looming regarding Peyton Manning.

So with that speed in mind, it’s appropriate that less than 24 hours after this year’s Super Bowl ended, we already have odds for next year’s game. Sometimes I wonder how future generations will view our gambling habits, and our desire to place a wager on an event that’s taking place 364 days from now. But in the future that moment of thought will likely be useless, because mankind will have mastered time warping, and multiple Super Bowls could be played during what feels like one day.

That’s the end of today’s GLS moment of philosophy. From Bodog.ca, here are the 2013 Super Bowl odds, with last year’s champs leading, and the lowly Jaguars and Browns set to remain very, very lowly.

Green Bay Packers: 6/1
New England Patriots: 7/1
New Orleans Saints: 8/1
Philadelphia Eagles: 12/1
Pittsburgh Steelers: 12/1
Houston Texans: 12/1
Baltimore Ravens: 14/1
New York Giants: 15/1
San Diego Chargers: 16/1
New York Jets: 16/1
San Francisco 49ers: 18/1
Dallas Cowboys: 18/1
Detroit Lions: 18/1
Atlanta Falcons: 22/1
Chicago Bears: 30/1
Arizona Cardinals: 30/1
Miami Dolphins: 35/1
Cincinnati Bengals: 40/1
Indianapolis Colts: 50/1
Tennessee Titans: 40/1
Oakland Raiders: 50/1
Carolina Panthers: 50/1
Denver Broncos: 50/1
Kansas City Chiefs: 50/1
Seattle Seahawks: 60/1
Buffalo Bills: 60/1
Washington Redskins: 60/1
Minnesota Vikings: 75/1
St. Louis Rams: 75/1
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 75/1
Cleveland Browns: 100/1
Jacksonville Jaguars: 100/1

The uncertainty still surrounding Manning made it difficult for the Vegas books to set the odds for a few teams. Of course there are also odds for where Manning will land, with the Jets favored (+350), followed by the Dolphins (+300), Cardinals (+200), Redskins (+250), and the Colts are far behind with slim odds (+700).

In recent years, it seems every Super Bowl has had a trademark play that etched itself into our memory bank forever. There was the David Tyree catch and the James Harrison 100-yard interception return and the New Orleans onside kick to start the second half, to name a few.

This year, two plays that took place on the same series will likely battle for the right to be the most memorable moment of Super Bowl XLVI. One was the incredible 38-yard sideline hookup between Eli Manning and Mario Manningham that started New York’s game-winning drive, and the other was Ahmad Bradshaw’s six-yard scoring run that ended it.

The plays will be remembered for very different reasons. Manning to Manningham was a clutch throw and a clutch catch in a clutch moment — a pure athletic feat in which one set of players simply beats the opposing set of players. But the Bradshaw touchdown run was arguably the strangest and most awkward play in Super Bowl history.

That, of course, is because the Patriots had decided to let the Giants score.

I can’t even imagine how much stranger things would have been had Bradshaw actually stopped and gone down before reaching the end zone. Regardless, the decision has become ideal football fodder. And no matter where you are in America today, there’s a good chance you’ll either say or hear (or both) a variation of these words: “Was that the right decision?”

It doesn’t feel right to let an opponent score. It’s unnatural and goes against everything we’re taught about sports from an early age. That said, Bill Belichick absolutely made the right decision.

Belichick noted after the game that 90 percent of field goals are good inside the 10-yard line. In reality, Belichick was underselling it. Of the 312 field goals attempted from inside the 11-yard line this year, only 11 were missed. That’s actually 97 percent. And considering that the Giants were on the six-yard line, their chances would have been even better.

New York’s kicker, Lawrence Tynes, had made 32 consecutive kicks from that distance.

And based on what had gone down on that series, there was also a decent chance that New York was going to score anyway after running the clock and/or forcing the Patriots to use their final timeout.

It was a virtual certainty that the Giants were going to take the lead, which meant that Belichick had to decide between two scenarios.

Scenario 1: Play hard defense and attempt to hold the Giants to a field goal or force a turnover.

Best possible outcome: You force a turnover and win the game.

Likely outcome: The Giants kick the field goal after two running plays, which would have taken the clock to about 15 seconds. After a New York kickoff, the Pats would probably have 10 or 15 seconds to get into field goal range (with no timeouts) and make a game-winner.

Scenario 2: Let them score.

Only possible outcome: They score, giving you 55 seconds and a timeout to manufacture a game-winning touchdown.

The Roy ‘Tin Cup’ McAvoy in competitive, supremely confident pro athletes and coaches usually causes them to follow their hearts — not their minds — and go with Scenario 1. But I don’t imagine there’s a man or woman on the planet who’d rather have 10 seconds and no timeouts to get a field goal than 55 seconds and a timeout to get a touchdown.

Belichick made the logical choice. Did it work? No, because the Patriots lost the game. But that doesn’t mean the decision is why they lost the game. I understand that, in this mourning process, some Pats fans will point a finger at Belichick. They’re looking for excuses and attempting to find as many scapegoats as possible.

But the deliberate lack of defense on that final defensive play of New England’s season doesn’t qualify as an excuse. If you want to pile on Belichick and the coaching staff for a 12 men on the field penalty that cost the Pats a turnover on D, or for their decision to essentially throw away a timeout by challenging a clear catch earlier in the drive, be my guest.

But letting them score was the right call.

When Rob Gronkowski was first injured two weeks ago during the Patriots’ win over Baltimore to advance to the Super Bowl, the reaction was instant. The angle that his ankle bent induced an instinctive wince, and immediately we assumed one of New England’s primary receiving targets would be sidelined for the remainder of the season.

As is often the case when the worst is assumed, the injury wasn’t nearly as severe as the angle of that initial bend suggested, and Gronk returned later in the second half against the Ravens. But he was Gronk only in the sense that another person couldn’t occupy the same space as him at the same time.

He wasn’t really Gronk at all. He was just a player at the tight end position, no more threatening than your average tight end. He was meek and feeble, which is exactly what we should have expected.

Fast forward two weeks, and there was improvement, but it wasn’t nearly significant enough. All week long Gronkowski’s ankle was monitored more closely than M.I.A’s middle finger will be from now on, and in some circles there was elation when the inevitable was finally confirmed Sunday morning. Gronkowski would play, we were told. Hooray?

His status as a non-factor exposed the Patriots’ passing game last night between its lack of depth at wide receiver, and their inability to stretch the field without both bruising tight ends playing at their full capacity. Gronkowski finished with 26 receiving yards, which was the second-lowest total of his season, and a steep decline from his per game average of 82.9 yards.

The blame for Tom Brady’s interception early in the fourth quarter on a pass intended for Gronkowski after a deep heave downfield has mostly been slanted in Brady’s direction, and deservedly so. Brady hung a ball high and deep, and allowed it to linger in the air far too long while Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn camped underneath. But at some point a quarterback has to have faith in his receivers to make a play, even if he knows that the target in question isn’t playing at full speed.

A healthy Gronkowoski would have capitalized on the time Brady gave him with the ball in the air, and established better position than Blackburn. He would have boxed Blakburn out to make the catch, or at the very least he would have forced an incompletion.

He did neither, and listening to Blackburn speak after the game, it became evident that a former high school basketball player who averaged 18 rebounds per game was out-basketballed by a linebacker who was stuck covering Gronk way too far downfield because of Brady’s audible at the line of scrimmage.

ESPN’s Dan Graziano spoke to Blackburn about the play that led him into very unfamiliar territory:

“I heard the crowd go wild a little bit, and I thought we had a sack. But I continued to see Gronk go up the field, and I just tried to stay with him. When I saw him look back, I looked back for the ball, and when I spotted it, I tried to just block out and go up for a rebound like in basketball.”

Gronkowski was beaten by a linebacker who was set to take a gig as a substitute teacher only a few months ago around Thanksgiving before the Giants called.

Between Gronkowski’s lack of movement and key drops by Aaron Hernandez, Wes Welker, and Deion Branch, Brady’s average yards per attempt was only 6.7 despite having 16 straight completions at one point. That’s a decent and average number for most quarterbacks, but not for a QB who threw for 5,235 yards this year, and did it while clipping along at 8.6 yards per attempt overall.

Brady completed only two passes for 20 yards or more, and both barely qualified (Ochocinco had a 21-yard catch, while Gronkowski had a 20-yard reception). New England led the league in 20+ yard passes this year, finishing with 72 for an average of 4.5 per game.

Gronkowski’s absence played a large role in that decline, as he was the target for 30.5 percent of those 20-yard passes. Beyond his simple ineffectiveness, he was on the field for a season-low 45 snaps last night, according to ESPN Stats and Information. Bill Belichick didn’t fully trust his Pro Bowl tight end, but he was still putting his quarterback in a position where he was forced to have faith in an injured player.

Gronkowski was exposed, and so was the Patriots’ offense beyond him.

By all accounts the celebrating in New York last night was kept within the reasonable limits of tolerable human conduct, or at least it qualified under that label given what we’ve unfortunately come to expect after major sports championship wins and losses recently (thanks, Vancouver).

Sure, there were probably plenty of garden variety arrests after one overly-intoxicated douchebag thought his Hakeem Nicks jersey is better than the Hakeem Nicks jersey being worn by another overly-intoxicated douchebag, and a fight ensued. But from a quick glance through the many fan videos already on Youtube this morning, it looks like everything was pretty peaceful.

The streets of Howard Beach in Queens had much of the usual car horn honking, yelling, and profane words screamed at no one in particular. But they added a little extra flavor, because that’s how Queens rolls.

They set fireworks off in the middle of a street, the kind of street that’s quite open to traffic. Motorists were chillin’ and whizzing by as if it’s just another Sunday in Queens. Who knows, maybe it is.

The entire five-minute video below is worth a watch with the yelling and running between cars, but the pyrotechnics start about 30 seconds in, and again near the end.

INDIANAPOLIS — For a while Sunday night, Tom Brady was lights out. At one point he completed 16 consecutive passes, which had many scoffing at the notion that the Giants defense was in Brady’s head.

That’s what many of us barked about in the week leading up to this game. Brady flinched in the regular-season matchup. Brady was pummeled by that pass rush in his last Super Bowl. Brady wasn’t the same when facing pressure since suffering a major knee injury in 2008.

Maybe they never were in his head, or maybe he somehow got them out during a solid first half. Either way, they appeared to find their way in there thanks to one big play.

Brady took a big hit from Justin Tuck early in the third quarter, aggravating the injury to his left shoulder that had caused him to miss practice time earlier in these playoffs. And although Brady had been working with a relatively clean pocket for much of the night, that one sack might have been enough to throw him off.

Ryan Wilson of CBSSports.com did the math so that I wouldn’t have to:

Brady’s line, pre-Tuck sack: 20 of 24 for 201 yards and two touchdowns. In fact, the pass just prior to Tuck’s takedown broke Brady’s completion streak and it came 6:12 into the third quarter.

Brady’s line, post-Tuck sack: 7 of 17 for 75 and an interception.

On paper, it doesn’t appear as though New York’s pass rush was the game-changer it was supposed to be, but maybe all it took was one play.