sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . Oct. 21-- FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS
RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver
NFL --- TOWARD
the end of a career in just about anything, two histories can emerge, the one
that "was," and that
of "what might have been." If the
actual run of achievements over time has been marginal, it could dog a person
until his or her clock stops ticking, which probably means that “the could have
happened, and didn’t” could be a painful whopper, downright ugly. This two-lane
highway won’t be a problem for Denver Broncos QB, Peyton Manning, arguably the
NFL’s greatest QB ever, owner of a “what was” history that’s rich in those
accomplishments for which the words “amazing,” “awesome,” “fantastic” were
invented, for instance, Manning is now leader of the club of QB’s who’ve
executed 500 or more TD passes, reaching 510 on Sunday night in a Broncos 42-17
win over the S.F. 49ers, surpassing QB Brett Favre’s 508, showing enough skill
and juice afterward to suggest that he could reach 600 TD passes before
retiring. Meanwhile, Manning’s might-have-been stream is wonderfully short,
narrow and practically empty, to be wiped from the memory-board as soon as he
dons a Super Bowl ring. And, there’s lot’s more inside the Manning reality show,
e.g., Manning’s 510 TD record happened within 16 career-years, Favre needed 19
for his 508, and the number three on the 500-and-over list, Dan Marino, required
16 for his 420. During Manning’s 16 years of play, he’s passed for 66,812 yards,
second best behind Favre’s 71, 838, which needed two additional years. Manning
is also number two re. pass completions, 5,681, and with the Indianapolis Colts
he delivered 12,756 passing yards, including 112 passes to a single WR, Marvin
Harrison, plus 143 single-season completions with Harrison, the three
achievements now NFL records. Add Manning’s more than 125 TD passes to Broncos
WR’s, RB’s and a TE in three years. Then there are those attributes that we
can’t quantify, such as Manning’s radar, i.e., his ability to read into and
understand a defense with incredible speed and accuracy, his speed and judgment
for escaping and evading the pass rush, though he’s slowed some at age 38, and
his setting behavioral and skill-application examples on and off the field,
while maintaining high standards for himself and expecting such from teammates.
Include Manning’s cooperation with, and favorable exploitations of, that which a
teammate can do best under pressure (he isn’t a scene-stealer when there’s a
better option), plus Manning’s third down and red zone efficiency---all
attributes reflected in THE BRONCOS SUNDAY WIN VS. THE
49ers: 23 first downs from 56 plays resulting in the more than 40 points,
average gain per play 7.5 yards, plus 115 yards from rushing, 318 yards from
passes, average passing gain per play 10.5, Manning completing 22 of 26 throws,
resulting in four TD’s, the win a Broncos ascension, the team now 5-1 and
leading the AC West above the 5-2 S.D. Chargers, the team that Manning and his
Broncos assault squad will face this Thursday, inaugurating NFL-2014 Week 8,
which lost during Week 7 to the K.C. Chiefs, 23-20. Keep in mind that the
Broncos win over the 49ers included a yield of less than 20 points to the S.F.
offense. This was the third such occurrence for a Broncos defense that in the
recent past kept yielding more than 20 points to an opposing team win or lose,
now a more seamless defense that allows the Broncos offense to purchase a lion’s
share of ball possession minutes, therefore more Manning-led plays, more Broncos
first downs, the TD’s, and more kudos for a Broncos pass rush unit that could be
the toughest for any NFL QB to avoid in the current season.
NFL WEEK 7--- THE National Conference East’s 6-1 Dallas Cowboys are leading the
pack in the approach to NFL-2014’s Week 8, close to its heels the NC East’s 5-1
Philadelphia Eagles and two of the six remaining division leaders that are also
at 5-1, the American Conference West’s Denver Broncos and the NC West’s Arizona
Cardinals. Meanwhile, four of the division leading franchises are at 5-2, the AC
East’s N.E. Patriots, AC North’s Baltimore Ravens, AC South’s Indianapolis
Colts, the NC North’s Detroit Lions---and the NC South’s number one, the 3-3
Carolina Panthers, are leading the NC South, which is the division that’s
weakest among the NFL’s eight, its N.O. Saints at 2-4, the Atlanta Falcons, 2-5,
the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 1-5. Worst in the league still are the AC West’s 0-6
Oakland Raiders, then the AC East’s 1-6 N.Y. Jets. Best edges over second place
teams, those belong to the AC North’s 5-2 Baltimore Ravens atop the 3-2
Cincinnati Bengals, and the AC South’s 5-2 Indianapolis Colts being ahead of the
3-3 Houston Texans. As for the unexpected during Week 7, surely that’s the 28-26
St. Louis
WORLD SERIES---GIVEN the recent AL and NL LC races, it’s hard to imagine a sweep from
either end, a possible outcome the 4-3 WS, which hasn’t happened since the ST.
Louis Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers, 2011, and hadn’t occurred before
that since 2003, when the NL’s Arizona Diamondbacks topped the N.Y. Yankees. But
since year 2000, there have been four sweeps, two by the AL’s Boston Red Sox (
versus the Cardinals, 2004, and vs. the Colorado Rockies, 2007), and by the AL’s
Chicago White Sox vs. the Houston Astros, 2005, the fourth sweep by the NL’s
S.F. Giants vs. Detroit Tigers, 2012. The first WS 4-0 win occurred in 1907,
Chicago over Detroit , the next 1914, Boston Philadelphia ., the remaining 20 or so 4-0 WS wins anywhere
from five to 12 years apart. Of the 110 WS held to date, sweeps comprise less
than one-sixth. By comparison, there have been 36 4-3 WS outcomes. Leading the
multiple 4-0 WS winners are the Yankees and the Red Sox, each above five, the
Yankees the only team to sweep back-to-back, having done so twice---1927, 1928,
and 1938, 1939. Tonight the 2014 WS
begins between a team that has gone to the WS only once since 1985, the K.C.
Royals, and a team that has been to the WS four times since 1989 and won twice,
4-1 in 2010 vs. the Rangers, 4-0 in 2012 against the Tigers. But that was then,
this is. . .
okay, it’s anyone’s pick.
END/ml
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