Join My Hoardes of Followers!!!

Wednesday, January 20, 2021

No Sub- Categorizations Needed: The Final Honorable Mentions

 

No Sub- Categorizations Needed: Honorable Mentions

2011 NBA Finals – Game 3: Miami Heat at Dallas Mavericks

Six years after it felt like Dallas should have been the team to win this series, a veteran, past their prime Dallas squad made a surprise march to the NBA Finals to take on the Heatles.  Perhaps the single most covered sports team of all time, The Miami Heat, had rode “The Announcement” into the national villain that sports wanted.  Sporting the Big 3 of Lebron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh, the Heat were enormous favorites to win the series, but Dallas was getting comfortable in this underdog role. 

The game mostly stayed close throughout, with Dirk Nowitzki and Mario Chalmers trading three point shots in the final minute of the game to leave a tie with enough time for one last possession for The Mavericks.  Taking the ball in the post, and after a failed attempt to back down for a simple shot, Dirk finally decided to pirouette around the defender and make a difficult game winning layup with his injured left hand to send the Mavericks home with a 2-1 series lead on the way to an eventual championship. 

Stanford Cardinal at Oregon Ducks 11/17/2012

Over the course of the early 2010’s there were few things more reliable than the late season Oregon choke.  By 2012 Oregon had made the USC Trojan dynasty of the 2000’s feel a distant memory, and were the default frontrunner to roar through the PAC 12 every season.  No preseason top 5 was complete without them. 

2012 saw, perhaps the best team the Ducks had fielded yet, bring the nation’s top ranked team deep into November on a seemingly unstoppable pace to another crack at the school’s first national championship.  After some memorable meetings in recent seasons, the Cardinal no longer had NFL star Andrew Luck under center, instead bringing Kevin Hogan to Eugene for a matchup that felt destined to result in Stanford just not being able to keep up with the high-flying Ducks offense.

But in football, not only does chaos sometimes strike, but even in the modern age, sometimes muscle still wins. 

The Cardinal defense did a lot of bending but no breaking, holding the Ducks to 14 points.  Trailing by a touchdown in the fourth quarter, them academic boys took a national spotlight and gave us an education, teaching the viewing audience that, yes, a shoulder down in the endzone is as good as a foot.  Future NFL stud tight end, Zach Ertz, hauled in a ten yard TD catch by landing solely on aforementioned right shoulder and rolling out of bounds immediately, and to the shock of most, tying the game at 14 in the process. 

In overtime, Stanford did what had become the recipe all game.  They played conservative offense, took the opportunity they had, kicking a short field goal, and then waited for the inevitable Oregon special teams choke.  Upset complete, Oregon again had a top five finish, and a long offseason of what ifs.

And as it did at the beginning of the decade, at the end of the decade “O” still stands for national championships. 

2017 Eastern Conference Finals – Game 7: Ottawa Senators at Pittsburgh Penguins

I was still quite early into my hockey fanhood while watching this game, and to be honest, I watched it begrudgingly.  The salt was still in my wounds from the season before, watching Pittsburgh knock off my beloved Sharks for the Stanley Cup, and their victory in this series seemed inevitable. 

But through two periods of the game, it became apparent there would be no cakewalk to the finals for Pittsburgh.  Ottawa hit harder and defended the goal better than Pittsburgh, and while their offense struggled to keep up, their defense did an adequate job of knocking the Penguins down to their level. 

Twice Pittsburgh scored and twice Ottawa evened things up within a few minutes.  There was no obvious tip to which team was actually better.  The teams headed to overtime and twenty minutes later, they took another break, still stuck in a 2-2 tie.  After a grueling 85 minutes of hockey, Chris Kunitz made suddenly less than inevitable history, sending the Penguins to the finals, and on their way to the sports first repeat in twenty years. 

Michigan Wolverines at Ohio State Buckeyes 11/26/2016

After a depressing 15 year stretch of near irrelevance in this supposedly heated rivalry, "The Game" finally appeared to be back on this day.   Ohio State had made beating Michigan a formality, over the past 15 years, they had lost more games to Purdue than to Michigan.  The Wolverines had churned through a few different coaches seeking a return to glory, but nothing seemed to land, until Jim Harbaugh showed up.  In Harbaughs second season, the Wolverines had gone from seeking a return to glory to seemingly destined for glory.  This game was a de facto playoff game, with the teams entering the game ranked #3 and #2 respectfully. 

Any preconceptions about Ohio State turning this into just another Michigan game provided to be misguided as the Wolverines were ready to withstand every punch the Buckeyes threw for four quarters, and like so many games on this list, four quarters provided unequal to the task of deciding a better team.

In overtime, Michigan scored first, and settled for a field goal to carry a three point lead to defense.  No Wolverine fan could have felt comfortable with that being enough, but it nearly was.  The Buckeyes failed to pick up a first down after their first three plays, and field goal attempt and second overtime seemed certain.  But Urban Meyer likes to roll some dice.  On 4th and 1, they decided not to settle for 3, and try for a first down, and a J.T. Barrett scramble rewarded the risk….. depending on whose side your on.  In what was one of the most up and down two seconds of game time I’ve ever experienced as a fan, the play changed quickly.  What appeared to be a wide open lane and obvious big gain, saw a linebacker flash amazing closing speed and tackle Barrett what then appeared to be obviously short of the line to gain.  On replay, the official determined a first down for Ohio State would be awarded, and honestly, I still couldn’t say if that’s the right call.  It was sooooooo close and die hards of either programs fan base would be justified in saying the call should have gone their way. 

That fourth down effort turned out to be the last drop of gas in the Wolverine tank, as on the next play, Curtis Samuel found a large hole, and ran unchallenged 15 yards to the endzone and Michigan had another painful bus ride home to Ann Arbor.

2018 Divisional Round Playoffs: New Orleans Saints at Minnesota Vikings

Another game that for me is just as memorable for the interactions of the people around me as it was for the game itself.  I was visiting my younger brother in Boise, a diehard Packers fans, and his roommate and good friend of mine as well, a diehard Vikings fan.  As you can imagine, they had polarizing cheering interests. 

My friend, the Vikings fan, and also a fellow Boise State University attendee, has pains attached to kicking failures that I don’t think I could survive as a fan.  Jeremy, if you’re reading this, you’re a stronger fan than I am.  The Boise State kicking game leaves deep scars on it’s own, layering Vikings fandom upon it is a cut too far. 

So come the thirty second drill at the end of the game, with the Saints up by one, Jeremy was already cursing and bemoaning the forthcoming wide right or left that seemed fated to chill his bones for yet another offseason.  Could there be some new variety?  A blocked field goal perhaps?  As the Vikings approached midfield, he seemed to actually be getting less happy, preferring to never get in position for the kick might be more palatable this year than living through any miss to end the season.

That made the Minneapolis Miracle all the more fun to watch.  The swing of emotions that was the Keenum to Diggs completion, in obvious field goal range was immediately met with screams of “GET OUT OF BOUNDS” from next to me on the couch.  Suddenly, instantly, as hope was teased, Jeremy returned to the masochistic roots that run from the feet of all Minnesota Vikings fans.  He may have feared the missed field goal but he craved it all the same. 

As Marcus Williams decided to take the worst possible angle for making the tackle on Diggs, he decided to ignore the advise that Jeremy had provided and instead took advantage of the clear green grass in front of him.  Darting towards the endzone for a game winning touchdown with zeros on the clock.  Jeremy screamed with joy, not even because they won, but because the kicker wouldn’t need to take the field at all. 

After watching the game, and seeing the Nick Foles led Eagles defeat the Falcons in the later game, I asked Jeremy if he was happy about the Eagles win, as the Vikings would now have to go on the road for the NFC Championship Game.  Jeremy beamed with confidence as he said “I don’t care where we play, I’m already thinking about the Super Bowl.  I’m not scared of Nick Foles.”  After a three hour break, the masochist was back. 

Clemson Tigers at Notre Dame Fighting Irish 11/07/2020

The closest a big game came to feeling like a big game in 2020 was this bad boy.  It’ll be the only time the year is represented here.  The game was two months ago, you don’t need a recap.  Key points are this: Clemson starting QB Trevor Lawrence missed the game with COVID, and the Irish faithful all felt so bad that he couldn’t play, they all decided to get COVID after the game too.

Thursday, January 14, 2021

Honorable Mentions - Category Two: They Can’t All Just Be Alabama Games

 Honorable Mentions - Category Two: They Can’t All Just Be Alabama Games

As a college football fanatic, I’ve found that the undeniable watchability of Alabama Crimson Tide football games, at least once a year becomes a memory making event.  There is no escaping the force that this team was through this sport for the entirety of the decade, and when they lost, almost every single time, your nails were bit and your sweat was thick.  Once or twice a year, their wins are the same.  I made the New England Patriots hate-watch exclusion for Alabama as well, but my passion for college football has caused me to be less devoted to it.  That said, I had to just winnow the top ten down to two games, here are other worthy contenders.

LSU Tigers at Alabama Crimson Tide 11/05/2011

In the early days of the burgeoning spread offenses and Chip Kelly pace of play systems, there remained one conference that still held tight to three yards and a cloud of dust, defense first mentality was the SEC, and specifically these two juggernauts.  Until Texas A&M joined the conference in 2012 and forced the spread into the conference, these two put on what may be the last college football game in history that was must see, without a single touchdown scored.  After scraping and fighting for every yard for four quarters, a 6-6 deadlock saw the Tigers pull an eventually worthless win out of the hearts of the Bryant-Denny faithful.  Memorable, yes.  Fantastic play by both sides, yes.  But when the BCS made a rematch for the National Championship Game a month later, it proved to ultimately be meaningless, which doesn’t help the ranking much.

Texas A&M Aggies at Alabama Crimson Tide 11/10/2012

The defending national champions rolled into the month of November undefeated  The newcomer Aggies, who were competing in their first season in the SEC, were showing sparks of competiveness with Freshmen star Johnny Manziel.  No one expected the Aggies, who over the past few years consistently had shown no ability to finish a game in the BIG 12, to have a defense that could hold up against the Tide.  Stunned silence was echoing throughout Bryant-Denny, when some Manziel magic in the first quarter opened up a 20-0 Aggie lead.  The next three quarters showing a furious Alabama comeback, culminating with a goal line interception to hold a narrow lead 29-23 lead late in the fourth quarter.  The Aggies took over at their own one, and three plays later, they lined up to punt the ball away, hoping the defense could hold out for the final minute.  An Alabama gunner jumped offsides before the snap, and two knees later, the perfect season was over, and the exciting freshman had turned into a sensation. 

2012 SEC Championship Game: Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Georgia Bulldogs

Less than a month after the A&M classic, a showdown with Georgia gave the Tide the chance to find fortune at the goal line.  Going into this game, I was expecting to have to shut it off at halftime and never anticipated a nail biter.  The teams never took a big lead from each other, and as the clock wound towards zero, the Bulldogs were marching to the endzone.  With nine seconds remaining, Georgia was at the Alabama eight yard line.  Third year starter Aaron Murray threw for the end zone, but the ball was tipped and caught by the unintended receiver Chris Conley at the five yard line.  He was tackled short of the goal line and the clock expired before another play could be snapped.  The Tide survived en route to a second straight, and considerably less disputed, national championship. 

2018 National Championship Game: Georgia Bulldogs vs. Alabama Crimson Tide

This was the first time I broke my vow not to hate watch.  I sat out the first half, convinced that it would be the usual Alabama bloodbath, and the usual Georgia choke.  The Bulldogs defense played a lights out first half, and convinced me to turn the game on.  Jalen Hurts had done nothing in the first half to show he could move the ball on the Bulldogs, and that’s not my assessment, it was head coach Nick Saban’s.  In a stunning turn of events, freshman Tua Tagolonghardnama was brought in for replacement duty.  The Tide came back and fought to a deadlock at the end of regulation.  Then in overtime, I got a cold reminder of the full why-you-shouldn’t-hate-watch-Alabama-experience. After a field goal on the Bulldogs first possession, I cursed at the television because I knew the game was over.  On Alabama’s first play, they surrendered a big sack, losing  yards and pushing them back to 2nd and 26.  I remember distinctly getting a an unexpected surge of excitement and saying joyfully.  “They really will have a chance.” On second down, Tua dropped a dime right into the arms of a streaking Devonta Smith for a 41 yard game winner, and once again, Bama got me.

LSU Tigers at Alabama Crimson Tide 11/09/2019

This game I had no choice but to watch.  I was two weeks out from a trip to watch LSU play at Tiger Stadium and knew I could be watching a national champion in person if they pulled this game out.  Almost my entire family crammed into my parents living room (about twenty of us) to watch my brother-in-laws beloved Bayou Bengals try to renew the rivalry.  Usually the Alabama loss comes from a team that is behind most of the game but doesn’t let it get out of hand, who then find a magic drive at the end.  This game flipped the script.  Eventual Heisman winner Joe Burrow took the game over in the first half, and led the Tigers to a 20 point halftime lead.  It turned out to just be enough, as the Crimson Tide threw every haymaker they could summon over the last thirty minutes to claw back into the game.  In the end, they couldn’t get that one stop they needed on defense, and the Tigers escaped with a 46-41 victory. 

Tuesday, January 12, 2021

The Honest-to-God, Actual Top Ten: #5-1

 

5. TCU Horned Frogs at Baylor Bears 10/11/2014


The college football playoff has so far proven to be a bit of a snoozefest in regards to unpredictability.  The introduction of the playoff in 2014 seemed like it would be the catalyst to an exciting college football championship season that would finally allow some little programs to take swings at some titles.  What we have received instead is an annual gathering for three of either Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, and Oklahoma always walking in, with one charity spot to a David like Notre Dame or Georgia, without much doubt about that result entering conference championship weekend. 

What excitement we did get, came in year one in 2014, with the likes of TCU, Baylor, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia Tech all having a legitimate chance at getting in the final weekend of the season.  The largest point of contention among the playoff committee seemed to be what in the world do you do with this game?

TCU entered the game 4-0, having pulled a big upset over Oklahoma the week before and Baylor at 5-0.  Baylor had spent the past two seasons finding a way to be more Oregon than Oregon, testing the limits of the point-a-minute offense method, with the nice little wrinkle of getting to play in the Big 12, where defense is always optional. 

TCU had just implemented the hurry-up offense during this season and were finding they were rather well suited for it, throwing up 82 points on conference foe Texas Tech later in the season when operating at peak impress-the-committee-by-running-up-score efficiency.

Merely 18 months ago, these were two afterthoughts not just nationally, but in their own conference.  Kansas State and the two Oklahoma schools had been firmly established as the conference favorites on an annual basis.  TCU had found a lot of success a few years early in the Mountain West Conference, but were going through the expected growing pains of joining a power conference.  Baylor had spent most of the past forty years residing the space in the conference we now think of as being reserved for Kansas.

So what seemed to be an early battle for conference supremacy was stunning to see on paper.  The game unfolded the way you might expect with the offenses being what they were.  TCU grabbed a 31-27 halftime lead and the pace never slowed down.  The lead stretched further from there, peaking with a 58-37 lead after a interception return by Horned Frog Marcus Mallett (defense?) with 11:58 left to play.  The Baylor offense was potent.  And fast.  But they would need three stops still and time was short.  It turns out, the Bears had a miracle in their pocket.  The Bears needed only seven of those minutes to pull even at 58, with star receiver, and future Cleveland Browns bust, Corey Coleman, hauling in the game-tier with 4:42 still left to play.  The Horned Frogs failed to score on the ensuing possession and Baylor found themselves with enough time left at the end to not just scramble for a tie, but to win the game outright with a field goal as time expired to send a stunned TCU home to ask what if for the rest of their lives. 

Entering the final weekend of the season, TCU had recovered, won the rest of their games and improved to number three in the playoff committee rankings, Baylor held the tiebreaker for conference champions, but had lost to a much lesser opponent in West Virginia since.  The Horned Frogs seemed likely to be the first sign of the playoff making things fun again in the championship chase….. until they didn’t. 

TCU finished that final weekend off by beating Iowa State 55-3, then being dropped to number six in the polls anyways, to let (who else) Ohio State into the playoff.  The game ultimately ended up merely meaning who got to claim first team out and who got to claim second out, as Baylor jumped them in the polls to #5.  The Horned Frogs would spend their bowl season making the Ole Miss Rebels look like a bad Sun Belt team.  Seven years later, and I’m still convinced TCU was the best team in the country that year, but 12 bad minutes will always leave an uncertainty. 

2017 College Football Playoff National Championship Game: Clemson Tigers vs. Alabama Crimson Tide

More story time from my parents living room.  The date was January 9th, 2017. On that night, I was supposed to go to my church community group.  A few minutes before I was planning to head over, I got the text that we had cancelled for the night.  I threw my phone on the ground and cursed in anger.  Community group was my ticket out of this game, without which, I knew I couldn’t make myself not watch (I’ve really matured, as I write this, I have no idea what the score of the Alabama/Ohio State “National Championship Game” is, or even if it’s over). 

I hate Alabama.  I hate their stupid logoless, numbers only helmets, I hate their toothless fans, I hate their elephant mascot that exists solely because they have a freaking logoless helmet and something has to be the mascot, I hate the staleness they bring to college football, I hate their garbage quarterback who I have nicknamed “stumpy” because he throws a football like there is a fingerless club at the end of his arm but manages to win anyways because his amazing receivers are always open and his pass protection is flawless and he can run through anyone because he’s a better rusher than passer, I hate their garbage “Rammer-Jammer” chant that starts in the late third quarter because no one ever taught them that simply memorizing words that rhyme and have no poetic meaning and regurgitating them in order isn’t a real thing that college educated people should do, I hate S-E-C chants, I hate that even if they don’t play in their own conference championship game they still get to play in the national championship game, I hate Crimson, I hate incest, and I hate mother-bleeping Nick Saban.  They win, they always win.  These two teams played for the title last year, and I really do mean, essentially the exact same teams, and Alabama won then.  You know what Nick Saban never does, and I mean ever, has a worse game plan the second time he plays a team than the first.

So I sit down as my mom goes full mom mode, knowing full well I have an unreasonable level of investment in college football, and immediately gets to work trying to convince me that Clemson can win.  My mom, who should be convincing me that I should just not watch the game, who doesn’t know Nick Saban or Deshaun Watson’s names, tries to convince me that Clemson will win.  And if I’m being honest, that isn’t super encouraging.  It probably makes me angrier.  So what do I do?

I watch the game, of course. 

For three quarters, I’m right.  Alabama isn’t dominant but they’re better, the way they are always better.  Spoiler alert, the next time you watch an Alabama game, they’re better.  Sometimes they don’t play better, and that is your only hope.   And as the Tigers stay within scratching distance, the fourth quarter still opens with stumpy holding a double digit lead. 

And with two minutes to go, stumpy holds a three point lead.  The Tigers have the ball, and start to drive down the field, and I’m still furious.  My mom, who has managed to tolerate me for four quarters now, is still sitting on the couch playing Candy Crush while occasionally looking up and telling me to have a little faith.

As Clemson crosses midfield, I curse again (a practice I don’t use often).  Why are they giving me hope?  I’m not writing that now, I say that out loud when it happened.  I refuse to budge.  40 yards to paydirt is too much grace for the Tide to allow, I’m legitimately fuming that they’ve dragged me along this deep into the game.  They get into field goal range with thirty or so seconds to go and I’m seething.  Field goal range with time to spare, this is where they get greedy.  They’ll go for the end zone and Tidey McTiderson will snatch a pick to seal the game.  Watson will play Russell Wilson ball and get sacked to knock them out of range.  

I hate the Tigers now.  I’m maybe angrier with them than I am with the Tide. 

Why.

Are.

You.

Doing.

This

To.

Me?

With 4 seconds to go they are now at the 1 yard line with a dead clock.  I’m dying.  This will be the hardest loss Alabama has handed me yet.  4 seconds.  Just long enough to believe you can get a play off but not long enough that if a single thing goes wrong, you can still get the field goal team on the field.  They’ll try for the win and loss the opportunity for the tie.  A quick slant throw is the only play I will accept.  I just know they’ll throw that goal line corner fade I hate so much.  God help Dabo Swiney if they throw the corner fade.  I will fly to Death Valley and cut his throat in front of his family if they throw that corner fade.

With one second on the clock the ball is thrown to Hunter Renfrow.  RENFROW???? HIM????

If you don’t know college football well, let me explain this to you.  Alabama doesn’t recruit human beings to play in their front seven.  They recruit freight haulers, refrigerators, and marble slats that have been grafted with human organs.  A true crime against humanity that they get away with year after year. 

Hunter Renfrow can fit in an Alabama defensive lineman’s bicep.  Hunter Renfrow is a single player, that exists on every elite college football team, they all keep a Hunter Renfrow as a joke to remind the other team that they don’t even need to put a real athlete on the field at every position to beat them.  He is the after dinner snack that the Donner’s wash a real meal down with.  Hunter Renfrow is a can of Campbell’s Chicken & Noodle Soup.  Hunter Renfrow started as a tumor that was growing inside Christian Wilkins, but they had him removed, and taught him to run wheel routes (The ESPN app has just alerted me that Alabama has won the “national championship game”, fitting).  There is a steakhouse about 20 minutes outside of town that has a famous combo for the extra hungry, you can get a 20 ouch sirloin with a 12 ounce New York Strip on the side.  Hunter Renfrow is that 12 ounce New York Strip.  Hunter Renfrow exists because a player placed their pads on him after practice thinking he was the rack that they just set them on when they’re done with them, and he just never took the pads off.  Hunter Renfrow is the dry bones that Ezekiel watched muscles regrow onto in the Bible.  Hunter Renfow is the bird that Randy Johnson killed throwing a fastball.  Hunter Renfrow is just honest Pinnochio. 

All jokes aside, this is Hunter Renfrow.

You could legitimately fit two of him into an Alabama lineman and have a few pounds to spare.  I know he looks like a high school freshman, but the “man” is a college senior.  I could beat up Hunter Renfrow.  Hunter Renfow is a statistical anomaly that somehow keeps ending up on football fields.  And Hunter Renfrow, with one second left on the clock......

CATCHES THE GAME WINNING TOUCHDOWN FOR CLEMSON!

I wait for a second to celebrate.  You see, I still don’t believe it.  I watched Ohio State/Miami in 2003, I’m waiting for the bogus flag to fly onto the field.  Surely the play is being called back for excessive branching of the family tree or something. 

But no. Hunter Renfrow, a hand puppet with skin, has actually caught the game winner for the National Championship game.   You can look it up, it happened in the real world, not just in my head. 

I leap off the couch and celebrate with my dad, my mom turns from her (let’s say it’s a book now, not a phone. It’s my blog and I’ll revisionist history this if I want) book with a big smile on her face and says, and this part I remember distinctly “next time maybe you’ll remember to trust your momma.” 

I don’t even like Clemson.

And for the record, the next time was the Alabama/Georgia 2018 national championship game we already discussed.  Next time, I’ll still trust Bama.

3. Super Bowl XLIX: New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks

This game was the coup de grace on what I would have to label the most razor-thin margin of difference across playoff teams that I can ever remember. 

The entirety of the NFC playoff race seemed to be decided by a questionable call by a referee or coach, or the smallest mistake by a player, and here, it all culminated with an NFC team making that final mistake in the march to being infamously remembered. 

It started in the opening round, where a very questionable no call ended up costing the Detroit Lions their game against the Dallas Cowboys.  The Cowboys then moved onto Green Bay, where another questionable call of an incomplete pass to receiver Dez Bryant was crucial in helping Green Bay win the game and advance to face these Seahawks.  That game, as already discussed in the preamble to the decades top ten, was essentially handed away by a mishandled onside kick by the Packers.

And then we get to this game. 

Seattle was looking to become the decades first dynasty in American professional sports.  A chance to win back to back Super Bowls, coming off an absolute beatdown of the high flying Denver Broncos the year before, the other half of the litmus test was on the table.  In other words, the Patriots are the boss level at the end of the video game.  Peyton Manning seems awfully tough to grapple, and when you beat a team he leads, you feel like you’ve hit the ultimate accomplishment.  Then, you realize the boss is still left.  Tom Brady doesn’t come alone to the fight, he brings the GOAT in tow with head coach Bill Belichik, and oh yeah, there’s always a top ten defense there too.

To this point, the rivalry between Manning and Brady was already legendary, but in my mind, mislabeled.  You see, to me the great rivalry was Manning vs. The Patriots.  Same thing? Not quite.

Manning’s career had long been defined by mostly what-ifs.  Many of those what-ifs come in the form of postseason losses, frequently to New England.  The Brady/Manning narrative usually hinges on this and Brady is usually undisputedly handed the title of GOAT with the only supporting argument for him being ring count (at least at the time this game was played).  Rings aren’t an individual stat, and when the two went head to head, Brady didn’t usually outshine Manning, rather New England's defense and special teams play would greatly outshine their namesakes on the Indianapolis roster.

To me there was no debate, Brady had won more, a lot more, but Manning was better.  His throws popped more, his stats were much more impressive, he had endured a turnstyle of coaches and coordinators through his career (unlike Brady), and he had really been the driving reason for his team’s success his entire career.  The ring count battle overlooks things like the fact that Brady didn’t even start half of the season they won their first Super Bowl and that New England mostly asked him to be a game manager for the first six seasons of his career.  In the ten seasons since that mindset changed, the Patriots had always been a tough out, but they hadn’t actually won anything, and Brady seemed to have a penchant for letting Peyton’s lil’ bro Eli get his when it mattered most.

But this game was the first time that I had to start considering Brady among the greats on his own merit. He was masterful.  The Seahawks weren’t simply the defending champs, they were the defending champs based on a suffocating defense that left most opponents longingly watching the game clock to see when they get to finally go home and get out of the rain.  When the Seahawks went up ten with just under 5 minutes to play in the fourth, I wrote the game off.  It was over, the crowd amassed at my brothers house to watch the game could turn our attention to the commercials and not worry about the game results.

Then Brady went to work.  Erasing the lead and taking it for himself just outside of the games two minute warning.  What ensued is the most chaotic two minutes of sports I can recall.  The Seahawks started their drive slowly but steadily and worked down the field.  The pace didn’t seem urgent enough and it felt they had to make some changes.  Wilson fluttered the ball downfield into a sea of bodies, and in one of the most unbelievable catches I’ve ever seen, Jermaine Kearse ends up with the catch while laying flat on his back in the field.  All of sudden, the clock was Seattle’s friend.  On the next play, Seattle legend and cultural icon, Marshawn Lynch, rushed the ball and pushed it ten yards upfield to the 1 yard line.  There was still plenty of time on the clock and Seattle trailed by four.  With the ultimate bruiser backfield weapon in the game today, and maybe of all time in Lynch, it was a certainty that Seattle would score.  The game now would turn to “should we try to bleed the clock out first?”

And then, in a postseason littered with all those strings of what-ifs together, the Seahawks told the Packers, Cowboys, Lions, and referees to hold their beer.  With Lynch in the backfield, from the one yard line, the Seahawks call an inside slant throw.  This is, without question, the most ostracized play call in football history.  The inside slant at the one isn’t merely a bad play call in this situation, but in all situations.  It is the most jumbled part of the field and with no extended field to protect, all the linebackers and safeties are up.  It’s the hardest place to throw a football in any game scenario.  What happened was stunning, not because of the result, but because of the attempt. 

Previous unknown, Patriots corner Malcolm Butler, intercepts the ball in the end zone, but momentum carries him out of it.  The Patriots will take over the ball inside their own one.  The room goes quiet, the Seahawks sideline becomes a meme farm, and the tears in the city of Seattle are suddenly falling more than the rain.

The Seahawks had one last chance though.  Taking absolutely zero chances on a catastrophic offensive play, the Patriots line up in the victory formation.  With about ten second left, they are going to take an intentional safety, kick off the ball, and believe their defense can hold out that two point lead for the remaining seconds.

The Seahawks jump offsides and instead bring the ball out to the six.  But wait there’s more.  Infuriated by the game results, tempers flare on the Seattle defense.  Shoves ensure, unnecessary roughness flags fly, and in the end, the Patriots kneel out the clock just shy of midfield to bring Tom home his fourth Lombardi, and in my opinion, the first he can claim as hard earned by him. The debate for the GOAT started here.

2. Alabama Crimson Tide at Auburn Tigers 11/30/2013

The story of this game cannot be properly told without the story of the season. 

The Auburn Tigers entered the season with roughly a snowballs chance in hell as their championship odds at most Las Vegas sportsbooks.  The Tiger program had spent the past two seasons bottoming out under recently fired head coach Gene Chizik. The Tigers had actually managed to win the national championship just two seasons before he was fired, with the Cam Newton led team in 2010.  I still remember Cam as having the best season in college football history that year.  Statistically speaking, that’s not even close to true.  His numbers from that season have been topped several times in the past decade, even within that same conference, but because he took his team to the top as national champions with a team that wasn’t really very good.  Sure, he should have been ineligible to play that season, but he did play, and he was incredible. 

Normally national champions are teams that cakewalk through a schedule, they might be tested a handful of times, but most weeks the starters sit the fourth quarter out.  There was little of that to be found on the schedule, with a dog fight to the end being the norm on the Plains.  Without Cam, this team probably goes 4-8, the defense wasn’t even bowl game worthy.

So two years without Cam, and Chizik manages to prove that narrative right, going 3-9 in 2012, culminating in a 50-0 shutout loss to these same Alabama Crimson Tide.  One year later, the Tide walk into Jordan-Hare in a winner take all game.  The Tigers, after losing once early, have ripped off a 10-1 record.  New head coach Gus Malzahn had implemented a read option heavy offense with a tempo often reserved for other conferences, and it worked majestically. 

Alabama walked in 11-0, Auburn walked in 10-1.  The winner would take the SEC West and take on 11-1 Missouri in the conference championship game.  Essentially it was a two week, winner goes to the national championship game gauntlet.  The 3-9 Tigers of a year ago were a distant memory.  They were underdogs in this game, but small ones. 

Alabama controlled the first half, they weren’t new to this type of atmosphere and it showed.  A 21-7 lead before halftime felt formidable, but not insurmountable.  In the second half, Malzahn got the offense cooking.  Nick Marshall eliminated some of the sloppy play from the first half and evened the game at 21 early in the third.  After Alabama answered, Marshall made one of the most beautiful run fakes I’ve ever seen, before flicking the ball upfield to Sammy Coates for the tying score with 32 seconds to go. 

Alabama got the ball back with very little time to work with, seemingly just one second less than they needed.  T.J Yeldon scrambled upfield and out of bounds just inside of feasible field goal range as the clock hit zero, on to overtime we went.

Until we didn’t.

The referees took another look and determined that he stepped out before the clock hit zero, and the Tide would get to run another play. 

The Tide at this point had vastly outplayed the Tigers between the twenties, but had sputtered in the red zone all game long.  Cade Foster had gone 0-3 on field goal attempts in the game, and with one second left, Saban decided to quit on him.  He opted instead to walk alternate kicker, Adam Griffith, onto the field to attempt a 57 yard game winner.  That field goal attempt would win the game, just not for Alabama.

The kick sailed just short and was caught and fielded at the very back of the endzone by Chris Davis.  Davis picked up a few good blocks along the way and 109 yards later, trotted into the end zone for the most memorable ending of my lifetime.  The Auburn faithful immediately stormed the field, my phone blew up, and I lept off the couch running literal laps around my house screaming “TIDE LOSE, TIDE LOSE, TIDE LOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!”

Waiting excitedly for my now ex-wife to join the celebration (she had a small interest in college football, but it didn’t match mine, and she had long since retired to the bedroom) and wondering how I had not caught her attention with all the hubbabaloo, I entered the bedroom to elicit a response.  She was laying on the bed with headphones in.  She turned to see me standing next to the bed, panting, and catching my breathe from the aforementioned laps around the house.  I was greeted with a removal of the headphones and a somewhat annoyed question of “what’s going on with you?”

1.       2019 NHL Playoffs, First Round – Game 7: Las Vegas Golden Knights at San Jose Sharks

We’ve introduced you to this series already back at number ten.  In that game recap, I talked to you about the backstory of Martin Jones' goaltending woes, and how they had made the game result so unbelievable.  What we haven’t discussed yet is everything else about what made this series so special.

Meet the San Jose Sharks. A 1991 NHL expansion team, from back in the olden days, when expansion was hard.  If you have tracked an expansion team, besides the other side of this same series, you know the hell that is entering the league as a new franchise, not just in this sport but in all of them.  The Sharks took about five years to figure it out, then got to work building what became one of the most consistent winners in the league.  Entering the 2018-2019 season, the Sharks had made the playoffs in 13 of the past 14 seasons.  They had a formula, and it worked.  Well, to be more fair, it worked until the playoffs started. 

The Sharks had become perhaps the league’s most consistent choker over that same stretch.  For Sharks fans, that 14 year stretch may have been easier to swallow if they had just kept losing.  It included a President’s Trophy award (given to the team that finishes the regular season with the most points) season, where the Sharks were sent home in the second round of the playoffs, and in a separate season, blowing a 3-0 series lead to their hated archrival Los Angeles Kings.  They did a lot of winning that never really brought home the joys of winning. 

Three seasons earlier, coming off the lone season during that stretch where the playoffs eluded them, the Sharks finally found a formula for postseason success, and made it to the NHL finals for the first time.  They failed to win the Cup, dropping the series in six games, but at least the jinx had appeared to be broken. 

Enter the 2017-2018 season.  The Golden Knights had entered the league as the first expansion team in over a decade, and they were entering alone.  Vegas had been gift-wrapped the most favorable expansion rules I think anyone has ever been given in American professional sports.  In their first season, they managed to win the President’s Trophy themselves, knock the Sharks out of the playoffs, and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.  They didn’t win, but in one season, the division rival Knights had managed as many finals appearances as the Sharks, and as many President's Trophies to boot.  That didn’t sit well with most NHL fans, but to Sharks fans especially. 

Entering the 2018-19 season, the Sharks had aggressively gone all in on winning the cup.  The team’s core was now solidly over thirty years old collectively, and the clock was ticking for their championship window.  In the preseason, general manager Doug Wilson had reeled in the prized trade the whole league was chasing after, Norris trophy winner Erik Karlsson.  He had paid a hefty price for him as well.  After the season ended, they had a free agent group that included Karlsson, team captain Joe Pavelski, and the most popular player in team history, Joe Thornton.  Resigning them, along with the other free agents wouldn’t be possible.  The time to win was now, there wasn’t going to be an option for later.

All those hopes and expectations for San Jose had seemed to hit a wall late in the season, with the Sharks dropping 9 of their final 11 regular season games, they had barely held onto the second seed in the division, which amounted to home ice advantage in this game seven tilt.  A key missing component in that ugly streak, the absence of the aforementioned Karlsson, who was now back on the ice. 

For two periods, the teams played hockey like exactly the teams they were, desperate, hungry, and talented title contenders, with hatred for the other team.  Both teams were playing excellent and to their skill level, but unfortunately for the Sharks, that meant that the netminding advantage was sharp in Vegas’ favor.  After two periods, the Sharks were outplaying the Knights on the ice, but were losing on the scoreboard 2-0.  Knights goalie Marc-Andre Fleury was putting on a vintage performance and was stopping everything.  If Martin Jones had been in the Knights net, the Sharks would have 5 on the board, but they had Fleury and were pitching a shutout instead. 

At just under four minutes into the third period, Max Pacioretty added a third Golden Knights goal, and the writing was on the wall in San Jose.  The Karlsson trade and the clawing back from a 1-3 series deficit had been for naught.  Fleury was in the zone and three goals in 16 minutes felt impossible. 

With just under eleven minutes to play in the game though, it went from bad on the scoreboard to painful for the heart.  Following a face off in the Vegas zone, Cody Eakin lifted his stick up high, and jacked Sharks captain Joe Pavelski right under the jaw with his stick.  Pavelski stumbled backwards, and another Knights player drove him into the ice head first.  Play quickly stopped as a near motionless Pavelski wiggled slightly in pain while blood poured from his head onto the ice. 

At that moment, I was despondent.  The Knights hadn’t just ended my season, they had killed my captain.  Exaggerated? Sure.  He wasn’t going to die.  But he was certainly not reentering the game, and the expectations were well known among Sharks fans that the Sharks wouldn’t be able to resign him after the season.   The series, season, and team membership of Pavelski were going to end with him being slowed walked down the tunnel with blood gushing out of his head. 

That hit hurt Pavelski, but it would end up hurting Vegas more.  The referees saw fit to award a major penalty to Eakin for the hit.  For those not in the know, a major penalty is five minutes in the box and he doesn’t get to reenter the game if the Sharks score.  They will have a 5 on 4 advantage for the full five minute period. 

And they get to work using that advantage.  It takes about ten seconds for Logan Couture to knock in the first Sharks goal of the game.  The SAP Center explodes, releasing the tension and angst of both the game and the injury they had just watched.  Couture doesn’t waste a second celebrating, he holds up a single finger and says “that’s one” to communicate to his team they are still two away from a real celebration.  Four and a half minutes left on the penalty.

49 seconds later, and Tomas Hertl deflects a shot past Fleury and it is now cut to 3-2 Vegas.  Things slow down a bit more from there, the Knights lock down their defense just enough for Fleury to return to form.  A mismanaged pass ends up with a 2 on 1 advantage for the Knights and it appears the work to come back was for nothing, then Martin Jones makes his best save of the game, knocking the shot aside. 

The Sharks push the advantage back up the ice, and with roughly 90 seconds left on the power play, Couture knocks his second goal in to even the game.  The stadium, and I, both erupt like they just won the Cup.  Couture puts his hands up to the sky and motions his fingers back down towards himself as if to say “now I will allow the celebration” it’s a brand new game, and the Sharks just need to win the next six minutes. 

Thirty seconds later, the celebration kicks up another notch, as the Sharks take a 4-3 lead off a Kevin Labanc goal, still with enough time on the clock to add an insurance goal.  The broadcaster for the Sharks exclaims, in his best attempt to be neutral and professional  “I HAVE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE THIS IN MY ENTIRE LIFE!”

The insurance goal never came though, and with ninety seconds to go, the Knights come out on fire.  They pull the goalie, bring in the sixth attacker and make a mad rush at the net.  The Sharks never get an opportunity at the empty-netter as the Vegas attack is air tight.  Jones makes a few great saves before Jonathan Marchessault sneaks in a game tying goal with 47 seconds remaining.  Off to overtime we go.

And in overtime, the game shifts back to game 6 in spirit.  The goalies take over.  Both teams are getting outstanding looks, and Jones and Fleury are both batting them aside almost disdainfully.  As we go under the two minutes mark, a second overtime seems certain, until with a great takeaway, Erik Karlsson, yep that guy they went all in for, sends an outlet pass up that few defensemen could ever make.  He hits Barclay Goodrow in stride, who has a one on one look at Fleury, and manages to push the puck about one inch past his skate for a game winner.  

The Sharks celebrate on the ice, the arena becomes a madhouse, and Fleury slumps in agony in defeat.  He gave all he had and if it wasn’t for a cheap shot, it would have been enough.  The Sharks found a way to generate several more injuries through that postseason, and while advancing to the Western Conference Championship, never got a serious look at the Cup they were chasing.  The all-in push fell short, but the captain got a few more moments, and this one felt good enough to make for a happy offseason anyways.

 

So that’s the full list.  Half the fun in lists is fighting and nitpicking about them.  If you have disagreements on them, sound off in the comments.  Here’s to hoping for another great decade of sports (once, you know, they feel like real sports again).

The Honest-to-God, Actual Top Ten - #10-5

 The Honest-to-God, Actual Top Ten

10. 2019 Divisional Playoffs - Game 6: San Jose Sharks at Vegas Golden Knights

Game seven gets all the love for an all-time moment in this series, but game 6 lurks in the shadows as another classic.  The thing that will always make this game stand out is that everything played exactly the opposite of what you would expect. 

The Sharks had perhaps the best team in the NHL that year, if not for one glaring flaw, a league worst save rate behind struggling netminder Martin Jones.  With merely an average goaltender, the Sharks probably cruise to the top seed in the Pacific this season but instead they’re in a slugfest with a Golden Knights team that is the defending Western Conference champions, and after digging a 3-1 hole in the series, the Sharks are in a must win on the road.  

The recipe for success is, of course, a team record 58 save performance from one, Martin Jones. 

For three plus periods, the Knights can’t seem to get anything past Jones, who had essentially gone out of his way to let Vegas have at least one gimme in the first period of every game of the series, and had been pulled twice in the first four games. 

As the game moved to a second overtime in a 1-1 tie, it was obvious that the Sharks were being outplayed.  You get 58 saves for a reason, namely, the other team gets 58 shots off.  The Knights were controlling the puck with ease and the game seemed to live in the San Jose defensive zone.  

With 12 minutes to play in the second overtime period, and the Sharks struggling to get a single shot off, the game seemed a foregone conclusion to end when Barclay Goodrow was sent to the penalty box on a really bad slashing call.  Despite all the fight, and Jones saving every good play he had in him all season for this single game, it seemed certain that the Sharks were going to be heading into the offseason during that unwarranted power play. 

Instead :31 seconds later, after a Marc-Eduard Vlasic takeaway, Tomas Hertl slapped a shorthanded goal with two Knights right on him from the blue line for the game winner.  In this game, everything that shouldn’t have happened aligned for the Sharks to push to a seventh game.  More on that game seven later……

9. 2015 NCAA Men’s Championship Tournament – Round 1: Baylor Bears vs. Georgia State Panthers

Ah, March Madness, it’s hard to imagine a list without it.  The only event in sports where the national audience’s interest is usually captured more by the first round of the championship playoff than it is by the final.  The madness name is well earned, as seemingly every year, a completely unexpected underdog knocks off a goliath of the sport.  This decade had bigger moments, a 16 seed toppling a 1 for the first time, Duke and Missouri losing to 15 seeds in the same day, but for end to end entertainment, nothing can top this one. 

The Baylor Bears weren’t the most beloved three seed you’ve ever met by any means.  Entering the tournament with a 24-10 record, they weren’t favorites of many bracketeers, but they were still a legitimate 3 seed, playing in a ridiculously deep conference all year, the ten losses were hardly a sign of weakness.  The Panthers entered at 25-9, a game better, but in a significantly worse conference, and with some sluggish performances in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament, they weren’t garnering much attention for upset picks. 

Panthers head coach Ron Hunter sat on stool on the sideline, coaching his team with a freshly torn ACL, a memento of his team’s conference championship celebration the previous weekend.  The Panthers were up to every bit of the challenge from tip-off, fighting a fairly even first half, and not letting Baylor run away in the second half, until the five minute mark. 

The Bears took over, with a 12-1 run that eventually peaked with a 12 point lead with 2:54 left on the clock.  With just under three minutes left, it appeared Georgia State was out of gas.  Then the Panthers caught fire. 

On defense.

Baylor’s team was done scoring for the day, and Panthers forced a litany of turnovers while piling up a 10-0 run to cut the lead to 2 as the clock neared zero.  The Panthers took possession with time for a single possession, and looked like the moment was too big for them.  The team fumbled the ball upcourt, and with time running out, appeared to have no plan for how to turn the possession into points.  Star guard, R.J. Hunter was trapped with the ball and desperate to save the possession threw the ball to a teammate hanging out at the top of the key.  As soon as he dumped the ball off, Hunter ran directly behind said teammate, and asked for the ball straight back and launched up a prayer.

The prayer was answered.  A 3 point dagger with 2.7 remaining on the clock had given Georgia State the lead.  Looking for his second celebratory injury in as many weeks, Ron Hunter, (R.J.’s father by the way) threw his hands up in celebration and toppled backwards off his stool to the ground where the jubilation continued with his back flat on the floor.  The game was great, the moment was better, and comedic value will never die. 

8. 2017 World Series – Game 5: Los Angeles Dodgers at Houston Astros

This almost got cut, because with hindsight being what it is, the “it just didn’t feel right” category seemed a good place for this to sit as well. 

But in the moment, this game sucked me in, and made me care.  Baseball doesn’t do that often, and when it does, something special is happening. 

Baseball can be a slow game, often the game hinges on which team gets momentum once, unlike this game which turned into a question of who would get it last.  The upstart Astros were playing in their second World Series ever, and seeking their first championship ever.  The Los Angeles Dodgers are one of the names synonymous with baseball.  A long track record of success, but somehow, had not won a championship in thirty seasons.  Just a few years earlier, the Astros were on the 76ers plan, seeking to test the success of bring tanking to baseball, and unlike the 76ers, they saw results.

The offense struck early and never slowed down, with each team putting together three innings of at least three runs.  The Dodgers put together a three run first to seize control, and a three run ninth, to push the game to extra innings.  In a game that started with two all-star pitchers on each mound, we finished 12-12 after nine innings, combining for seven home runs along the way. 

In extra innings, the Astros ended the 5 hour, 17 minute marathon when an Alex Bregman single brought Carlos Correa across the plate for a 13-12 win and a 3-2 series lead.  The Houston faithful screamed in celebration as the city's first professional sports championship in over two decades neared their reach. 

Somewhere in the dugout, an underappreciated trash can longed for its rightful place with the team celebrating at home plate.

7. LSU Tigers at Texas A&M Aggies 11/24/2018

Another Brandel family gathering classic.  Thanksgiving weekend 2018, this game sat quietly in the background of an event in that was in no way centered around sports.  We worked on puzzles, had light conversations, probably played a game of Ticket to Ride, for three quarters, an eye was kept on the game, but attention was far from fixed on it. 

But we didn’t end up needing the first three quarters, because there were still several quarters of football left to play. 

Entering this game, the “rivalry” had started to feel like an afterthought.  Since joining the SEC in 2012, the Aggies and Tigers had remained remarkably close in the SEC West standings in most seasons, yet the Aggies entered the weekend with an 0 for LSU record in the series over the same time frame.  The Aggies had been coached in the previous season by Kevin Sumlin, who brought an air raid offense with him from Houston, and while it worked in spurts, the Tiger trenches had no time for it.  They weren’t just winless in the re-introduction of the series, they had usually failed to even be competitive. 

But these weren’t those Aggies.  First year coach, Jimbo Fisher, a national champion with Florida State, was rebuilding the Aggies into a team more in the normative SEC mold.  Most had been in awe with the quickness at which he had turned the Aggies around in this season, and while they weren’t playing for anything nationally important that day, the Aggies had shown a previously unseen grit that year while pushing to a 7-4 record against one of the toughest schedules I’ve ever seen. 

But still, this was LSU.  The team that outmuscled them soundly every single year. 

Not this day though, A&M walked into the fourth quarter nursing a 7 point lead.  It appeared that at the very least, they were ready to compete with the Tigers.  They proved it through three quarters, and then they proved it for eight more. 

In what turned into an absolute marathon, the longest, and highest scoring game of all time, it can be easy to forget that this game wasn’t a shootout in regulation.  

I started watching with fervor in the fourth quarter when it became apparent there was a real game happening here, my brother in law Bill, a lifelong LSU fan joined me on the couch to soak it in. With seconds on the clock, A&M needed a score to force overtime, and the play in which they got that score was in and of itself, pretty incredible.  On an untimed down, and after a long review, the Aggies were given the game tying score to force a 31-31 tie at the end of regulation. 

As the replay of that score was taking place, my sister told Bill that she needed to run an errand on the way home, and Bill told her to just go run it and come back for him, he wanted to watch overtime.  And when she got back, we had two overtimes left to go still.

To recap the madness that was this game in words is a waste of time, I can’t do it justice.  Go find the highlights, or clear an evening and rewatch the game.  For six overtimes, the teams piled up points in the exact amount their opponent did, and it became apparent that both defense were gassed at the end.  Eventually, after allowing a Tiger touchdown, the Aggie defense managed to break up the 2-point conversion attempt and celebrate a 7 overtime, 72-74 victory with the 12th man. 

The game was so long and wearying on the players, that the NCAA changed the overtime rules in the offseason to ensure that the length would never occur again.  I guess that's the difference between amateurism and professional football.  I finally found it, the rest built into the third overtime……..

6. 2015 AFC Championship Game: New England Patriots at Denver Broncos

Was this the last time ever? 

Entering the game, that appeared to be the question that was surrounding the AFC Championship showdown in Denver in 2016.  Peyton Manning had been having the worst season of his career by a wide margin, getting injured, missing starts, then coming back from that injury only to find that Brock Osweiler (yep, that one) had taken his job.  In the final game of the regular season, Manning had come off the bench, started in the win in the divisional round, and was clearly limping into the game as a shadow of his former self. 

Brady was showing no signs of slowing down.  He hadn’t had his best statistical season but he was in the range of the standard people were used to.  Maybe as much as passing records or Super Bowl rings, the rivalry of these players had defined their careers.  Brady usually coming out on top and usually putting up smaller numbers in the process, the debate often boiled down to which better defines the quarterback: their statistical production or team wins?

The game started completely off script, for this season, and for the history of their matchups.  Denver started off hot, with Manning throwing two perfect touchdown passes to the hidden weapon of the offense, Owen Daniels, for an early 14-6 lead.  The rivalry for years had come down to Peyton chasing.  Brady building an early lead, with a better defense backing him up, and Peyton trying to wield the team back after halftime.

This Denver team wasn’t built like most of those teams Manning played with in Indianapolis.  Two years earlier, the Broncos made the Super Bowl and got boatraced by the Legion of Boom Seahawks.  Denver learned from the experience, they looked at the tape and said “we can make that here.”  In just the nick of time, they proved it, fielding the league’s best defense, and in my opinion, a top three defense of this century.  The lead wasn’t big, but it would be enough. 

The second half was a non-stop tense game of Denver bending, letting New England move the ball, but keeping them out of the end zone.  It was apparent that those two first half tosses to Daniels were about all Manning had in him.  They tacked a few field goals on, but the rest was on the defense.  It was stressful every drive, and it constantly felt like the Patriots would get it done.  In the final minute, with the ability to be patient gone, the Patriots no longer settled for field goals, pushing the fourth downs forward and forcing their way to the end zone with 12 seconds left to play. 

Rob Gronkowski was eating the Broncos alive on the final drive, and scored the touchdown.  Every eye in the building knew exactly where to watch for the drama on the conversion attempt.  A nervous roar built through Sports Authority Field, they couldn’t lose the game on this play, but no one felt good about overtime. 

And as we all expected, the two point play was thrown to Gronk, but the pass was broken up and Denver survived.  In a normal game, there is probably a pass interference call on the play, if it’s a smaller receiver, he probably gets the benefit of the whistle.  As refs do in big moments though, the whistle is swallowed, and they decided the big boys could settle who the better man was.  It was a controversial no call but it was one that the Patriots had accepted, they had been in plenty of those moments on the other side too. A failed onside attempt later, and Manning got one final kneel down to win the last showdown of these icons.

Helping the moment and game plenty for me, especially looking back five years later, is that for the last decade (2000-2010) there was really no dispute on who was the better player: Manning, the guy that almost always lost this matchup, largely due to a defense that inevitably would let the game get out of reach.  In his final, and worst, season it’s like the collective ghosts of defense past told him “we got this one” and let him go out the way he rarely lived in the rivalry: a winner.