Once upon a time, we thought we knew how the Peyton Manning story would end in Indianapolis. After a long and record-breaking run as the Colts iconic quarterback, face of the franchise and civic treasure, Manning would finally leave the game behind, slide into a comfortable and over-celebrated retirement and toss the keys to the next young passer unlucky enough to follow his act in the helmet with the horseshoe on it.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- The recruiting saga for Olney (Md.) Good Counsel wide receiver Stefon Diggs is finally over as he announced his decision on Friday evening in front of media and a raucous crowd at a local pub in College Park on the campus of the University of Maryland.
With the glow (and the now annual blame-game fallout) of the Super Bowl dying down, we turn our attention to the long NFL offseason, which won't end until teams start reporting for training camp in late July. Here are the 10 questions that most intrigue me as the league transitions into player acquisition and draft evaluation mode....
The road map to success in today's NFL starts with the quarterback and revolves around the passing game. Look at the league's top teams -- the Super Bowl champion Giants, runner-up Patriots, regular-season-best Packers, etc. -- most boast top QBs and highly productive pass offenses.
The emerging portrait of 16-year-old Corey Robinson -- athlete, musician, scholar -- combines the light and shadow of two eras. He is a mass of Renaissance brush strokes on a canvas of 21st Century color.
The New York Giants parade through the heart of Manhattan, celebrating a dramatic win in Super Bowl XLVI.
Now that the dust has settled from Signing Day, the winners of the 2012 recruiting cycle have emerged. And the top classes are deeper than just the big names. Here's a look at which teams fared best, on a position-by-position basis, on offense.
INDIANAPOLIS -- The New York Giants just became the first NFC team to earn at least two Super Bowl rings in a five-season span since the Dallas Cowboys held three parades in four years in the first half of the '90s, and they are by no means a team that looks to be nearing the end of their window when it comes to punching in the NFL's heavyweight division.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Call it the Reluctant Touchdown. Ahmad Bradshaw's awkward and unwilling flop into the end zone is part of Super Bowl lore now -- there with Rice-to-Montana, there with David Tyree's helmet catch, there with Lynn Swann's ballet, there with Mike Jones' tackle one yard shy. Those moments defined their times. In many ways, The Reluctant Touchdown defines ours.
Legacy? Sure, we can talk about Tom Brady's legacy. Obviously, when you look at the way Brady carried the Patriots to the Super Bowl and the way he played Sunday, he added quite a bit to his legacy.
Giants fans celebrate the victory over the New England Patriots in the streets of New York City.
INDIANAPOLIS -- It's a pretty select club Eli Manning joined here Sunday night. You could almost call it an "elite'' membership to belong to.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we digest the Giants' impossibly dramatic and gritty 21-17 defeat of the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI Sunday night in Lucas Oil Stadium. As it turns out, it was a rematch, and a redux, indeed...
A ticker tape parade awaits the New York Giants this week when the team returns home as Super Bowl champions after defeating the New England Patriots on a last-minute touchdown.
There is no sweeter scenario for a Super Bowl broadcaster than a game hanging in the balance, and NBC's ratings for the Giants' 21-17 victory over the Patriots on Sunday will almost assuredly top last year's Super Bowl on FOX, which averaged 111 million viewers and became the most-watched television program in U.S. history. But how was the NBC broadcast for viewers? It's time to hand out grades.
Grading out performances from the New York Giants' nailbiting 21-17 win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI:
INDIANAPOLIS -- Eli Manning stirred controversy when he declared himself an elite quarterback at the start of the 2011 season.
Triumphing in a thriller, quarterback Eli Manning led the New York Giants on Sunday to their second Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots in four years.
Let's just come out and say what a lot of people are thinking this Super Bowl weekend: Indianapolis? Really?
Can the emotional stress among viewers of the Super Bowl lead to fatal cardiovascular events? John Lisk reports.
An estimated 111 million U.S. viewers are expected to tune in Sunday for Super Bowl XLVI. It features the scrappy New York Giants against the New England Patriots, who are looking for their fourth NFL title. Kickoff in Indianapolis is 6:30 p.m. ET.
INDIANAPOLIS -- When the Hall of Fame voting is announced each year, there is typically a loud and immediate uproar about the finalists who did not earn a spot in Canton. This year is no exception.
For the past few days, the NFL punditry here has been remarkably divided on predictions for Super Bowl XLVI. For every expert espousing New England Patriots' depth and balance there is another waxing rhapsodic about the New York Giants' "momentum" and "destiny." Las Vegas echoed this ambivalence, as the gambling line continues to shift.
Cris Collinsworth and Phil Simms discuss which players to watch this Sunday at Super Bowl XLVI.
Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow was involved in the big game in Indianapolis, where he helped his team perform another miraculous comeback in the fourth quarter with time running out.
Not in a long time has the pre-Super Bowl chatter been so dominated by one player's body part.
INDIANAPOLIS -- There are at least two questions that come to mind when beholding the out-of-nowhere monster season turned in by salsa-dancing second-year Giants receiver Victor Cruz:
INDIANAPOLIS -- As if the strange coincidence of having the Super Bowl come to Indianapolis just as Peyton Manning's future hangs in the balance and the Colts continue remaking their organization wasn't enough, presumptive No. 1 overall draft pick and potential Manning replacement Andrew Luck arrived here Thursday to add one more layer of intrigue to the mix.
INDIANAPOLIS -- This city's outdone itself. It's been a great game site for the Super Bowl. So much to do downtown, all on foot, and the natives and even the drunks are in great moods. The meteorologists have helped, but there's something to be said for a vibrant downtown hosting everything at a Super Bowl, and holding the Super Bowl in a place where you never have to get in a car.
One of the great myths about the NFL is that the salary cap affords the league much better competitive balance than is possible in the cap-less Major League Baseball. This would not be a good week to be promoting that myth, seeing that the New York Giants and New England Patriots have become what Meryl Streep and George Clooney are to the Oscars. Ho-hum. The Giants and Patriots have filled one-third of the available spots over the past 12 Super Bowls.
Across the country, fans of the New England Patriots are wondering whether Tom Brady will return to top form this Sunday, whether Gronk's ankle will hold up, and whether cornerback Julian Edelman can shut down the Giants' dangerous receivers. But here in Beantown, folks ask still another question: Will the Pats go out and win this one for Myra?
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- It's two days before Signing Day, and Urban Meyer can't stop yawning. Sitting on a couch in his spacious office in the Woody Hayes Center, white workout towel draped over his shoulder, Ohio State's head football coach looks beat from 17 consecutive days of visiting, hosting or calling recruits.
INDIANAPOLIS -- The irony is too rich to miss here this week. The juxtaposition as stark as it could possibly be. Peyton Manning isn't in this Super Bowl, but somehow he still looms over it, with the drama surrounding his future providing a backdrop for a game that's chock full of intriguing storylines.
When kickoff comes to Lucas Oil Stadium this Sunday at 6:30 p.m. Eastern time, Fred Gaudelli and Drew Esocoff will be together as always, sitting 23 inches apart inside an NBC production truck below the stadium. The duo -- Gaudelli is the producer for the Super Bowl and Esocoff will direct the game -- has been focused on Super Bowl XLVI for months.
Rivals.com offers a quick glance at the BCS leagues as of late afternoon Wednesday. Check back at Rivals.com on Thursday for an in-depth look at each league.
Chase Blackburn always had a bag packed. Just because the New York Giants no longer wanted him didn't mean no other team would. For three months, he kept the suitcase by the door.
Like an underachieving student who needs time to register academic success, the Super Bowl took a few decades before establishing itself as a sporting event that was as much about achievement as it was hype.
If you love the passing game, you'll love Super Bowl XLVI. In fact, it's a watershed moment in the evolution of pro football.
INDIANAPOLIS -- The Hall of Fame selection meeting takes place each year on the eve of the Super Bowl. More times than not the meeting produces greater intrigue and suspense than the game itself, because there are 15 modern-era finalists competing for a maximum of five open spots.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight from the exercise in pack journalism that was Tuesday's Super Bowl media day at the beehive known as Lucas Oil Stadium, which served to remind me once again that when it comes to this over-hyped event, alas, we're farther away all the time from chatting up Namath at poolside...
As any television analyst worth his salt will tell you, the NFL has become a league dominated by strong passing offenses.
Since I don't watch anything besides Chuggington, it took nearly a month of the NBA season before I caught a SportsCenter highlight that showed the words WORLD PEACE emblazoned on the back of the former Ron Artest's jersey. One thought immediately came to mind.
During a visit to Clemson in August 2008, I asked then-coach Tommy Bowden why basketball coaches got so much more offended when recruits broke commitments than football coaches did. Bowden laughed, and he explained that most college football coaches understand that a verbal commitment is essentially meaningless until the player signs the National Letter of Intent that forbids other schools from recruiting him.
A year ago this time, with the SEC coming off its fifth straight national championship, my colleague Andy Staples compiled some interesting data that confirmed one of the primary reasons behind the league's recent dominance: The wealth of elite defensive prospects in its backyard. Andy noted that a staggering 43 percent of NFL defensive linemen hailed from a cluster of 10 Southeastern states representing just 22 percent of the general population.
On Sunday, Super Bowl XLVI will be played in Indianapolis's Lucas Oil Stadium. In addition to watching the biggest game of the year, the more than 70,000 fans in attendance and the millions viewing at home will see numerous advertisements and promotions. The NFL, obviously, will decide what fans see. Companies will pay the NFL for that privilege and they will want it to be as exclusive as possible.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Sure, they seem unbeatable now. Dare we say, even super. The Patriots enter this week with a league-best 10-game winning streak that began in mid-November, and the Giants are on yet another improbable and magical postseason run, with five consecutive elimination-game victories to their credit and a world of mojo in their favor.
INDIANAPOLIS -- Lots going on as we draw nearer to The Rematch Bowl of Super Bowl 46. (That's right, I'm not a big Roman numeral guy.)
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