Our impulse at this time every year is to expend copious amounts of energy trying to figure out how all the blanks get filled in over the next few months, from the constant info-gathering and guesswork that surrounds the unfolding of the NFL Draft (mockers unite!) to the 200-piece jigsaw puzzle that is the league's looming free agency signing season (start with spicy rumors, add a judicious visit or two, then bake until you have a solid agreement in principle, and at last, serve up a delicious done deal).
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.
Five thoughts in the wake of the 46th Super Bowl:
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 -- It's a pretty select club Eli Manning joined here Sunday night. You could almost call it an "elite'' membership to belong to.
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.
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.
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.
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 -- 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.)
Early storyline for the Super Bowl: Can the Patriots protect Tom Brady better in this Super Bowl against the Giants than they did the last time they played?
SAN FRANCISCO -- I laugh when people call me an idiot for my predictions.
I have a proposal. It involves an act of Congress, and it violates the Constitution of the United States, but other than that I think it's perfectly reasonable.
The San Francisco 49ers are trying to win the Super Bowl with Alex Smith, and the Baltimore Ravens are trying to win it with Joe Flacco, which seems like trying to shower without using water. The NFL, we have been told 1,000 times, is a quarterback league. You either have a great one or you need a great one. ESPN even declared that 2011 was "The Year of the Quarterback," but sadly couldn't get that confirmed on menus at Chinese restaurants. (Imagine! 2010: Year of the Tiger. 2011: Year of the Quarterback. 2012: Year of the Dragon.)
Looking back, all the fuss was a bit silly. Giants quarterback Eli Manning was asked during a radio interview before the season if he thought he was in the same class as Tom Brady, his more heralded counterpart with the Patriots. What was he supposed to say? "No, actually, Tom is much better than I am. He is also more handsome. Everyone knows that!" Of course not. He answered the question the way any proud athlete, with a Super Bowl MVP on his fireplace mantle, would: "I consider myself in that class," he told 1050 ESPN in New York during training camp, back in August. "Tom Brady is a great quarterback, he's a great player and what you've seen with him is he's gotten better every year. He started off winning championships and I think he's a better quarterback now than what he was, in all honesty, when he was winning those championships. "I think now he's grown up and gotten better every year and that's what I'm trying to do," he said. "I kind of hope these next seven years of my
Sign me up for the notion that the NFL's divisional playoff round typically makes for the best weekend of the season, with the league's elite eight pairing off in four bursts of high-stakes elimination football. Here are eight of the best storylines that provide a backdrop of the action on tap:
We're down to the final eight teams in the NFL playoffs, and that means there are only 16 potential matchups remaining for Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium next month in Indianapolis. Don't worry, I did the math so you don't have to. Here's a pregame storyline or reason to care about each and every Super pairing, as we rank them from most intriguing to least appealing. As always, your results may vary...
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we break down the NFL's 12-team playoff field from as many angles as occur to us...
ARLINGTON, Texas -- This game didn't have the Velcro catch of Giants 17, Patriots 14, or the scintillating drive and Santonio Holmes-catch of Steelers 27, Cardinals 23, or the Tracy Porter pick-six-ness of Saints 31, Colts 17. This game had a little letdown at the end, because we thought we might see some all-time drama from Ben Roethlisberger, again, in the last two minutes, and we didn't. But that's OK -- we've been getting spoiled with great Super Bowls. And compared to the crummy ones we saw for most of a generation, a B-plus football game with some great storylines in the last game of the year is just fine.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight from the Packers' taut and gritty 31-25 conquest of Pittsburgh in Super Bowl XLV Sunday night in Cowboys Stadium. ...
For these past few days in Dallas, the NFL punditry has been remarkably divided on predictions for Super Bowl XLV. For every "Packer Backer" espousing Green Bay's defense, there was a "Steeler healer" pontificating about Pittsburgh's balanced attack.
updated: Fri Feb 04 2011 11:03:00
A Wisconsin neighborhood shows its support for the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl XLV. Affiliate WLUK reports.
Impressionist painting and football are words you don't often hear in the same sentence.
ARLINGTON, Texas -- Of all the numbers floating around town this week, from $3 million (estimated price of a 30-second commercial for Super Bowl XLV) to $15,946 (the cost for a seventh-row seat on the 50-yard line at Cowboys Stadium, according to the NFL Ticket Exchange by Ticketmaster) to nine (the low in degrees on Wednesday, the coldest temperature in Jerry Jones country since 1989), here is the one that Fox Sports executives have their eyes on:
If you break down the Packers-Steelers Super Bowl matchup with the eye of a baseball analyst, you will find one team has a major edge this Sunday. I will reveal that important edge in a minute -- not to mention why Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers is the new Mel Ott -- but first you have to understand the baseball perspective.
From Bart Starr's '67 Packers to Drew Brees' '10 Saints, SI has been covering the Super Bowl since its inception. Here are the game stories for sports' biggest event:
PITTSBURGH -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight from an interesting, but rather uneven Championship Sunday in the NFL ...
We know the celebrity quarterbacks. Tom Brady has won three Super Bowls, is married to a supermodel and gets to meet Popes and presidents. Peyton Manning cuts that meat, wins multiple MVPs and occasionally is mentioned as the greatest ever. Drew Brees was Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year. Aaron Rodgers is Super Bowl-bound, the flavor of the month in January 2011. Michael Vick is infamous. Even Philip Rivers gets into the discussion.
Want a last-minute ticket to the Super Bowl? Get ready to shell out five grand.
The first year of the second decade of the new millennium is chugging to a close. Here's what I'm looking forward to in 2011.
The interminable seven-month wait over, the NFL returns to the national stage tonight when the Vikings and Saints kick it off in New Orleans. The only shame of it all, of course, is the lack of any real drama due to the outcome having been foreordained.
Hundreds weighed in on our selections for the best NFL players by jersey number. Many of you complained about the omission of Dan Fouts at No. 14 (yep, we probably missed there), Donovan McNabb over Paul Hornung at No. 5 (hey, you might be right) and Tom Brady over Terry Bradshaw at No. 12 (We'll stand by our pick). Here's a sampling of reader feedback from email, Twitter and FanNation:
ANDERSON, Ind. -- It's no doubt a distinction he would gladly decline on their behalf if he could, but the label that Jim Caldwell's defending AFC champion Colts must content themselves with as the 2010 season looms is this: They're as uniquely equipped as any Super Bowl loser in recent memory to avoid the dreaded hangover effect that plagues so many teams winding up on the wrong end of the big confetti shower.
Of all the anecdotes and revealing behind-the-scenes snapshots that Super Bowl-winning Saints head coach Sean Payton sprinkled throughout a newly published memoir of his time in New Orleans, the one I can't get over is his detailed description of how he transformed into a certain hoodie-wearing head coach from New England one week last season.
Yes, I am on record saying that every Super Bowl should be in New Orleans. Well ... I love New Orleans Super Bowls. There's something about the city, the people, the history that makes a Super Bowl there feel even bigger than normal. Of course, I'm all for keeping things the same. I think every U.S. Open should be at Pebble Beach, every British Open at St. Andrews, every football "National Championship" game at the Rose Bowl and every Final Four in Indianapolis.
I was thinking about all the cautionary tales we'd heard about free agency, about how even though the NFL was killing the salary cap, most every team was going to sit back and let the market settle because the pool of available players was so weak. No fourth- or fifth-year unrestricted free agents, which took 212 players off the market. And other than Julius Peppers, no real stars to throw sick money.
Today is your day. It's the first offseason Tuesday Mailbag, and rather than me blabbering about something for a few paragraphs, I'm going to hit a few more of your e-mail offerings, which were rather good this week. Here goes:
LOS ANGELES -- Yes, Los Angeles. Out here for a little R&R and hockey; I saw the Kings and the new Brodeur manhandle Colorado 3-0 Saturday night. (OK, maybe I'm jumping the gun 400 wins early for Jonathan Quick, the NHL wins leader at the Olympic break, but he is impressive.) Anyway, this morning I'll try to be the methadone for your withdrawal from the NFL season. The week after always comes with a real thud, doesn't it?
I don't quite remember now if it was at last year's NFL Scouting Combine or the league's annual meeting the following month, but I do recall the gist of Sean Payton's message to me. With a slightly bemused look bordering on one of his trademark smirks, he had a question for me at the end of a quick interview we were conducting:
Can you imagine turning down the chance to play in and win the Super Bowl? Well, longtime NFL tight end Mark Campbell did just that. Kind of.
No sooner had the last flake of confetti fallen in Miami that next year's Super Bowl odds were posted. Not surprisingly, the Colts are the favorite to do what they couldn't achieve this season. Everybody of consequence returns for the Colts next season. Linebacker Gary Brackett is scheduled to be a unrestricted free agent and Antoine Bethea is a restricted free agent, but both are expected to return to Indianapolis. With that in mind, here's a look at the biggest questions that need answered this offseason among the AFC teams.
NEW ORLEANS -- Where were you when the Saints won it all? It's one of those questions -- like, Where were you during the Apollo 11 moon landing? -- that will be asked a lot in the decades to come by generations of sports fans trying to put their lives in the context of something far bigger.
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight from Super Bowl XLIV at Sun Life Stadium, where the long-suffering Saints went marching into Super Bowl history with a thrilling 31-17 come-from-behind upset win over a Colts team that was widely expected to have its way with New Orleans. Who Dat indeed ...
"You get a chance to add the explosiveness of Reggie Bush to your team, and that's something that comes along maybe every five, 10 years. I don't care what the Jets offered us. We were keeping the pick. If that's a gamble, I'll gamble like that every time." -- Sean Payton, the day of the 2006 NFL draft, after the Saints eschewed offers to trade down and instead stayed with their first-round slot and picked USC tailback Reggie Bush.
It was an emotional scene after the Super Bowl: Kendra Wilkinson in tears as she rushed out of the stadium holding her baby son.
The reality star says she was upset over the paparazzi, not her husband's team's loss
MIAMI -- Fresh off a vindicating Super Bowl XLIV victory that took the franchise to the NFL mountaintop for the first time in its 43-year existence, the New Orleans Saints today plunge into an offseason unlike any in recent league history.
Three people were shot amid celebrations surrounding the New Orleans Saints' Super Bowl win, police said Monday.
updated: Mon Feb 08 2010 16:41:00
CNN's Kiran Chetry and TJ Holmes take a look at two of the most popular Super Bowl ads.
For the last two weeks I've listened to people all up in arms that former University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow will star in a 30-second, anti-abortion commercial with his mom during Sunday's Super Bowl.
The only grade that matters to CBS comes Monday when the initial ratings go public. (Expect the overnights to be huge.) But since we had to sit through an all-day orgy of live Super Bowl coverage from Miami (2:01 -- 10:10 p.m.), let's mark the people who brought you Super Bowl XLIV:
updated: Mon Feb 08 2010 09:38:00
New Orleans fans celebrate the Saints' first ever Super Bowl victory.
As the players, coaches and halftime performers -- not to mention the Lombardi Trophy -- made their way to Miami's Sun Life Stadium for the Super Bowl on Sunday, Jerry Hunter and company were keeping a close eye on them.
As the players, coaches and halftime performers -- not to mention the Lombardi Trophy -- made their way to Miami's Sun Life Stadium for the Super Bowl on Sunday, Jerry Hunter and company were keeping a close eye on them.
Grading the Colts in their 31-17 loss to the Saints on Sunday in Miami in Super Bowl XLIV ...
The reality star plans to rush the field if the Indianapolis Colts win Sunday's big game in Miami
There was a moment during last week's Super Bowl conference call that revealed the prevailing mood at CBS Sports these days. Asked by a reporter for the network's coverage plans for Sunday's broadcast, CBS News and Sports president Sean McManus responded like a man holding pocket aces in a Texas hold 'em game. "This year we're going to do nothing interesting or surprising," McManus cracked. "It will be the same old crap you see on pregame shows."
My iPhone buzzes every 28 seconds. This is not popularity. Obviously. This is the NFL emailing me another Super Bowl quote sheet. And another. And another. Remi Ayodele! Raheem Brock! Jeff Saturday! Queen Latifah!
Super Bowl Sunday: A day of first downs, touchdowns, and, often, unwanted pounds.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- One of the things about getting older is you get used to things. I'm not saying jaded. I'm a big believer that you have to try very hard in life to not get jaded. But you do get used to things. Take the Super Bowl. This is my 13th Super Bowl. I've had one more Super Bowl than wedding anniversary. Whatever that means.
CLICK HERE FOR JIM TROTTER'S FIVE REASONS THE COLTS WILL WIN.
CLICK HERE FOR DON BANKS' FIVE REASONS WHY SAINTS WILL WIN
He is a child of New Orleans. He was born there, raised there. He was a fan of the Saints. But to the people of the Big Easy, on Sunday, Peyton Manning is their archenemy.
updated: Fri Feb 05 2010 11:21:00
Peyton Manning may be from New Orleans, but Saints fans want the local boy to do bad in the Super Bowl.
Saints fans have waited more than four decades for their team to get a taste of glory. When kicker Garrett Hartley made a 40-yard field goal to secure the Saints' first trip to the Super Bowl, it proved to be a win not just for the team but for New Orleans' businesses. Hotels, retailers, grocers and other merchants have noticed a rise in sales with every passing Saints victory.
The seasoned chef teaches you how to make the Asian-inspired recipe created just for PEOPLE.com readers!
DAVIE, Fla. -- I stood with Bill Cowher in the end zone at the Colts' first practice of the week -- Cowher was there with his CBS announcing team -- late Wednesday afternoon, and I found out a few nuggets about his interview with Plaxico Burress that will air on the Super Bowl pregame show Sunday.
Super Bowl Sunday happens to be one of the hungriest days of the year for pizza-lovers, which means a nationwide windfall for pizzerias.
updated: Thu Feb 04 2010 09:25:00
New Orleans celebrates the Saints playing the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history.
There's a party brewing in New Orleans that's filling up hotels and drawing the faithful to the city, but this weekend the magnet isn't Mardi Gras. The New Orleans Saints' Super Bowl debut has fans in a fever to celebrate with their brethren.
This Sunday is the Academy Awards of Football and, believe it or not, there are a lot of people who couldn't care less about this High Holy Day.
Seven-week-old Hank Baskett IV will be in a luxury box for his first football game
Football fans are throwing some Hail Mary passes to try to get to Super Bowl XLIV in Miami, Florida, on February 7.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Highlights from a three-hour shift this morning on Radio Row at Super Bowl 44 on Sirius/XM NFL Radio, with guests aplenty:
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Musings, observations and the occasional insight from Super Bowl media day at Sun Life Stadium, which was almost refreshingly tame by recent theater of the absurd standards ...
Ryan Diem and the rest of the Indianapolis Colts barely batted an eye Monday when their plane touched down in Miami between rainstorms. Three years ago this week, in the same city and stadium where they'll face the Saints in Super Bowl XLIV, the Colts won their first championship of the Peyton Manning era in a game as noteworthy for the weather as for the players' performances.
Embrace it. That was Steelers defensive end Aaron Smith advice to his fellows players last year for the annual orgy of inane questions (and questioners) that Super Bowl Media Day has become. "It's a little headache for us but you come out here and have some fun," Smith said. "You get some wacky questions, some off the wall stuff. But you go with the flow. It's part of the job."
MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. -- Mooooooo.
Imagine that Major League Baseball instituted a new rule for the postseason. Only the home team may use signals to put on plays, such as from the third-base coach or dugout. What about the road team? Too bad. Just chalk it up to home-field advantage.
Endless Super Bowl hype is part of the fun for football fans. Quarterbacks, naturally, earn more than their fair share of attention in any game. So when two of the game's elite passers meet in the Super Bowl, as they do this year, the hype that already surrounds almost every football game reaches a fever pitch.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The state of Dwight Freeney's ankle injury is sure to dominate our attention this week at Super Bowl XLIV, and the question of whether the Colts' top pass rusher will be ready to roll on his bad wheel is a topic that could have game-changing significance come Sunday night.
If you haven't bought a spot for your Super Bowl ad, then you're too late.
The new mom, whose husband plays for the Colts, will host a bash at a Miami nightclub
Super Bowl network CBS rejected an ad Friday from ManCrunch.com, a gay dating Web site.
The Clydesdales might appear in Super Bowl XLIV after all, according to the brewer of Budweiser, which is reconsidering an ad with the iconic horses after putting them on the bench for the championship game.
Musings, observations and the occasional insight as we catch our breath and begin the countdown to the big game with maybe the most confusing set of Roman numerals ever...
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