I eat plenty of candy: something around a pack and a half of M&M's daily, around. Sometimes I have ice cream after dinner, or other times that I eat it. Additionally I carry a pack of Lifesavers with me at all times. Next to my computer at my desk is a bowl of butterscotch candies. They aren't Werthers Original, but individually wrapped still. Last night I found an unwrapped butterscotch candy in my bowl. I thought it was strange, and unwrapped, could only get stranger, so I ate it. Truth be told I ate half, like I ate half of the Patriots/Raiders game, half of the Ravens/Jets game and half of your mom's game.
This is what I learned in Week 4. Passing is most integral to winning in the NFL now. Alex Smith played well this week and the 49ers upset the Eagles. Matt Hasselbeck has been passing well and the Titans are a winning pick. Drew Brees seems always good and the Saints follow suit. Peyton Manning doesn't play, the Colts are bad. Forming an argument here... But wait! It's a faulty one. Sunday night Joe Flacco threw for 160-odd yards and the Ravens beat the Jets. Jason Campbell threw for 344 in a losing effort to the Patriots (and Brady's season low 226). How does that figure? Passing is most important for sure. Quarterbacks matter more than running backs unquestionably. Winning teams with losing defenses are just that. I have already heard speculation that if Ben Roethlisberger, who may have broken his foot this week, plays next week, The Steelers can still be a contender, still be a great team. I don't get it. They look awful. That is a lot faith in a broken man, but he is a passing man.
No non-passing teams are good. Passing teams are good in different ways. Sorry Russia. This is what I like about that: The football traditionalists, the ones who talk about defense and "pounding the ball" (incessant gayness in the old school) and "games are won between the tackles", etc etc, necessarily give way to a style that isn't better or worse, but new and different. Each teams' value will now be judged on gradients of their passing game. How nice is that? The style of game that Manning and Brees (and to an extent Roethlisberger and Vick) have been playing successfully for a half decade now is the style of a winning team. Those styles are different, (Manning's omnipotence, Brees' long arm, R's and V's high excessive-time-in-the-pocket/amazing-broken-play ratio), but they work for their football teams now better than any non-passing team's style work for them now. A good example is the Minnesota Vikings.
Removing need of a great back or a great defense in favor of a need for great quarterbacks, flankers and offensive coordinators cuts the traditional NFL in half. A running back can no longer compensate (on the level of an entire season) for a below average quarterback. Yes, that used to be possible. It is interesting to me how the NFL vocabulary will have to change, while a new spectrum of wholeness is being injected into it's current half-ness. And this season is particularly interesting because (arguably) the founder of the passing-matters-most style, Manning, is not playing. It is now easier to witness how other teams are making their unique "half teams" whole for them. For his contribution to the NFL and for how awful the Colts are without him, Manning should be given the MVP this season. He is probably eating M&M's right now, which is exactly how I plan on winning my MVP award next season.
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