New England vs. Seattle in the Super Bowl on Feb. 1st will be a rematch of a classic regular season game from October 14th, 2012.
In a thriller in Seattle, the Seahawks rallied from a 23-10 4th quarter deficit, with Russell Wilson throwing the game-winning TD pass with 78 seconds left. The final: Seattle 24, New England 23.
The most memorable moment from the game happened as the teams were exiting the field. Richard Sherman, back then, was just an emerging cornerback with a tiny NFL profile. But as he was leaving the field, he sought out Tom Brady and got in his face, screaming something or the other.
The teams are obviously very different now – Wes Welker caught 10 passes for 138 yards for the Patriots, and both Seattle’s 4th quarter touchdowns were scored by guys who aren’t on the roster now, Sidney Rice and Braylon Edwards.
Tom Brady attempted 58 passes but was intercepted twice; Seattle averaged 6.7 yards per play and had three passing plays of 45+ yards.
If not for deflated footballs and, to a lesser extent, Marshawn Lynch, the Richard Sherman/Tom Brady feud would be a bigger story this week ahead of the Seahawks-Patriots Super Bowl because of the whole “U Mad Bro?” thing from the 2012 season. During Wednesday’s media availability, Sherman talked about Brady, noting the Patriots quarterback’s “clean cut” persona off the field doesn’t always match how the three-time Super Bowl winner acts on the field.
The isolated comments take on a little different tenor in wake of Bill Belichick’s press conference Thursday morning where he claimed no prior knowledge about deflated footballs in the AFC Championship Game, deferring to Brady.
Sherman said he believes that the Brady everyone sees — in commercials, at podiums — isn’t exactly the same Brady that opponents hear from on the field.
“Like I said before, I think people some time get a skewed view of Tom Brady,” Sherman explained. “That he’s just a clean-cut [guy], does everything right, and never says a bad word to anyone, and we know him to be otherwise.
“But in that moment of him being himself, he said some things and we returned the favor. Unfortunately he apparently didn’t remember what he said.”
Sherman chimed in on the deflated balls controversy, too, via the Daily News:
“I’m not sure anything will come of it, honestly,” Sherman said. “If it’s against the rules, it’s against the rules. But it’s not going to have any effect on this game. Nobody’s going to get suspended. Nothing’s going to happen. They’re going to play this game.
“Whatever they did, the risk-reward was greater.”
Brady is scheduled to talk to the media Thursday afternoon. It stands to reason someone will bring up Sherman’s comments.
Julian Edelman doesn’t seem to be distracted by the ongoing deflated balls saga hovering over the New England Patriots. Instead, the Pats receiver posted this pretty good video “Growing Pats” for Throwback Thursday. Hopefully he got Bill Belichick’s approval ahead of time.
Tom Brady spoke to the media today, denying having any knowledge of what happened to the footballs. He did, however, acknowledge that he was the one–about five hours before halftime–that went in and selected the balls that would be used.
“I get here, I go in there and I choose how many balls are necessary for the game. When I felt them, they were perfect, I wouldn’t want anyone to touch them.”
However–and easily the most head-scratching thing here–Brady said that NFL investigators haven’t talked to him. Four days later, the guy who it would have been fairly easy to determine was the one who originally selected the balls now at issue. Colonel Klink would be proud of that investigative technique.
Sal Paolantonio was a guest on The Herd this morning. There have been a whole lot of fire takes about #Ballghazi, but Sal Pal’s theory about why Tom Brady held that press conference yesterday had the heat of a thousand suns. The Patriots quarterback, the ESPN reporter explained, was motivated to speak to that room primarily out of a sinister plan to get back to pitching fuzzy girly boots.
“Women don’t like cheaters,” said Paolantonio. “What’s the number one demographic that Tom Brady tries to sell Ugg boots to? Women. Guys are not going into the mall [and being like] ‘Let me get a pair of Uggs.’ No, guys don’t go into the mall for a pair of Uggs. Women do. This was clearly motivated because Tom Brady knows that his brand is damaged by this — not only on the football field, but what he sells off the football field.”
Tom Brady and the Patriots turned in an impressive performance in the AFC Championship game – NO, WE WILL NOT TALK ABOUT DEFLATED FOOTBALLS HERE – hammering the Colts, 45-7. That triumph, combined with Seattle needing a rally-for-the-ages to beat Green Bay, has had a massive impact on the point spread for the Super Bowl. It initially opened at Seattle -2.5, but kept going down Sunday night, and down, and down … and the game is either a pick ‘em or the Patriots are favored by 1.
My thought, two weeks ago, was that I liked the Patriots. I didn’t like what I saw from the Seattle defense against Carolina, and those fears were cemented for 55 minutes at home against a mundane Green Bay defense. But then I saw these stats, and began having second thoughts.
Tom Brady’s offense thrives on short passes. Exclusively short passes. No, really – he doesn’t throw the ball downfield. At all. The Hall of Fame lock playing in his 6th Super Bowl has some interesting stats in the passing game in 2014:
He excels in the short passing game (as most of the elite QBs do), and as the 37-year old Brady has to throw downfield, his percentages increasingly plummet. That stat happens with most QBs (Luck’s completion percentages for the first four are 79/65/52/42; Joe Flacco‘s are 72/70/47/40; Drew Brees comes in at 79/74/62/44), but you can see that Brady doesn’t like throwing down the field. When he does, his accuracy is significantly below other star QBs, although we’re dealing with a small sample size.
Of the 20 quarterbacks who started 14 or more games, Brady had the 5th lowest percentage of throws at least 21 yards downfield (Alex Smith, Ryan Tannehill, Drew Brees, and Eli Manning).
Well … guess which defense in the NFL was 4th against short passes (15 yards or less downfield, last chart) according to the Football Outsiders?
Seattle.
And you know who actually had very similar numbers to Tom Brady by distance? Peyton Manning.
In 2013.
Eerily, both QBs were lights out on the short passes and behind the line of scrimmage; in the 11-20 range they were nearly identical in pass attempts, yardage and completion percentage. We know how the Super Bowl went for Manning. It obviously should be noted the Seattle defense isn’t nearly as overpowering as it was last year. It couldn’t get a hand on Aaron Rodgers in the NFC Title game. Last year, Seattle was tied for 8th in sacks (44) and this year they were 31st (37 sacks).
Going up against a fast Seattle defense that tackles well and has the corners to take away the short passes, this is something that could be cause for concern if you’re a Patriots fan.
Hey, you know who was really strong in the 21-30 yard range this year?
Tony Romo. His Cowboys beat the Seahawks, 30-20 earlier this season.
Balls are in the news this week, have you heard that, Paul? Sorry that was my attempt at a Dave Letterman desk joke. Let’s get all the apologies out of the way right away because this is going to be the dumbest thing you’ll click on all week, which actually I don’t feel bad about since nobody forced you to navigate this link. The title was fairly accurate and straightforward, no less.
That said, here are 10 balls that have nothing to do with, ugh, #DeflateGate. Hope you like it. I’ll be here awaiting the call from the Pulitzer committee.
Schweddy Balls
Get it? The punchline is balls.
Ikea Swedish Meatballs
You can never go wrong with anything slathered in brown gravy.
Spaceballs
Here’s all the visual proof you need that the Patriots cheated. Mel Brooks is a prophet.
Nerf Balls
Can’t deflate these bad boys, Roger.
Gutterballs
This post sucks? Well, that’s like your opinion, man.
Super Balls
According to legend, Lamar Hunt came up with the name Super Bowl based off Super Balls. So, see, this post is relevant!
Balls Mahoney
An (original) ECW wrestler who came to the ring to the sounds of AC/DC’s “Big Balls.” Yep.
Cheese Balls
The perfect holiday gift to show your co-workers how little you think of them.
Great Balls of Fire
Jerry Lee Lewis nickname was “Killer.” He also was pretty good playing the piano with his feet.
Bill Simmons was a guest on Dan LeBatard’s show on ESPN Radio this afternoon (link is rewindable at press time), and, as you can imagine, Ballghazi was the topic of conversation. After Simmons spent the first segment wondering aloud why Belichick seemingly threw Tom Brady under the bus — he has previously speculated that reworking Brady’s contract might mean a split from the Patriots could happen sooner than most people realize — and criticized how the Patriots handled everything yesterday, LeBatard asked what could’ve been done differently. Simmons answered (audio above):
You want to go into any situation like yesterday where, by the end of the day, people feel at least a little better or a little more educated about what happened. I think people left yesterday more confused, and that yesterday ended with more storylines than it had at the beginning of the day. They almost would’ve been better off just having Brady release a statement in his own words. Maybe he could’ve written for that Players Tribune — he could’ve been senior editor Tom Brady writing about Deflategate.
Simmons (who released a whole podcast on the subject this afternoon) was saying that tongue-in-cheek, a reference to journalistically unqualified athletes with that title like Russell Wilson and Danica Patrick. As LeBatard pointed out, that strategy wouldn’t have been received so well either. It’s hard to figure out what the best course of action is for the Patriots at this point, other than to stonewall it until after the Super Bowl and hope the league does not find a smoking gun.
The Patriots landed in Arizona and faced the Super Bowl media for the first time this week. Team owner Robert Kraft began the press conference before Bill Belichick and Tom Brady took the podium. Obviously the only topic on everyone’s mind was the DeflateGate controversy.
Kraft, whose chummy relationship with NFL commish Roger Goodell is worth remembering, opened the presser reading a statement and not fielding any questions. Kraft appealed for the public to listen to facts, not “media leaks.” Filled with hubris, Kraft also said he’d want a full apology from the NFL if the team is found to have done nothing wrong with the pressure of the balls in the AFC Championship Game vs. the Colts.
Kraft added, “If the Wells investigation is not able to definitively determine that our organization tampered with the air pressure in the footballs, I would expect and hope that the league would apologize would apologize to our entire team, and in particular Coach Belichick and Tom Brady, for what they have had to endure this week.”
Man … to be an NFL owner, right? Kraft also called Belichick and Brady “family.”
As expected Belichick stonewalled the first (and second and third and fourth) question about the balls, saying he is 100 percent focused on the Seahawks.
So … it’s on to Media Day Tuesday. Hope you’re ready for some ball jokes. Those aren’t tired in the least bit after two weeks at all.
Bill Belichick and Tom Brady, you may be off the hook in the deflated football saga. Jay Glazer of Fox Sports just dropped a bombshell report, and it looks like the NFL has fingered the culprit – a locker room attendant.
NFL has zeroed in on a locker room attendant w Patriots who allegedly took balls from officials locker room to another area on way to field. Sources say they have interviewed him and additionally have video. Still gauging if any wrong doing occurred with him but he is strong person of interest
This kid will be taken care of, for sure.
I mean by the Patriots, wink wink nudge nudge.
Interesting timing, this story dropping 24 hours before NFL media day. Instead of questions blaming Brady and Belichick, it’s all going to be about the locker room attendant.
The 3rd episode of the Jason McIntyre Show on Yahoo Sports Radio may have been the best! But I plan on saying that every week. In case you missed it Sunday morning, you can listen to it here, or download/subscribe on itunes here. A recap, in case you want to just listen to a certain guest:
First hour: I compared Bill Belichick to hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen, who is notorious for getting an edge on the competition however he can. That’s what Belichick does. Then, Albert Breer of the NFL network came on and talked about Belichick’s “pattern of behavior” and linked this envelope-pushing back to Belichick’s failures in Cleveland.
Second hour: I talked about Robert Allenby’s wacky tale about being robbed and beat up … turning into perhaps a strip club visit and fall. Then, I praised Coach K and talked about this terrific piece. Jeff Goodman from ESPN stopped by, we poked fun at the media picking up for Tom Crean, I compared UVA this year to Syracuse last year (listen before bashing!) and we picked some players that could go Shabazz Napier on the 2015 NCAA Tournament.
Third hour: Where does Kobe Bryant rank among the greatest in NBA history? I had him in the Top 10. Surely you’ll disagree. Then Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports came on to talk about the Kobe’s career at the end, the streaking Atlanta Hawks, how the Cavs appeared to have turned things around post-trades, and lastly, will the Heat tank or not?
The New York Times had a lengthy profile of Tom Brady–which if you can make it past more than 600 words of the author primarily talking about himself and being a Pats fan–starts before this season and continuing through the press conference on deflated balls.
The mysterious star of the piece is Alex Guerrero, described as Brady’s best friend, training guru, “body coach”, nutritional adviser, and spiritual guide.
I asked Guerrero at one point if Brady is ever allowed to eat a cheeseburger. “Yes, we have treats,” he said. “We make them.” Like what? “Usually raw desserts, like raw macaroons.” Ice cream made from avocado is another favorite, Guerrero said.
No wonder Brady once exclaimed when describing frozen margaritas: “oh my God!” If your occasional special treat is avocado ice cream, a margarita has to be on a whole other level.
Some other random nuggets scattered in the piece:
Brady says “babe” and “awesome” a lot. He calls the nanny “babe.”
Owner Robert Kraft describes Brady as “physically very handsome, but as a human being he’s more beautiful” . . . “like a fifth son to me”.
Brady believes that if he trained like everyone else–without Guerrero’s unusual methods–he would be out of the league, and that ageism is part of the established system.
Brady’s dad, who calls himself the original Tom Brady, thinks it will end badly in New England because that’s the nature of the business, and Brady wants to play until he is 70.
Pretty much like any dude, after Brady moved into a new mansion in Brookline, he has no idea where any of his old sports awards and memorabilia got to, and doesn’t have much input into decorating.
Brady answered the door to his mansion while wearing Uggs, called the view of the back of the house “Zen-like”, and then dropped some profanity when his dog nearly tripped him.
In this weirdly catchy new jam, singer/songwriter Erich Pobatschnig envisions the hypothetical situation in which the dreamy Tom Brady were capable of delivering his offspring. It’s a decent Super Bowl prop bet that this (good kind of) dumb video will be ingrained in my brain at least for the duration of the week.
In keeping with today’s theme of Tom Brady’s fertility, now comes word that the Patriots quarterback will appear in a Super Bowl ad for Ted 2 Cruise Control as a potential semen donor for the cute/raunchy stuffed animal. According to THR, Ballghazi nearly factored into the commercial but the editing costs would’ve been too onerous:
But according to one source, when Brady and the Patriots were accused earlier this month of intentionally deflating footballs to gain an advantage during the NFL playoffs, execs briefly considered altering the ad to include a reference to the controversy. Ultimately, that idea proved problematic (any changes to Ted’s dialogue require extensive animation tweaks) so the ad will remain as is, says the source. Another Universal source says there was never a possibility of altering the ad to take advantage of so-called “Deflategate.”
The odds of the NFL allowing that would’ve been approximately zero point zero. Prediction: This movie will get bad reviews and make a lot of money.
The PSI of the footballs used in the AFC Championship Game two weeks ago helped fuel the conversation leading up to today’s Super Bowl between the Patriots and Seahawks. In short, there’sbeena lotwritten about the situation and if you’re a sports fan let’s assume you’re fairly aware of what’s been going on. Even so, it doesn’t sound like we’ll get an official answer into whether or not the Patriots intentionally deflated the balls during their game with the Colts for a couple of weeks while Ted Wells completes his investigation.
NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport filed an update on the situation earlier Sunday. Rapoport confirms that someone, whom he describes as “elderly” took two bags of balls into a bathroom at Gillette Stadium for 98 seconds. There’s also this new nugget in the report, which if true, adds a wrinkle to everything the sport’s world has talked about over the last two weeks.
Eleven of the 12 footballs used in the first half were judged by the officials to be under the minimum of 12.5 PSI, but just one was two pounds under. Many of them were just a few ticks under the minimum.
The NFL has found that 11 of the New England Patriots’ 12 game balls were inflated significantly below the NFL’s requirements, league sources involved and familiar with the investigation of Sunday’s AFC Championship Game told ESPN. The investigation found the footballs were inflated 2 pounds per square inch below what’s required by NFL regulations during the Pats’ 45-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, according to sources.
That’s a big difference from one ball to 11 being significantly under-inflated, right? Suffice to say, it’ll be quite curious to see which of these two version of the story — if either — end up in the Wells report. If the report from today is accurate it looks like everyone potentially wasted a lot of time.
So many conflicting reports on #DeflateGate – reason why many wish the NFL investigation was going quicker…but thoroughness important too
The game plan of short passes and runs was working, until Tom Brady held the ball and faced pressure for the first time on third down near the end zone. Bad mistake on third down in scoring range by Brady, who threw it up to Jeremy Lane at the goal line off his back foot.
It ended a thirteen play drive with no points. Lane left the field with an arm injury after the tackle.
Tom Brady got understandably excited when Seattle made one of the worst calls in Super Bowl history. Instead of running Marshawn Lynch from the 2-yard line, the Seahawks threw a pass, it was intercepted, and the Patriots celebrated a 28-24 win.
It was Bill Belichick’s 4th Super Bowl victory.
Tom Brady has now won four Super Bowls, and probably will be regarded as the greatest QB in the history of the NFL.
[Update: I appeared on the Tony D Show on Yahoo Sports Radio on this topic, audio here]
How do Tom Brady and Joe Montana matchup? Interestingly, they are very similar beyond the initial RINGZ discussion. This was the 13th season as a starter for Tom Brady. Joe Montana had 13 seasons where he threw a significant number of passes (he threw 23 passes and started one game as a rookie and also 21 while on the bench in SF in 1992).
Here’s a quick side-by-side comparison of the best statistical seasons, adjusting for league environment. We know that quarterbacks throw more passes, fewer interceptions, and complete a higher percentage now. The Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt Index puts that in a number on a scale. 100 is average. 115 is pretty good. Anything approaching 125 is MVP consideration type season, and Above 135 is all-time great season territory. All data from Pro Football Reference.
They both had all-time seasons (Montana in ’89, Brady in ’07) and Montana had the third best season (1984). The top five seasons for each compare favorably statistically. It’s after that where Montana separates a bit. His worst two seasons (his first and last as a starter) rank ahead of five Brady seasons.
BUT TEAMMATES
Joe Montana got to play with Jerry Rice. That matters. But when we look at pro bowl teammates, it’s not as disparate as you might think. I’ll submit to you that Randy Moss and Rob Gronkowski were the next two best offensive players to play with either of these guys. (with an in-his-prime Roger Craig from 1985-1989 being fourth).
In those 13 seasons, Montana had 23 other offensive pro bowlers and 8 teammates with all-pro seasons. Brady is at 20 and 7 in those two categories.
In their best five statistical seasons, Brady played with 15 pro bowlers on offense (3 per year) and 6 all pros, including Randy Moss in his best year. Montana played with 12 pro bowlers (2.4 per year) and 3 all pros (two being Rice in 1987 and 1989). For what it’s worth, Montana only played with Rice in two of his top five statistical seasons, Rice was a rookie in #6, and Montana was in KC for #7.
It’s an interesting phenomenon. Three of Joe Montana’s Super Bowl titles came in his five best passing seasons. None of Brady’s have. It’s almost like the Patriots have been better in other areas in years they have won the title, to compensate for a little less offensive firepower.
THE SUPER BOWL PERFORMANCES
If we look at just the wins (and exclude the rest of the playoffs and the Super Bowl losses by Brady) it’s not particularly close in terms of just performance in the Big Game.
Montana in four Super Bowl wins: 83 of 122 (68.0%), 1142 yards (9.4 yards per attempt), 11 TD, 0 INT
Brady in four Super Bowl wins: 108 of 158 (68.4%), 1054 yards (6.7 yards per attempt), 10 TD, 3 INT
Let’s put Montana’s performance in those Super Bowls in some perspective. That line for the four biggest games would be something to which any quarterback would aspire over just any stretch of their careers. How many times, since 1970, has a quarterback even averaged 9.0 yards per attempt over a four consecutive games started stretch, while averaging 2.5 touchdowns (10 in 4 games) and throwing no interceptions?
Thirteen.
Over half of those have come in the last five years, when passing rules have further pushed the offensive envelope. Thirteen times in the last 45 years has a quarterback been able to do that over a short four game stretch. (And now I want to write the oral history of what happened to Ken O’Brien in 1986).
Joe Montana was simply–and this is a statement about what happened, and not an assessment of character or predictive as to what would have happened if he had made a fifth–the best in the Super Bowls. In the playoffs overall, though, Montana was just “pretty good.” Did you know that San Francisco was 4-1 in playoff games where Montana threw at least two interceptions? After yesterday, the Patriots are 4-3 in playoff games where Brady does the same. The rest of the NFL in the postseason since 1978 are 59-206 (22%).
Sometimes, teammates and circumstances bail you out to later become immortal. It’s a team game, as Marshawn Lynch so properly observed.
Overall, even without adjusting for era, Montana finishes ahead of Brady in TD-INT ratio, and outdoes him by 1.1 yards per pass attempt for their postseasons.
POSTSCRIPT
I would give a slight lean to Montana-still. Brady is still going though. However, he does now have a deflated balls issue to deal with. Even if it was a tie, bonus points to Joe Montana because his version of deflated balls was funnier.
