1) Aaron Rodgers is Without a Doubt the best quarterback in the NFL. I may come across like a clown by saying this but the way Aaron Rodgers has been playing over the past 20 games or so might be the best quarterbacking I've ever seen. Ever! Now I'm not calling Rodgers the greatest ever, not even the greatest of all-time amongst active quarterbacks, but this guy is making plays I've never seen made before. It's almost as if you took Tom Brady's arm and IQ and mixed it with Steve Young's athleticism and creativity.
I don't want to get too caught up in what he's doing just this year (see Manning, Eli), but he leads the league with 39 touchdowns, and he's throwing for around 317 yards a game, with a completion percentage just shy of 70, and here's the kicker, he's doing it with a QB rating of 123.3! The only other quarterback in NFL history to have a QB rating above 120 for a full season was Peyton Manning in his (then) record setting season of 2004. We're witnessing something special not just this year (in five playoff games : 67.8 % Comp, 303.4 yds/gm, 13 TD 3 INT, 112.6 QB Rating), but for many years to come.
Rodgers already has as many rings as fellow elite quarterbacks Manning and Drew Brees, and with a very talented defense and an abundant amount of skilled receivers catching his crisp passes, Big Ben and Brady better watch their backs or they'll be looking up at Mr. Discount Double-Check too.
2) Speaking of elite quarterbacks, I'm Really Sick of Eli Manning being called Elite. People, especially Giants fans, are always so concerned with where Eli Manning ranks amongst other quarterbacks in the NFL. Whether it's the younger brother complex, or the fact that fellow 2004 draft class QBs Phillip Rivers and Ben Roethlisberger are both incredible, Eli Manning has probably been one of the more debated quarterback for the past few seasons, and this year shouldn't end that debate! If what you're really seeking is the classification of elite then how can you put Eli in that conversation? Because he has a Superbowl championship? Because the Giants seem to be in the mix every season? These are factors that definitely play into Eli being a "top" quarterback, but elite?
I don't mean to take anything away from Eli, who is having an absolute career year and is really one of the better quarterbacks in the game, but how many players can you really consider elite? Rodgers, Brady, Peyton Manning, Drew Bress...maybe Roethlisberger. Those are unarguably the five best quarterbacks in the league (lets give Peyton the benefit of the doubt and allow him to be innocent until proven guilty). If you want to say Eli's one of the elite quarterbacks this season, that's fine, he's having a monster season, but when he performs this way over a stretch of multiple seasons, not to mention starts winning more playoff games (all of his playoff wins are from 2007) then he'll undoubtedly be elite.
You don't become elite by winning in the middle of the season, and as great as Eli's playing, this season for him (and the Giants) will only be remembered by how it ends. Now we'll see how elite Eli really is.
3. Can we say it yet? Tim Tebow is Without a Doubt an NFL quarterback! What are the two most important things you're looking for out of your quarterback? Arm strength and accuracy or wins and leadership? Because yes, you're clearly not getting top notch pocket quarterbacking out of Tebow, but you clearly are getting leadership, and MOST importantly, wins. Yes, they're ugly wins, they're wins that the defense keeps the hopeless looking offense in for the majority of the games, but they're also wins that wouldn't happen if Tebow doesn't make multiple huge plays that end up being deciding factors.
This isn't a conversation that needs any stats other than 8-3. While an 8-3 record isn't necessarily enough to put on a resume and expect to land any open quarterback position, it should be enough to put confidence in an organization that saw its last quarterback go 12-21 over the past three seasons. If the Broncos win the AFC West this year, which is looking like a real strong possibility, John Fox absolutely deserves Coach of the Year for throwing out his old playbooks and drawing his offense up around Tebow, but how can Tebow not at least walk away from this season as a legitimate starting quarterback?
I'm not asking for him to be considered elite (let's see how many more games he can win before we even think about opening that can of worms), but I am completely sold that he can play the position, and do so with at least mild success, which he's proven he can over his 11 career starts. I can't lie, I'm intrigued by Tebowmania, in fact, I've gotten over the fact that my Jets got Tebowed when they shouldn't have lost to that team. I've gotten over it because despite the fact that the Jets allowed him to lead a game-winning 95-yard drive, they knew all he was going to do was run, and he still did it, successfully.
Real recognize real, this kid's been a successful quarterback. I'm not really sick of Tebow, just sick of the Tebow haters.
4) I'm already Really Sick of hearing about Colts quarterback Andrew Luck. Yup, I said it, get used to it, because it's clearly not going anywhere. You think you're sick of hearing about it during Week 14 of the 2011 season, wait until the season's over. Then wait until the NFL Draft. Then wait until Training Camp 2012, followed by the preseason where both Luck and Peyton Manning look great. Then it's going to get worse by the week, possibly by the day. Sports fans, we have entered our new Brett Favre is retiring saga.
If Andrew Luck is the LeBron James, Stephen Strasburg, Sidney Crosby can't miss talent that everyone's been saying he is for over a year now, then how can the Colts not take him? Idiot Owner Jim Irsay hasn't said one thing either pro Peyton for 2012, or anti Luck for 2012, and face it, this Colts team will be lucky to win a game, let alone two before the season ends. The Colts intentionally didn't place Manning on the injured reserve this season so he could receive his full contract, could they possibly be ready to move on?
If they are, I hope they trade Manning early enough so that we don't have to live with this annoying story, or at least I hope they commit to Luck spending a year on the bench so he can learn from the best. Just know that if the two are on the same team, every game will end with questions as to who could have done a better job, and with both Manning and Luck's fathers being former quarterbacks, expect an even uglier dimension of annoyingness added to this story. Get better soon Peyton.
5) Jim Harbaugh is Without a Doubt NFL Coach of the Year. Assuming John Fox won't get the recognition he deserves for getting a 9/10 win team into the playoffs, Harbaugh will get the recognition for taking a team that hasn't won more than 8 games since 2002 and winning 11-13 games. Harbaugh inherited pretty much the same team that Mike Singletary was showing his weiner to for the past couple of years, and has turned them into a smash mouth football team. The niners have given up the least amount of rushing yards, and boast one of the best o-lines in the league, and most importantly, know better than to ask more out of Alex Smith than he can deliver. It was never a secret that Frank Gore was a premier running back, nor that Patrick Willis was a top defensive player, but Harbaugh has gotten the guys around those two stars to play their roles and this team could be playing deep into the winter.
Alright if you read my writing you know I'm an NBA FREAK! Here are my 5 NBA "I'm Really Sick Of..." "Without a Doubt!" points:
1) I know that my team was the beneficiary of the "Melo Drama" that lasted literally from mid-summer of 2010 until February of 2011, but I'm Really Sick of this Chris Paul drama. Whether this is all happening now because Paul played hardball with David Stern and other NBA Owners during labor negotiations, or the owners really just don't want to see stars ganging up, this story is awful and may be with us for months to come. I think it's a really sensitive matter to trade Paul to a large market team seeing how the NBA owns and operates the New Orleans Hornets, but Hornets GM Dell Demps has agreed now to multiple trade offers, let me clear that up, he's agreed to multiple FAIR trade offers, and for a number of reasons the deals haven't been approved by the league.
This isn't the portion of my opinion where I provide a solution, rather where I continue to sulk over how sick this situation could potentially make me. While I was really hopeful that the Knicks would be able to land CP3, realistically I knew it would be difficult, and I was almost relieved when he was traded to the Lakers as I thought it would be the end of the rumors. This probably would have been the best move for the Hornets as they would've scored Luis Scola, Kevin Martin, Lamar Odom, and Goran Dragic, four very talented, diverse players who could really help fill out a roster that's been depleted by free-agency and a lack of time to acquire new players caused by the lockout. The Hornets would've landed several solid contributors, as well as a draft pick to help start over, but as you know the deal was vetoed. And if a Lakers trade was vetoed, why wouldn't a Clippers trade be vetoed? After all it would end up landing Chris Paul in one of the two biggest NBA markets on either team. With that said, Golden State, maybe spend your efforts looking for someone else to trade Monta Ellis for.
At this point I don't know how or if the Hornets will be able to get Paul traded, which is a shame as they could really start rebuilding their team by letting go of their star. It's understandable that the owners are against players using leverage and dictating where their teams trade them, but this almost seemed like the league cutting its nose off despite it's face. Believe me, I don't want to see the Lakers end up landing Paul and still having the potential to bring in Dwight Howard, and maybe this will create some way for the Knicks to get back in the CP3 mix, but I think these trades being vetoed is just the beginning of what will be a long, dragged out saga with Chris Paul and the Hornets.
2) While on the subject of potential Knicks (sort of), Tyson Chandler was Without a Doubt the guy for the Knicks to add this offseason. It would have been sweet if the Knicks were able to bring in Chandler, and still add a point guard, but Chandler will give the Knicks something they haven't had in close to 15 years. Chandler is a relentless rebounder and feared shot-blocker (see LeBron's passiveness in the Finals, yeah I'm giving Chandler partial credit for it!), and at the same time is the perfect athlete for Mike D'Antoni's tempo. Chandler is also a great pick-and-roll defender, and with the teams point guard still to be named (come on, anyone but Mike Bibby), it's good to know that they'll have big Tyson defending the paint and picking up the slack for his other frontcourt-mates.
The marriage of Chandler to the Knicks really works as Chandler will not only help Stat and Melo out on defense, his efforts will allow his star forwards to save more of their energy for the offensive end, where they'll both undoubtedly put in the majority of their energy. Chandler is without a doubt a top-five center in the league, and even higher if you're only talking about defense. Welcome to New York Tyson, now go clog the middle.
3) I'm Really Sick of Dwight Howard's inconsistency. I understand that Dwight's one of the game's nice guys, but you can't go around sending mixed messages day-in and day-out. One day Dwight wants to go wherever Chris Paul is, the next day he's illegally (NBA police are watching) being wined and dined by Nets brass, and then the next it's Orlando thats the place he wants to be for the rest of his career. What gives? Say what you want about Melo, but you knew all along where he wanted to be, and as much as Nuggets fans may dislike him for it, he kept it real. This is one of those situations where keeping it real, really can't go wrong.
Dwight will without a doubt give his all for whatever team he suits up for this season, but please, you know he's not resigning with the Magic. Whether he follows Shaqs suit and goes out West, or comes up North, he won't be with Stan Van Gundy's bickering ass or whatever underachieving wing players who are shying from the moment in Orlando come playoff time. When the long-standing president of the team steps down from his job after drunk-dialing you and begging you to stay, you know that he knows you're gone, and you too know that you're gone.
4) The Miami Heat will Without a Doubt win the NBA Championship in 2012. Who else? The Thunder? The Bulls? Come on, those teams were at least a year away come last spring/summer, and without a chance to really lure in free-agents or build team commodity this offseason, it's the perfect time for LeBron to come back and win his first championship. LeBron and Wade spent the whole summer together, Chris Bosh is ready for a bounce back season, the bench is filling out, they signed do-it-all Shane Battier, I'm not endorsing Eddy Curry at all, but he sounds motivated and definitely lost significant weight (we've heard this before), and they're just ready to start winning.
I'm going to stand by this statement all season, the NBA is without a doubt LeBron James' league. He's the best player in the league, and it's just not logical for the best player to be with another great player and not start winning championships. I think Kevin Durant and Derrick Rose are really giving everything they have to get on LeBron's level, but both are at least a season away. With several amnesties still to be applied, this Heat roster may not be final yet, but with LeBron and Wade, the Heat have enough. This is the year that they prove it.
5) I'm Really Sick of all of the rumors. This past weekend was overload! You just took months of free agency and crammed it into a weekend pretty much. I swear, I must've thought 20 different guys were going to be Knicks this weekend, maybe 2 of them are. I'm glad the NBA is back, but with that said, let's get the season started already!
Season Preview to follow soon...
