Sports Then and Now

Peyton Manning will retire as a two–time Super Bowl champion.

Despite rumors in recent days that he wasn’t ready to hang up his cleats, multiple media outlets are now reporting that Peyton Manning will indeed announce his retirement on Monday after 17 NFL seasons.

While the 2015 season included some chinks in Manning’s tightly constructed public persona, you cannot argue Manning’s overall success on the field and that he will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history.

Regardless of whether you think the Broncos won Super Bowl 50 in spite of Manning, rather than because of him, on the football field he was able to finish in a way that everyone dreams of, as a Super Bowl Champion.

Critics of Manning seemingly took pleasure in pointing out that his 2015 season with just 9 touchdowns and 17 interceptions was among the worst-ever for a Super Bowl quarterback. They seemed to have forgotten that for his fist 16 seasons Manning was a quarterback with few statistical equals.

During each of his first 16 NFL seasons, Manning tossed at least 26 touchdown passes every year, including nine seasons with 30+ touchdowns and an NFL record 55 touchdowns in 2013. He will retire as the NFL career leader with 539 career touchdown passes and 71, 940 career passing yards.

He also will go down as one of the greatest regular season winners in NFL history having led his teams to 10+ victory seasons 14 times and boasting a regular season winning percentage above 70%.

There is no doubt that the competitor in Manning wanted to come back and finish his career with another high-quality regular season. However, given that he will be 40 years old later this month and struggled with multiple injuries over the last year and a half, in the end sticking around really wasn’t a practical option.

Much like Brett Favre five years ago, Manning is having a hard time walking away. However, unlike Favre, Manning is going out with his second Super Bowl trophy in hand. Read the rest of this entry →

There was no surprise in the selection of Brett Favre for the 2016 Pro Football Hall of Fame class.

Between 2000 and 2009, the selection committee for the Pro Football Hall of Fame chose for induction a grand total of 54 former player, coaches and league officials. You might think that number reflects exclusivity and ensuring only the “best of the best” are recognized with the highest honor for the sport. However, in a sport with 32 teams and more than 1,600 players every year, the reality was that the committee left a lot of deserving players waiting in the wings.

Because of that, over the last seven years the committee has been playing catch-up. Where a class of six or seven was once an exception (only nine times between 1970 and 2009), every class since 2010 has included at least six inductees and with the addition of eight new members for 2016, there have now been consecutive classes of eight for the first time since 1967 and 1968. Since 2010, 50 former players, coaches and contributors have been selected for the Hall of Fame.

I applaud the current committee for recognizing the mistakes of the past and continuing to grow the HOF, but even with their larger classes there continues to be questions and confusing decisions.

When Brett Favre finally retired (for the last time) following the 2010 season, there was little doubt that he would be a member of the 2016 Hall of Fame class. The other seven people who will join Favre in Canton this August include a few more surprises.

Perhaps the most disheartening thing about the Class of 2016 is that both of the senior selections, Dick Stanfel and Ken Stabler, are not alive to enjoy their day in the sun. Both died within a month of each other during the summer of 2015.

What is especially frustrating is that both players have been eligible for the HOF for decades and in fact had both previously been finalists.

One of my biggest disappointments with the HOF has always been the high number of former players or coaches who wait sometimes for as many as 50 years after they have retired before they get selected.

You would think that if someone is “Hall of Fame worthy” they would be inducted within a reasonable time after retirement, but unfortunately that hasn’t always been the case.
Read the rest of this entry →

Losing Tony Romo to a broken collarbone twice in the 2015 season derailed the season for the Dallas Cowboys.

Football is a tough sport. Injuries are a constant part of the game that can even occur on the practice field when players aren’t even giving it their all. That’s the nature of a contact sport with strong guys that can weigh in at a solid 300 pounds.

But the 2015 season was riddled with hundreds of injuries that sidelined just as many players. Experts are blaming the onslaught of injuries, many of which happened early in the season, on overuse. It’s a result of football teams training and/or playing almost year round.

Past injuries were also a hot topic. One of the biggest stories of 2015 was the NFL concussion lawsuit settlement that is now being appealed. The settlement would pay a total of $1 billion to 20,000 plaintiffs that suffered brain trauma while playing in the NFL.

Let’s check in on how players with some of the most serious injuries this season are recovering.

Ricardo Lockette’s Possible Career-Ending Neck Injury

Mid-way through the NFL season, Seattle Seahawk’s wide receiver Ricardo Lockette suffered one of the scariest injuries of the year. In an interview with Sports Illustrated, Lockette said that he was extremely dazed after a hard hit and felt completely numb. He ultimately had to have neck surgery for the disc and ligament damage that he suffered. Lockette felt normal mentally after surgery, but he then began a long physical rehab process that started with just walking down a hall. It’s still uncertain where he’ll be at the beginning of the 2016 season. Read the rest of this entry →

Though Peyton Manning is closing quickly, Brett Favre is currently the NFL’s career leader for passing yards.

In your quest to find a reliable betting strategy, you will be best served to look for betting systems that work over a long period of time. In the NFL, that is not an easy thing to do given the likelihood of major injuries and inconsistent play from the stars of the game. Consistency is always the key when selecting a betting strategy from a short list of betting systems that work.

The value of consistency can best be represented by looking at the football career of quarterback Brett Favre. He currently sits at the top of the list for career passing yards (71,838) with Peyton Manning zeroing in on the record with 71,215 yards. Favre also sits in second position for career touchdown passes with 508, second only to Manning’s amazing 537.

Brett Favre was drafted as the third pick in the second round by the Atlanta Falcons on 1991. He was anything but a darling to Falcons Head Coach Jerry Glanville who claimed from the beginning that Favre would just rot on the bench before he would ever play him. Of course, Favre did himself no favors when he threw four passes as a Falcon for zero completions and two interceptions, of which one was returned for a touchdown.

In the off-season, the Green Bay Packers saw Favre as the best alternative to its QB problems when compared to players available in the 1992 draft. They traded the team’s number one pick (19th overall) to acquire the man who would go on to become a legend in Green Bay.

As a testament to his durability and consistency, Favre played in 255 straight games for the Packers between 1992 and 2007. He then went on to play 16 straight for the New York Jets in 2008 and 29 straight with the Minnesota Vikings between 2009 and 2010 before succumbing to injury and retirement. Read the rest of this entry →

The Colts fake punt was one of the many odd plays so far in the 2015 season.

Sports are so much more volatile today. It seems that in years past, players performed more consistently, dynasties lasted longer, and upsets were few and far between. But today’s NFL is anything but predictable. Some teams overachieve, others fall short. Players are full of surprises. And it’s anyone’s guess who will be hoisting the Lombardi trophy come February.

So the ability to view as many games as possible is quite the gift these days. If you hear an update that suggests something bizarre is about to take place, it’s amazing to be able to jump to another channel and get right in on the action. Sure, it will all air on highlights later, but the element of surprise and the chance to watch it live is unparalleled.

There are quite a few reasons why you might be kicking yourself if you don’t have DIRECTV Sunday Ticket or some kind of way to view any game at any time. If you still don’t get on the horn after reading this, you’ll be kicking yourself all season.

Fantasy Sports

Let’s just get right to the point. This hobby has become hugely popular. It is lots of fun, because it gives you the potential for bragging rights over not just your friends, but over coaches and GM’s who might have traded, released, or not drafted a player who you think can be successful.

And thanks to popular fantasy websites like Fan Duel and Draft Kings, you can actually win money with your immense knowledge.

So you’ve got to follow the games, not just to find the outcomes of matchups where your potential victories are involved, but also to scout players and teams to see what you will want to do for the next week. With a full-league television option, you’ll never miss a thing. Read the rest of this entry →

Today’s Sports Then and Now blog remembers the late Reggie White.

An ordained pastor and Pro Football Hall of Fame lineman, this NFL defender brilliantly embodied his fitting Minister of Defense nickname.

During a storied 15-year NFL career, the Minister of Defense delivered his football version of a fire and brimstone sermon by dominating opposing offenses.

Whenever Reggie White set foot on the football field, he constantly administered defensive pressure. And, when away from the gridiron, he tirelessly catered to the needs of inner-city youth and those less fortunate through his work as a Christian minister.

NFL.com rated White as the #7 NFL player of all-time, and ESPN Sports Nation named him the greatest player in Philadelphia Eagles history. His storied career validates their lofty choices.

White graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1984 after being named SEC Player of the Year during his senior season. The Minister of Defense then played two years in the now defunct USFL with the Memphis Showboats, earning the 1985 USFL Man of the Year Award.

After the USFL folded, White proceeded to the NFL and starred for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1985 – 1992. Read the rest of this entry →