Favre is a playoff trainwreck. Manning needs at least 3 more giant fuckups to even begin to enter Favre territory.
Nobody underestimates Manning including the Saints hence the aggresive coaching to keep it out of his hands. Don't know what the time of possession was but surely it was to the Saints. Going for the td instead of the fg was brilliant in that regard. Manning gets the ball back inside the five. Coach wins the superbowl, almost goes undefeated and bloggers know more than he does?
It ain't a black or white thing... ...but Caldwell fucked up the game. Caldwell fucked up their season by resting players and not going for a perfect season. Manning is a coach on the field, but there is a problem when Manning is considered the coach of the entire team. I saw a shot of Caldwell in the third quarter following the onside kick going all bug eyes... I knew right there the Colts were going to lose... Coach Payton did a helluva coaching job, just great. No doubt who is in control of that team... Caldwell is not going to take this team to a Super Bowl victory any more than Norv Turner is going to take the Chargers to a Super Bowl victory... Coaching matter, coaching matters, coaching matters... Below is a photo of Caldwell, and then a photo of what Caldwell's eyes looked like after the on side kick below that: <img src=http://www.statesman.com/multimedia/dynamic/00169/Patriots-Colts-Foot_169766k.jpg> <img src=http://farm1.static.flickr.com/90/253680537_c3f7922642.jpg>
It's always AFTER the win that everyone says how brilliant the questionable play calls are. DURING the game at the time of the play call is the context in which to evaluate the brilliance or reckless stupidity. Going for that TD instead of taking the field goal was reckless. That onside kick was just plain stupid because he gambled the entire game on that ONE play. A huge gamble that payed off at a point in the game when it was of relative insignificance (10-6). Stupid
LOL I didn't know the Colts were going to lose right then. I said to myself what a stupid thing for the Saints to do. Caldwell is so passive on sideline it's hard to gauge him or his influence. The Colt's defense lost the game when they lost control of the last 3 quarters. The first quarter they dominated then just shriveled up
Not me, I understood the reasoning right then and there. Payton said they practised the onside kick all week. And I like the td try instead of the fg even though they didn't get in. It was clock management combined with field position.