You may remember that just this past off season, Peyton Manning was released by the Indianapolis Colts in order to make room for #1 overall draft pick Andrew Luck. During the offseason, Manning was courted by various teams who more or less openly admitted that as much as they liked their quarterbacks, they'd rather have Peyton. The 3 teams that were most linked to Manning were the San Francisco 49ers, the Tennessee Titans, the Miami Dolphins, and the Denver Broncos. The Titans and Dolphins were almost immediately out of the picture, but the 49ers remained a potential contender despite head coach Jim Harbaugh had repeatedly talked about his confidence in Alex Smith the past season. All that was for naught however, as Peyton decided to sign with the Denver Broncos, presumably to avoid playing his brother, Eli, on a regular basis.
Two weeks into the regular season, Peyton Manning looks like an idiot for signing with the Broncos over the 49ers as the Niners have absolutely demolished the Packers and Lions while the Broncos struggled to beat the Steelers and lost to the Falcons when Manning threw 3 interceptions in 1 quarter. Some of the more big-mouthed pundits are saying that picking Denver over San Francisco might be the biggest mistake of Manning's career.
They're wrong.
The 49ers are so good because the core of the team has been together for several years now, Michael Crabtree being the newest addition to the core, and that was more than 2 years ago. The 49ers have grown together and because of that, are one unit. Bringing in Manning would disrupt that, no matter how legendary a QB he is. The reason the Broncos aren't off to the hottest start is because the majority of the team has yet to build real chemistry, even though many players came from the Colts and are familiar with Peyton.
So while I ponder what things would be like if Manning were in 49er red instead of Bronco orange, I just remember that sometimes it's nice to have a bunch of losers who become winners. I'm sure Manning will do fine in Denver, but I'd rather have a group with pre-established team chemistry.
Another week done in the NFL, minus the Broncos vs Falcons game tonight where we probably won't learn anything other than both teams are really good in a toss-up showdown. Here's the biggest stories to me:
Rookie Quarterbacks Impress
Last week, only Robert Griffin III had an impressive showing, but this week his fellow rookie QBs Andrew Luck, Ryan Tannehill, Russell Wilson, and Brandon Weeden had much better games. Although Weeden lost his game, it wasn't his fault, the Browns simply have an atrocious offensive line and just plain bad defense. As far as the Redskins' loss, it can be chalked up to Sam Braford finally playing living up to his status as the #1 overall draft pick from a few years ago thanks to the new coaching staff Jeff Fisher brought with him.
How in the Hell are the Eagles 2-0?
Two games, two 1-point victories. In both games, the Eagles turned the ball over like crazzzyyyy. After barely winning against the awful Browns and just barely eking out a win against the Ravens, it looks like either the football gods finally like the Eagles or their competition has been very weak. I'm as puzzled as everyone else is as to why the Eagles are 2-0, and I'm praying for them to finally face a team that will make them pay for allowing so many turnovers.
What the Hell Cowboys?
The Cowboys received a lot of kudos last week after embarrassing the defending Super Bowl champion Giants, but they proceeded to lay an egg visiting the Seattle Seahawks that saw the Cowboys turnover the ball on 3 consecutive possessions, leading to 3 consecutive scores. Brian fart doesn't even begin to describe how awful the Cowboys were. Thanks to how terrible they played, the downright lucky Eagles are the NFC East leaders.
Drew Brees Hasn't Played This Badly Since He Was a Charger
OK, so last week the Saints were thumped by RG3's big debut. Yesterday, they were thumped again by Cam Newton. It's very clear at this point that the Saints are going to be the worst defense in the NFL, allowing nearly 1,000 yards and 80 points in TWO GAMES. Steve Spagnuolo is a very good defensive coordinator, so i can't explain why the Saints are just so terrible at defense this year. But even with bad defense, the Packers only lost 1 game last year and the Patriots made the Super Bowl. The reason the Saints won't even make the playoffs this year is because Drew Brees hasn't played this awful since the San Diego Chargers declined to re-sign him as afree agent.
The 49ers Aren't Being Talked About Because There's Nothing to Criticize
Alex Smith hasn't thrown an interception since Thanksgiving last year. Frank Gore and Kendall Hunter are eviscerating teams' rushing defense. The 49ers still haven't allowed a rushing touchdown at San Francisco in nearly 2 years. The defense held Matthew Stafford to 1 touchdown last night and got an interception, while also preventing Calvin Johnson from getting 100 receiving yards. David Akers continues to kick super long distance field goals while making it look easy. It's a bit much to call the team flawless, but............. there's flat out nothing wrong with the team.
It's a very scary thought, but the most impressive teams on the 49ers' schedule are actually the NFC West rivals. Although I do believe the 49ers will sweep the Rams, The Seahawks and Cardinals have an incredible wild card factor. The first game for the Hawks and Cards were against each other in a very close contest, while yesterday the Hawks defeated the Cowboys and the Cards shocked the Patriots AT NEW ENGLAND. Next week will determine how hard the 49ers' schedule actually is as the Seahawks host the Packers on Monday Night and the Cardinals host the lucky Eagles.
Yes, we torture ourselves nearly every year spending so much time talking about the NFL when there are no games being played. There are 26 weeks of football played every year, 21 of them being competitive. Yes, nearly half of the year contains football being played, but the other half....... oh my God it is so torturous hearing endless speculation about trades and draft picks.
But all that is over now, and now we can talk about the biggest storylines from the first week in the NFL.
You Don't Mess with Texas
Both Texas teams were awesome in their first games. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones declared that his team would kick the Giants' asses and most people laughed it off. But once last Wednesday rolled along, they did exactly as instructed and embarrassed the defending Super Bowl champions at their house. On Sunday, the Houston Texans continued to show that they are a legitimate team now by annihilating the Miami Dolphins 30-10. The Texans greatly impressed last season even with their 3rd string QB, but with Matt Schaub back, this team looks like a favorite in the AFC.
Robert Griffin III is for Real, Saints are Not
40 points. The Washington Redskins scored forty points against the New Orleans Saints in New Orleans. The loss of Gregg Williams and Sean Payton was very noticeable, the Saints coaching staff looking completely lost and inferior to Mike Shanahan's oft-criticized Redskin coaching. Drew Brees also played exactly like he did in the playoff game against the 49ers last season, throwing interceptions like crazy, including one Hail Mary that was intercepted at the end of the game. This looks to be one hell of a season to be a Redskins fan and a very long season to be a Saints fan, even with Bountygate (mostly) over.
Tebow Who?
The New York Jets scored 48 points. Mark Sanchez was so sublime in his dismantling of the Buffalo Bills that when Tebow came out to play, he was received with a chorus of boos. Quarterback controversy over.
The 49ers Look Unstoppable
So let's this straight: The 49ers defense made Aaron Rodgers look merely average, Alex Smith was finding open targets all day with his new WR corps, and kicker David Akers has now entered NFL lore with his legendary 63 yard field goal. A team with no visible weaknesses against a Green Bay Packers team with one of the best offenses last year and worst defense ever? OK, yes this was really the biggest defensive test for the 49ers, but this is the same Packers team that was eviscerated by Eli Manning last year en route to a Super Bowl. Sometimes, there is a lot to learn from teams that can totally embarrass horrible defenses.
Peyton Manning Ain't Dead Yet
Manning is finally back and yes he's still good. There was a lot of concern over his neck and whether or not he'd be the same old Peyton, but he reassured fans (and fantasy football players) with a sublime performance against the Pittsburgh Steelers. Meanwhile, the Steelers' #1 defense from last year took a giant hit, even though they were against Manning. It's safe to say that the Steelers will probably not be as good as they were last year, which is saying a lot since their defense was eviscerated by Tim Tebow last year.
Ordinarily, I'd post the first trailer to this, but it's 14 minutes long and I'd rather talk about the story implications of this.
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is a sequel to Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, which took place in November 1974. What we know about Ground Zeroes' story is that it most likely takes place mere days or weeks after Peace Walker since Chico has not visibly aged and Paz is described as having recently been found by fishermen in Belize. Furthermore, reference is given that the UN will soon be conducting a nuclear inspection on MSF/Outer Heaven's Mother Base. The villains of this story are a mysterious organization known as XOF that uses a mirror image of the defunct-FOX logo as their emblem. In the demo shown, they are keeping Chico and Paz prisoner at Camp Omega, an American military base on the southern tip of Cuba, obviously an analogue to Guantanamo Bay.
Hideo Kojima has stated that Ground Zeroes serves as a prologue to Metal Gear Solid 5, implying that there will be at least 3 Metal Gear games coming in the future, possibly 4 if Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance is successful. With the announcement of Ground Zeroes, it also raises the number of Metal Gear games that Big Boss is the main character in to tie him with Solid Snake. Kojima has said that Snake's story is not over, so will MGS5 potentially be a game that has you play as both Big Boss and Solid Snake in different time periods? Or will MGS5 turn out to be similar to how MGS4 is a direct sequel to MGS2, but MGS3 introduced several concepts and characters to the series?
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes is set to be released on current-gen consoles as the debut of the new Fox Engine.
