Mad Stork Sports on ScatterRadio Podcast For 9-12-12

The Yankees, Orioles, and week one of NFL Football
were all big topics of conversation on this show,
so if you happened to miss it on ScatterRadio on
Wednesday, here it is:



Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Manning, Rodgers, Brady & Montana

Getty Images

Aaron Rodgers: There is an expression that goes something
like this: "he's getting too big for his britches", and
you can probably apply that to Aaron Rodgers who's gotta
still be feeling the effects of looking like Brett Favre
against the Giants in a home playoff loss at Lambeau.
I am all for making the Pro Bowl a better game, but when
you hear Rodgers say: "I was a little bit disappointed.
I felt like some of the guys on the NFC side embarrassed
themselves....", it makes you wonder if maybe his helmet
is on a little too tight. Loosen up Aaron.

Peyton Manning: Bart Hubbuch of the NY Post tweeted this
earlier: "Peyton Manning made no guarantees last week
about his health, then says this week that he expects to
be cleared. What changed in six days?", and I have to
agree, that is an excellent question, what changed?
You can find Burt at @NYPost_Hubbuch. I'm sure that this
off season will be a little more atomic than just Andrew
Luck, and RG III

Tom Brady & Joe Montana: Monte Poole of the Oakland Tribune
wrote a column and makes a case for Tom Brady being better
than Joe Montana. You buy it? He bring up great points,
but it seems almost sacrilege. Even though he makes a great
point at times I still feel like I would want Joe over Tom
if the chips were on the line. How about you?


Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Time To Give Eli Manning His Due

AP Photo

I couldn't help but notice how many NFL analysts
and announcers were almost going out of there way
to proclaim Eli Manning as an Elite quarterback
yesterday. By that I don't mean that they were
saying he was a "GREAT" quarterback, I mean they were
all making it a point to use the word "ELITE".

To me this was a clear indication that the fact that
many of you, and even some of them didn't believe he
deserved that title, was a thought that was out there.
The ESPN Twitter feed even Tweeted this after the game:

Eli Manning’s Career Playoff Victims: Aaron Rodgers,
Matt Ryan, Tom Brady, Brett Favre, Tony Romo, Jeff Garcia

You can't help but notice that, that is quite the list,
and that "if" he wins the Super Bowl again this season
this he will either add Joe Flacco to that list or double
up on Tom Brady, and the latter is even more impressive.
For those of you who for years have been of the school
that Peyton is so much better than Eli, and I was one of
you, I will go on record as saying that is has reached the
point that Peyton is still better, but by very, little.
Thing is "if" he does go on to win that Super Bowl, he
will have two titles, and be two for two, whereas Peyton
will have just one, and be one for two.

I've said this before, and it's always worth repeating:
perception is reality, and since Eli does not come off
as one of the more cerebral players in the league, the
initial impression is that he's dumb, and he has clearly
shown that, that is the furthest thing form the truth.
No matter how much you try and avoid that sort of thinking
we are all guilty of it at some point. I guess that works
the other why too. It's probably why I think that Heisman
Trophy winner RG III is going to be a great pro. he is so
polished and well versed ion front of the camera, that he
leads you to believe that he is bright, in command, and
destined for success.

Anyway you want to slice this, he's earned it. I mentioned
in an earlier piece that I wasn't very impressed with the
breaking of Dan Marino's record by Drew Brees, as much as
I think he's a great Quarterback, because of how much both
Wide receivers and Quarterbacks receive these days as opposed
to when Marino broke the record, and yet in the same breath
I will tell you that he finished 67 yards shy of 5000 yards,
and 543 behind Brees, even though Brees had 68 more passing
attempts than Eli, about two games worth really of you figure
the typical QB throws about 34 passes per game. Just for fun
though, if you take that many attempts and multiply it by his
completion percentage, then Eli would have only finished a
mere 223 yards behind Brees, but that's all just speculation,
and theory. What isn't speculation and theory is that Eli is
still in this thing and Drew and that guy named Tebow are home
getting all healed up for next season. Time to step up, Eli
has more than arrived and Giants fans as well as fans around
the league need to now understand what they have.

Is Breaking The Marino Record Impressive?

NFL.com Illustration

There is no question that the record broken by Drew
Brees for the single season passing yards established
by Dan Marino in 1984 is more than impressive.
However, the one thing that comes to mind when you
look at the fact that it was a broken not once but
twice this year and by 2 different quarterbacks and a
third was with in 40 yards of it is the question that
gets asked quite a bit about Quarterbacks these days:
Are they starting to put skirts on these quarterbacks?

In this particular instance when I say skirts I don't
mean just the fact that you can't hit a quarterback
below the knees, above the shoulders, at a certain time
of a day, but also the fact that cornerbacks can barely
even look at a wide receiver let alone defend them.
Make no mistake about it, What Brees, and Brady did this
year as well what Matthew Stafford almost did is still
very impressive. These are all very good quarterbacks,
but although I will wait before I say that Stafford is
ready to them in the elite status company, and yet it
is still impressive nonetheless.

The old saying goes "records are meant to be broken" and
usually when they are most of us are impressed, that being
said when three, or four guys are in line to break the same
record, you have to ask yourself is there something wrong
here? Has the playing field changed? I for one think it
has, and add another old saying goes on to say "defense wins
championships", and though points are sexy I myself would not
mind seeing a little defense once in awhile. I myself grew
up in an era were bump and run play was very prevalent, so
maybe it's not just time to take the skirts off of some of
these quarterbacks but to take them off of some of these wide
receivers as well. though you don't want see anybody get
seriously hurt or hospitalized, keep in mind that a hard hit
every once in a while is part of the game. I mean it is still
American football, right?


Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Elite NFL QB's: Not Such A Long List

Getty Images(3)

Depending on the results you get every Sunday the
chatter is constantly changing for a handful of so
called "Elite" Quarterbacks, but after taking a
close look at the starting QB's at present in the
NFL today, the fact remains that there is NO top
ten. Not if you want elites. If you just want to
round off your list, well that's a different story,
but if you want a list of QB's that you would feel
could win you a game if you needed it, then here
they are, and keep in mind that they are NOT in any
particular order, because the truth is that we all
differ in our point of view, but here's a list that
I doubt anyone could question.

1. Tom Brady
1. Ben Roethlisberger
1. Peyton Manning
1. Philip Rivers*
1. Eli Manning
1. Aaron Rodgers
1. Drew Brees

* No Super Bowl Ring

That's it ! No one else! There isn't a single solitary
name worthy of making this list that isn't already on here.
Wanna feel better that your guy wasn't left out, well below
is a list of honorable mentions, but they are NOT elite.
Cry, moan and groan, all you want, but the fact remains
that if your life was on the line, you wouldn't want any
of these guys slinging the rock for you. You're welcome to
disagree. In case you lost track of all the one's I put
there, remember no particular order, you can have fun doing
that yourself, there are SEVEN on that list, 21.875%

32. Matt Schaub **
32. Carson Palmer **
32. Tony Romo **
32. Michael Vick **
32. Jay Cutler **
32. Matt Ryan **

** Not even a Super Bowl appearance

If you combine both lists, you get a total of 13 QB's or
less than 50% of the league, which means that the rest of
the league is playing with a QB that is clearly less than
all that. Yes, there are a few winning QB's off that list,
but just because your team is winning games, it doesn't
mean you can be depended on when the game is in your hands.

Tweet Don't Believe In Plays, Believe In Players - Al Davis

Can The 2011 Packers Succeed Where The 2007 Patriots Failed?

I can't believe this question hasn't been asked more
often than it has. After all the Packers are the
defending Super Bowl Champs, and in 2006 the Patriots
weren't. Green Bay's Aaron Rodgers might also be
having as good a year thus far as Brady did in 2007.
Brady threw for 4,800 yards that season, and Rodgers
in on pace for 5,100. Brady threw for 50 TD's and
Rodgers is also on pace for 50 Touchdowns. Brady got
picked off only eight times in 07 while Rodgers is on
pace for only a shade over 5 interceptions for this
entire season.

The question you may ask yourself though is: Will
they go the Peyton Manning, Colts route and sit the
final game or two if it means nothing in the way of
seed or clinching the division, or will they go
after it hard like the Belichick and the Pats did?
The Packers toughest games are three out of their
next four games, where they to Detroit, on a short
week on Thanksgiving night, and then to New York to
visit the Giants on extended rest the week after
that Thursday night tilt. Detroit is no pushover
this season, but they have looked very human and
less than that since losing to the Niners in their
own building, and getting crushed by the Bears just
yesterday. Still it will be one of their very few
tough games remaining. Beyond those two, I would
like to believe that their matchup against the
Raiders might offer them a tough time, but at
Lambeau in December, maybe not. They will face the
Bears and Lions again in the last two weeks, but
both of those games are at home, and we still don't
know whether or not they will care enough to try.

No one in the AFC shows me that they are ready to
dethrone Green Bay should the Packers make it that
far, but it has been a crazy season at times, and
yes "On Any Given Sunday", anything can happen.

After tonight's drubbing of the Vikes the talk should
definitely start to heat up, the only question is:
Will they play along? I think they do, too much
tradition there to not want to add that to the trophy
case as well.



Tweet Thank You Al Davis !