Football - General
What game were you watching?
By Dennis Lee
Feb 10, 2007, 15:34

Did you watch the same Super Bowl I did? In the one I watched, the Colts QB, the esteemed laser, rocket arm-ed Peyton Manning did a quite adequate job. Certainly so, as compared to his counterpart. And, as a result of his pedestrian effort, he was routinely granted the MVP trophy for the game and all of its attendant swag (in this case a Cadillac Escalade).

But, in the game I watched, the difference makers were the Colt offensive linemen. Routinely, these five oversized gentlemen - including one rookie pressed into service because of injury - laid waste to the much ballyhooed Chicago Bear DL and LB’s. They opened holes that my grandmother could run through, and gave Mr. Laser Rocket Arm plenty of time to display his excellence.

Yeah, a couple of these guys sullied their performances with stupid holding penalties or a twitch before the snap. But, hey, Manning threw a wounded duck to a DB… isn’t that points off?

The sock puppets on TV were talking about giving a co-MVP award to the Colt RB’s, who did an excellent job. But one has to question: how many yards would they have gained if, say, Ryan Lilja did his job as poorly as Rex Grossman did his? And in the end, everyone caved and gave the trophy to Manning - who - at least in the view of the presenters - managed to win the game all by himself. Those other 10 guys were totally unnecessary.

The sock puppets never seem to see the 5 outsized guys in the middle of the scrum, but they want to ooh and ah over the skinny extroverts that run real fast and occasionally catch what is thrown to them, or the studly guy who barks the signals and flings the ball around, or even the medium-sized guys who tote the rock. How about a little love for the Big Guys?

My vote for the Super Bowl MVP was Jeff Saturday. Here is a guy who gets next to zero recognition from the stuffed suits in the press box, but is totally responsible for getting the play underway. Notice what happened when HIS counterpart screwed up snaps? Two fumbles for Chicago. There were no bobbled snaps for Indy. Last I checked, Saturday had to deal with the same conditions that Pro Bowler Olin Kreutz had on the Chicago side of the line. Saturday had to call the line signals, snap the ball securely to Manning, and then go about removing some large, mobile menace from the running or passing lanes. He did all of the above quite effectively, giving the pretty boys time and room to run, pass, or catch. Did anyone notice?

I did.

I wish more people did. Football is a team game, and there are 11 players on a side at any time. The beauty of football, to me, is the choreography of these 11 men performing their separate tasks to accomplish a group goal. It takes all 11 to work together effectively to win a game, not just the QB or the so-called “skill” players. Don’t even get me started on that one.

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