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]]> http://feeds.washingtonpost.com/click.phdo?i=acb1dda04dedb27546db51eddbc13dec http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-league/post/this-blog-is-no-longer-active/2012/02/22/gIQAn04yTR_blog.html?wprss=rss_the-league http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-league/post/this-blog-is-no-longer-active/2012/02/22/gIQAn04yTR_blog.html?wprss=rss_the-league http://www.washingtonpost.com/Fragment/SysConfig/WebPortal/twpweb/rss/mobile/blog-entry.jpp?id=1000.3.2982241567 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-league/post/this-blog-is-no-longer-active/2012/02/22/gIQAn04yTR_blog.html?wprss=rss_the-league http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-league/post/this-blog-is-no-longer-active/2012/02/22/gIQAn04yTR_blog.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-league/post/this-blog-is-no-longer-active/2012/02/22/gIQAn04yTR_search.html 1000.3.2982241567 80ed83fe-5da6-11e1-94c2-7ff6a9d226f7 National Football League Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:45:31 EST Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:48:08 EST 20120222224808 The Washington Post /WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/the-league/201202/inactive.xml /WashingtonPost/Content/Blogs/the-league/201202/inactive.xml BlogStory BlogStory The Washington Post

The 2011 NFL season may be over, but it’s hard to tell with all the football coverage out there. From Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck, to Eli’s “elite” status, and free agency, if it weren’t for Linsanity, ESPN could be mistaken for the NFL Network. But why this glut of coverage more than a week after the Super Bowl’s final whistle? It’s easy to say that the NFL and media nurture hype for profit and ratings, but the answer also is in football’s DNA.

Now that the Super Bowl is over, do you remember the NFL lockout? Me neither. Instead, I’ve been Tebowing about these five things:

1) When did NFL fame become more about off-field drama than winning?

Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Tim Tebow walk into a bar. That’s a either a joke or a headline, and then there would be a half-hour documentary on three different networks — “The Ballad of Tom Brady and Yoko Bundchen.”

Ten thoughts on the New York Giants’ Super Bowl XLVI triumph.

1) Was it just me, or did Sunday’s game feel a little off until the Giants’ fourth quarter touchdown drive? It just didn’t have the feel of a Super Bowl, or at least not the feel of a memorable one. That isn’t to say that the Giants’ game-winning drive wasn’t remarkable, or that anyone should be disappointed by a game that literally came down to the last play, but it just didn’t have the feel of the biggest game of the year.

Two throws with two totally different outcomes in the waning seconds of Super Bowl XLVI helped the New York Giants topple the New England Patriots once again.

On second and 11 with 4:06 remaining in the game, Tom Brady threw a 23-yard pass to Wes Welker, which Welker uncharacteristically dropped. How uncharacteristic? The All-Pro only dropped five passes all year, including the playoffs, none on a throw more than 10 yards downfield.

If you are a fan of a bad NFL team, Super Bowl Sunday is a particularly bleak day on the calendar.

While it is festive in the ways that all national holidays are festive with friends, food and fun, you know that buried deep inside the joy of this great party lurks a football game that does not involve your team.

No doubt you’re getting together with friends to watch the Super Bowl. Here are a few of the interesting subplots and finer points to the Big Game for your cocktail chatter.

10. Can we please start counting Super Bowls with regular numbers? The Roman numeral thing has gotten ridiculous.

Five quarterbacks were chosen in the first round that year, and the dreaded ‘Can’t-Miss’ label was given to several of them. Only McNabb — and, Daunte Culpepper, briefly — fulfilled their promise and all five suffered ignominious ends to their careers. Here, in all their infamy and in order that they were drafted, is the story of the 1999 NFL Quarterback Draft Class....

Can the Patriots’ offensive line neutralize the Giants’ fierce pass rush? Will Rob Gronkowski be as effective on a bad ankle? Will the Patriots’ young secondary hold its own against the likes of Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz?

Here are 12 fearless predictions for Super Bowl XLVI.

1. Tom Brady will throw for more than 300 yards, including three touchdown passes. After one of them, one of the announcers will inform us that he is married to a supermodel because some of us might have forgotten that despite being reminded repeatedly during the pregame show.

The Circle City, Nap Town, or just Indy has been used for years by Indianapolis natives, but I like the moniker British writer Simon Veness gave us: The City of Dreams.

Indianapolis and I grew up together. I was thirteen when the infamous Mayflower trucks brought the Colts to Indy in 1984. Indy was growing up, too, as the Hoosier Dome indicated. Every Sunday we Colts faithful put on our blue jerseys and cheered for our team, even when losing was the norm. It would, we understood, be worth the wait, and we were so right. In the decades since then, Market Square Arena gave way to a new field house, and the RCA Dome was replaced by the house that Peyton Manning built, Lucas Oil Stadium. At 40, I am filled with pride at this, my city of dreams, which is now the ultimate host of Super Bowl XLVI.

1) Let me be the last to say that there is absolutely no legitimate reason for a two-week layoff between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl. None whatsoever. It’s not as if the NFL needs the additional week to hype the game or to try to encourage more people to watch. They already had us at hello. Barring people who were scheduled to undergo surgery last Sunday, or those who were scheduled to perform such surgery, there is not a single individual who will watch the game this Sunday who wouldn’t have watched it last Sunday.

These are legitimate conversations in New England, where the local bar has an “In Bill we trust” bumper sticker behind the tequila.. If the Patriots win, it will mean they have been to five Super Bowls and won four in 11 years.

Let’s face it, the NFL playoffs are a crapshoot. We all know that you need a great quarterback to get you to the playoffs on a consistent basis. But when it comes down to wins and losses in January, a quarterback or team simply needs a good dose of good fortune.