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Just watched the Ravens Broncos game and WOW did the Broncos give that one away. I really can't believe that with 31 seconds left in regulation and two timeouts that John Fox elected to play for OT. You have Peyton Manning as your qb. Gotta trust him in that spot. You could argue that they should never have been in that spot due to officiating and horrific defensive play and you would be right. If our game is tied with 30 seconds left and 2 timeouts left would anyone be happy with Smitty playing for overtime?

Btw Peyton Manning played like s*** too. From September through December I think he's the best qb in the league. But in January there are many I would take in his place.

Smitty did the same thing in 2010 in the Steeler game.

Clearly, I need to re-watch the game because I don't think Manning played poorly at all. That final INT was a bad decision/throw, but other than that, I don't see a lot to criticize Manning for. Fox ran the ball an awful lot on 3rd downs throughout that game, taking it out of Manning's hands.

I think this is the Broncos lost, so we now have to sit here and find ways to blame the QB, as opposed to just looking at the game and realizing the QB had very little to do with why they lost.

They got 2 special teams TDs and held a 7-point lead with a minute left in the game, and they wound up losing this game. That is one of the biggest chokejobs I can imagine in recent history. I don't put that on Manning at all, that's all on John Fox. If you get 1 ST TD, teams are supposed to win those games like 80% of the time. 2, and I'm betting the number is like 98%. Throw in the TD lead with a minute to go, I'm sure teams win those games 99.8% of the time.

I agree. This was a team effort in defeat. The defense played like a high school team (I am looking at you supposedly HOF Champ Bailey), Fox taking the ball out of Manning's hands and on and on. The Ravens didn't win this game as much as the Broncos lost it. Personally I hate watching these types of games, because they are so frustrating. I would say Fox will learn from this, but I doubt he will change.


I wonder if this game has taken some of the luster off of McCoy as a HC.


One final thing that I should add that Manning had only a small part of the blame is they scored 35 points and still lost. If a team gives up 20 to 25 points and loses, then IMO the defense is to blame.

4 main things lost that game for denver. Going conservative with about a minute thirty left and not letting Manning toss it on 3rd down, that unbelievable long td they gave up to tie it with thirty secs left, not trying to go down the field with thirty left and two timeouts (at this point I'm wondering why did you go get manning if you're not gonna trust him). NE certainly wouldn't have done that to Brady. Finally, that pick by manning finally setup the field position baltimore needed to kick that fg. More of a denver choke than bal win imo. But manning did play well for the most part, I'd blame it more on conservative coaching that cost them. You can't play scared and win, it almost never works. On that note, ATL needs to come out gun blazing today.

Ok, I was exaggerating when I said manning played like s***. I was not trying to say he cost them the game. If they don't get the ball thrown over their heads at the end of the game he never has a chance to throw that pick. However, he still doesn't play the way he does from sep. to dec. in the playoffs. No way he throws a pick like that in a regular season game. Btw I really like peyton manning, he has been one of my favorite players to watch throughout the years. Just a painful way to end the season.

Not trying to call you out Shooter, but did Manning play "uncharacteristic" yesterday? I think he had his "normal" game. What was uncharacteristic was that the Denver secondary that had played very well all year long played like crap. And John Fox, the guy that I've called too conservative for his own good, I think got too conservative for his own good.

It goes back to teams winning. You saw Baltimore play well as a team. Flacco had a good game, Torrey Smith looked good. They were able to get good contribution from Ray Rice, get multiple TOs, and they pressured Manning (3 sacks), basically doing all the things they needed to do to pull the upset. The only "wrench" was the 2 ST TDs. The fact that the Ravens were able to overcome that shows resiliency, but I also agree it was the Broncos losing it more than the Ravens winning it. But when you're going to be a 4, 5, or 6 seed like Baltimore and make a deep run, you almost always get/need a game where you get some breaks.

They also got most of the calls from the refs, which also helped. If I'm a Bronco fan, I'm disgusted right now. Rahim Moore, John Fox, and the refs are probably drawing most of my ire. Manning doesn't even factor in my thoughts one bit.

We manufacture this narrative that when a team wins, the QB inspired and led his team to play at a high level, and when they lose it was a failure on that leadership. That is a big steaming pile of BS.

Like the story will be Joe Flacco was awesome, and I don't deny he played well, and definitely earned a "W." But the reality is that he threw 2 prayers in that game. On one, the S was out of position and they got a fluke TD. He did it again later and it should have been picked, but the defender dropped the ball. But those facts won't be added to the narrative, because they don't jibe with the story we want to tell. The narrative we want to tell is that Flacco is a great leader. When the cold, hard reality is that Flacco is a great vertical passer and that proved to be the difference in the game. Leadership and poise had nothing to do with it.

Doesn't Flacco generally play better in post season than regular season?

Another "note to Smitty": Thanks for not playing as "unconservative" as Pete Carroll.