Brady vs. Manning

There's been a hip trend among the new revolution of sport bloggers to turn their backs on Bill Simmons - even though it's obvious his influence has spread to many of these same people. I've never stopped reading his articles, but after opening up his latest piece preparing for the Brady/Manning showdown, I couldn't even finish the whole thing. I'm not even a Colts fan, and I've been rooting for the Patriots in the Super Bowls, but his anti-Peyton rhetoric just got out of hand. And it's not his fault, he's a diehard Pats fan. I get it.

But I'm realizing that what make this new revolution of independent sports writers so great, is a double edge sword. The fan's perspective is infused with passion and originality, but lacks objectivity. To make it work, the fan usually provides enough self-depricating comments to balance out the bias...but Simmons has strayed away from that. He titled his column: I really hate the Colts. And his argument comes down to he hates that people think Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks ever.

So I took a great pleasure in watching the Colts beat the Patriots, and doing so by doing everything Simmons said wouldn't happen.

His 4 predictions about the game:

• You can't beat a great team in a big game if you can't stop the run.
• Vinatieri would prove to be a costly addition to the Colts.
• Manning can't win a big game.
• You shouldn't go against Brady in a big game.

1. The Colts didn't stop the run. Still won the game.
2. Gostowski missed a big FG (2/3), but Vinatieri missed 2 big ones (2/4). The last one even gave new life to the Pats.
3. Manning kept the offense moving, and played well. Not perfect. But really well.
4. Golden boy Brady had 4 picks, no scores, and didn't come through in the clutch.

Now I already know how he's going to respond. He'll say something about how "I don't want to bring up the refs" even though that's what he's doing, and then claim that this is just an example of a regular season game. And that Manning won't come through in the playoffs. Nevermind that throughout his column, Simmons refers to this game as a big game. And that the Colts went to Foxborough and beat them 40-21 last year, as well.

This is no criticism of the Patriots or Brady. But you can't deny that Manning is good, no matter who you root for. Debate over.