wistahpatsfan said:
Considering how he's held the team together through all the doomsday injuries and the patchwork O-line, for him to be leading the league in passing and winning the division is unbelievable. How can Manning be "neck-and-neck" when his team has enjoyed a relatively injury-free season and the first game they have to sit some guys, he screws the pooch?
Brady:
One of the toughest schedules in the NFL this season, bar none.
Manning:
Creampuff schedule, factually the second easiest schedule in the league.
Edge: Brady
Brady:
Injuries to many offensive starters including 2 starting TEs, two starting LTs, a starting RT, a starting C, three starting RBs and his second and third WRs both missing time at points this season.
Manning:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but none of Manning's weapons have missed a considerable amount of time and his OL has mostly been healthy all season.
Edge: Brady.
Brady: Had to make up for a severly ailing defense that sports fewer active DBs than DBs on the IR and injury list. Significant players on the DL and LB corps have missed time due to injury (Seymour, Bruschi).
Manning: From what I've heard Mathis and Freeney have been a bit dinged at times, but have not missed alot of time, and in highlights I've been hearing the same LB and DB names all season long.
Edge: Brady.
And after those two sets of circumstances we end up with the following stats for each player:
Tom Brady: 3888 yards, 493 attempts with 313 completions, 23 TDs with 12 INTs and a long of 71 for a 93.3 QB rating.
Peyton Manning: 3626 yards, 439 attempts with 295 completions, 28 TDs with 10 INTs and a long of 80 for a 104.3 QB rating.
Brady actually has more yards with only 5 fewer TDs and only 2 more INTs.
All this while Brady has had an injured Corey Dillon, an injured Kevin Faulk, an injured Patrick Pass, and Heath Evans as his Runningback. Peyton has had a healthy Edgerin James.
Nevermind that Troy Brown, Daniel Graham, Ben Watson and David Givens have missed time leaving only Deion Branch healthy while Marvin Harrison, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, and Brandon Stokely have all been available to Peyton.
The true clincher for Brady is that he's put up those numbers and won his division despite a defense that has led to a -8 turnover ratio while Peyton has been able to work with a defense that has led to a +11 turnover ratio.
To this point in the season the Patriots are -8 with only 14 takeaways (9 INT, 5 FUM) and 22 giveaways (13 INT -only 12 are Brady's-, 9 FUM). The Colts are +11 with 25 takeaways (15 INT, 10 FUM) and 14 giveaways (8 INT, 6 FUM). If the Patriots had forced 25 turnovers, they'd be +3 and most likely have a better record than 9-5. But that's an "if" and a "but".
We can only speculate what the Patriots would have done with the Colts luck on the injury front and creamy puffy schedule. We can only guess what the Colts would look like right now if they'd faced the adversity that the Patriots have in 2005. But all speculation aside the Patriots are 9-5 and have won the AFCE even in the face of the most extreme adversity that an NFL team can endure (lost both OC and DC and had to replace two starting ILBs for the first 9 weeks of the season before getting Tedy Bruschi back, in addition to the aforementioned Injury and Schedule woes). They have been able to accomplish this mainly because of their QB, Tom Brady. Not only is he the team MVP, he's surely the league MVP. If he's not given his due it's not only a shame, it's a sham.
