These are all very compelling arguments, and on paper I'll concede all of the major points to you. In a Lincoln-Douglas style debate, you'd go home with the trophy.
But I'm also an irrational fan and I'm just not prepared to say that this once-in-a-lifetime ride is going to end on Saturday night. I can't explain why this is so, there are no stats to back it up, and I'm not religious nor am I waiting for some kind of divine intervention.
But I am going to "believe" and if I do "unbelieve things can happen".
Very well. That's understandable. In that case allow me to be a more irrational rabid football fan and let me respond to you in a more irrational, fanatical, less statiscal way as well.
Here's why the Patriots will still beat the magic. You see I am also a Panthers fan. In 2003, I have watched and followed this EXACT story that Tebow and the Broncos are playing. Cardiac Cats, undrafted quarterback, inspirational story, unknown receiver, no chance team, even John Fox as head coach and Foxball itself, etc, etc, etc. Which is why I also like it and follow it. Even won in OT in the regular season and then in double OT on the road and met the Pats in the Super Bowl. Very euphoric and worth enjoying. Delhomme threw like a champion in the playoffs and set passing records in the Super Bowl.
No one gave them a chance and yet here the Panthers were on the greatest stage of all in the super bowl against the Patriots. Now, some die hard Pats fans may not agree, but the simple fact is, at the end of that 4th quarter....the Cardiac Cats who were the underdogs all season long, found themselves in a position to put the game away as, not just the better team, but really the favorites, doing something the other team was supposed to be better at doing. They would have been seen as the better team, because unlike Brady who threw a pick in the endzone, Delhomme didn't. Panthers passing game was more efficient that game, against all odds. They found themselves in a position with less than a minute left to play, where they were the favorites to win it and the better team as not just a smash-mouth football team, but as a passing team. All they had to do, is pull off a simple kick-off by a very clutch kicker who won a lot of close games and games in OT by 3 points that season. Not even a FG, but a kick-off to push them back, run 40 some seconds off the clock with the #2 defense and send the game in OT. In OT, the Panthers would have certainly been the favorites..considering that was their thing. They had done it all year.
Know what happened? The same thing that happened to the Broncos when they found themselves to be the favorites against the Bills. And then Kansas City. Choked. Panthers kicker muffed the kick out of bounds, gave the Pats the ball nearly at midfield and Pats put it away, in regular time by their own clutch kicker to win it by 3.
Turns out, the pressure to win the game when you are expected to, especially after being an underdog, is greater than when you are not. Turns out exceeding low expectations is a lot easier to do than meeting big ones. Patriots are way past the point of exceeding low expectations but they have also gotten pretty good at winning as favorites. And Tom, he doesn't just have to be stuck playing the role of the good guy or the main attraction.
What I learned, is the Patriots can do both at will and have been doing it ever since. They can switch sides, switch roles, whenever they need to, in order to win the game. They can win as the underdogs as well as the favorites just as easily. They can come back from behind and extend leads. They can win blowouts as well as tight ones, under pressures, against anyone. Tom can be a hero, or he can be the Devil if needed to, and strike down holy Tebow if that's what his role says he needs to do. He can kill baby Jesus if that's what going to take to get that W, and will not shed a tear of sorrow but a tear of joy!
The question is, can Tebow and the Broncos be the bad guys if they ever find themselves to have the upper hand in a game and put down a wounded adversary? Didn't seem like it against Pittsburg when they could run away and pummel ole' Ben in the ground. They were only able to do it to "bad" teams like the Raiders. Can they do it at an even greater level, with everyone watching, if they find themselves in a position to beat down, and put away another team or will they beat themselves like other teams, like the Cardiac Cats, who couldn't play outside their role of underdogs? Can Tebow even play a role of revenge which would come in handy right now, considering revenge is frowned upon where "he comes from"?
Will Fox get his revenge and learn his lesson and teach his team how to be the bad guys if needed? Or will once again the "good guys" lose? Can Tim, not simply be Tebow 3:16, similarly to Tom Terrific, but also play the role of TFT like TFB can? Can the Broncos, as a team, eliminate even the weakest of the link that may crack under pressure? It can come from the most unlikely sources...even Matt Prater himself. Because in the playoffs, that's what it comes down to. I don't know....I have my doubts.
Oth, I know the Patriots can kill the dream. They are those guys that can beat your team no matter how much the entire world BELIEVES! They have done it. I know you don't want the story to end but they are THAT team, that son-of-gun team, that will do just that to make you cry and end it with you left in disbelief. Be afraid. Because you should be.
