Is the Colts’ Peyton Manning the greatest quarterback in N.F.L. history?

Now ask yourself: How long did it take to read that sentence? Two, maybe three seconds?

That’s about as long as Peyton Manning or any other N.F.L. quarterback has to stand in the pocket and make potentially game-changing decisions before being subjected to a bone-crushing hit. Not many quarterbacks excel at making quick decisions in the pocket. Manning does. In that category, the consensus seems to be that he is the best.

The Times’s Carl Nelson chatted with the Colts’ quarterbacks coach, Frank Reich, earlier this week. He wanted to know how quickly Manning absorbs the action on the field before making decisions. The specific play discussed was Manning’s 46-yard completion to Austin Collie in the second quarter of the A.F.C. championship victory over the Jets two weeks ago.

Most of Reich’s quotations are in the graphic I put together for Sunday’s paper, but here is one that didn’t get in. After several minutes of discussion about the Jets’ defensive alignment before the play and the blitz during it, Carl asked Reich if Manning could decipher all of that in about three seconds.

Reich chuckled and said: “No, probably he deciphered that in about a second. No, really I’m not kidding you.”

Here is the graphic. Enjoy.

Extra Point Does this play do anything to make you think Manning is in a league of his own when it comes to making adjustments within a play? Is it time to ask if Manning is the G.O.A.T. (greatest of all time) of N.F.L. quarterbacks?

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – As expected, wide receiver Jerry Rice and running back Emmitt Smith were elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday. Linebacker Rickey Jackson will join them in Canton, Ohio, along with defensive tackle John Randle, guard Russ Grimm, running back Floyd Little and the cornerback and longtime coach Dick LeBeau.

“I loved this game. It was everything to me,” Rice said, fighting back tears. “I’m really just honored to be here, to be in front of all the legends who made football what it is today.”

Rice, considered by most to be the greatest receiver of all time, retired holding N.F.L. records for career touchdowns (208), receptions (1,549), receiving yards (22,895) and many others.

The elections of Rice and Smith were never in doubt. Smith, the career leader in rushing yards (18,355) and rushing touchdowns (164), was at the heart of the Dallas Cowboys’ three Super Bowl championships during the 1990s.

Jackson’s induction gave Saints fans more reason to celebrate on the eve of the Super Bowl. Jackson played 13 of his 15 seasons in New Orleans, finishing his career with 128 sacks.

Richard Dent, who has been eligible for the last eight years, six of them as a finalist, fell short again. He retired with 137½ sacks and was a member of one of the most dominant defensive units in N.F.L. history in 1985 with the Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears.

Defensive end Dwight Freeney did not participate in the Colts’ final walk-through on Saturday, according to the pool report. Freeney, who did not practice all week because of a torn ligament in his right ankle, spent the time on a golf cart although his ankle was not wrapped. Freeney was listed as questionable on Friday’s injury report.

On Thursday, Freeney said he planned to test the ankle on the practice field on Friday or Saturday, but that surely took place out of the pool reporter’s sight. On Friday, Coach Jim Caldwell said that Freeney’s ankle was “trending in the right direction,” but he stopped short of saying Freeney would play in the Super Bowl tomorrow night.

Freeney hurt the ankle in the closing minutes of the Colts’ A.F.C. championship game victory over the Jets.

Stay Balanced

The Saints are thought of as a pass-happy team, but they are more likely to run (240 plays) than pass (233) on first down. That first-down balance keeps teams from blitzing or using nickel packages on early downs. It also allows Drew Brees to use play-action to surprise defenses when he does pass: Brees has thrown 29 passes of 20 or more yards on first down, and the play-action bomb is one of his favorite plays. The Saints average 4.6 yards per carry on first-and-10, so when they do run they will have success against the undersized Colts defense. A solid running game and an unpredictable offense will keep the Colts from sitting back in two-deep zones and waiting for Brees to darken the skies with footballs.

Force Turnovers

The Saints finished second in the N.F.L. with 39 takeaways, and they scored eight touchdowns on fumble and interception returns. The Colts take care of the ball: they committed 24 turnovers, but 4 were by the rookie quarterback Curtis Painter, who only played in meaningless games. When Peyton Manning does throw interceptions, they come in bunches: he threw three against the Broncos in Week 13 and six in a three-game stretch against the Patriots, the Ravens and the Texans. If Manning takes a risk, Darren Sharper and the Saints defense must be ready to exploit it quickly.

Big Plays from Bush

Reggie Bush is a boom-or-bust player, and at times it is hard to hear the boom. In the postseason, though, Bush comes alive. Bush scored two touchdowns in the 2006 playoffs, returned a punt for a touchdown and had a 46-yard touchdown run against the Cardinals three weeks ago, and scored another touchdown against the Vikings. The Saints cannot afford a serve-and-volley game of ball-control football; the Colts have been winning games like that for a decade. The Saints need a few explosive plays to take the Colts out of their methodical offense, and Bush can be a heavy ordnance when he is playing well. Bush has the potential to affect this game the way Desmond Howard affected Super Bowl XXXI, tipping the scales with a punt return or a 50-yard screen pass.

Sustain Drives

The Colts gain an average of 36.8 yards per offensive drive, the second-highest figure in the N.F.L. (the Patriots led the league). The Saints defense is designed to force turnovers, not three-and-outs, so opponents can move the ball on them. Saints opponents gained an average of 31 yards per drive, 22nd in the league. The Colts’ 12-play drives do more than put points on the board: they keep the opposing offense off the field, and they put opponents in bad field position when the Colts are forced to punt. Ball control is crucial against the Saints offense. Their quick-strike offense can turn a close game into a blowout if given too many opportunities.

Prevent Big Plays

The conservative Colts defense does not generate many sacks, but it rarely yields big plays. The Colts gave up the fewest passing plays of 20 yards or more in the league this season (27), and opposing receivers averaged a league-low 9.8 yards per reception. The Saints finished eighth in the N.F.L. with 58 passes of 20 or more yards, but long gains will not come easy. Colts safeties rarely stray from their deep zone assignments, and their cornerbacks are among the best in the league at limiting yards after the catch. The Jets resorted to option passes to trick the Colts into allowing some big plays. The Saints’ playbook is loaded with similar gadgetry, so Colts defenders must prepare for playground tactics.

Avoid Penalties

The Colts committed only 74 penalties for 546 yards, both the second-lowest totals in the N.F.L. Their secondary has stayed particularly clean: just three pass interference penalties, two illegal contact fouls and two defensive holds in the regular season. The Colts have kept their penalty yardage low for several years; they were 25th in the league in penalty yards in 2008, 30th in 2007, and 22nd during their Super Bowl run in the 2006 season. When the Colts are flagged, it is often a well-timed holding call to protect Peyton Manning. A few holds and false starts are just the residue of their pass-and-audible intensive offense. Defensive penalties are another matter: if the Colts give the Saints too much easy penalty yardage, their bend-not-break defense could snap.

Programming note: The 2010 Hall of Fame class will be announced later today, and as part of the ceremony, the NFL Network will show a two-hour special and final installment of the “Road To Canton” series at 5 p.m. Eastern.

As for the vote, Emmitt Smith and Jerry Rice are in. That we know.
Chase Stuart of Pro-Football-Reference.com, who has researched many of the candidates this season, held a roundtable discussion on the merits of the other finalists. The back-and-forth pointed to the difficulty of the decisions.

There was a rough consensus that Andre Reed, Charles Haley, Roger Craig, Don Coryell and the senior candidates Dick LeBeau and Floyd Little are not worthy this year (or ever).

Here is who Chase thinks should get in ….
Emmitt Smith
Jerry Rice
Dermontti Dawson
Cortez Kennedy
Rickey Jackson

… and who he thinks will get in:
Read more…

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – St. Louis Rams Coach Steve Spagnuolo visited the media center Friday and he did not close the door on the Rams (1-15) acquiring Michael Vick in the off-season.

Vick has been repeatedly linked to the Rams because General Manager Billy Devaney knew Vick while he was with the Falcons and because the Rams’ quarterback situation is tenuous, at best. Vick has another year left on his contract in Philadelphia but he was used on a limited basis, leading to speculation that the Eagles might try to trade him or even cut him.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for Michael as a player,” Spagnuolo said. “Everything I have heard out of Philadelphia is kind of good. We haven’t gone down that road in our process yet. I think he’s a terrific player.”

Ralph Reiff is the director of St. Vincent Sports Performance in Indianapolis, which works with many elite athletes on performance and rehabilitation. Reiff has more than 25 years experience as an athletic trainer and was manager of athlete care at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

Dwight Freeney is 30 years old. While in some circles that might be a negative factor in injury healing, with elite Olympic and professional athletes, it is a positive one. Often, those athletes begin to fully understand body management after year three of their elite careers. The experienced athlete is more compliant to injury treatment regimens and has been exposed to nutrition, recovery and mental training.

The average time to heal a ligament injury with “minimal intervention” is 21 days from the onset of the injury. On Super Bowl Sunday, he will be 14 days into that timeline, but the 21 days is an average and Freeney is clearly not average, nor is any elite 30-year-old athlete.
Read more…

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Earlier this week, Saints safety Darren Sharper was not shy about criticizing the N.F.L. for its fines on things like uniform violations.

“One thing I would definitely change is the fines for socks and towels and all that,” Sharper said. “It’s kind of ridiculous. Mr. Goodell, sorry to say this, but getting fined more than my mother made in an entire year for wearing my socks wrong is kind of tough to swallow. We gotta back off on that a little bit.”

On Friday at his Super Bowl news conference, Commissioner Roger Goodell was asked about the league’s policy on uniform fines.

“We do believe very firmly that there are rules in the N.F.L.,” Goodell said. “Whether it’s an on-field rule with the uniforms, we are a team game and we represent our teams and we should represent them in a professional and standard fashion.”

A number of fines this season might have made fans scratch their heads, as when Cleveland Browns cornerback Eric Wright was fined $5,000 for wearing pants that exposed his knees during an early-season game against the Denver Broncos.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Dwight Freeney, whose right ankle sprain has been one of the biggest story lines of Super Bowl week, did not practice Friday, and remains questionable for Sunday’s game.

“He’s treading in the right direction,” Coach Jim Caldwell said Friday morning. “He’s getting better but we’ll see. It’s still a day-to-day situation; we’ll see how he is at the end of the day.”

Freeney was unavailable to reporters on Friday. Also on Friday, receiver Reggie Wayne aggravated a knee injury and left practice early, but Caldwell told a pool reporter the injury was not serious. Cornerback Jerraud Powers practiced but was limited and is listed as questionable.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A lot has been made this week of the New Orleans Saints’ defense, with its “remember me” hits and its ability keep the opposing team’s offense off the field by any means necessary. But lurking behind Peyton Manning is the Colts’ defense, a group that has been impressive in Indianapolis’s two playoff victories.

“We do get overlooked,” Colts linebacker Clint Session said, referring to opponents’ overemphasis on Manning. “It’s kind of a thing that comes with good teams. He’s been here before all of us on our entire defense, so we know this is his team. He should get all the credit, but every now and then throw us a little bone.”

The Colts’ defense was ranked 18th over all and 24th against the run, but they did not allow a single point in the second half of playoff victories against the Ravens and the Jets — and played particularly well against the run. Of course, that was with the services of defensive end Dwight Freeney, whose status for Sunday is still uncertain. But the Colts have been without key defensive players all season and have had others make up the difference.

Colts defensive back Kelvin Hayden said the team “did not miss a beat” after he and two others, Bob Sanders and Marlin Jackson, went down and were replaced in the secondary by a group that included two rookies.

Coach Jim Caldwell said Friday that Freeney’s situation was still day to day.

If Freeney is sidelined or limited by his ankle injury, the Colts say they can make the necessary adjustments.

“It’s going to mean more time for Raheem Brock, who’s a veteran guy and who should excel in this situation,” linebacker Gary Brackett said. “We also have Keyunta Dawson, who’s a guy that’s very quick, very fast. Someone’s just going to have to step up, just like the rest of the team, period.”

The Indianapolis Colts narrowly missed out on an undefeated season — or coughed it up — behind a serial passing game engineered by one of the most consummate quarterbacks to play football.

“This game is easy for me,” said Tom Jolly, the New York Times’s sports editor. “It’s all about Peyton Manning.”

“There’s no question that the teams are evenly matched. Peyton Manning makes the difference. I think the Colts are going to win, and I think in the end, they’re going to pull away and win convincingly.”

But the assistant sports editor, Carl Nelson, challenges Jolly’s proposition and issues a warning to Manning: “Buckle up your chinstrap Peyton, here comes the Saints defense — an 11-man wrecking crew.”

And the defense can score: the Saints defense returned five of 25 interceptions for touchdowns (and three of 13 fumbles) in the regular season. Oh, and the offense can score, too: “Drew Brees completes percent 63. He has a higher passing rater than you know who,” Nelson said. “He has a load of weapons.”

In their Point/Counterpoint video, Jolly backed Indianapolis, along with 68 percent of Times readers who participated so far. Nelson and the Saints earned 32 percent of your votes. There’s still time to hear Jolly and Nelson make their case. Watch the video and vote here for your Super Bowl XLIV pick. Jolly and Nelson also defended their picks and answered questions on Friday in the comment section below.

Luis DeLoureiro is building a better passer rating, among other statistical pursuits, at NFLStatAnalysis.net. He also contributes at classactsports.com.

This year’s Super Bowl could have a big impact on the Hall of Fame chances of one of the game’s quarterbacks.

No, not Peyton Manning.

The only question regarding Manning and the Hall of Fame is whether to put a soda machine in the Peyton Manning wing.

The Super Bowl could actually have a big impact on Drew Brees’s chances of making the Hall. Believe it or not, it’s not too early to start talking about Brees as a Hall of Famer.

I did some research to assess how Brees’s career compares with the careers of quarterbacks in the Hall. I further looked at how his resume would look with a victory on Sunday and how it would look with a loss.

At the risk of oversimplification, I conducted my research under the premise that a player’s Hall credentials are based on a combination of statistics and winning.
Read more…

An intriguing obituary today by the Timesman Frank Litsky on Bill Dudley.
Dudley died Thursday at age 88. He was not big or speedy, but managed to become an N.F.L. star in the 1940s and early 1950s. A quotation from Sammy Baugh: “We always wondered how he gained as much yardage as he did. But he had that instinct. He would do things that always amazed me, how he could get out of trouble.”

Andy Barall, who writes about pro football history for the Fifth Down, contributed his thoughts on Dudley and a bygone era:

The N.F.L. we see today is highly specialized. Some teams have one tight end for blocking and another for receiving. Every team has situational pass-rushers and defensive backs. Most teams use a precious roster spot on a long-snapper. It wasn’t always this way.

Read more…

If Tom Dempsey had a bead for every time he’s asked, when checking into a hotel or renting a car, if he’s any relation to the former Saints kicker, he’d have enough for a double-strand Mardi Gras necklace that hangs down to his feet.

Dempsey, a vice president of sales for a medical devices company, travels extensively for business. No matter where in the United States he goes, he said, people ask him about the kicking Dempsey, who burned his image into the public consciousness when he won a game for the Saints in 1970 with an N.F.L. record-breaking 63-yard field goal.

“It’s interesting to me the awareness of him that still exists,” Dempsey said by phone from his home in Colorado. He added, “Regardless of geography, it’s a constant. You’d be surprised. Some people will ask if I’m related to the boxer Jack Dempsey or the actor Patrick Dempsey, but 80 percent of the time they want to know if I’m any relation to the Saints kicker.”

Dempsey was 5 when Dempsey kicked the record-breaking field goal and 9 when he saw a clip of it on T.V. and decided to write Dempsey a fan letter. Dempsey, who was playing for the Philadelphia Eagles by then, sent back a post card of him kicking with the inscription, “To Tom Dempsey. All the best, Tom Dempsey.”

Last month, while sifting through some family photographs, Dempsey came across the postcard. He showed it to his three sons, and one asked if he could write Dempsey, the kicker, a letter and enclose a copy of the postcard. The son’s name? Tom Dempsey.

“Isn’t that funny?” Dempsey said, adding, “I’m so glad I kept that postcard.”