The Cowboys are always among the most loved franchises in sports. They are also among the most hated. Whichever side you’re on you have to be disappointed the Cowboys are not in the NFC Championship. You should also feel the same way about the Colts’ defeat, regardless of what you think of them. All season long there have been four teams who consistently differentiated themselves from the league. 3 of their combined 9 losses have come against each other, and 2 more came in week 17 when nothing was at stake, making them a combined 50-4 against the rest of the league thru week 16. Other teams came and went (“Are the Seahawks #2 in the NFC?” “Can the Steelers beat the Patriots?”), but these four started strong and never looked back, leading their respective divisions the entire season.
So after suffering through a season that featured around 20 utterly unwatchable teams and having to listen about a handful of other teams that were mistaken for good because they stacked up W’s against JV teams, NFL fans were finally ready to be treated to two great championship matchups. Favre would head back to Dallas to try to win at the one place he hasn’t through his whole career. This would renew a great rivalry born from a marriage of cold and water 40 years ago in the “Ice Bowl” and continued in the mid nineties. We would have to bear through another week of Romo/Favre comparisons, but once the game started we’d see two Pro Bowl quarterbacks leading great offenses for a chance to end their franchise’s decade long Super Bowl drought.
An even better match would take place in the AFC with winners of 3 of the last 4 Super Bowls. The Colts were finally able to overcome their Achilles heel last season and get past New England in the playoffs. Now the Pats get the chance to retake control of the series, and we’d be treated to another matchup of the top 2 quarterbacks of this era. The game in the regular season was the best game of the season, and this time Manning would have his entire arsenal, Harrison having missed the first go round.
But alas, those games will never happen. Instead we get to see Manning 2.0, the model Archie tried to recall but, according to Mrs. Manning, you can’t abort a five year old. Forgive me if I’m not excited about this monumental moment. Not only was my season long dream weekend ruined, but my professional psychic application took a serious hit since the odds of my Cowboys over Patriots Super Bowl have severely diminished. Eli obviously isn’t his brother. He’s done a nice job managing games the last few weeks, but he’s supposed to be a franchise quarterback, not a journeyman level QB with a good defense. I feel bad for him, because if his last name wasn’t Manning he wouldn’t take nearly as much heat. But it is and he’s a former number one pick who isn’t one of the 10 QB’s in the league, and he never will be.
The Chargers/Pats is still a good matchup, just not as good. For some reason the Chargers have always played well against the Colts, dating back to when they stopped their perfect season a few years back. That knack does not carry over to other undefeated teams. I’d love to see Tomlinson (there is still only one LT) in the Super Bowl, but I can’t imagine a Norv Turner led team beating a team that’s 17-0. Phillip River’s looks like he’s looking for a title from the crown. Perhaps Duke of Douchebaggery befits a man of his stature.That’s the other thing that depresses me (drinking in a room alone depressed, not contemplating suicide depressed). The Cowboys and Colts were the two teams that had a legitimate chance at knocking off the Pats and ruining their perfect season. As much as I hate the Dolphins drinking that champagne every year, Belichick and the Pats taking over is worse. Now I can only hope that Brett Favre can pull off the upset of his career, jump on a horse, and ride off into the sinking Arizona sun.
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