Peyton's 509

Well it happened last night, Peyton Manning broke the career passing touchdowns record that was held by Brett Favre. I am glad to see him break the record partially because of how great he is and partially because of how sour I still am towards Favre. Looking back through his career, Manning has done everything the right way since being in the NFL. You never hear about any off field issues with him or even issues with teammates. He is the classic case of a quarterback who makes everyone around him look great. Hell, he made Austin Collie look like a superstar before he broke his brain. I remember the few times the Packers played the Colts when I was younger and it would be Favre vs. manning. Those games were always exciting and usually each team would put up video game type numbers. I think the thing about Peyton that is so great is that he didn't take long to celebrate his accomplishment, instead he just high-fived his teammates, saluted the fans quick and then sat down and started looking over the play sheets. But then again I didn't really expect anything different. The best part of this was the big smile he had on his face the entire time after he broke the record. For a guy that doesn't show a lot of emotion on the field, it was nice to see him laugh and celebrate with his teammates. Nobody knows just how long he is going to keep playing, but I would imagine it won't be more than a year or two (especially if he wins the Super Bowl again). When he walks off the football field for the last time, the game will miss him dearly. I don't believe there will ever be a quarterback that can manipulate a defense and make the right adjustments at the line like he does. For me personally, Manning is one of the last players from my young childhood that still plays, so when he eventually decides to hang up the cleats it will finally be the realization that I'm not just a young kid watching all these big grown-ups anymore. However, for now I'm going to keep holding on to that childhood feeling just a little longer, and hope that Peyton makes it back to the Super Bowl again and goes out with a championship like every legend should.

John Kruck in the top left?

So there were some other noticeable things that happened this weekend besides Peyton Manning's record breaking night. The first of which is the Jacksonville Jaguars getting their first win, beating the Browns 24-6. I've been gushing about the Browns for the last week or two and then this happened. They were in prime position to improve to 4-2 on the season against a team that has not won, and has looked terrible in most of their games. After this loss, the talk went from how great the Browns are playing and how they have a shot at a playoff spot to how the Browns are the Browns and they can't get it together. I still think the Browns will finish with a decent record, but this lose may be the difference between making the playoffs and watching them from home. The other thing I noticed is that the Redskins won with superstar quarterback Colt McCoy. Maybe they should see if they can trade him for a first round pick. After all the talk the past couple years about how great Kirk Cousins is, when he finally had his shot he severely underperformed. I'm sure the skins wish they would have traded high on Cousins to get something back because now I believe he has lost all his value. Washington has gone from two good quarterbacks to having one injury prone guy and two underwhelming back-ups.

Now for my favorite part of the weekend review posts, my weekly look at the NFC North. We will start with the Packers who thoroughly beat down the Carolina Panthers in Lambeau on Sunday. The Packers offense and defense looked spectacular through the three quarters, they pulled their starters at that point as the score was 38-3. Its important to point out that the Panthers had previously beaten the Bears and Lions this season, although they were at home for those games. Overall, the Packers look like they are on a roll and maybe catching the Saints (who they play this week) at just the right time. So about those Saints, they went up against the other leader in the division, the Detroit Lions. I don't know what is wrong with the Saints but they just can't win on the road, even when it is in a dome. Drew Brees made a horrible unBrees-like throw late that was interception and helped the Lions pull out the come from behind win. The Lions didn't play great but they got the win, which has kind of been their motto all year. That defense has looked incredibly good, which is a scary thought if that
offense starts to click again when Calvin Johnson comes back. The Lions have the 8:30 am game against the Falcons this Sunday (yes that is the correct time, they are playing in London). I'm not sure how much of the game I will wake up to watch since Homecoming is Saturday, but I love the idea of waking up in the morning and football is already on. Now on to the roller coaster ride of the Chicago Bears. Here's what happened, Jay Cutler turned the ball over twice---> Bears lost. That has how its been ever since they traded for him. Everyone who supports Cutler tries to say it is the offensive line's fault or the defense is bad or there was a crying baby in row 35. The truth is Cutler is not a top tier NFL quarterback. He makes way too many mistakes to be considered a good QB. In fact, not only is he not a top QB (like Rodgers, Manning, Luck, Brees, and Brady), hes in the bottom half of QB's in the league. Does Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, or Tony Romo start 3-4 with this kind of talent around him? What about Cam Newton, Phillip Rivers, or Colin Kaepernick? Or even Alex Smith, Andy Dalton, or Nick Foles. Didn't think so. Cutler is a guy that has always had an excuse for why his team doesn't make the playoffs but in the end the biggest reason is himself. The bears threw away a ton of money on his contract and all they did was assure the Bears aren't going to be playing deep into January for the next 7 years. Not to mention his teammates are now calling him out in the locker room according to many reports and that team is starting to turn against one another. I read one report that said Robbie Gould was apparently getting involved and someone told him to "shut the hell up, you only kick the ball". Sounds like things are going great. The last stop on the NFC North carousel is Buffalo where the Bills pulled one out of a hat against the Vikings. The Bills converted a 4th and 20 on the games final drive which concluded on a 1 yard touchdown pass to Sammy Watkins. Though the Vikings lost the game, they were at least competitive which is always a good sign when you have a 1st year quarterback. I remember when Aaron Rodgers took over for the Packers and they went 6-10 in his first year. The overall record wasn't good but the games were close and it gave the team a sense of hope heading into the next season. This could be the case for Teddy Bridgewater and the Vikings, although he still has a lot of learning to do. The Vikings will finish last in this division because of how talented the rest of the division is, but if they can continue to put up a fight in these games and if Teddy can learn to not make the dumb rookie mistake this team may have a chance to climb in the standings in years to come.