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Pastimes : The new NFL -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Augustus Gloop who wrote (9721)	1/31/2005 11:41:41 AM
From: Bill	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 90994

Vick made it because of the sizzle. I hope he learns how to play the position some day. It would be a shame to waste those tools.

To: Augustus Gloop who wrote (9721)	2/1/2005 10:09:02 AM
From: Bill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 90994

Brady, without hype, keeps on winning By VITO STELLINO Morris News Service At a news conference the Friday before the AFC Championship Game, Pittsburgh Steelers rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was asked about New England quarterback Tom Brady. He gave an interesting answer. "Tom Brady is in a situation a lot of quarterbacks want to be in, winning Super Bowls, going undefeated in the Super Bowl, so I try to emulate his winning style because he may not be the most talented quarterback in the NFL right now, but he finds a way to get it done," Roethlisberger said. "Right now, that's what you ask for and that's what you want. If I can win football games like him, I'll be happy." Though the news conference was televised live on the NFL Network, the NFL left out the part about Brady not being the most talented quarterback when they issued a transcript of the news conference. According to the NFL's transcript, Roethlisberger said, "Tom Brady is in a situation a lot of quarterbacks want to be in, winning Super Bowls. I try to emulate his winning style. He finds a way to get it done and win football games. Right now that's what you want. If I can win football games like him, I'll be pretty happy." Though the NFL deleted the line about Brady not being the most talented quarterback, they can't delete the perception that Brady isn't that talented. Brady still hasn't lived down the perception of scouts and personnel executives who overlooked him until the sixth round of the 2000 draft. Most quarterbacks tend to get too much of the credit when they win. Brady, 8-0 in the playoffs, doesn't get enough. He's the main reason the Patriots are so successful and yet he's often viewed as just being another piece of their puzzle. He doesn't get the hype that surrounds quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Michael Vick. He's not a quarterback for the glitzy SportsCenter highlight reel, where style often trumps substance. He's not about big numbers. He's just about wins. Brady is 48-14 in his career, 7-0 in overtime, has engineered 16 game-winning drives and is 18-2 in games decided by six points or less. Brady seemed unconcerned that he's not as celebrated as some of his peers. "It doesn't really bother Tom," said Patriots linebacker Larry Izzo. "He's a great locker room guy, a great guy to be around and a great teammate. I wouldn't want anybody else playing quarterback for me." Brady's performance, when he gunned down the Steelers in the AFC title game though he was, in his father's words, "sick as a dog," should have been the stuff of legend. Yet it went virtually unnoticed because the Patriots managed to hide his illness until it was revealed by Sports Illustrated several days later. And then Brady brushed it off. "There were plenty of other guys that got sick," Brady said. Brady is now being compared to his boyhood idol, Joe Montana, and he says he's flattered. "What a great comparison," he said. "To ever think when I was a kid growing up playing, I would ever be compared to him, never in a million years." Brady is on the verge of joining Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman as the only quarterbacks to win more than two Super Bowls. Actually, the comparisons with Montana could be the other way around. The question is whether Montana should be compared to Brady. If Brady leads the Patriots to his third Super Bowl in just five years in the league Sunday, it'll trump Montana's feat of winning four in his first 10 years in the league. And Montana lost first-round playoff games for three consecutive years between his second and third Super Bowls, including a 49-3 loss to the Giants when he was knocked out in 1986; and a 36-24 loss to Minnesota when he was pulled in the second half for Steve Young in 1987. Montana played with Hall of Famers on offense. Brady was the only offensive player on the Patriots to make the Pro Bowl this year, much less the Hall of Fame. That Brady split time at Michigan and was overlooked until the sixth round may be what still drives him to excel. It's part of his motivation. "This is what has kept me and will keep me hungry for a long time," he said. "When you are the underdog, this is how you always feel and you don't ever really forget where you come from and you don't forget what people thought of you. You put all of those things to work." At age 27, Brady is just reaching his prime, but he doesn't sound like he'll be content. "This is just part of my personality, I guess. Sometimes you wish you could change that because you are never satisfied or content with anything in your life. Maybe one day when I retire," he said. morningsun.net