The fourteenth meeting between Tom Brady and Peyton Manning will take place on Sunday night as the Patriots the Broncos on NBC.

It’s been another few days of “Who’s better?”  Which frankly, is pretty tired. They’re both all-time greats. The arguments reach absurd levels.

Hey, did you know that Peyton Manning has never lost a Super Bowl to Tom Brady’s kid brother? Fact, not opinion, caller.

The other argument this week is the return of Wes Welker. If you punished yourself and watched the Globe 10.0 with Joe Sullivan and Ben Volin, you’d learn that the Patriots would definitely, definitely be a much better team with Welker. But they might not have a better record. Wait, what?

Also that Welker will “fake his way through that concussion test” in order to play on Sunday, like that’s an admirable thing to do. If it were the Patriots doing this, Sully and pals would be up in arms over the evil Belichick forcing his players back on the field despite all the evidence about concussions and CTE.

Speaking of incredibly biased viewpoints, did you know Red Sox fans were perfectly justified in booing Johnny Damon when he came back to Fenway, but if you boo Wes Welker on Sunday, you are the worst kind of person. If you disagree with that sentiment then you are part of the Internet mafia [that] will come after you with claws better suited for digging their dignity in the sand, and will go on to no end to defend their religion.

OK then. I picture that being typed with growing hysteria and screaming paranoia with every word.

Al Michaels relishes latest Patriots-Broncos tilt – Chad Finn has the NBC play-by-play man talking about the rivalry between the two all time great QB’s. He also looks at a gaffe from Peter Gammons and Dan Dierdorf retiring.

Pundits pick Peyton Manning over Tom Brady as must-have quarterback – Bill Doyle has the NBC experts saying they would take Manning in a must-win game.

“Manning – Brady XIV” On NBC’S “Sunday Night Football” – Here is NBC’s release on the game, including video of the panel discussing Brady/Manning.

ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown will feature this must-miss segment:

·         The Patriot Way or The Highway: Wes Welker is a symbol of what has become known in NFL circles as “The Patriot Way” – replacing productive Patriots with lesser known players. As Welker returns to Gillette Stadium for visiting Denver on Sunday, ESPN.com’s Greg Garber sits with former Patriots – including Drew Bledsoe, Lawyer Milloy, Adam Vinatieri, Willie McGinest, Richard Seymour, Ty Law and Damien Woody – to discuss whether “The Patriot Way” has helped or hindered the team.

They will also have a Wes Welker interview with Tedy Bruschi.

Get all the coverage this weekend at PatriotsLinks.com.

As you’re probably aware, today is a significant anniversary for a historic event.

The butt fumble took place a year ago today.

Elsewhere:

Pats must have dead red focus – Matt Chatham outlines why New England must be tough in the Red Zone Sunday night.

Can the New England Patriots’ secondary slow Peyton Manning’s weapons? – Nick Underhill with a nice look at what the Patriots need to accomplish.

The Bruins lost in the shootout last night to the very tough St. Louis Blues.  Get all the coverage at BruinsLinks.com.

Brad Stevens’ story isn’t storybook – Jackie MacMullan looks at the setbacks the Celtics coach endured on his way to becoming who he is today.

Avery Bradley’s offensive evolution – Jay King with a very good look at the still-developing guard.

Published by Bruce Allen

Automattician.

17 thoughts on “Brady-Manning 14 In The Spotlight This Weekend”

  1. I think I might have concussed myself after reading and listening to some locals here.

    Any chance CBS could force Phil Simms into retirement, too?

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    1. One-thousand percent agreement on the accelerated Simms retirement wish. How many more times (years?) are we going to be subjected to the following from Simms: “Jeeem, that play we just saw by [fill in the blank] just goes to show you the kind of player he is.” Just painful, not to mention dreadful.
      Plus, I love how after he kills a guy on the air for something, invariably the same guy later in the game does something well and he all of a sudden talks about him like he’s a HOFer.

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    2. They do it with the Red Sox too. The Red Sox radio broadcasts are even worse. They have Joe Castig and O’Brien reading ads between pitches…

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  2. yeah, maybe I’m a “sensitive” Pats fan…but channel surfed to the NFL Network. Albert Breer and some female “sports journalist” (whose name I didn’t catch} are asked by the dude with HUGE ears what their favorite Brady/Peyton Manning game is. Both pick Peyton victories…why am I not surprised?

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  3. I wonder whether Dan Shaughnessy’s always-acerbic nature stems from a realization that he is utterly reviled while former colleague Bob Ryan is universally revered. Shaughnessy is the ‘Mike Dukakis’ of Boston sports media.

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    1. I’m not a sports journalist but wouldn’t it make you feel like you just torched 80k on an in-state education at a public school when you see some guy held in reverence (CHB) that continually writes snarky columns? Maybe it’s a product of culture because non-sports journalism is just as bad? Maybe it is just this market?

      It reminds me of the magazine article (Boston Magazine?) where the author talked about what a cesspool sports journalism has become here when Boston used to set the standard.

      We’ve gone from quality journalism->gets you noticed->good reputation. Now, it’s snarky+hotsportztakez+Felgering->get you noticed->ESPN/national network comes calling. There are some bright lights that wind up being noticed and can exist w/o having to relegate themselves, but few and far between.

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  4. I just noticed this:

    Didn’t the media spin the “Patriot Way” as some ‘character’ and ‘good team player’ thing that blew up in the face of BB with the Hernandez stuff. Now, it’s being spun into a car-part like “MOPAR” thing with “buying ponies instead of horses” (some host uses that as their punchline around here). There is some overlap there (cheap players who are good in character but not the best players) but they’re really separate things.

    Well, what is it?

    Whatever fits your trash-the-Patriots narrative?

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  5. Welker on “ESPN Countdown”……>>”In New England you have 15 reporters just waiting for you to slip up a little bit, it’s different in Denver” …this was when he was asked about the “freedom to talk more freely” with Broncos

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    1. – Would love to hear stories from veterans who have 0 desire to work in media and have experienced multiple beats. This place has to be the most toxic or top3? Too often, the guys you hear don’t want to risk their job or future jobs by torching people in the media.

      – Doesn’t this prove that the “Patriot Way” of media blackouts and is a good idea?

      – Wonder if there is some type of correlation between this and success/player retention? I know their pros and paid to ignore this noise, but how can you not hear something, at some point?

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      1. local media was making a big deal of Welker being more free to talk with Broncos and being away from Belichick…funny how Welker turned it around ON THEM….I wonder how the’ll spin this or maybe they’ll just ignore it

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  6. What does it take to get the NFL Network to suspend Bert Breer from Twitter? He has been the eptiome of unprofessional over the past week. Spends half a day bitching and moaning about US Air–including a tweet w/ a pic of a US Air employee who declined to give the great Albert Breer preferential treatment, apparently with the goal of getting the guy fired or reprimanded–, trolls Baylor fans and attacks anyone who dares to question THE Ohio State University’s strength of schedule, and tonight was the coup de gras when Bert decided to insult a guy trying to lose weight because he questioned why Bert was so bummed out by the way the Pats won tonight’s game against the Broncos:

    Bert, like most of the national media last night, would have been dancing in the streets had Denver stuck it to the Pats with a Peyton Manning TD pass to New England media darling Wes Welker. Instead they had to swallow the fact that Belichick made the right call with the game on the line and Manning failed once again to come up big in the clutch. Meanwhile Bert Breer shows he’s still the egotistical jag-off we all came to know while he was on the Globe Patriots beat.

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    1. I saw some of the r/t’s about the US Air. Did he become Peter King’s illegitimate son? How dare they not treat either of those guys like royalty?

      On the OSU stuff: he’s got a legit gripe here but all annoying Buckeye fans are doing the same. Without the CFB/BCS stuff most people around here don’t care about: their schedule blows and they play in a horrible conf. So, thOSU might go 25-0 and be denied playing for a title twice (bowl ban last year). This is why there is a 4tm playoff next year.

      Saw some of his timeline. Save the OSU stuff (I’ve got two friends who are grads and they), if I were his boss, I’d tell him to put the Blackberry down on Twitter for a bit, no? He needs to ignore the people who send him stuff.

      How mad were media last night they had to rewrite their entire lead and story after halftime?

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  8. I love how this website is called “Boston Sports Media Review,” Review? You people butch and moan about every songle thing written or spoken about every single person in the city of Boston. Are you people that miserable in life? You claim to just want to “enjoy and watch the games” and yet pounce on every single article written or every comment spoken by anyone in this market or even nationally. If you tuly only “want to enjoy the games” why not just watch them and turn off CSN, Boston.com, 98.5 or WEEI? You people need lives honestly. Especially “Dry Heave”…classy name and avatar. I’m sure he was stuffed into lockers back in HS.

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  9. This IS in fact a site dealing with ‘sports media,’ so let’s have the 4-1-1 on the girly slap fight between those photographers. I’m of the opinion these were Boston photo hacks (at least one of them was) who knew each other and had run-ins before. What’s the scoop?

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