Travis Thomas: The Flacco Vs. Luck Era Has Arrived
This past weekend while watching the March Madness NCAA Tournament with the boys, the only thing we could talk about was the upcoming NFL season. What's fascinating to me is that while I continued to try and steer the conversation back to hoops, and we would talk about our Final Four picks, or great college stars of the past, the NFL still found its way back into the spotlight of our conversation. For hours we argued about who would win the AFC and NFC this upcoming season, we argued about who should be the top pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, we even argued about who really won the recent Free Agent Market Sweepstakes.
Let me take you back two weeks ago, I was driving in to the studio at 105.7 The Fan to do my weekly radio show (The Travis Thomas Experience which airs every Sunday night from 9 p.m. -Midnight). I was slated to come on immediately after the NCAA Selection Show announcing the Brackets. I had Pro Football Spot writer Zach Krueger scheduled to be on my show and was contemplating canceling on him. I figured people would want to talk March Madness for three hours and didn't want to talk NFL. I ended up sticking to my script and my hour with Zach ended up being one of my more successful shows. I was amazing at how few calls were coming in to talk Bracketology and how my phone lines were flooded to ask Zach about 6th round sleepers for the Ravens.
With both of these experiences, I've had a moment of clarity the past few weeks. What I've come to realize now is that the only thing that truly matters in sports is the NFL. Football has trumped everything in our country when it comes to sports, and of course as a Broadcaster, I understand there are plenty of sports to cover, however, now I fully understand just how much the NFL has surpassed all of them. My one true takeaway from my in depth conversations and arguments with these football lovers in my life the past few weeks is that we disagree on a theory that I have: I believe that the Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning is officially over.
I think we can all agree that Tom Brady is better. Peyton Manning will have his spot on the all-time greats list, but it sure as hell won't be #1. Tom Brady is unarguably in the Top #2--in my opinion he's #1--but I get the Joe Montana argument as well.
I also think we can all agree that for Peyton Manning, it's over (Broncos fans stop reading now). I thought Peyton should have retired this offseason, it's clear as day he doesn't have the arm strength anymore and the injuries are starting to mount. Tom Brady has more left in the tank, but how many prime years have the Patriots wasted of this man? If New England surrounded Tom with the appropriate weaponry consistently over the years, there's no telling how many rings he would have. It appears as thought the Patriots are back to their trimming fat ways and Tom yet again won't have much to work with.
My theory is that with both of these quarterbacks on the backstretch of their careers, the new era of QB will start this season. We all know the elite names amongst signal callers, but my theory suggests that both Joe Flacco and Andrew Luck will reign supreme for the next decade of Football.
BRADY VS MANNING ERA
Even from the beginning these two were destined by the Football God's to compete head to head. Brady was a forgotten late rounder who sat behind a "superior" Drew Bledsoe. Peyton Manning was a top pick expected to be a savoir and baptized by fire immediately. These two Football Titans have clashed sixteen times. Brady leads the head-to-head series 11-5. In the playoffs, these two have met four times. In the playoffs head-to-head, Manning fares much better ironically. The meetings split 2-2 and three of the four matchups have been in the AFC Championship Game, with Manning taking two of the three. The two quarterbacks most recent playoff matchup was in the 2014 AFC Championship Game, as Manning's Broncos beat Brady's Patriots 26-16 for a trip to Super Bowl XLVIII. Statistically it's not even close. Manning leads in every major statistical category, but of course, Brady is the Lord Of The Rings.
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK
The NFL is in what I call the Golden Era Of Quaterbacks. Not because I think these current QB's are the greatest talent wise, but mainly because of how the league tailors to the offensive style that quarterbacks flourish in. If the NFL has it way, every team would come equipped with their own elite QB, but the reality is there are only a handful of young gunners. Of course you still have the old guard hanging around trying to steal a championship. Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Big Ben, Tony Romo, Eli Manning,and Carson Palmer. The young guys are going to be the ones asked to carry this league for the next decade. Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, Joe Flacco, Cam Newton, Colin Kapernick, Blake Bortles, Matt Ryan, Jameis Winston, Derek Carr, Marcus Mariota, Andy Dalton, Teddy Bridgewater, Ryan Tannehill, and Matt Stafford. These names are the ones we expect to live up the hype surrounding them. I'd argue there are some names out there who will surprise us along the way and play their way on to this list. Also, don't forget, a lot of these QB's came late in the draft and we never saw them coming, I'm sure there are some quarterbacks in this draft and others that will surely sneak up on us.
FLACCO VS LUCK
With all those big names, the two that jump off the page at me (particularly in the AFC) are Joe Flacco and Andrew Luck. Much like Brady and Manning, both of these two have contrasting stories and styles. Luck was drafted to be the savior for the Colts and baptized by fire similar to Peyton Manning. Flacco came in with a dominant defense already in place and asked not to crash the car. Flacco hasn't crashed the car once, in fact he's a great driver and has the Super Bowl Ring to show for it. Andrew Luck is coming though, he still turns the ball over a bit too much, but I would argue when he's surrounded with the proper weapons, the turnovers will dissipate. I believe this year with the addition of championship chasing veterans Frank Gore and Andre Johnson we will begin to see that happen. Joe Flacco is in a transitional phase of his career where he is becoming the face of the franchise and the Ravens are still putting all the pieces around him to complete that process. These two are on a crash course of a decade long battle. Joe Flacco has already slayed the Brady and Manning dragons, Luck ended the Manning era this past playoff run and Brady is next. This past regular season these two went head to head with Luck coming away with his first win against Flacco. However, Luck didn't exactly set the world on fire and Flacco had a chance to tie it late. I for one cannot wait to watch these two elite QB's duke it out for many years to come. From regular season games, to playoff match up's the only constant will be that Super Bowls will be on the line. Flacco has a head start.
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