The good Manning

I know it's taboo for a Pats' fan to say... I like that Peyton Manning. (Not so for the little Manning, but he's thankfully done for the year ... so who cares about him?)

I like Peyton. He makes really funny commercials. He seems like a genuinely good guy. His teammates seem to really like him. He often loses to the Patriots in huge games. He doesn't sell UGGs. Oh, and he's one of the three or four best quarterbacks I have ever seen play the toughest position in pro sports.

Montana. Brady. Bradshaw. Aikman. Marino. Elway. Kelly. Staubach. Manning. For me, those are the best of my generation. You can put them in any order that you want. I never thought a Patriot quarterback would be on that list. I grew up watching Bradshaw and Staubach build Hall of Fame careers. I later watched as Montana, Aikman, and Elway won titles. I may not have always been rooting for them but I always enjoyed watching them and loved the way they played.

Manning is the same way. I don't really want to see him win another Super Bowl -- mainly because he's a Bronco and Pats' fans have a special dislike of the Mile High team. But if he does win it all he will have earned it -- again.

Even after a career-threatening neck surgery took a year away from him just as he was entering the last few years of his career, Manning the elder has battled all the way back and still makes passes that boggle the mind. He may be better than ever.

And he's still pretty funny....

Horsing around

TALES FROM THE TAILGATE
Broncos 34, Patriots 8 (11/17/'96): The Denver Broncos come to Gillette tomorrow for a big AFC game. It's always a big game when the Pats and Broncos play. And now that Peyton Manning is Denver's QB the game is even bigger.

It's always better when the Broncos have to come here instead of the Patriots going to mile high Denver. It very rarely goes well out there. Actually, it doesn't go too well wherever the Pats play the Broncos. Denver is 25-18 all-time against the Pats. Tom Brady is 3-6 against the team from Colorado. There have been some ugly losses in those games for the Pats. Ugly.

I've been to a lot of great games over the past 20-plus years. They are the games that all Pats fans remember fondly. But I've seen some heartbreaking losses and been to some blowouts that had me daydreaming of the post-game hamburgers by halftime.

There was the game in '98 against Atlanta when the line getting into the old concrete toilet bowl was so long we missed the first ten minutes. By the time we got to our seats the score was already 21-3 Falcons. It was one of the rare games that our co-worker Ken came with us. Sorry Ken. There was the '95 game against the Saints that ended with me slouched up against my car in the parking lot after the Pats surrendered two touchdowns (69-yard pass, 66-yard run) late in the game for a 31-17 loss and an official end to that season's playoff hopes.

The Super Bowl Patriots had their moments too. In '05 the defending champs were in a great battle with the Chargers on a beautiful October day. The score was tied 17-17 at the half and Paul and I said something like "This team is just so much fun to watch." ... The Chargers outscored the Pats 24-0 in the second half. The lasting memory of the day -- other than the post-game burgers -- is Antonio Gates making catch after catch as he brushed of would be tacklers like flies at a tailgate. It was ugly.

But not as ugly as the ugliest game I have ever had the bad luck of witnessing. And of course, it was against the Denver Broncos.

The Broncos came into Foxborough with a 9-1 record against the Parcells' Pats and their 7-3 record. It was a statement game. The Broncos made the statement. By the end of the first half it was 24-0. Denver out rushed the Pats 198 yards to 17. The Denver D stuffed Drew Bledsoe, holding him to just over 200 yards passing and a pick. It was one of those games where the loudest sound of the day -- other than Denver running backs smashing into and over Pats defenders -- were the groans from the stands after almost every play.

We sat on the visitors side in the old stadium. Though we were pretty far up we could see that the Denver players -- especially Shannon Sharpe -- were mocking Pats fans as the score got higher and higher. The stadium emptied out after the score hit 34-8. At one point Sharpe picked up one of the sideline phones and got into an animated conversation. We thought maybe he was ordering pizza since the game was all but over.

It wasn't till I got home and turned on SportsCenter that I saw what Sharpe was saying on the phone. "Mr. President! Call the National Guard... Send help! ... We are killing the Patriots!"

There'll be no Shannon Sharpe making calls to the president today. But there will be Peyton Manning. There's always drama when the Pats play the Broncos.

A new season

The 2012 NFL season has become must-see TV.

Forget "Game of Thrones." Forget "Fringe." Forget "Mad Men." (OK, don't forget "Game of Thrones.") The 2012 NFL season is providing more drama, romance, and comedy than anything cable TV can come up with ... and they haven't even played a game yet.

You want drama? How about Bounty-gate. The not-so-saintly New Orleans Saints' coaching staff being exposed as men who put a price (literally) on winning. A price that they are now paying for with their head coach's head. Sean Payton was suspended for the entire season. That's harsh. I thought four games. I guess he knew more about Bounty-gate than previously thought. Former D coach Greg Williams, the masterslime behind the whole mess, has been suspended indefinitely. There should be a job for him coaching Arena Football. The Saints -- just a few years removed from their Super Bowl title -- are in shambles. No coach. Franchise QB Drew Brees is unhappy with his non-contract. They are getting hit much harder than the Pats did for Spygate.

You want romance? How about Peyton Manning and John Elway walking hand-in-hand in the Rockies as they listen to John Denver on their matching orange iPods. They are the new Tom and Gisele. Will their romance result in a pair of sparkly new rings? That all depends on how the rings in Manning's spine hold up.

You want comedy? How about Tim "Jesus" Tebow going to Gotham City to play for Eatipus Rex. How is the son of God going to feel when Ryan tells him to "go get me an effin' snack"? Maybe Rex and the rest of the Jets can teach young Tebow all about teamwork, sportsmanship, and class. Oh that's right, they reportedly brought in Tebow to help fix the team's toxic chemistry. I guess cornerback Antonio Cromartie didn't get the memo when he Tweeted "We don't need Tebow."

The Jets trading for Tebow is just too good to be true ... if you are a Patriots fan. The team just gave their fragile franchise QB Mark Sanchez a nice contract extension to let him know that he is their man. Then less than a week later they trade for his replacement, uh, I mean his backup. I look forward to flipping on the NFL RedZone (I miss you Scott Hanson) and watching a Jets home game against ... let's say the much-improved Bills. The new Bills D line is knocking the heck out of Sanchez. The shaken QB tosses a few costly picks. The Jets fall behind early. A sound rises from the crowd as Fireman Ed sits with his hands on his helmet. What's that the crowd is chanting? It's kind of catchy... "Teee-bow... Tee-bow ... Tee-bow." Louder and louder. Mt. Ryan is faced with a decision bigger than his green gut. Stick with his guy Sanchez ... the real NFL quarterback ... or cave to the wishes of the crowd and put in Tebow?

Can you say quarterback controversy? If you don't think the chances of this happening aren't 100 percent then you don't watch much football. This will be the mother of all quarterback controversies.

Oh, and one more thing about Tebow. The Pats played him twice last year. Once in the playoffs. Combined score 88-33. Pats. Yes, Rex. Please get him on the field as often as possible.

You have a bad altitude

Rocky Mountain High. Mile High. Whatever you want to call it, a trip by the Patriots to the rarefied air of Denver is always a big game and almost always a loss. Since I started watching the Pats in the early '70s I have seen them lose in the most excruciating of ways. I'm still trying to erase the image of Mosi Tatupu fumbling in 1984 to blow a crucial game that the Pats had in their grasp. They have made the journey to Colorado 23 times and have come away with only 8 wins. And most of them happened in the '60s.

The two teams play each other so often it feels like they are division rivals. But they're not. The Colts and Steelers have been the Pats main adversaries this decade as the three have taken turns at the top of the AFC, but the Broncos have been the team's arch nemesis outside the AFC East for decades. The Patriots aren't the only team that the Broncos have owned through the years. With Hall of Famer John Elway at the helm the Broncos didn't lose too many games to anyone in the '80s and '90s. Elway, in fact, was a perfect 11-0 against the Pats. From Shannon Sharpe's "Mr. President, call in the National Guard because we are killing the Patriots!" mock 911 call to the playoff game in 2005 when the Pats' bid for a third straight Super Bowl died in a hail of turnovers like Sonny at the tollbooth, the team from Foxborough has suffered some of its ugliest loses against Denver.

But oddly enough Denver is also the site of one the Patriots' greatest regular season victories. The 6-2 Pats and the 5-3 Broncos faced off on a Monday night in 2003. It was a back-and-forth affair and Bergs and I called each other from our couches whenever there was a big play. The Pats trailed 24-20 entering the fourth quarter and Bergs and I were on the line for the final 15 minutes. And what a 15 minutes it was. Trailing 24-23 with just over two minutes to play, the Pats were backed up to their own goal line and had to punt. It was looking like another heartbreaking loss to the Broncos. Belichick was not waving the white flag however. He ordered an intentional safety by having the ball snapped out of the end zone. Two more points for the Broncos and the Pats still had to kick the ball away. "What the hell is Belichick doing?'' Bergs and I both asked. Belichick knew what he was doing. The Pats kicked from better field position and pinned the Broncos deep, held their offense, and got the ball back. As Brady drove the Pats down the field with the clock ticking Bergs and I were hoping for a field goal to tie the game at 26-26. Instead, with 30 seconds left, Brady hit David Givens at the front corner of the end zone for a clutch TD and gave the Pats a huge road win. Belichick was so happy he and Charlie Weiss embraced with joy at the end of the game. Bergs and I still think that win was the one that made the players total believers in Belichick -- it sure did it for us -- and set them on their path for back-to-back titles. It was that big a game.

And Sunday's game should be no different. The Broncos are the surprise of the early season at 4-0. Granted, those wins have come against four weak teams. But under former Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels, Denver has moved past the offseason turmoil of the McDaniels-Jay Cutler fued that ultimately led to the unexpected trading of the QB. It was a rough start for the young coach. But McDaniels, showing that he learned a hell of a lot more from Belichick than Mangini, has steadied the team and has them playing solid defense (allowing a ridiculous 6.5 points per game) and has Kyle Orton doing his best Phil Simms impersonation by taking good care of the ball (no picks) and making the plays when he has to.

For the Pats, the loss of Fred Taylor to ankle surgery hurts more than it might seem. In the Ravens game, there was a 2nd-and-10 just outside the Baltimore 10-yard line late in the first quarter. 2nd-and-10. That's a passing down. A Wes Welker down. Instead, the Pats lined up in a regular formation and ran a draw play to Taylor who slashed through the hole for seven yards. The Pats went on to score on a Brady sneak a few plays later. It was a key moment for the offense to be able to run the ball in for a score. Their red zone offense looked much better from that point on because by showing they could run they opened up everything else. It was key. And Taylor was a big part of it. Can Sammy Morris or Lawrence Maroney fill that role? Maybe. I was looking forward to watching Taylor get better and better as the season wore on. On the bright side, this might mean the return of Ben-Jarvis Green-Ellis. You can never get enough of the man with four names.

I wrote after the win over the Falcons that the Pats offense was on the verge of a 40 point game. Even though the Denver D is a solid one, this could be the game the Pats offense breaks out. Then again, my confidence has been mile high going into a game in Denver many times before.