This is ridiculous. Peyton threw a pick-six on the final drive to lose the Superbowl against the Saints. That's "blowing the game". Brady drove the Patriots offense down the field and scored to give the Pats the lead with under 5 minutes remaining in both of those Super Bowls they lost to the Giants. He put them in position to win the game both times. The Patriots defense blew those games.
I'm not expecting anything from the Pats this year with all the injuries they've had. I'll be watching and cheering no doubt, but this year I'm amazed they even made the playoffs. Any/every game they play from here on out is just bonus.
That said, it's a wide open field this year. I don't see any real favorites in either conference. Yeah, Seattle is good, but they don't have much playoff experience. This will be a huge test for them.
I think with the high profile loss against the Saints with Peyton (the game most expected to be his second ring) and the two with Brady and the Patriots will weigh heavily on those teams and
probably hurt their chances. Between Brady and Peyton, I expect as least one of them to have a total meltdown or loss as hurtful as one of those three unexpected Super Bowl losses and something to be the major headline for the postseason. From 2005 season onward to this moment I can't think of any other QBs who take the title of "almost there" more than Peyton and Tom. Can you?
That being said, if taken the right way, then it could make the Broncos and Pats the hungriest teams in the postseason right now to erase those bad memories. All those bad years the Red Sox had to endure being owned by the Yankees only spurred the winning machine and dynasty they are today.
My Niners had such a dismal 1970s (as bad as anything you can imagine or even worse since you don't live here) that all that failure and embarrassment I and the rest of the Niner fans had to go through was probably what motivated the team into nearly two decades of excellence and five super bowl seasons tossed in between for good measure. Contrast that 1970s to seeing the bay area's Warriors win the NBA, the Raiders post the winningest record in professional sports, and the A's to threepeat a World Series, then you can see how hard it was to endure being a Niners fan that decade. The word "loser" most defined the 49ers of the 1970s but it brewed an angst that was ready to kick ass one day.
What is Peyton or Tom, arguably the best QBs of this generation in terms of stats, going to do with losses in the last Super Bowl they played? Will it motivate them to erase the memory of that loss (and believe me it will) or do they both have monkeys on their back they may never remove?
49er star Jerry Rice who had three Super Bowl victories still cannot get over his last visit to the big game which ended in a loss when he was with heavily favored Oakland Raiders. While most won't remember him for this loss, it's what Jerry remembers the most. Even when you are not on the field, a loss could hurt more than a win feels good. Magic Johnson was more overwhelmed with his front office role in the LA Dodgers and their comeback season more than he was ever with an LA Laker season as a player. To him the Dodgers role he has is much more stressful and a Dodger World Series win would mean more to him than any Lakers championship. From what I gather he didn't give any interviews after the Cardinals took out the Dodgers last year.
I think there's only three truly notable days in a professional sports player's life: first day, last day, and final performance in a championship (if you even get there). For Peyton or Tom's sake, I hope their last Super Bowl appearances, whenever that is, are wins. You don't remember Elway for the first three which were losses, but the two wins which thankfully were at the end pretty much peg him as "two time Super Bowl winner, John Elway".
