Tuesday, February 9, 2016

The Super Bowl: The QB Dilemna

On Sunday Night two of my favorite quarterbacks faced off in what would be an ugly night for offense and the two quarterbacks themselves. The old vs. the new, The Sheriff vs. Superman, Manning vs. Newton. It was all we would hear about for weeks leading up to the game, the young dynamic, african american quarterback and the old, pocket passing white guy. Their games couldn't be more different, but in reality they are more alike than people like to admit. Social Media, and ESPN did a good job of hyping up the Super Bowl platform, especially the differences in the style of play between the two quarterbacks. Peyton, 39 years old, whether or not by choice doesn't have the energy and suave to match the flamboyant playing style of Cam Newton. Cam, who runs, dives, dances, and dabs has been highly criticized for not respecting the game of football, while Peyton is revered as an ambassador of the game. The truth is both styles work, without Cam their would nothing for the old age fans to complain about, without Peyton their would be nothing for them to like. Cam attracts the younger crowds, he is flashy cool, and his trademark smile is enjoyable to watch. He loves the game of football, regardless of what anyone says, he is a competitor, hates to lose, he works hard. He is everything one could ask for in their starting quarterback.Peyton too takes a lot of criticism for not winning enough in big games. Yet he like Newton is all you could ask for in your starting quarterback. No one and I mean no one works as hard as Peyton to understand schemes and defenses and to put his team in the best position to win. He's not flashy, but he is one of the greatest of all time, if not the greatest of all time.



So these guys didn't have their best games in the Super Bowl, they both turned the ball over multiple times, both struggled to escape pressure, but they competed, they got hit, they got back up. They got knocked down, they got up again. They both simply fought their hearts out. One had to win, one had to lose. Its the game of football, you win some you lose some. This game will hopefully be the last Peyton plays, so that he can go out on top. But this is not close to the end of Cam Newton, he will be back, and I would venture to guess that he will be on the smiling side of the game more times than not.

Post win Manning endorsed Budweiser, giving them over 3 million in free advertising, it blew up on social media. People wondered why he endorsed it, they laughed about it, hash-tagged it, posted videos of it. Contrarily Newton was heavily criticized for his abrupt exit from the media interview. The video has been shared over multiple, if not every social media platform. For people to complain or defend. At the end of the day these two guys couldn't be more different when it comes to playing style, they couldn't be more different in the way that they reacted after the game ( remember one won and the other lost). But when it comes to being competitors and hating to lose they couldn't be any more similar. They both are either positively or negatively perceived on social media, both criticized, but both are winners. Both are great Quarterbacks.




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