Author: Fang Ling, NFL China columnist
If you want to reach the peak, you will endure its pain; if you want to be moved, you will fall into it; if you want to think of your life, you will avoid its fierceness; if you want to indulge in it, you will give up its emptiness; if you want to be happy, you will show its grandeur; if you want to succeed, you will have its dreams; if you want to wear a crown, you will bear its weight.
In 2004, Manning looked like an iron-blooded man, but he was slender and sensitive, and at this time, Manning was not only concerned with becoming the king of the alliance, but when would he be able to bring back a Super Bowl trophy for India City? In this regard, the unified impression of the outside world is that Manning is of course very powerful, to win the championship? There seems to be something missing.
In the middle of the 2004 season, the concern of fans across the country is whether Manning and Brady can meet again in the playoffs. Just the two youthful names of Brady and Manning can arouse the side of the crowd, but it seems that people have overlooked that the two are no longer each other when they first met in the 2001 season.
Brady spent three years from a six-round draft substitute quarterback to a two-time Super Bowl MVP, from a "game manager" to an "elite short passer", who has no less than Manning's shooting speed, accuracy and game reading ability, as well as, in history' premier pocket footsteps.
Instead, since manning entered the league, he seems to have been challenging the spell, copying the spell, then the playoff spell, and the Patriot curse that has not yet been broken. Manning's style of play has also been continuously and repeatedly replaced between "suppressing the killing heart" and "releasing the talent".
From a technical point of view, Manning has two major killer skills: on-the-spot command and bullet passing.
Tom Moore is getting old every day, and if he hadn't put on the pony's uniform and put him in the crowd, you simply couldn't imagine that this was a rugby coach, so Manning had almost full responsibility for the attack. In the offseason, Manning will tirelessly study various defensive tactics, and understand the routines of all the defensive coaches in the league, except for the taciturn Belicek, in the face of other opponents, Manning can learn the opponent's defensive tactics at a glance. Such a high-standard on-the-spot command has never been done before, and I am afraid that it will be difficult to have a person after that.
The world's martial arts are only fast, and having a hand of bullet passing is what all quarterbacks dream of, although all the passers in the entire league understand this truth, but there are very few who really reach the peak. Manning was questioned about lack of arm talent when he entered the league, after six or seven seasons of experience, like the National United States to reverse the 1929 economic crisis, not in a hurry, Manning spent several years to train his own stunt, almost no arc, a 30-yard pass can be within 0.5 seconds "FedEx" to the outside receiver, NFL defenders are predators who can react within a few tenths of a second, but in the face of such a swift pass, just like the fast straight ball thrown by a baseball pitcher, also like the flying knife thrown by Li Xunhuan , making the defender whip long, looking at the ball and sighing.
As mentioned earlier, the Colts started with 4 wins and 3 losses, and in fact the team's defensive team should take more responsibility, after all, they lost an average of 376 yards per game to accompany the last seat of the league. However, Manning took the initiative to stand up, believing that the offensive group did not play "directly" enough, resulting in the inability to grab more points, so after that, Dungee and Moore made some adjustments, allowing the 32-year-old Harrison to directly attack the opposing backcourt, as familiar with the first eight seasons of his career, even if Harrison has lost the speed advantage of the straight yellow dragon, but his experience and ability to get rid of it are still unparalleled, he and 26-year-old Reggie Wayne formed two horns, just like Wayne joined the Ponies in the first three seasons of play, However, at this time, Harrison will use more horizontal and oblique routes to tear up the defense line, and the subsequent linear assault is more sudden.
Harrison moved out, full-time slot takeover Brandon Stockley got more freedom and playing opportunities, cornerbacks and security guards were all doing their best to make up for Manning's little Lee flying knife, and the "catfish effect" of slot machine Stockley not only stirred the ponies' morale, but also disrupted the opposing defense.
What about Clark and Pollard in the double-mid-range tactics? Indeed, the main three external takeover formation, the near end of the front is naturally deprived of playing time, but it does not matter, the Ponies' offensive philosophy, as long as they can complete the attack more efficiently, the role players to make appropriate sacrifices is also worth it.
In Week 8, Manning, the two quarterbacks with the most passes in the league, met with Dante Calpepper, and Randy Moss was not in good shape this season, but Coach Mike Tice unleashed Calpepper's passing instincts and the Vikings genetically mutated to become an offensive powerhouse. In the fourth quarter, Manning and Calpeper were still struggling to score, with Vikings running back Onterrio Smith rushing to tie the score before the finale. But 3 minutes was too much for Manning, who quietly advanced with the ball and rushed out of 15 yards, the Vikings defender fouled and gave the ponies 15 yards, Van der Jet hit a 35-yard free-kick, and the ponies narrowly won 31-28. Manning made 4 touchdowns from 268 yards out of 23 of 29 passes, and what's even more terrifying was that 8 receivers received the pass!
Next against the Texans, Robert Mathis sent three tackles, plus the team made three interceptions of Derek Carr, and the Colts defense team finally played a passing defensive performance. Manning's 2 interceptions weren't perfect enough? But 320 yards and 5 touchdowns are even more dazzling.
Against the Bears and Lions in the Northern Division of the National League, Manning only played three quarters in both games and then went down to close the army, because the defensive team woke up again, suppressed the opponent's road attack, and the victory was at hand. Notably, Manning delivered "only" 446 yards in both games, but had 10 touchdowns against the Lions, with Harrison and Stockley both scoring hat-tricks.
This was followed by a make-up from the Special Forces, with van der Jet shooting accuracy but foot strength always a problem, and Dungee decided to sign pirate "veteran" Martin Gramatica to kick off full-time.
Against the Titans, McNair was absent due to a sternum injury, and what was supposed to be a comedy opened in a thriller, with substitute Billy Volek connecting Drew Bennett's touchdown three times in the first quarter, thanks to Manning and James combining to bite the score. Fending off the Titans' three-plate axe, Manning regained his strength, and with only 89 yards from Wallak in the last three quarters of the defensive group, the Ponies struggled to win again.
It then easily defeated the Texans to achieve three consecutive seasons of double-elimination. Ray Lewis led the Ravens and Manning to a fight, but the offensive group was afraid of the stage, and finally could not compete with the ponies, and lost the town.
After this campaign, the Mas won a 7-game winning streak. Even more terrifying was Manning, who passed 4,168 yards and 47 touchdowns after 14 games in the 2004 season was just one step away from Dan Marino's 1984 record of 48 passes in a single season.
At this time, Manning, like Achilles who landed on the Trojan coast, wantonly released his own killing, ignoring the opponent's defense as nothing, and the outstanding performance of the external receivers made Manning more fearless, Manning seized all opportunities, murderously appeared, concisely and powerfully took the other general's first rank and returned to the camp safely, as if everything that had just happened seemed to be logical. Manning, who is also full of firepower, 28 years old and 25 years old but has a completely different mentality, 25-year-old Manning in order to prove himself, the eighteen martial arts on his body, all the time shake his talent that has nowhere to put; and the 28-year-old Manning, more than a little indifferent to fame and fortune, in addition to the championship, there is no lack of anything, only his own royal conquest, in order to support the team to move forward.
He directs, he steps, he runs, he passes, he organizes the whole team, he leads the team to kill. Manning ruled like a true king of the pitch, and then the numbers were pretty.
Week 15 bye, Week 16 against the San Diego Lightning, except for Manning, whose single-season touchdown is one step away from the record, Lightning running back Radjan to Tomlinson is setting an NFL record for 12 consecutive rushing touchdowns; Lightning near-end striker Antonio Gates is facing 13 touchdowns to break the single-season near-end touchstroke record.
After the opening, the short quarterback Drew Brice, who was selected in the second round of 2001, began to threaten, Eric Parker, Tomlinson and Gates began to bombard the Colts defense from all dimensions, and Manning's red zone offense was not good enough, and van der Jet frequently hit free-kicks to maintain the point difference.
In the third quarter, Brith's low-handed throw helped Gates break the record, but Manning then staged a parody show, which was also exactly the same low-handed throw to let the Ponies chase the score, and also let his own touchdown tie Marino's record. Then, it was Tomlinson's dashing touchdown that set a record, but the Colts never gave up, and Dominic Rhodes quickly responded with an 88-yard return touchdown.
Manning wasn't in perfect form and it was almost impossible to complete consecutive passes, but just one long pass could complete the first attack. In the final moments, the Colts trailed by eight points and Manning's full moon curved knife helped Stockley complete the touchdown! After all, it was a record moment, but Manning cared about winning or losing, too late to celebrate, he immediately organized a formation, "Two points, we want two points conversion!" Constantly beckoning the audience to quiet down, James unexpectedly broke through with the ball, allowing the Ponies to convert two points to tie the score.
At this point, the whole field is really erupting, with 49 passes in a single season! Teammates came up and stroked Manning's big head to congratulate him, and Manning hugged them one by one in thanks. However, the game was not over, and Brith's desperate long pass was intercepted by Colts center-back Rob Morris, and the game went into extra time.
Manning wouldn't give the Lightning another chance, a mid-range pass propelled Stockley 23 yards, then a speedy pass that drove Wayne straight into the 35 yards, van der Jet hit a free-kick and the Ponies narrowly won in overtime! Manning conceded 17 of his 44 passes, but that didn't matter, and it worked to take yards inefficiently.
Finally, this is the first meeting between Manning and Brith, but it is by no means the last.
The final round of the season against the Broncos, the Colts have locked the top spot in the American League South, Manning could have comfortably truncated a round, but in order to achieve the desire to surpass Farford's consecutive starts, Manning still came with the team to the Colorado Plateau, played a wave of offense, and watched Jim Sorge complete the season, even if the loss seemed so relaxed.
In the 2004 season, Manning shot 67.6% of 497 passes and 336 shots (league 3rd), 4557 yards (league 3rd), 49 touchdowns (making history), 10 interceptions, just 2.0% interception rate (4th lowest in the league), in addition to leading the Colts to 12 wins and 4 losses, Manning was unanimously elected MVP of the 2004 season.
Winning the regular season MVP, only Jim Brown, Joe Montana and Brett Farfer have accomplished great things in history.
Wayne made a new career breakthrough with 77 catches of 1210 yards and 12 touchdowns; Harrison failed to become the team's receiver for the first time in his 9-year career, but 86 catches of 1113 yards and 15 touchdowns were still powerful; Stockley added 68 more catches of 1077 yards and 10 yards, and the Three Receivers of the Colts received 1000+ yards in a single season, 10+.
Egylin James has been in real health for the last four seasons, with 334 strokes and 11 touchdowns for 1548 yards and 483 yards for the ball. Above, the Mas are number one in the league in terms of scoring and second in the league in offensive yards.
However, the defensive group still has a lot of worries, and Dengey's defensive group has few highlights except for The two rushers, Frini and Mathis, who have contributed 26.5 tackles together. Weak defensive backlines left the Colts fourth-highest number of defensive yards in the league in the regular season.
Wild card battles, the Mas once again met the Wilds encountered in the final round of the regular season, but this battle was played in India City, just as last season helped Manning achieve the breakthrough of his first career playoff victory, the Mustangs once again appeared, although they have the famous coach Mike Shanahan, the quarterback Jake Plummer with the 4th most passing yards this season, and the core of the defensive group is the single defensive corner guard Champ Bailey. But they simply could not stop Manning, the first half of the ponies locked the Mustang's road attack, Plummer alone, and Manning is frequently successful, although Pele got Harrison, but Clark began to sweep the short pass, Wayne pierced the heart of the Mustang, James and other runners just need to add touchdowns at the right time. In the first half, the Colts built a super advantage of 35-3.
In the second half, Plummer led the team to counterattack, and the helpless Ponies' short screen pass once again helped Wayne take the line, and the Mas almost did not use their full strength to get the Broncos 49-24. With 4 touchdowns from 458 yards, Manning has always been the mustang's bitter master.
Victory in this battle will ensure that their next opponent will be the far away Foxburg against the New England Patriots. The two favorite sons of the rugby god fell to the mortal world, incarnated as Manning and Brady, tigers in India City and Boston, for the Super Bowl, for victory, again and again to fight each other.
In fact, Patriot fans felt that Manning did not deserve to be Brady's nemesis: "Where is the one-sided nemesis of victory and defeat?" ”
On January 16, 2005, new England was covered in snow, winds, and it was even colder than last year, at minus 4 degrees.
The entire Team was timid in interviews, including Manning and Dungee, and no one was confident that they would win the Patriots, but just kept downgrading the execution of tactics. In fact, in the face of such bad weather, patriots are not 100% prepared.
At the beginning of the game, Manning and Brady performed a bit rigidly, so both sides tried to use the road to open up the situation, and the results were all seen dead, and the first quarter of the two sides handed in a white roll.
In the second quarter, Patriots running back Corey Dylan began to find his senses, and the outside rush burst out frequently, helping Vina tieri to hit a free kick twice. Subsequently, the Patriots defense team gradually showed blood, Manning handed Dominic Rhodes a short screen pass, patriot defense leader Teddy Brusch snatched the ball from Rhodes, and Frini's tackle made the Patriots miss an offensive opportunity. Van der Jet then hit a free-kick to chase the score.
In the first half, Manning complained again and again about the Patriots' aggressive defense, spreading his hands countless times, "How can this not blow fouls??? It seemed that the only trace of sharpness had also been smoothed out.
In the second half, the Patriots played a wave of extremely patient offense, 11 rushes and 4 passes, and finally Brady found his old partner David Givens to complete the game's first touchdown, 13-3! Manning still follows the offensive philosophy of the regular season, the game can be ugly, but as long as the long pass is completed, the offense can be continued, but the Ponies miscalculated, they underestimated the Patriots' defensive group too much.
Star defensive end richard Simmel missed this game, and "Manning nemesis" Tai Law was also reimbursed early in the middle of the season, but in the face of the league's strongest offensive pony, the Patriots defense team fought against each other, and defensive leader Brusch was desperately trying to boost morale and let teammates and ponies play for their lives. In the face of such a strong defense, the Pony Generals have become "soft-footed shrimp", and even if Manning gui is the MVP, he is frequently lost in beliček's cunning formation.
In the fourth quarter, the Patriots made another long-range attack, with Corey Dylan driving straight into the near-touchdown on the left, but Brady's hard squeeze made up for the regret, 20-3! The Patriots almost locked in the victory.
The Ponies rushed to chase the points, but made another mistake, Wayne's catch was knocked off by Rodney Harrison, and Bruschi picked up the missing ball. In the final 10 seconds, Manning's touchdown pass to Harrison tried to save face, but Rodney Harrison completed the intercept again, 20-3, and the conflict ended with the Patriots' complete victory.
Brady only had 1 touchdown from 144 yards out of 27 passes, but 10 receivers received the pass. Manning intercepted 1 of 238 yards in 27 of 42 passes. This time, the battle of the old enemies returned to the way it was, and Manning won the stats but lost the game.
Manning vs Brady, six straight defeats.
Looking back at these six defeats, the first game of the 2001 season was not good; the second game of the 2001 season, the 13th week of the 2003 season, and the first week of the 2004 season, the Ponies lost to the Patriots' never-ending offense; until the two playoffs in 2003 and 2004, except for bad weather, the Ponies almost completely collapsed from the offensive, defensive, and special service groups. In a few games, the Ponies vaguely felt that victory was within reach, but there was one fact that the Ponies had to face: in six games, the Number of Times the Mas had a few leads, let alone a chance to win.
The story that followed was familiar to everyone, brady easily picked up the limelight of Steelers and "Big Ben" Ben Rossliberg in the American League Finals. Then came the bloodless victory over the Philadelphia Hawks led by Andy Reed and Donovan McNab in the Super Bowl, three crowns in four years, and the establishment of the Patriot dynasty, the only difference being that this Super Bowl MVP belonged to Dion Blanche, who had received 133 yards in 11 attempts.
Brady was once again in the yellow robe, while Manning was once again in pain. In the 2005 Pro Bowl, interceptor Tariq Glenn joined Manning, Harrison, James, and Frini for the first time in his career. On the other hand, manning and Brady became teammates for the first time in their careers, which seems a bit strange. Immersed in the joy of winning the championship, Brady absent-mindedly sent a copy, but Manning played the Professional Bowl as a Super Bowl, sending 3 touchdown passes and winning the Professional Bowl MVP.
Offseason, another serious problem in front of the Ponies, Ejean James's contract expired, the 1999 season the Cavaliers and James signed a 7-year 14 million rookie contract, the white colt gap, James 6 seasons to contribute 10222 yards and 61 touchdowns, should get a rich big contract, but the biggest problem is that Manning and Harrison have renewed a long contract last season, the salary space is urgent, the Mas can not really give James a super contract, stalemate, Eventually the Ponies left James with the privilege tag and continued to maintain offensive firepower.
Of course, the league's penultimate defense made Colt boss Jim Erse furious, ordering general manager Polly an and coach Dungee to focus on replenishing the defensive group.
The first is the signing of former Hawks Pro Bowl defensive tackler Corey Simon on the free agent. In the 2005 draft, the Ponies selected University of Michigan cornerback Marlin Jackson in the first round, University of Illinois cornerback Kelvin Hayden in the second round, and University of California security guard Matt Giordano in the fourth round. The Mas used three of their first four draft picks to fill the defensive backline — and this isn't the first time the Mas have tried so hard to replenish the defensive team.
Of course, the best story in this draft is still related to the quarterback, the San Francisco 49ers have a winning pick, but they missed the future league leader again as they missed Brady, and instead chose Alex Smith of the University of Utah, while the real "California son" Aaron Rodgers was picked up by the Green Bay Packers with the 24th pick and became Brett Farfer's apprentice.
Manning "retipped" a shorter hairstyle in the summer, revealing a towering forehead that at first glance thought was Kelly Shelley's Frankenstein of Frankenstein. Manning changed to a smaller helmet, which, according to his own interpretation, helped him to be more focused during the game, and the effect of the game is unknown, but impressively, the big forehead is squeezed red and more joyful.
Of course, Manning didn't care about that at all, the only thing he cared about, and the only thing he cared about, and the only thing he cared about, was to lead the team to victory. But the regular season hasn't even started yet, and another thing is starting to worry Payton and the entire Manning family.
On August 23, 2005, New Orleans, Louisiana — Manning's hometown was nearly destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, collapsing the double-span bridge leading to Slader and plunging large sections of the bridge into Lake Pontictrein; the New Orleans Airport was severely damaged and forced to close; the north windows of the Hyatt Hotel were shattered and the furniture in the house flew into the sky; the palatial commercial streets of the French District were devastated; and Six Flags Park was reduced to rubble. Hometown is difficult, how can Payton, who is keen on public welfare, sit idly by? In addition to mobilizing funds from the "Pey Fund" to support the disaster area, the Manning brothers also returned to New Orleans to help transport the victims' supplies and spend time with their fellow villagers.
In fact, as soon as Manning stepped into the field, he would transform into Achilles's doppelganger, a paranoid victory man, but once he left the court, he became a man full of warmth, or rather, full of humanity, he was humorous and funny, he was gentle and elegant, he was impartial, he was as anxious as the wind, as quiet as the forest, as fast as the fire, as immovable as a mountain. On the court, people will blame him for his playoff record, but off the court, Manning is an impeccable man.
In the first seven games of the 2005 regular season, Manning passed a total of 1551 yards and 11 touchdowns, averaging 221.6 yards and 1.6 touchdowns per game. Looking back at the crazy 2004 season, Manning was able to pass 1551 yards in just five and a half games and 11 touchdowns in just four games.
Manning himself pretended to be confused: "I don't like to be the protagonist all the time, I just try to pass the ball to all my teammates." But I have an old rule: you pass the ball to the people who run out of the empty space. ”
Has Manning really been less efficient? In fact, compared with the first seven games in 04, Manning averaged 5.1 fewer passes per game in season 05, but his shooting rate was 3.1 percentage points higher than in season 04, and his efficiency was even improving.
The Ponies have honed a killing move in the past two seasons: after the kick-off, Manning pretended to hand over the ball to James to rush the ball to attack, the opposing security guard waited for the opportunity to move to defend the run, but the Ponies used the fake run real pass tactic, 20 yards direct pass to Harrison or Wayne, this move is not happy. The winner was always imitated and studied by opponents, and then the entire league became familiar with this tactic, dealing with the "fake run real pass" of the masts, and the defensive team of all teams chose the security guard Tiger not to go out of the hole, waiting to intercept Manning's speedball.
The road is a foot high, the pony is also thinking about changes, the "fake run true transmission" tactic will often eventually be changed to "real run" by Manning, the two external receivers are directly into the hinterland as usual, the corner guard is taken away, the outer defense area is empty, even if the security guard stays in the backcourt, it is beyond the reach of the whip. James' attack on the outside of the opponent with the ball usually completes a large-size breakthrough. The Colts averaged 4.5 more offensive attacks per game than last season, and James accumulated 801 yards and seven touchdowns in just seven games.
So the question is, how did the Ponies do in the first seven games?
In the season opening game against the Ravens, Gary Brackett and Cato June contributed three interceptions, plus Larry Triplet's two tackles, directly to the Ravens starting quarterback Kyle Boller to leave the court with confidence, and the Colt won 24-7.
Against the Jaguars, the two sides fought a defensive battle, and Manning shot less than 50% of the time, sending only 122 yards and 1 interception. But Monte Rego sent three tackles, Rahim Brock, Frini and Mathis once each, and six tackles made Jaguar quarterback Leftevic equally uncomfortable, unable to hold off the Colts' last-quarter attack, and the Colts won 10-3.
Against Brown, although opposing quarterback Trent Dilfor can guarantee a super high shooting rate, the Ponies suppressed the opponent's road yardage to 75 yards, And Frini and Mathis combined to contribute 4 tackles, and the Colts won 13-6.
Against the Titans, Manning made 264 yards and four touchdowns to be the first to do so, but the defensive team once again only let the Titans score 10 points, and Bob Sanders intercepted McNair in the end zone, allowing the Titans to miss the opportunity to chase points. Titan lineback Peter Sirmon praised Manning: "We simply can't stop him, he can think of a move before every attack. ”
Against the 49ers, Frini and Mathis again delivered five tackles, and what was more exaggerated was that June, Jason David and Mike Doss intercepted Alex Smith four times, leaving him with only 9 of 23 passes, and the Colts won 28-3 without bloodshed. A big win made Manning start to think bitterly: "I think about the rookie season against the 49ers is a really tough journey, I hate going through that kind of game, but it can help you become the person you are now." 」 ”
Against the Rams, Manning met his old teammate, Marshall Falk in the final season of his career. Mark Bourgey and young running back Stephen Jackson gave the Mas a headshot and scored 17 points in a row, but the Colts defense team only lost a game, and then in the next three quarters, June and Nick Harper contributed three interceptions, Manning almost exhausted all his strength, coupled with the proper tactical deployment, the Colt reversed successfully, 45-28.
In the seventh game against the Texans, who had never lost, the opponent made up his mind and the ponies to fight hard, so David Carr only passed the ball 9 times, but even so, as long as Carl tried to pass the ball, the ponies' tackle was bound to come, and in the fourth quarter, Mathis's tackle made Carl drop the ball, and Rego regained the ball back to attack the touchdown, completely killing the game, 38-20.
Manning said: "The start to the season was fantastic, but that doesn't guarantee anything. I just think the details of our first seven weeks were too good and it's important to be in such a state to meet the rest week. ”
Seven consecutive wins!!! Averaging 16 points per game, the defensive group's almost luxurious performance, the Ponies lost 10.5 points in the first seven battlefields, the league's lowest, and the 278 yards per game the league's 8th fewest.
Why did the defensive team turn upside down?
Defensively, Corey Simon, Triplet and Rego formed a wall of defensive meat, and Mathis's rapid growth coupled with Frini's kaleidoscopic punching skills gave the Ponies a pair of top-notch punching combinations, while Rahim Brock's overall strength could not be ignored, and the Ponies' years of painstaking construction finally paid off.
Cato-June quietly served as the starting linebacker from the 04 season, and unlike most linebackers, who are only 183 cm, 103 kg, and his small body shape helps him to keep an excellent eye on receivers. Another change in the linebackers, the 25-year-old small black Gary Braquet replaced the 30-year-old white Rob Morris as the starting centerback, Braquet looks like a "fat head", cute, but on the court is athletic and flexible. Improving his ability to keep an eye on his guard is only one aspect, but Braquet is a better leader, extremely good at using shouting to encourage his teammates.
Several defensive back-line gains in the 2005 Draft failed to quickly become the starting point, with Nick Harper, Jason David and Mike Dos still occupying three starting positions. The only change, second-year security guard Bob Sanders became the starter, this small man is only 173 cm, 93 kg, may be the shortest player in the entire league, but he is never afraid of the opponent's body, the aggressive impact ability makes him named "Impactor" and "Eraser", his footprints are all over the defensive backcourt, and the huge coverage makes the backcourt impregnable. In addition, supporting anti-run, grappling, and raiding, sanders' shadow can be seen all over the field. Dungee's system requires strict "two-man backcourt defense", but Sanders is an exception, he is like a free man in the defensive group, the X factor that the opponent cannot predict.
While the Pirates had star passers such as Warren Sapp and Seymour Rice, the Ponies now have Frini and Mathis, and the depth of the defensive front is better than that of the Pirates. At that time, the pirates had a pair of unborn genius linebackers such as Nixon and Derrick Brooks, and now the Ponies have Brackett and June, although the fame is not as good as the former, but the mistakes of the opponent are not inferior. At that time, the pirates had such "closed corner guards" as Lund Babel sitting on the outside, and now The Pony Harper and David can't let each other's outsiders disappear, and may even be destroyed by each other, but they have a way to get revenge, that is, they keep using interception to retaliate against their opponents! The pirates had John Lynch and now the ponies are Sanders sticking to the Dragon Gate, the two have different skin colors and different bodies, but the only thing they have in common is that they hit mercilessly to punish their opponents for aggression.
Season 05's Mavericks defense team has an outstanding trait, from the beginning of the game to the end, they never let down their vigilance, each defense can ensure the playoff level of ultra-high intensity, do not have to play the whole game, it is very much to be shocked by the momentum of the Mavericks defense group.
Four seasons, long enough, and although always suspected, Dungee's persistence finally paid off, and he finally perfectly replicated the Pirates' defensive system.
Of course, some experts question the gold content of the ponies' total victory because of the lack of strength of the first seven opponents of the ponies, and it is true that except for the jaguars, the other six opponents have a win rate of less than 50%.
The eighth week Ponies enjoyed a leisurely bye week. Immediately after, the ponies will head north to Boston, and Manning will face his nemesis Brady for the seventh time in his career.
And, the "near-great" pony will meet the "truly great" patriots, and the great war will break out.
(Editor: Yao Fan)