What are Tom Brady and Peyton Manning Werth? December 7, 2010

Well, it was a head-spinning week (and weekend) in sports. 'The Boss' didn't get elected to the Hall of Fame on his first try, Oregon and Auburn each won to ensure a spot in the BCS National Championship Game in Pasadena (their other undefeated friend, TCU, gets high-powered Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl), Duke stayed atop the basketball world, Tiger Woods finished 2010 without a victory, and Ben Roethlisberger had his nose bent sideways on national TV.

Oh yeah, and Derek Jeter is still a Yankee. He got $51 million for four years, with an option for a fourth year (which he will probably take).

Well, after twelve weeks of professional football, the two teams with the best record (10-2) are the Atlanta Falcons and the New England Patriots. Raise your hand if you had those two picked as preseason bets as number ones this far into the season.

The Pittsburgh Steelers stole a victory from the Baltimore Ravens when All-Pro safety Troy Polamalu sacked Joe Flacco and forced, and recovered, a fumble, leading to a game-winning score. Flacco threw one at the feet of a receiver on a 4th & 2 with 33 seconds left to end the game later. As mentioned, Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger, who came into the game nursing a bad right foot that limited the famously-mobile quarterback's mobility, took a hand to the face from Ravens lineman Haloti Ngata on one of the game's first plays, ending up with his nose squashed and leaking blood. But Big Ben recovered, and led the team to the key victory, setting them up with a 9-3 record, while the Ravens sank to 8-4.

Anyway, about the title of this post. For YEARS, the debate has been raging: Who's the better quarterback, Tom Brady or Peyton Manning? Manning is a four-time NFL MVP. Brady a one-time. Manning has thrown for 53,837 yards and 390 touchdowns in his career; Brady, 33,873 and 252. Manning held the single-season record for touchdowns with 49, until Brady broke it, with 50, three years later. Brady has won three Super Bowls and lost one; Manning has won one and lost one. 4

Bottom line, the debate has always been: Manning's stats versus Brady's titles.

Well, suddenly, Manning's stats are on the downhill. Against the 3-7 Dallas Cowboys on Sunday, Manning had his second-consecutive game with four interceptions, third-straight with three-plus, and had two of them returned for touchdowns, just like the week before. The result was a 38-35 loss to the 'Boys in overtime, and Manning is suddenly a) nowhere on the 2010 MVP radar, and b) being seriously questioned and agonized over for the first time in his career. The Colts are now 6-6 (the 'Boys, 4-7).

Meanwhile, Brady played in the much-hyped 'Game of the Year', a Monday Night Football contest between his 9-2 Patriots and the 9-2 New York Jets. Remember, back in week 3, the Patriots played so poorly in the second half of a game they once led, and went on to lose, against the Jets, that Brady declared "we just sucked" afterwards. Well, the MNF contest was no contest after all. Brady threw for four touchdowns and 326 yards, the Pats led 17-0 after the first quarter, and, ultimately, the Pats blew away the Jets for bragging rights to the #1 seed in the AFC with a 45-3 mauling. His counterpart, Jets QB Mark Sanchez, threw 3 interceptions in arguably his worst effort of his sophomore season. Loudmouthed Jets coach Rex Ryan declared after the game that his team wasn't up to the task. HIS counterpart, New England coach Bill Belichick, declared that it was the best his Patriots had played all year.

What's the shape of the Manning/Brady debate now?

Okay, so one bad stretch shouldn't break any great athlete's reputation. I mean, Derek Jeter hit .270 last year (oh my gosh, he did? Why didn't somebody say something!?), but, once he's retired, and in the Hall of Fame with a .300-plus lifetime average, and well over 3,000 career hits, no one's going to care about the 'eyesore' '10 season. Manning could throw four interceptions again this week (it would have to be Thursday night against the lowly Tennessee Titans) and then retire and he would still be a near-unanimous Hall-of-Famer. Again, he's a Super Bowl-winning, record-setting, four-time MVP-winning quarterback, one of the most dependable winners of all time.

Except now, he's not winning, right?

Yeah, it's unfair of me to center my review of the NFL week just in terms of Brady and Manning, but both are the talk of the sports world right now. Brady has won 26 straight regular-season home games and is the MVP favorite (sorry, Mike Vick), and his team is now the indisupted #1 team in the conference, and Manning's Colts are slipping, and doing so because of the poor play of their best player (#18 himself).

>>>Oh yeah, the Washington Capitals have lost three games in a row after being embarrassed last night in a loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, who recovered from a 4-1 deficit in the third period. Tough times for Ovechkin and company. Ouch.

>>>Oh wow, I was going to talk about the last week in sports without even mentioning the 'Homecoming' of LeBron James. He humiliated and infuriated Cleveland and all its people last July when he declared that he was taking his talents to South Beach. Well, the talents hadn't really shown up in South Beach until his game Friday night against the Cleveland Cavaliers, his old team. There, James showed some of the form that made him a two-time MVP there, blazing past all the boos and chants and shunnings with a season-high 38 points. He played so well, and helped his new team, the Miami Heat, so much, that he sat out the entire fourth quarter.

The San Diego Padres' slugging first baseman, Adrian Gonzalez (their only major offensive weapon of last season, when they nearly made the playoffs with a pitching-rich team) signed an eight-year deal with the Boston Red Sox, which means the Sox gain another big left-handed bat (to join David "Big Papi" Ortiz) and move Kevin Youkilis to third. Gonzalez touched the hearts of Bostonians everywhere when he mentioned his hero, Ted Williams (a fellow San Diego native and former Boston Red Sox player) in his press conference.

And, just days after their premiere slugger of the past four years, outfielder Adam Dunn, signed with the Chicago White Sox, the Washington Nationals signed Philadelphia Phillies' outfielder Jayson Werth to a seven-year, $126 million contract, shocking the baseball world. Werth, 32, has a history of injuries, and will be joining a fairly-weak ballclub that finished last in the NL East last year (Werth's Phillies finished first, obviously), but he is one of the better all-around outfielders in the NL if he continues to play like he has the last few years. He's a 25-30-home run guy with good speed and a good outfield defender. The Nationals needed a boost after their fan base reacted angrily to the loss of favorite Dunn, and anticipating a 2011 without Tommy John surgery recoveree Stephen Strasburg.

Now, the two biggest cards on the free-agent table are pitcher Cliff Lee (lately of the World Series-losing Texas Rangers) and All-Star outfielder Carl Crawford (who has played his entire career to date with the Tampa Bay Rays). Lee is already in talks with the Rangers and the New York Yankees, and, rumor has it, the Nationals have joined the fray. Lee has pitched with four different teams over the last two years (Indians, Phillies, Mariners, Rangers) and has pitched in the World Series in both of them. Crawford, the 2009 All-Star Game MVP, is a premiere stolen-base threat with excellent defensive skills and 15-20 home run power.

>>>Finally, I have to mention Mark Reynolds, the former Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman who just signed with my family's favorite team, the Baltimore Orioles. Reynolds hit 44 home runs in 2009, but his a strikeout machine, having whiffed 200-plus times each of the past three years. While the Orioles would love a 30-35, let alone 40, home run bat, the last thing they need is a free-swinging, can't-do-a-thing-in-the-clutch-type hitter. Nor do they need a poor defender. I'm hoping Reynolds' best friend for the next four months is the O's' hitting coach.