NEW YORK, N.Y.- Hall of Fame talk has been the hot topic the past few weeks. It started with Eli Manning announcing his retirement last week, which immediately fired up the conversation of whether Manning should be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. This week, that hall of fame debate landed on Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid. Many different outlets and talk shows have debated on Reid’s candidacy the past few weeks, with the question focusing on whether he needs this Super Bowl to cement his place in Canton. This shouldn’t even be a discussion. The veteran head coach has already cemented his place among the elites and the outcome on Sunday should have no bearing on his Hall of Fame status.
Reid’s regular season record is impeccable, boasting a
career 207-128 record, owning the seventh most wins in NFL history. The
61-year-old has shown no signs of slowing down and has the chance to pass Paul
Brown and Curly Lambeau to move into fifth place all-time with only 20 more
wins. Moving into fourth place isn’t out of the question either if the Chiefs
head honcho wants to stick around with his stud young quarterback Patrick
Mahomes, as Reid needs 43 wins to catch the legendary Dallas Cowboys coach.
Continuing to look at the totality of Reid’s career, he made
more conference championship game appearances than he missed out on the
playoffs completely. In his 21-years as a head coach, the Los Angeles native
made seven conference championships while missing the playoffs just six times. Reid
has been the model of consistency as he’s had a losing season just three times
in his career, with the last coming back in 2012. On average, an Andy Reid
coached team wins just under 10 games per season.
Photo by Scott Halleran/Getty Images
More impressive than the amount of wins the two-time head coach has racked up has been his ability to turn teams around quickly. It’s hard enough to turn around one losing franchise (ask Browns, Lions or Buccaneers fans), but Reid has done so twice. Inheriting a Philadelphia Eagles team that went 3-13 the year prior, Reid went 5-11 in his first season in 1999 before breaking through with an 11-5 record in year two. During his 14-years in the City of Brotherly Love, Reid amassed 130 wins and constant playoff appearances, missing the playoffs altogether just five times.
In Kansas City, the Chiefs were a mess under Romeo Crennel, finishing in last place in the AFC West two years in a row, including going 2-14 in 2012. Reid jumped right in, turning the Chiefs into a playoff team in the span of a few months as the Chiefs went 11-5 in Reid’s first year. In his seven years as head coach in Kansas City, the Chiefs never had a losing season and just once missed out on the playoffs. Reid had most of this success with Alex Smith, who never was able to fully put it all together in San Francisco.
In an era where the rules are geared towards scoring and the quarterback position has become the most important in all of sports, Reid has shown the ability time and time again to win with pretty much anyone under center. In Philadelphia back in 2006 when Donovan McNabb went down late in the year with an injury, Reid was able to ride Jeff Garcia all the way to the playoffs and win a playoff game over the New York Giants. He was able to do it again four years later, winning the NFC East with the combination of Michael Vick and Kevin Kolb at quarterback. Fast forward to his time with the Chiefs, Reid was able to rattle off five consecutive winning seasons with Smith at quarterback, despite the former No. 1 overall pick just having one winning season with the 49ers. Reid was also able to muster the most out of his new franchise signal caller, helping Smith make the only three Pro Bowls of his career.
BRYNN ANDERSON / AP
The biggest detractors of Reid’s career will point to his
postseason failures. Whether it was the three straight NFC Championship game
losses with the Eagles in the early 2000s or losing at home to the New England Patriots
last season, Reid has continuously been unable to break through and hoist the
Lombardi Trophy. While his 2-5 record in championship games isn’t ideal, look
at how many big games Reid had to win in order to get to that stage.
Andy Reid’s career has been extremely successful and when it’s
all said and done, he will go down as one of the best regular season coaches in
NFL history. His accomplishments up to this point speak for themselves as he’s
in rarified air within the coaching ranks. One game can’t take away 21-years of
constant success. So no, this game doesn’t have any impact on Andy’s legacy. Win
or lose, Reid is still a Hall of Famer.
Watching the Royal Rumble Sunday night I had my doubts about how the ending would be. I suppose I thought Roman Reigns would win it again, or Seth Rollins, or have Brock Lesnar survive everyone and he’s going to pick his opponent. Instead we wrestling fans got infused with freshness in having Drew McIntyre win the 2020 Royal Rumble thus going on to WrestleMania 36 where he will fight Lesnar for the WWE championship.
I couldn’t be happier for a guy who just as recently as 2009 was labeled “The Chosen One” by Vince McMahon himself. His time didn’t work out so, well as WWE just didn’t have a place for him and a lot of personal issues were going on outside the ring. He then was released from his contract and went on to the Indies circuit where he wrestled for Impact, at the time called TNA, and ICW among others.
Fast forward to 2017 where he was seen at “NXT TakeOver Orlando” in the crowd and the fans erupted when they showed he was the new signee of NXT. A much different attitude and in a better state of mind physically and mentally he was ready to be back. A whole different character and attitude got me supporting his run. He would win the NXT championship at “Takeover Brooklyn III” and would have a great run in NXT.
Once he got on the main roster he was aligning himself with Dolph Ziggler, but bigger plans were on the horizon, or so I thought. He would later have a feud with Roman Reigns and lose to him at WrestleMania 35. Upsetting to me, I started to lose faith in the direction for the “Scottish Psychopath:” But, at the beginning of 2020, I saw the momentum that included him beating both Randy Orton and AJ Styles in a Triple Threat match on Raw. Momentum starting going his way, especially during the Rumble match when he eliminated Lesnar from the Rumble thus getting all of Minute Maid Park in Houston behind him. I know I was. Lastly, eliminating Reigns sealed the deal for the crowd to erupt. I am proud to own his NXT shirt and support him during this run and come WrestleMania 36 he finally gets his opportunity to show what he’s made of. The guy has everything you want in a superstar such as size, skill and mic work. His time is upon us, and I can’t wait to see it unfold.
WWE NXT superstar Keith Lee is your new North American Champion. Lee defeated Roderick Strong in the main event of this Wednesday night episode of NXT. Lee claims that he will be a fighting champion and that everyone should now bask in his glory.
Keith Lee is 35 years old, made his wrestling debut in 2005. He has wrestled on the independent circuit at Evolve, AAW, ROH, PWG. He has held the world title in PWG. He found his way to WWE NXT in 2018. He has become a fan favorite, after his performance at WWE Survivor Series. He put himself on that map by giving “The Big Dog” Roman Reigns a run for is money. Lee also has respect from former WWE superstars. Tuesday night on WWE Backstage, CM Punk picked Keith Lee to win this year’s Royal Rumble. Everyone has high hopes for Lee after this win. He has the charisma and passion to be one of the greatest superstars WWE has ever seen. Winning the North American Championship is Lee’s first title with WWE, but it will not be his last. For he is truly limitless.
While Eli Manning is one of just five QB in Super Bowl history to win multiple MVP Awards, his inability to be consistent deserves to keep him out of Canton.
NEW YORK, N.Y.- Eli Manning is calling it a career. After an illustrious 16-year career that saw him hoist two Lombardi Trophies, the New Orleans native is finally hanging it up. The biggest question moving forward is whether Manning will have his own bust in Canton, Ohio, and become a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. While many can point to not only the two Super Bowls but the two Super Bowl MVPs he’s won, the overall statistics and eye test bear out that Manning just wasn’t consistent enough to earn the Hall of Fame honor.
An important parameter to set is that statistical comparisons to players already in the Hall of Fame aren’t relevant. The game is extremely different than it was 30, 20 and even 10 years ago. Offensive numbers, especially quarterback numbers, are more inflated than they’ve ever been. For fair and proper context, you have to view Eli and every offensive player only in the era that they played in.
Looking back on Eli’s career, he never achieved more than just a sliver of eliteness. His embarking legacy will be ruining the Patriots perfect season that was highlighted by David Tyree’s helmet catch in 2007. That is a lasting image that will never be forgotten. Following it up four years later and besting Bill Belichick and Tom Brady for a second time was equally as impressive. But eight games isn’t enough to boost an otherwise average career.
During his 14-years as the full-time starting quarterback, Eli was named to the Pro Bowl just four times and was rarely at the top of single-season passing leaderboards. Just once was Manning in the top 10 for completion percentage, finishing ninth in 2010 as he completed 62.9% of his passes. Manning was top 10 in passing yards per season six different times throughout his career, with his high watermark coming in 2011 when he was fourth.
In terms of touchdown passes per season, Manning finished in the top 10 eight times, but also never was higher than fourth. Eli led the league twice in interceptions thrown while also finishing in the top 5 four other times. Finally, in terms of yards per attempt, Eli had just two top 10 finishes.
Those stats exemplify that more than anything else, Eli was an average to above-average quarterback. Rarely did he reach the pinnacle of elite quarterback play and never was able to assert himself as one of the top quarterbacks during his time. This is further highlighted by his dead even 117-117 record as a starter and zero All-Pro honors.
In a league that gears their rules towards scoring, in essence making the quarterback position the most impactful and important in all of sports, the Giants were only able to make the playoffs six times, not winning a single playoff game outside of those two Super Bowl runs. For reference, Eli has played in 12 playoff games throughout his career, less than his brother Peyton (27), Drew Brees (16), Tom Brady (41), Ben Roethlisberger (21) and Aaron Rodgers (18) while playing in just one more playoff game than Philip Rivers. Compared to the true greats at the quarterback position, Eli falls short yet again.
What makes any hall of fame so special is that it celebrates the best of the best. The elite. The greatest to ever do it. After all, it’s not the hall of really good or pretty good. It exists for only those who belong in the company of immortality. Eli had two of the biggest moments in Super Bowl history. He slew Goliath. That is something that will never be taken away from him. The problem is that the Hall of Fame isn’t about a few great moments. It’s about a career filled with consistent, elite play. Outside of sharing the first three letters, Eli and elite haven’t had much in common.
Is it me or am I the only person that thinks the UFC is water down, well if you don’t just watch the garbage pay per view they sold Saturday night at UFC 246. Im not going to talk about the co main event Holm vs Pennington, which probably wouldn’t have even made a pay per view card 3 years ago. Lets be honest UFC fans, the organization is praying that Conor McGregor can come back after 3 years and save the sport once again give me a break. This shows me one thing and fans you might want to close your ears because you don’t want to hear what I’m going to say. McGregor beating a old beat up and over the hill fighter like Donald Cerrone Saturday night, doesn’t show me nothing but a lazy President trying to fined a nut. The UFC and Dana White should be embarrassed and sick to their stomachs to see the way the sport hasn’t found its identity since McGregor absence. I understand Dana didn’t want to throw Connor to the wolves in his first fight back in almost 3 years, but putting him against a washed up fighter at UFC 246 shows me how inept the organization really is. I understand that all organizations and professional sports franchises have their stars. But when the stars with the names McGregor and Jones are the only box office attractions then you have to think on how fast the sports has fallen in the past few years.
Lets just look back a few years shall we, Ronda Rousey arguably one of the biggest UFC stars of the last 5 years, decided to retire from fighting to become a WWE women’s wrestler after getting dominated by the likes of Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes. How about throwing away one of the most talented fighters to come out of the UFC in the last ten years Demetrious Johnson, because they couldn’t promote him like they did for McGregor because he wasn’t a big mouth attraction in his years of complete dominance in the UFC. I think Dana White believes he has the right ingredients now to get the UFC back on top and I hope its not bringing a half beat up GSP back once again. Mix martial arts fans believe the once promising Prize fighting aka boxing was done the last past few years because of the lack of stars they lost because of retirement. Since then boxing has been taking off with the likes of upcoming and big super stars in the sport like Canelo Alvarez, GGG, Errol Spence and Terence Crawford. That doesn’t take away the growth of the Heavyweight division, with the likes of Tyson Fury, Deontay Wilder and Anthony Joshua that division has not been this strong since the Tyson years.
So where does the UFC go from here, well Khabib and Ferguson is a start thats for sure but finding the answer to this question will not lean on the likes of one big fight. For the last few years Dana White has been looking for the next new generational fighter that will lead them through the next decayed. Giving the likes of guys like Donald “the old man cowboy” Cerrone a 6 fight contract or bringing in a washed up wrestler like CM Punk, who couldn’t beat a first grade mix martial artist in his sleep. Hey Dana I have an idea maybe you should get Michael Jordan to come out of retirement and have McGregor vs Jordan in a pay per view fight to the death in a game of horse. I don’t know what the UFC has up their sleeves in the near future, but I can tell you one thing Dana is not going to fool me with this garbage anymore.
