Super Bowl Addendum

Most sportswriting starts with bad pop psychology - Player A has a will to succeed, Player B is learning how to win, Player C is rattled by recent failures - and then neglects to provide any interesting observations to back up the bald assertions. This is probably because most sportswriters (and broadcasters) are in it not to provide illumination to the public, but to make the scene themselves. They just want the lifestyle of being near professional sports - they actually have nothing to say.

So it is always a pleasure to read sportswriting that gets more technical and more specific, such as Bryce Bennett's pre-Super Bowl analysis of Tom Brady and Eli Manning in n+1 (which reads very interestingly after the event):

http://nplusonemag.com/Superbowl-Preview?utm

To this day, Brady cannot do a lot of things that other QBs can do—he doesn’t evade pressure well and doesn’t always wow you with his arm—but you would never know it watching Brady play, because it is rare that Brady finds himself in situations that ask him to do anything other than what he does exceptionally well. The Patriots have developed a team—even a system—that allows Brady to be the best version of himself.

What Brady does better than other quarterbacks is, 1) reads defenses; 2) makes quick, accurate passes consistently; 3) never gets rattled. His consistency derives from his excellent mechanics. Brady is a natural thrower. He holds the ball lightly like an afterthought in his hands, and his shoulders almost always square fluidly to his intended target. The difficulty of making this motion fluid can be seen in Tim Tebow’s sticky mechanics. Even when Tebow is able to square his lead shoulder it appears unnatural. He has to think about it. Not Brady.

Even when Bennett does discuss the players' psychologies, he does so with more punch than the usual pap:

The quarterback Eli may most resemble is the legendary recent retiree Brett Favre. Eli is not a gunslinger in the way of Favre, but like Favre he is not afraid to throw the ball into traffic, having led the league in picks as recently as 2010. Though he has played almost scot-free football in this year’s playoffs (1 INT thus far), he still can’t fight his urge to throw the ball up for grabs from time to time.

Eli’s mishaps are of a particular sort. He’s too savvy for defensive secondaries to take him by surprise and so his mistakes are miscalculations; but he is always calculating. Where Favre was overconfident in his arm strength, Eli is overconfident in his predictive abilities. Statistically, the late Eli is very similar to Favre—both are elite quarterbacks who throw a lot of interceptions. However, their playing styles are vastly different. Where Favre was an immediate fan favorite, Eli is more of an acquired taste.