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Premium – A few different items today in Dan’s Website Whispers including a strategy nugget from Seattle and future Super Bowls in cold weather . . .
According to a source close to Pete Carroll, Seattle was very comfortable leading up to the game about their ability to deal with Peyton Manning
What Seattle felt they could do was flood the short underneath areas with extra coverage, and force Manning to throw the ball down the field, which isn’t his strength, and it worked.
And by flooding the underneath zones, and make Manning throw more down field, it gave their pass rushers more time to get to Manning, beating the Broncos’ over-matched offensive tackles . . .
Cities like Philadelphia, Boston, Kansas City and Chicago are talking now about their desire to host a Super Bowl.
This, following the first outdoor cold weather Super Bowl, in MetLife Stadium yesterday.
It isn’t going to happen.
This was a one shot deal.
The NFL owners gave MetLife Stadium one game to throw a bone to Woody Johnson and the Giants owners for spending $1.6 billion on a new stadium.
The NFL generally will give one Super Bowl to a city that builds a new stadium as a reward.
That is why Jacksonville and Indianapolis got one.
Those cold-weather cities mentioned above really don’t have new stadiums.
I’m sitting in New Jersey right now, and like a lot of you in this area, we got blitzed today with a lot of snow.
There were Super Bowl attendees with major travel delays today.
If the storm had hit a day earlier, who knows what the NFL would have done with the Super Bowl.
They know they lucked out with the weather on Sunday.
Woody Johnson along with the Mara and Tisch familes were rewarded for their stadium project, the most expensive ever, and the Super Bowl isn’t coming back here. It was a one shot deal . . .
I spotted John Idzik on the field before the game talking to some Seahawks officials and players. He got some hugs. Idzik was a Seahawk executive from 2007-2012.
If you are a Jets fans, you can only hope that Idzik truly embraces the Seahawks way in 2014.
In the post-game press conference, I can’t tell you how many players and coaches talked how steeped the Seahawks are into the competition theme.
Idzik used that word a lot last year, but it didn’t manifest itself on the field.
Let’s see if he does in Year Two, especially with what his former friends and colleagues accomplished this year . . .
There was a published report today that the Jets are interested in Michael Vick.
I personally don’t think that is the way to do.
The Jets do need to add a quarterback to compete with Geno Smith, but why add a guy who doesn’t read defenses well?
Jets need to add a quarterback who is good with progressive scans and seeing the field.
He tends to throw to receivers on a good first read for the coordinator, or when somebody flashes open.
The Eagles offense took off when a quarterback with better field vision, Nick Foles, took over after Vick got hurt. Vick tends to hold the ball too long, Foles made quicker decisions.
Also, do the Jets need another distraction, bringing Vick into this feeding frenzy, known as the New York market, where the dog-fighting controversy will be played up again.
One other thing about Vick. I saw him in the Super Bowl media center the other day, and I was shocked at his size.
Now I can see one reason he gets hurt a lot. This isn’t a big guy. To me, he looked like he was about 6-0 (I’m 6-0, and we are the same size), and about 200 pounds.
I’m not saying that you need to be 6-4, Russell Wilson proved that, I’m just saying making a personal observation after seeing Vick up close. He’s a somewhat small guy, and when you consider how many hits he takes, that isn’t a good combination.
February 3, 2014
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