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To the majority of Sunday party hosts, to television network executives, corporate sponsors and coffee machine groupies who could not survive the mundane workweek without the occasional spirited sports discussion, it all seemed so promising.
A week ago, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning were right there, one win from meeting in the AFC championship game. The glitz, the glamour. Think of the ratings!
Instead, come Sunday afternoon, football fans across the country will get Jake Plummer and Ben Roethlisberger.
“The dirtbags,” Plummer said, smiling.
How did this happen? The national TV audience Sunday could have had 3 1/2 hours, including commercials, of nonstop Brady and Manning overload. Viewers will get Mountain Man Jake and Big Ben.
“It’s not for us to judge. I’m just glad they got this matchup,” Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher said. “I’m just glad we’re part of it. They got a chance to see (Manning and Brady) earlier in the season and maybe they’ll get to see it next year. But I think Mike will tell you, we’re glad we’re still playing.”
Broncos coach Mike Shana- han, and serious football fans, might be heartened to know executives for CBS, the network televising the AFC championship game between Plummer’s Broncos and Roethlisberger’s Steelers, are not bemoaning what could have been.
Give the fans credit. Stars may have carried the Golden Globe Awards telecast this week, but come Sunday it’s all about the game.
“Listen, obviously Tom Brady is a huge, huge star, as is Peyton Manning,” CBS president Sean McManus said. “I guess people at the beginning of the year wanted to see those two matched up again. But I think we’re going to do just as good a rating if we get a really good game as we would if we had the other matchup.”
CBS may have moved on, but the question continues to hang. How did this happen? If it’s universally agreed Manning and Brady are the NFL’s top quarterbacks, how come Plummer and Roethlisberger are the two quarterbacks left standing?
Here’s one possible explanation: In their second-round playoff games last weekend, Brady threw 36 passes for the Patriots against the Broncos while Manning had 38 attempts for the Colts against the Steelers. In contrast, Plummer and Roethlisberger had 26 and 24 pass attempts, respectively.
In golf, there is the well-known adage: Drive for show, putt for dough. In football, more times than not, passing is for the Pro Bowl, running is the way to the Super Bowl.
“It’s always a team thing when you get this far,” Plummer said. “If you asked Peyton and Tom, they’re the focus of their teams but they’re not doing everything. Those guys have done some amazing things but they’re not the only reasons their teams have won.”
Among the NFL’s 32 teams, only one called a higher percentage of running plays than Denver. That team was the Steelers, who exceeded the Broncos’ running percentage by a wide margin.
A typical set of downs for the Broncos would be to run on first down, have Plummer play-action pass on second down and mix it up from there.
The Steelers would be more apt to run on first down, run on second down and have Roethlisberger throw on third-and-short. Two statistics exemplify Cowher’s theory that if his quarterback is going to pass, he should make it count. One, Roethlisberger led NFL quarterbacks this season with 8.9 yards per pass attempt. And two, he finished second in converting 41.1 percent of his pass attempts into first downs.
“He’s the perfect quarterback for a team that likes to run it,” said CBS color commentator Phil Simms, who spent his playing career quarterbacking the run-oriented New York Giants. “Because he’s big enough to stand there and shake off tacklers and get 4- and 5-yard passes off. Which you need to do a lot of when you’re a running team because you’re in a lot of third downs.”
As the Broncos’ quarterback, Plummer has conducted a weekly in-season news conference since he got here in 2003. As he stepped to the podium Wednesday, he looked out at a throng of unrecognizable faces. The national media has descended upon Dove Valley this week wanting to know, among other things, how Good Jake/Bad Jake became No Mistake Jake. He is one win from the Super Bowl and the rest of the country that hasn’t been paying much attention to the Broncos – a section that more or less covers 49 states – suddenly is curious as to why he stopped throwing interceptions.
But no matter how deftly the national reporters tried, Plummer would not rehash, not when the Steelers are just ahead. Later, away from the national spotlight, Plummer offered his unique perspective on how people may be viewing this clash of quarterbacks who clash with the QB mold.
“With Ben and I, Ben’s a second-year guy who had an amazing first year and is having another great year,” Plummer said. “And me, everyone wants to find out the answer. Why am I on this type of team now?
“I’ve been doing the same thing year in and year out, working hard to try to get here. We’re here now and I’m not going to analyze it and try to find an answer. I’m just going to go out and enjoy it.”
Could Brady or Manning have said it any better?
Staff writer Mike Klis can be reached at 303-820-5440 or mklis@denverpost.com.
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