I understand that but if we miss in 2009 maybe that changes moves we make for '10 and '11, maybe '11 doesnt' suck? maybe we don't make it in '10? who knows? We got a break and took advantagem who even knows if we win if Indy doesn't pull starters. The odds were against us but we were only down 5 pts midway through the 3rd so we don't know.
We have Sanchez. Where do you fall on how Sanchez played vs Favre played? Rex did more with Mangini's players and rookie QB, someone holding the team back, than Mangini did with Favre and his players. Also couldn't we say the BUF game with Favre was a gift victory? Buffalo trying to throw the ball instead of running it and us stripping the ball and recovering it? We could do that all day long.
Favre held that team back late in the year, as well when he was playing injured. Before that, they looked like the best team in football for quite a few weeks.. I'm not saying Rex didn't do a good job in 2009, because he did. I wish THAT coach would come back, but I don't think 2008 would've been any different with Rex or Mangini and I don't think Mangini did a bad job that year. I'm not so sure there's much of a gap between the 2. To you last point - I will never call making a play late in a game, stripping the ball and winning it for yourself a "gift"... Playing against a team that shuts it down halfway though, plays it like a preseason game and takes out any and all normal contributors.. is a gift. There's a large difference.
And we never adjusted to Favre being injured and adjusting our offensive gameplan. With Sanchez, we adjusted numerous times his freshman year. At no point did we look like the best team in football, but hey has the previous 5 SB winners looked like that? Not really. Ahh that's where we differ. I think Mangini in 2009 would not have had the same success as Rex. I think we go 6-10 or worse with Mangini at the helm that year. I liked Mangini too, it sucks he was tied to Favre. The gift wasn't making the play, the gift was Buffalo not running it and making a really controversial decision like the Colts did. You also have to remember we were down by 3 or 4 in the Cotls game before the starters were pulled. No guarantee how that runs out.
this notion that we looked like the best team in football in 2008 is nonsense. We had the one great game at tennessee, that was the one quality team we beat all year. Arizona made the SB but in 3 trips to the NE that year lost by an average of 50-21. Beating NE w/ Cassell needing OT was not a big deal and we also lost to Cassell in his first EVER start. We had a talented team that should have easily won the AFC East but we were never the best team in the NFL.
