Coffee's for Closers...and Rings are for Hall of Fame Quarterbacks
NFL Super teams: You need one position - quarterback - to have a legitimate chance
Jan 29, 2019, 9:23 am
David Silverman, Patriots team website
"There's only a few NBA teams that can actually win a title."
The NBA was buzzing yesterday as news came down that Anthony Davis wanted out of New Orleans. Odds-makers named the Los Angeles Lakers as the favorite to trade for his services.
The mention of pairing a superstar of "The Brow's" caliber with LeBron James, immediately had the masses out to air their usual grievance with "The King." The statement in which I opened the article with, was one of the most repeated I saw all of yesterday.
While the statement is true, I find the timing odd. We are literally days away from Tom Brady playing in his ninth Super Bowl out of the last 18 NFL seasons. When you look at all of the participants in the big game since Brady's first Super Bowl appearance, you'll notice a trend of superstar quarterbacks.
The Super Bowl has become a preconceived notion for anyone watching the game for the last 20 years. For two decades, Brady and Bill Belichick have been in the Super Bowl, on average, every other year. Yet, it's not the moans of the NFL fans that roar the loudest with their outcry of select super powers in their field.
At least in the NBA, superstars like LeBron James have moved around to different markets and brought championships to fans of multiple teams. James won titles in Cleveland and Miami. If "LeBrow" comes to existence then James would have brought the storied Lakers franchise back to life for the first time since the retirement of Kobe Bryant. Signal callers with Hall of Fame potential don't get shipped off in the NFL, unless there's a health concern and the team already has Plan B in place. Peyton Manning & Drew Brees both ended up in a second market but the moves came after injuries. Also, the Chargers had already drafted Philip Rivers and the Colts had the No. 1 pick in the draft to use on Andrew Luck.
Since that first Brady Super Bowl, NFL fans in markets without a future Hall of Fame quarterback had next to zero chance of making the Super Bowl and if you were a fan of an AFC team, then Brady had already secured that spot every other year. What makes it worse for NFL fans is the fact that the team that will play in their ninth Super Bowl in the last 18 years, received their boost from seven years of spying on opponents via video. Roger Goodell destroyed the evidence after viewing it and handed down a penalty that would not setback the franchise.
The Pats were slapped on the wrist with a fine for the coach of $500,000, a fine for the team in the amount of $250,000 and they were forced to forfeit a first round draft pick. During the time the Patriots were busted for cheating, they won their first three Super Bowls in franchise history. After the Patriots were caught, they went 8 years before winning another Super Bowl. They have since gone to four out of the last five.
The New England Patriots were valued at $3.7 billion in 2018. In the United States, only the Dallas Cowboys and New York Yankees are more valuable sports franchises. That statement won't surprise anyone today, but it would have shocked everyone if you would have predicted their skyrocketing value before their scandal(s).
A franchise that was 0-2 lifetime in the Super Bowl after losses to the famous Chicago Bears and a gunslinger named Brett Favre, went on to do something no one ever thought possible. They did it with a coach that struggled previously in Cleveland and a sixth-round quarterback prospect drafted 199th overall.
I still find it odd that in the era of "put an asterisk on the Rams win vs New Orleans"..."put an asterisk of Barry Bonds' home runs"..."put an asterisk on LeBron's super teams"...that the Patriots reign for the last two decades isn't viewed more as a stain on America's number one sport. More so, how the cries against the dearth of championship caliber teams in a league isn't pointed more directly at the NFL and specifically the New England Patriots.
Super Bowl Participants since 2002:
2002
New England Patriots - 20 (Tom Brady)
St Louis Rams - 17 (Kurt Warner)
2003
Tampa Bay Buccaneers - 48 (Brad Johnson)
Oakland Raiders - 21 (Rich Gannon)
2004
New England Patriots - 32 (Tom Brady)
Carolina Panthers - 29 (Jake Delhomme)
2005
New England Patriots - 24 (Tom Brady)
Philadelphia Eagles - 21 (Donovan McNabb)
2006
Pittsburgh Steelers - 21 (Ben Roethlisberger)
Seattle Seahawks - 10 (Matt Hasselbeck)
2007
Indianapolis Colts - 29 (Peyton Manning)
Chicago Bears - 17 (Rex Grossman)
2008
New York Giants - 17 (Eli Manning)
New England Patriots - 14 (Tom Brady)
2009
Pittsburgh Steelers - 27 (Ben Roethlisberger)
Arizona Cardinals - 23 (Kurt Warner)
2010
New Orleans Saints - 31 (Drew Brees)
Indianapolis Colts - 17 (Peyton Manning)
2011
Green Bay Packers - 31 (Aaron Rodgers)
Pittsburgh Steelers - 25 (Ben Roethlisberger)
2012
New York Giants - 21 (Eli Manning)
New England Patriots - 17 (Tom Brady)
2013
Baltimore Ravens - 34 (Joe Flacco)
San Francisco 49ers - 31 (Colin Kaepernick)
2014
Seattle Seahawks - 43 (Russell Wilson)
Denver Broncos - 8 (Peyton Manning)
2015
New England Patriots - 28 (Tom Brady)
Seattle Seahawks - 24 (Russell Wilson)
2016
Denver Broncos - 24 (Peyton Manning)
Carolina Panthers - 10 (Cam Newton)
2017
New England Patriots - 34 (Tom Brady)
Atlanta Falcons - 28 (Matt Ryan)
2018
Philadelphia Eagles - 41 (Nick Foles)
New England Patriots - 33 (Tom Brady)
2019
New England Patriots - (Tom Brady)
Los Angeles Rams - (Jared Goff)
AFC QB - Super Bowl Appearances & Record (Since 2002)
Tom Brady 9 games (5-3)
Peyton Manning 4 games (2-2)
Ben Roethlisberger 3 games (2-1)
Joe Flacco 1 game (1-0)
Rich Gannon 1 game (0-1)
NFC QB - Super Bowl Appearances & Record (Since 2002)
Eli Manning 2 games (2-0)
Russell Wilson 2 games (1-1)
Kurt Warner 2 games (0-2)
Drew Brees 1 game (1-0)
Aaron Rodgers 1 game (1-0)
Brad Johnson 1 game (1-0)
Nick Foles 1 game (1-0)
Cam Newton 1 game (0-1)
Matt Ryan 1 game (0-1)
Colin Kaepernick 1 game (0-1)
Donovan McNabb 1 game (0-1)
Jake Delhomme 1 game (0-1)
Rex Grossman 1 game (0-1)
Jared Goff 1 game (0-0)
As you can tell from above, if you have been a fan of an NFL team for the last two decades and didn't have a future Hall of Fame quarterback, then you've just been watching with zero expectation to reach the ultimate prize.
Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Ben Roethlisberger have accounted for every AFC Super Bowl win in the last 17 years with the one exception being Joe Flacco, who had Ed Reed, Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs and Haloti Ngata on the defensive side of the ball that season.
On the NFC side, Eli Manning, Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers have amassed four of the seven titles won. Russell Wilson, Brad Johnson and Nick Foles make up the other three Super Bowl wins for the NFC since 2002. Wilson is still young; he could move over to the Hall of Fame side of this list in the future but it's way too early as of now.
Recap: If you are a fan of an NFL team without a future Hall of Famer playing quarterback, there is almost no reason for you to believe that your team has Super Bowl aspirations.
Only Nick Foles, Joe Flacco and Brad Johnson have won a Super Bowl in the last 18 years as the starting quarterback and not have a Hall of Fame resume (Wilson - book still being written).
For the majority of my adult life, the Super Bowl has been a foregone conclusion for AFC fans. If an AFC team wanted to win the Super Bowl from 2002-2019, there were four opportunities to get the right guy over the last 20+ years:
The Four Opportunities for AFC Teams
- 1998 - Draft Peyton Manning #1 overall
- 2000 - Draft Tom Brady
- 2004 - Draft Ben Roethlisberger
- 2012 - Sign Peyton Manning in free agency
Joe Flacco is the one exception to the rule in the last 18 years, as long as you have Ray, Ed, Ngata and Suggs on the defensive side.
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A new challenge awaits, and the Astros know what’s at stake
Jun 27, 2025, 2:05 pm
The Houston Astros didn’t just sweep the Philadelphia Phillies. They sent a message.
In three tightly contested games against one of the best teams in baseball, the Astros leaned on their elite pitching and timely offense to secure a statement sweep. Hunter Brown was electric in the finale, shutting down the Phillies’ lineup and showing the kind of dominance that’s become a defining feature of his game. Bryan Abreu slammed the door with four strikeouts to close out the win, and rookie Cam Smith delivered the deciding blow — an RBI single in the eighth to drive in Isaac Paredes, lifting the Astros to a 2-1 victory.
It wasn’t a series filled with offensive fireworks, but that’s exactly the point. Both teams sent out top-tier pitching throughout the series, and Houston was the team that kept finding a way. For much of the season, the Astros’ inconsistent offense might’ve been a concern in a series like this. But this time, it felt different. The bats showed up just enough, and the pitching did the rest.
Now, with Houston on pace for 96 wins at the halfway point, the question becomes: Is the league officially on notice?
Maybe. Maybe not. But one thing is certain, the Astros have the third-best record in baseball, they’re 17-7 in one-run games, and they’re playing with the kind of rhythm that’s defined their near-decade of dominance. Unlike last year’s uneven campaign, this version of the Astros looks like a team that’s rediscovered its edge. Whether or not they need to take care of business against the Cubs to validate it, their recent run leaves little doubt: when Houston is clicking, there are very few teams built to stop them.
Off the field, however, a bit of long-term uncertainty is starting to creep in. Reports surfaced this week that extension talks with shortstop Jeremy Peña have been put on hold as he recently signed with super-agent Scott Boras. The combination has led many to wonder if Peña might follow the same free-agent path as Alex Bregman, Carlos Correa, and others before him. Boras clients rarely settle early, and Peña, now one of the most valuable shortstops in the game, could command a price tag the Astros have historically avoided paying.
If Peña and even Hunter Brown are likely to get priced out of Houston, the front office may need to pivot. Isaac Paredes could be the most logical extension candidate on the roster. His approach — particularly his ability to pull the ball with authority — is tailor-made for Daikin Park and the Crawford Boxes. Last year, Paredes struggled to leave the yard at Wrigley Field, but in Houston, he’s thriving. Locking him in long term would give the Astros offensive stability and the kind of value they’ve typically targeted.
As for Cam Smith, the breakout rookie is far from free agency and will remain a cost-controlled piece for years. That’s exactly why his contributions now, like his clutch eighth-inning knock to beat Philadelphia, matter so much. He's one more reason why the Astros don’t just look good right now. They look dangerous.
And the rest of the league is starting to feel it.
There's so much more to get to! Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday.
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