Maybe it was a product of just having more free time, or maybe a product of discovering Football Outsiders and 18to88.com (my two All-Time Go-To football sites), or maybe it was not having Tom Brady around, but the 2008 NFL Season was my favorite individual regular season in my time watching football, and I could make the argument that it was one of the most exciting, enticing and interesting seasons of my lifetime. It was a great year with a brilliant mix of great offense, great run games, great defenses and great stories. It was a year that changed football, a year with no great team after a season defined by great ones ('07 Patriots, Cowboys, Colts). It was a year that had the most uninteresting chase for perfection in the '08 Titans after the ultimate one. It was a year with ultimately a bad postseason (redeemed by a Great Super Bowl), but a great regular season.
The season would be invariable changed by what happened that July and then an event that took place at 1:20 PM the first Sunday of the season. The second event was Tom Brady tearing his ACL, ending the Patriots season. The Patriots themselves rebounded well under Matt Cassel and finished 11-5, but didn't make the playoffs (we will get to the team that did in a while). Many people complained when an 11-5 team was left out, but it was the Patriots fault for losing each game they played against AFC Playoff Competitors. The other event was the first true Brett Favre saga. Favre retired in a tearful, beautiful press conference in March, saying that he basically was burnt out. The rumblings then started in June, rumblings that Favre wanted back in. Then became the 2nd biggest QB decision of the past 10 years (the bigger one is the one Jim Irsay made last March), and Ted Thompson picked to keep Aaron Rogers, and let Favre go, with the one condition that he couldn't go to Minnesota. Favre eventually picked the New York Jets, setting in place the first major change for the 2008 season.
The 2008 season started in earnest in Week 3 & 4, with two games that would define the season. The first was in Foxboro, as the 2-0 Patriots took on the 0-2 Miami Dolphins. The Patriots, winners of 21 straight regular season games, took on the Dolphins fresh off a 1-15 season. The Dolphins, with nothing to lose, decided to open up their playbook, and release the 'WildCat' to the world. With this direct-snap offense, the Dolphins changed the fortunes of their team, but also started the Greatest one-season football trend that I have ever seen. In that game, the Dolphins scored four TDs of WildCat plays in a 38-13 beatdown of New England. By the time the season was done, the WildCat would help spur the Dolphins to an 11-5 season, and permeate its way all across the league. Almost every team without a true star QB had some variation of the package (my favorite was a WildCat pitch to Troy Smith, the backup QB for the Ravens, where he thew a deep bomb to Joe Flacco). No one ran it like the Dolphins though. No one practiced it as much, had as many variations, used it so much and so effectively. The Wildcat was the Dolphins. It made Ronnie Brown less of a bust, it made Chad Pennington into a star QB for a season, and it made the Dolphins make the playoffs a year after going 1-15.
One week and seven hours later, the 2-0 Ravens took on the 2-1 Steelers in Heinz Field. The Ravens were two games into the Flacco-Harbaugh era, and were a surprise 2-0 after firing Brian Billick in the offseason. The Steelers were among the best teams in the league, one of the teams that took the place of the Patriots when Brady went down. They played a close, tight game that night. The Ravens jumped out to a 13-3 lead. The Steelers answered withT two quick TDs to go up 17-13. The Ravens tied it at 20 late, and the Steelers finished the game winning with an OT Field Goal. In the game, Joe Flacco threw for 191 yards. Roethlisberger threw for 192. Neither team gained 250 yards on offense. With Brady out, the Patriots-Colts rivalry stopped for a year, and little did we know that a stronger, more bloody and hate-filled rivalry would take its place that night. The Steelers-Ravens rivalry started in earnest that night, and it hasn't stopped since.
The 2008 Season was also defined by the differences between all the top teams. 2007 was defined by pass-first teams dominating. All the teams that went 13-3 or better (Pats, Colts, Cowboys, Packers), had crazy efficient passing games. In 2008, teams were defined by so many different strengths. The only team to go better than 12-4 was the Tennessee Titans, who were built off a great run game (LenDale White and rookie Chris Johnson), and a stout defense. The other bye teams (Giants, Panthers, Steelers) were all built off running the ball or defense. The Giants ran the ball so well with their Earth, Wind and Fire attack (Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw), and it was keyed by their dominant o-line. The Panthers ran it even better, as DeAngelo Williams finished the season with a dominant run. The Steelers had the best defense in the NFL in any measureable way. They had the league's best pass defense, 2nd best rush defense, best defense in yards allowed and best defense in points allowed. They had players playing great at every level, and full health for that season. They were absolutely dominant, not allowing a single 300 yard passer or 100 yard rusher the entire season. Only one team even gained 300 yards on them, and that was the 13-3 Titans, and they only got 322. Remember, in this same season the first assault at Marino's record was made as Drew Brees ended up 36 yards short. This wasn't some bygone era of running and defense. The Steelers dominated essentially the same NFL that exists now. And it was beautiful.
The '08 Season was, as many seasons are, partly defined by the events of the NFC East. Every year people expound about it being the best division, the toughest division. That probably wasn't true in 2008, but it definitely was the most dramatic, arcane and interesting. It was a 17-week jaunt that included a surprising start by Washinton, an epic collapse by the Cowboys, a dramatic comeback by the Eagles, and a dominant Giants team. The Giants were not very interesting for much of the season, because their dominance that followed their win in Super Bowl XLII was just that. The Giants started the season 11-1 off of an o-line playing about as well as any o-line ever. Eli Manning was careful, limiting his interceptions better than ever before. The Giants were a machine, retroactively making the events in Glendale seem less and less like a fluke. And then, on November 28th, Plaxico Burress decided to bring a handgun with him to a nightclub and shot himself.
It ended Burress' Giants career, but also sidetracked the NFL's best team in 2008 to that point in the season. The Giants were 10-1, and would win their next game, but they then dropped two games straight, scoring just 14 points in both, to the Eagles and Cowboys. They did man up and win a 'winner-takes-#1-Seed" game against the Panthers in Week 16, a dramatic 31-28 win in OT, and one of the best games of the year, and then nearly beat the playoff-bound Vikings with their 'B-Team' in Week 17, but the Giants were nowhere near as complete without Burress. In the end, the lost to another NFC East team, one that had it a little more interesting.
The Eagles and Cowboys traded blows all season long. It started in Week 2, when the Cowboys beat the Eagles 41-37 in a wild game, most remembered for DeSean Jackson dropping the ball early before crossing the goal-line. The Cowboys got off to a fast start, until Tony Romo got injured and missed three games, where the Cowboys went 1-2. He came back and the Cowboys continued their good play, and moved to 8-4 following their Thanksgiving win over the Seahawks. The Eagles won on Thanksgiving as well, blasting the eventual NFC Champion Cardinals 48-21 in the night game. It was a marked win because it was the game that followed one of the lowest moments in the Andy Reid era (until this year, that is), when Donovan McNabb was benched in an awful 36-7 loss to the Ravens. That loss to Baltimore followed a 13-13 tie with the Bengals, where McNabb admitted not knowing that NFL games could end in a tie. It was that type of year for the Eagles, but after all that they weren't that far away.
The Cowboys, after being 8-4, started an epic tailspin. First up, they blew a 13-3 lead in the 4th Quarter to the Steelers in Pittsburgh. It was a memorable game for me. I can almost remember everything about it, like Troy Polamalu's interception on the very first drive, both QBs being pounded all day long by good defenses, and that comeback by Pittsburgh. They scored a TD to tie it, then DeShea Townsend picked off Romo to end it. The Cowboys rebounded with a win over the Giants the next week to stay ahead of Philly. Then came a crazy last two weeks. First, on Saturday Night, the Cowboys hosted the Ravens in the final game ever at Texas Stadium. NFL Network pulled out all the stops, giving the audience the mash crew of Bob Papa, Deion Sanders and Marshall Faulk. The game was kind of close, but the Ravens just made every big play. First, Ed Reed picked off two ducks by Romo. Then, after the Cowboys closed it to 19-17 with over 4 minutes to go, Willis McGahee had a 77 yard TD run. The Cowboys answered with another TD, and then on the first play of the last drive, LeRon McClain had an 82 yard TD run. I can still remember Deion Sanders "You've Got To Be KIDDING ME!!!" call when McClain burst free. The Cowboys closed out Texas Stadium with an awful 33-24 loss. The Cowboys were still in the driver's seat, though, after the Eagles lost 10-3 to Washington, making the Week 17 game against Philly almost meaningless for Philly. But, the Texans upset the 9-6 Bears, and the Raiders upset the 9-6 Buccaneers, making the 9-6 Cowboys @ the 8-6-1 Eagles a de-facto playoff game. The winner won the #6 seed (and the right to play Tarvaris Jackson).
It was one of two 'win-and-you're-in' Week 17 games, as the Sunday Night game was the 8-7 Broncos hosting the 7-8 Chargers (who were 4-8 at one point, while the Broncos were7-4), and neither was close. The Chargers smashed the Broncos 52-25. The Eagles win was a little more interesting. I was sitting in a hotel room in Orlando while my family was out shopping, and with the fireworks from that game, it may well have been in Disneyworld. The Eagles won 44-6. That is no misprint. 44-6. They were only up 17-3, when Tony Romo threw an interception that the Eagles converted into a TD. Then, on the kickoff, up 24-3 right before half, PacMan Jones fumbled, and the Eagles added a 50-yard Field Goal. Then came the real haymaker, as the Eagles returned back-to-back Romo sack-fumbles for TDs of 73 and 96 yards to make it 41-3 and essentially end the game. It was probably the most schaudenfreudianly great game in Cowboys history, and the most satisfying regular season game of Andy Reid or Donovan McNabb's life. It was a great, crazy way to end what was a crazy year in the NFC East.
The '08 Season was also marked by some great, incredible meaningful but not always statistically brilliant, QB play. It was a weird season where the best QBs statistically (Philip Rivers, Drew Brees and Kurt Warner) played for teams that went 8-8, 8-8 and 9-7. No, the 2008 season's QBs that got the most attention weren't the best statistically, but they were just the most interesting. 2008 started the trend of starting rookie QBs immediately. Until 2008, it still was normal for rookies to sit on the bench the first year. Even the high-water mark for rookie QBs, Ben Roethlisberger, sat on the bench until Tommy Maddox got hurt. In 2008, the Atlanta Falcons, fresh off the end of the Michael Vick era, selected Matt Ryan with the 3rd pick in the draft and started him from Day 1. The Baltimore Ravens selected Joe Flacco later in the 1st round, and started him from Day 1. Both went 11-5. Both have been consistently good in their careers, but they were special as rookies.
Joe Flacco had less to do, as he had the help of a special defense. The Ravens were pretty much 2nd in all the stats on defense the Steelers were 1st in. They had their own once-in-a-generation player playing at his best, as Ed Reed had maybe his best season. It started slow, but Reed was dominant over the 2nd half of the season. Over the last 8 games, Reed had 8 interceptions, returning one for a record 109 yard TD against the Eagles. He also forced and recovered a fumble for a TD. In my mind, Ed Reed, and that Ravens team, as well as the Steelers and Titans, in the 2008 season made me love defense and what it was capable of doing. Seeing the 2008 Ravens defense play with that unending swagger, seeing the likes of Ray Lewis, Terrell Suggs, Bart Scott, Haloti Ngata, and the Boss himself Ed Reed play at their best. That's why I love defense. The Ravens were back, and it had little to do with Joe Flacco that year.
Matt Ryan was different. He inherited a 4-12 team that lost its QB one year, and lost its coach, Bobby Petrino, the next. The notoriously flaky Atlanta fans were pretty much out on the team coming into the 2008 season, and even with a couple of shrewd moves like hiring Thomas Dimitroff, Mike Smith, bringing in Michael Turner, no one expected anything from the Falcons. Then, Matt Ryan, the #3 pick of the draft, threw a TD on his first professional pass, and it was off. The Falcons were never dominant, but with a smart, safe QB and a bruising runner (372 carries for Michael Turner), the Falcons went 11-5 and made it back to the playoffs. It was a brilliant resurrection of a franchise that was 20 months from having their QB put in jail for dog-fighting, and then 10 months from having their head coach snake out in the night to Arkansas. Matt Ryan and Mike Smith resurrected that franchise, and it hasn't stopped since.
The final QB of 2008 was Peyton Manning, is it always will and should be. Peyton Manning entered the season with an inflamed bursa sac that required immediate, emergency surgery in early August. It was the first time Peyton Manning had any sort of medical concern (which is ironic, given the events of three years later), and he missed the entirety of the preseason. Peyton returned for the opener, which coupled as the opening of Lucas Oil Stadium, and looked exceedingly rusty in a sullen 29-13 loss to the Bears. He followed that up with an incredible comeback win in Minnesota, bringing the Colts back from 15-0 down in the 3rd to win 18-15, despite getting no protection or running game. That was just a brief respite from a stumbling half-season of football, as the Colts began the season 3-4, with back-to-back road losses to Green Bay and Tennessee to end the streak. They sat out of the playoff picture, two games behind New England, who was their next opponent, despite New England not having Tom Brady.
Then came one of the more important Colts-Patriots games in their run, as the Colts barely beat a Brady-less Pats team, winning 18-15. That was the first act in an incredible 2nd half performance for Manning, and one of the great rides I've ever been on as a sports fan. Putting aside Manning's shaky start, that was not a great Colts team. Like every other Colts team since the beginning of time, the Colts were injured. The played games without either starting corner and Bob Sanders. They had Dallas Clark go out for some time, and Joseph Addai get hurt. They had Marvin Harrison playing as a shell of himself. They had nothing but Manning, and a crafty pass defense that allowed just 6 TDs all year long (which is kind of absurd). And that Patriots win was the catalyst to the most memorable Colts regular season run of my life.
A little backstory was that I made a bet with my friend Albert when the Colts were 3-4 that they would go at least 11-5. I had one game to play with. The Colts made that uneccessary, going from 3-4 to 12-4, winning nine straight and other than a couple easy breathers (35-3 over Cincinnati, 23-0 over the Titans in a double-rest game), they were all close. Right after New England was a trip to play the Steelers in Heinz Field. It may be my favorite non-Patriots related Colts regular season win I have seen, as a Colts team without their starting corners or Bob Sanders or Dallas Clark went into Pittsburgh and beat the eventual Champs, coming back from 17-7 down in the process. Manning barely completed half his passes, but threw for 3 TDs and no picks, including a game-winning 17-yard swing pass right over Troy Polamalu's head into Dominic Rhodes' lap. It was beautiful, as was Eric Foster's goal-line stop on 4th down when the Colts were tied at 17. It was win #2. That was followed two weeks later by a 23-20 win in San Diego (yeah, the Colts could beat the Chargers once), with Vinatieri nailing a 50-yarder to do it. Then came Manning's MVP clincher, with a flawless performance to beat the Jaguars to nail down a playoff spot. It wasn't Manning's best football, but it was close. In those last 9 games, Manning went 209/290 (72.1%), for 2,248 yards (7.8 y/a), with 17 TDs and 3 INTs, for a 109.7 passer rating. The Colts went 9-0 in those games. Manning deservedly won his 3rd MVP in a season where he defined what valuable meant. His play made that Colts team go from 3-4 to 12-4.
It might be that Manning factor that made me love 2008 that much, but I think it was more about the fact that the 2008 season was a season without the bullshit that football talk is built off of now. In 2008, the top QBs didn't have great win-loss seasons, so we weren't barraged by the 'QB X is the greatest' stuff we routinely get now. Back then, there were great running games, great defenses. In the regular season, there were many ways to win. There was new blood, in Atlanta, and Baltimore, and Arizona of all places. 2007 was defined by the best blue blood teams playing extremely well for the whole season, with New England going 16-0, and Indianapolis, Dallas and Green Bay not far behind. 2007 was built for the millionaires, while 2008 was for the everyman. It was a season where Jake Delhomme could QB a 12-4 team, where Chad Pennington was the runner-up for MVP, where Kerry Collins QBed the only team that won more than 12 games.
In Week 15, the Steelers and Ravens met in M&T Bank Stadium. The Steelers were 10-3, the Ravens were 9-4. The winner would take over control of the AFC North. The news that the Titans lost to make them 12-2 right before the game started was huge, as the Steelers knew if they beat Baltimore, they could then beat the Titans to steal the #1 seed. Everything was on the line for the NFL's best rivalry, and the game was brilliant. Neither offense did anything. Both defenses dominated. Flacco was picked off twice. Roethlisberger was sacked twice, once by Ray Lewis and once by Ed Reed. It was a field-goal filled game, and late in the 4th quarter, the Baltimore fans were going insane as the Ravens had a 9-6 lead with the Steelers backed up on their own 8 yard line with 3:26 to go. Then, in 12 plays, Roethlisberger led the Steelers into the end zone, going ahead 13-9, breaking the hearts of everyone in a raucous M&T Bank, and wrapping up the AFC North. It was one of the best games of the season, a true epic. And it was a game that ended 13-9, with just 513 yards of offense and one TD combined. And it was one of the best games of year. 2008 was that type of season, and that is why I loved it.
