But this is different. I'm not a man without a country. I'm still most attached to the Colts, who are going through finally a true rebuild post the Luck years. I'm excited in waht I saw from Richardson in the preseason. I believe in Shane Steichen. I slobber over the prospect of being bad enough to draft Marvin Harrison, Jr. But let's be real, the Colts are irrelevant for 2023. More than that, all significant rooting interest is gone. I can finally treat the NFL in the way I've long, long, long wanted to: as something to just love and enjoy without truly caring what happens.
A few years ago, I wrote a piece about learning to love the NFL post-Manning. It was centered around still finding things to care about that wasn't just hyper-focusing on being made about Brady's continued success. And indeed I've very much enjoyed say the 2017, 2019 and 2022 seasons. And while 2019 and 2022 were the lowest Brady seasons in that period, 2017 was an MVP year for him,.
But the piece I think about more is one I wrote 8 years ago, in Manning's last season. I forget if he was injured/benched or not by this point, but that year, the week of the Patriot's bye, I sat down and watched a great game between a 7-2 Cardinals team and 8-1 Bengals team. It was a great game, the Cardinals winning 34-31 with a field goal at the gun. I called it "A Weekend of Football Without Anxiety". I started the piece writing this:
"I wrote last week that I am learning to reach the point where I long for an NFL post-Brady and Manning. An NFL that isn't governed by the argument created out of comparing these two titans of their sport. An NFL that will probably come close to 2020, when I am not chained by my connection to that tiresome argument. Well, for one Sunday, I got a preview, and I loved it."
I was three years off (but still expected Brady to play into his 40's....), but that time is here. And truthfully I can't be happier. For many reasons. I can't wait to just watch RedZone and not care about what happens - enjoy this amazing game that gets played at a higher level ever year. I can't wait to watch all the great storylines going around the league this season. I can't wait to watch the league at its most end-to-end competitive and interesting in a long time (more on this later). But more than anything I can't wait to watch it all without having that anxiety.
The comparison point to me is the NBA, or even NHL until this last season. In both stretches I either didn't really have a team to care about (I was a Spurs fan, but never really cared, other than the 2013 Finals, when they didn't win) or a team too bad to care about (Devils). I love those sports, specifically hockey, and it was always great going into every season just being ready to experience wonder. Nothing is better than wonder, then amazement, then the brilliance of these games. Well, I enjoy and find football to be a better, more gripping, more intense, more stimulating, more fun game than either basketball or hockey, so you can see where I just can't wait to experience this.
The first season I really remember in any memory is 2002, adn while the Patriots weren't the Patriots (and Manning wasn't Manning) as a Raiders fan (my first football "wife") I was invested. From 2003 onwards, Manning/Brady hung over anything. Sure, does a little bit of me hope Mahomes wins 10 Super Bowls and takes the GOAT mantle - sure. But also I know that's super unrealistic, and some idiots will always argue for Brady (as I have still for Manning). Whatever - Brady's gone. The sport doesn't end. If anything, it's getting better.
Like what I love about this season more than just the dramatic storylines, is how even things are. We have the crazy offense first teams like the Chiefs. The defense first outfits like the Jets, Patriots or Commanders (think they'll be good). We ahve the all around good teams like the Bengals, 49ers, Eagles, Cowboys, Bills. We have the varied styles of traditional dropback in Dallas, LA (Chargers) and Jacksonville, with the best version of mobile QB brilliance in Philadelphia and Baltimore. Defenses had their best season in years in 2022, and I don't think that's going to change necessarily, but if anything we reached a sense of equilibrium, more than reaching some lopsided-ness that a 2003 or 2005 was. The NFL is about as good as it has ever been.
In terms of the storylines. we have a Top-7 All Time QB (I probably could've gone higher there) in Aaron Rodgers trying to pull of a 2nd act. We have Lamar with a real offense. We have the Chiefs going for history. We have maybe the sauciest 1-2 NFC East battle with Dallas & Philadelphia. We have the rise of Trevor Lawrence, and another set of rookies to be on the lookout for. And then we have the Bills.
I'm not being facetious earlier when I said I don't really care about who wins or loses, but taht doesn't mean there aren't teams I'm pulling for, and I am wholeheartedly pulling for the Bills. I think they were the best team in 2022 for 3/4 of the season but beset horribly by injuries (including Josh Allen essentially tearing his UCL) at the wrong time. They were probably the best team in 2021 at the 59:47 mark of their divisional round game before seeing it all fade away. And then there's this eeriness:
Year 1: Lose AFC Wild Card Game
Year 2: Make a leap, but lose AFC Championship Game to big rival on the road
Year 3: Seemingly be better, but lose AFC Divisional Game to same rival on the road
Year 4: Get HFA over big rival, but lose to upstart team in Divisional Round a few weeks after a traumatic incident
The above aptly describes the 2019-2022 Bills, but do you know who else it does? The 2002-2005 Colts, who by end of Year-4 when the Steelers beat them people figured they were done for good. Their traumatic incident in Year 4 was the suicide of Tony Dungy's son. The Colts then won the Super Bowl in Year 5. I don't want the Bills to win for that reason. I want them to win because they're special, they built the team right, I would love for Buffalo to get a Championship, and I find it unseemly how people are pillorying them for truly just one awful game last January. But yeah, would be cool of history repeats itself nonetheless - the best ending to my first season free of worry ever.
