Unclutch Performers

Two teams are still standing in the playoff picture, led by their QBs and coaching staffs. However, not all the teams were full of big time names and big time plays. Here are the NFL’s own A-Rods:

5. Colts Defense
Put the whole defense on this list. The defense that came minutes away from beating the Patriots in the regular season let the San Diego Chargers (minus LaDainian Tomlinson and Philip Rivers) put together the game-winning drive. Who would have though Billy Volek would be defeating the Indianapolis Colts in the playoffs? I had the Colts over the Pats in the AFC Champship, so they completely devastated my football picks, though every other game was correctly chosen.

4. Peyton Manning
I always argued Peyton Manning was better than Tom Brady and outside this season I still believe that to be true. Peyton was lost in the playoffs, and he sure wasn’t playing the way he did last postseason. He led a historic comeback against the Pats in the AFC title game a year ago, and this time was ousted by a very average San Diego team. I hope he is not turning into his old self, the Peyton Manning who couldn’t lead his team to a championship. You have to score in the redzone on four attempts if you are the best QB in the league.

3. LaDainian Tomlinson
He sat there and watched his team go down in one of the biggest game in Chargers history. The hall-of-fame lock participated in the first SD drive of the game and then went into hiding behind his tinted windshield, underneath a snow blanket thinking he was safe from the media. L.T. was an embarrassment to Chargers fans everywhere on Sunday, sitting out while his QB went out there with one ACL. Whether he was told to play or not, he is LaDainian Tomlinson and this is the AFC Championship, you find a way to play.

2. Tony Romo
I could write a book on the hype this man has created and receives. He went in for Drew Bledsoe last season the way Tom Brady did a few years back, except Brady won, Romo hasn’t. Forget the Super Bowl, Romo hasn’t gotten a playoff W. Pretty impressive for the “superstar” QB. Romo can move around and dodge sacks and make some nice plays, but he isn’t Tom Brady, he isn’t Peyton Manning, and he sure isn’t Elite Manning. But the man trying so hard to become a celebrity better try hard to become a serious playoff contender before Dallas eats that contract extension they threw at him earlier this season when he was putting TDs on the regular season scoreboard. Everyone gets on him for not doing well when Jessica Simpson is at the game and that she is distracting him from becoming a great QB. Maybe it’s time she dates a winner anyways.

1. Brett Favre
His team. His season. His field. His stadium. His town. His time. All the things Brett Favre had going for him except for “his time.” Everyone though Brett would ride off into the sunset on a horse as the Green Bay fans celebrated like they hadn’t in a decade, and Chris Russo of Mike and the Mad Dog, actually said he would ride around the stadium on a horse. That was before he turned into a goat. Favre was flat out awful against the Giants, and no one is saying boo to him. If Elite Manning pulled half the stunts Favre did on Sunday he would have had to find a new career and would have been involved in conversations with Ryan Leaf. Instead Favre goes easy, on the verge of breaking down in the post game press conferencem, no reporter had the balls to ask him a question that might set him off as if Favre had the ability to fire the writers on the spot. That might have been Brett Favre’s last game in the NFL, and if it was, we will remember him as the big time QB, who couldn’t get it done in the big spots.