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1998 Colts Vs. Falcons Game


Falconsfan567

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I was just watching the 1998 Colts/Falcons game and a couple things stood out to me. First was that Peyton Manning has always had some really good talent to work with. Peyton was surrounded with talent from day 1 as well. Both Marvin Harrison and Marshall Faulk had already established themselves in the league. He also had young developing tight ends Marcus Pollard and Ken Dilger. Remember the Colts always ran a lot of 2 tight end sets, especially very early in Peyton's career. The starting receiver opposite of Harrison was Jerome Pathon. The 3rd WR was Torrance Small. Also Peyton from day 1 also had a really good OL. Tarik Glenn, Steve McKinney and Adam Meadows were 3 of the Colts starting offensive linemen that 1998 Colts team.

The second thing that jumped out to me was how horrible the CBS announcers were for that game. They were Don Criqui and Beasley Reece. On the Colts 2nd play on offense Shane Dornett hit Peyton a bit low on the back side of his knees and was flagged for the hit. Reece said "Dornett should be thrown out of the game. Fans come here to see the QB's play, not him."

Later in the game on a play where Chris Chandler was sacked after holding onto the ball for way too long, we're talking about Chandler double and triple patting the ball he had so much time, Reece said "The Falcons OL can't allow defenders to come clean and hit Chandler like that. They're going to get him killed. They must protective him better."

Now when I heard both of those things I thought he must have been a QB to say those things. But I was wrong. He was a defensive back during his playing career.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/R/ReecBe20.htm

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I was at that game too. Manning was the new NFL darling. Every time we BREATHED on him we got a late hit call. Meanwhile, when we had the ball, defenders were taking 2-3 steps after the ball was thrown and PLOWING Chandler into the turf. It simply wasn't right. The NFL was gonna protect the new bonus boy, but nobody gave a s$1t about the aging veteran QB playing for the Falcons, of all teams.

We were behind right before halftime. Chandler took us down the field and was hit repeatedly after the pass. No flags. He was visibly groggy, but stayed in the game. On the final play of the drive no one was open and he took it straight up the middle into the end zone and spiked the ball against the Ga Dome wall as if to say, "TAKE THAT YOU MF'ers".

That gave us the lead and the Colts never threatened much after that. I think Manning threw a couple picks in the 2nd half.

I gained a LOT of respect for Chris Chandler that day. People say he was fragile. Far from it. He was quite tough and would typically wait till the VERY last second to release the ball in order to let the receivers get open.

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I was at that game too. Manning was the new NFL darling. Every time we BREATHED on him we got a late hit call. Meanwhile, when we had the ball, defenders were taking 2-3 steps after the ball was thrown and PLOWING Chandler into the turf. It simply wasn't right. The NFL was gonna protect the new bonus boy, but nobody gave a s$1t about the aging veteran QB playing for the Falcons, of all teams.

We were behind right before halftime. Chandler took us down the field and was hit repeatedly after the pass. No flags. He was visibly groggy, but stayed in the game. On the final play of the drive no one was open and he took it straight up the middle into the end zone and spiked the ball against the Ga Dome wall as if to say, "TAKE THAT YOU MF'ers".

That gave us the lead and the Colts never threatened much after that. I think Manning threw a couple picks in the 2nd half.

I gained a LOT of respect for Chris Chandler that day. People say he was fragile. Far from it. He was quite tough and would typically wait till the VERY last second to release the ball in order to let the receivers get open.

I couldn't agree more.

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