Franchise altering? LMAO.
Yeah, the Colts picked Peyton Manning, and at the time people questioned the selection because Ryan Leaf was thought to be the better pick.
All the reports said the Cardinals traded down to #3 from #2 because they had Jake Plummer and were not interested in drafting a QB, so we likely would have traded down even from #1 and still drafted Wadsworth. No change because of their late-season win.
Same as the last-game heroics to defeat the Vikings. Larry Fitzgerald was going to be our pick whether we drafted first or third that year. No change because of another late-season win.
Clearly the Cards passed on Leaf, but Peyton Manning was cerebral one coming out. He was the safe pick, Leaf was the "higher ceiling" riskier, athleticism type. Sure, no one thought Leaf would be the worst QB to essentially exist. But he was always an asshat who didn't put football first, or even close to it.
The Chargers owner was even warned not to pick Leaf from someone they paid to learn specifically about each one and Colts were essentially always in on Manning once Ryan didn't show up for their meeting at the combine, which he didn't want to go to Indy anyway.
At worst, we would have gotten a bigger haul. Plumber wasn't anything crazy and he wasnt a high pick. Leaf wasn't the pick over Plumber.
If they would have passed on Manning then this is truly a poverty franchise. You never know what they would have done if they actually had it. Manning was the "safer" pick and that's up the the Card's alley. They traded out of 2nd pick the second Manning was taken, perhaps waiting to see if the Colts took Leaf? But we certainly made sure to never have that chance.
Yep, we got lucky with our win vs Vikings because the Lions also won. Slightly different timeline, they get Fitzgerald and we get Roy Williams. You remember him don't you? How would he look in Cardinal red? They messed up even more than us. As the Lions, I'd expect nothing less. But who knows if we go WR that route, Danny Green wanted Fitz. Rivers on the board.
But for Manning, it probably doesn't matter in the end. He would have sucked here and moved on elsewhere.
The whole point is to win every game to get a better seed in the playoffs to improve your chances (bye, home game, play a lower seeded team, etc). Once you are out of the race, a worse record gives you a better chance of selecting a better player to impact future seasons, or have better trade value to select multiple players. Losing is NEVER fun, but it's playing the long game. Nor is it intentionally tanking, but it's a good opportunity to test out all your backups or play rookies more to see what you got going into the next year. Evaluating depth is important and sparing major injuries to the starters.
Ever sacrifice chess pieces for the bigger picture?
