The beginning of star trio's end

The beginning of star trio's end

Wiggins' World hates to once again take on the role of hangman but, as was the case with NFL great Peyton Manning, he must do so once more regarding three of the league's most famous quarterbacks ever.

Just as WW predicted the imminent demise of Manning in 2015, we must do the same with fellow current QBs Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan.

You'll recall Wiggins' World first noticed and recorded a drastic drop-off in Manning's performance when Peyton, at 39, was no longer able to deliver the medium or deep ball accurately.

It was painful to see the once proud game-changer no longer able to control ballgames with his pinpoint downfield passing.

But to his credit, Manning adapted and dinked and dunked the Broncos to a Super Bowl win over the Carolina Panthers in 2016.

However, Manning was not the main reason his Denver ballclub had emerged victorious in that SB as was the case earlier in his career when he was named Super Bowl XLI MVP with the Indianapolis Colts in their win over the Chicago Bears.

Instead, this time Manning played only a supporting role as the splendid Denver defence, spearheaded by pass rusher Von Miller, keyed that Broncos SB win.

Peyton's game had by then relegated him to being but a supplemental piece in his team's effort, as opposed to his being the determining factor in his ballclub's triumphs.

Now, as painful as it is to once again see, Brady, Rodgers and Ryan are slowly slipping into a similar category.

The trio are no longer, by their sheer performance, able to almost single-handedly will their ballclubs to victory.

And each of their teams presently have a losing record to show for it. All are currently 3-4.

On numerous occasions late in a game, Brady has been unable to bring his team from the brink of defeat to victory -- as he regularly used to do.

Instead, the Bucs have sputtered to a loss.

Recently, Tampa Bay have been beaten right from the get-go with an ineffective Brady.

Tom's arm strength hasn't subsided but his accuracy seems to have deserted him.

On numerous occasions, he has failed to click on swing passes to his backs or short-to-medium range aerials to his receivers.

Some say the cause of this is the absence of his longtime dependable tight end target Rob Gronkowski.

But WW doesn't see that as much a problem as Brady's often off-target throws.

Tom, at 45, was right to come back from retirement for one more shot. He looked like he still had "it".

But this season has made Wiggins' World change its mind and wish Brady hadn't.

The magic seems to also have suddenly disappeared from Rodger's once-marvellous right wing.

On many past occasions, Rodgers was similarly able to engineer late-game comeback wins.

This season, such is not the case.

WW has not noticed a slippage in Aaron's arm strength but, reportedly, teams are now "filling the box" (the area near the line of scrimmage), daring Rodgers to throw deep.

But without recently departed free agent wideout Devonte Adams, Aaron doesn't seem to have any downfield targets to throw to.

And he is unable to click on his short to intermediate throws, either.

Rodgers could very well turn things around. He seems to still have a respectable arm but, at 38, age could be silently catching up with him.

Ryan, 37, had a long and mostly successful career with the Atlanta Falcons, almost winning a Super Bowl several years ago before his Falcons blew a big fourth quarter lead in their SB contest with the Brady-led Patriots.

Though not in the superstar category of Brady and Rodgers, Ryan had 14 mostly successful NFL years with Atlanta.

But Matt's arm, like those of Brady and Rodgers, appears to suddenly be less than it once was.

Ryan, traded to the Indianapolis Colts this past off-season, was recently demoted from the position of starting Colts QB.

Thus, we could be seeing the end -- finally -- to the careers of some fantastically talented NFL quarterbacks.

Wiggins' World takes no pleasure in reporting what it feels is the beginning of this current trio's demise.

In fact, WW feels sad in being perhaps the first, as was the case with Manning, to point it out.

Email Wiggins' World at davwigg@gmail.com

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