DBWI: WI the Giants beat the Jets in OT?

Howdy.

On November 2, 2003, with 4:02 left to go in overtime, the New York Jets beat the New York Giants, 31-28, on a Doug Brien 51-yard field goal. What no one knew was that the loss by the Giants would cause the Giants' season to end 3-13, and would give them the rights to the #1 pick in the 2004 NFL Draft, which would turn out to be...Eli Manning. This, in turn, led to Larry Fitzgerald going to the San Diego Chargers, Ben Roethlisberger going to the Arizona Cardinals, and, ultimately, to Philip Rivers going to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

So, WI the Giants win against the New York Jets? This would cause San Diego to have the #1 draft pick and the rights to Eli Manning. Eli Manning has stated that, if the Chargers had drafted him, he would have refused to play for them (like Elway did to the Baltimore Colts in 1983), so he might have been traded by another team. This certainly butterflies away Aaron Rodgers being drafted by San Diego to back up Drew Brees, which, in turn, causes its own butterflies...

This certainly butterflies away Philip Rivers' tenure as a Steeler, which includes his six Super Bowl wins (1), and to the Steeler dynasty of the early-to-mid-2010s, which included Cam Chancellor, Richard Sherman, and Troy Polamalu (not to mention Wes Welker and Rob Gronkowski; he's likely to break the record held by Peyton Manning for most passing yards this upcoming season, and has been compared to Terry Bradshaw as one of the greatest Steelers of all time). The New England Patriots, meanwhile, after their unbeaten season in 2007 (and winning Super Bowl XLII), haven't even sniffed a Super Bowl appearance. (On a pop culture note, this butterflies away Philip Rivers and his family making a cameo in This is Us.)

The Chargers didn't do too badly, winning Super Bowl XLI in 2007 and Super Bowl XLIII in 2009 (which likely led to the Chargers staying in San Diego IOTL; the Rodgers-Fitzgerald combination is still one of the best QB-WRs in football), while being a solid playoff contender in the early 2010s. As for Ben Roethlisberger, the less said about him, the better (talk about wasted talent), while Eli Manning hasn't done too badly for the Giants, winning Super Bowl XLV in 2011.

What are your thoughts?

(1) The old joke on the sports shows is that Rivers might have more kids than Super Bowl wins...
 
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The Chargers have three options: Trade down, draft Rivers/Roethlisberger as their new franchise quarterback, or draft Eli as trade bait.

Cowher wanted a defensive stud, while Dan Rooney was all in on Rivers but would have taken any of the potential franchise quarterbacks. Ben was the classic case of million dollar arm, ten cent head but might have been OK in an environment like Pittsburgh.

Spanos is an idiot who basically fell up by having Fitz land in his lap, so he would have done something dumb with the top pick. Either draft Eli and refuse to trade him on principle, so Eli re-enters the draft in 2005, or draft Big Ben.

OTL the top four picks were Eli to the Giants, Gallery to the Raiders, Ben to Arizona, and Fitz to the Chargers. TTL you most likely see Ben to San Diego, Gallery to Oakland (no reason that changes), and Eli to Arizona. I'm assuming the Cardinals still draft a quarterback. No reason to think picks 5-10 are going to be any different so Rivers still goes to Pittsburgh.

If the Chargers draft Ben, they likely crash and burn and end up moving to Los Angeles, just like the Cardinals did in OTL. Since they have a first overall pick at QB they let Brees leave as a free agent. Brees might end up in Miami, with Culpepper as a short term solution in New Orleans. Favre still comes home in 2008 and brings the Lombardi to New Orleans.
 
and, ultimately, to Philip Rivers going to the Pittsburgh Steeler
OOC: the browns wanted rivers over big ben, seems browns marked ben as 'characther pick' seems they knew more that us and they called eli ' namath without white shoes too...browns are weird'

If the Chargers draft Ben, they likely crash and burn and end up moving to Los Angeles, just like the Cardinals did in OTL.
OOC: so funny, we already have The new stadium already plus CFF would be far better QB that others..you think we will not protect him? think again.
 
They could have called his bluff and seen if he really would have sat out
Sure financially he could do it but would he?
But the fallout if he did sit out would be huge. Could wreck the franchise. Better off trading him
 
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