People, people. Please. You are all overlooking one thing... IT'S THE SUPER BOWL!!!!!!!!! Companies spend a bazillion dollars advertising on it. People across the country organize and plan their parties for it. People mark it on their calendars and try to decide who they'll watch with and where... ...and all this is MONTHS before the teams are decided. The Super Bowl is part of Americana. Watching it is something people will do out of habit if nothing else. Hell...growing up I knew a guy who HATED football...but he ALWAYS watched the Super Bowl.
This year's Super Bowl is horrible from an NFL marketing standpoint. As someone pointed out earlier, just look at the names in this one. QB. Brady vs. Delhomme RB. Smith vs. Davis/Foster WR. Brown/Givens/Johnson vs. Smith/Muhammad DL. Washington vs. Peppers LB. Vrabel vs. Morgan DB. Harrison vs. ?
Ahhhh... but how about Cornerbacks? Law vs. Manning - each had three picks in their conference championship games! This Superbowl will be great. And both teams were played well by Houston (and Dallas for that matter). The key thing is, Houston will get major attention for the next two weeks, and as long as the Rockets can get back to the playoffs, and Astros can provide some excitement and reach the post-season again... the Texans stand a good chance to have built-in respect from the league, and in the sports world for a while by default. Hello? It's the Superbowl in Houston! The only disaster would be an act of (insert "t" word here). No fly zone please.
I am actually very excited about this superbowl. I was hoping that this would be the outcome. I was dreading the Manning V McNabb media love fest that would be the alternative. Kinda nice to see two tough teams that play as teams in the superbowl. No they dont have the BIG names but they play great as TEAMS. I love how the TV networks gets screwed by not having their "golden boys" Manning and McNabb in the superbowl. TS!
that was EXACTLY my thought. both the Pats and Panthers have played very exciting games to get where they are. as long as neither the cowboys or the titans are here for the big game, i'm a happy man.
I've watched Manning since college and the guy just doesn't show up for big games against big defenses. What he did to last week to the chiefs wasn't impressive. The Chiefs are the worse defensive team in the league. The Chiefs are the Chargers(Dan Fouts) of the new millenium. He did have a great game against the Broncos, but the broncos defense was overrated. It's too easy rattle Manning. A pick here, some hard hits there and he looks average at best. Peyton is the Warren Moon of the new millenium. Looks great 90 percent of the time, but when its time to show against a some serious competition, he looses his cool. At least Warren Moon won some championships in Canada.
What do you mean nobody was hyping the game? It's the freaking SUPER BOWL! The Super Bowl is a hype machine regardless of who is playing.
This game will not be boring if you enjoy old-fashioned smash mouth football. The great thing about the Patriots/Panthers matchup is that the game will not be over by halftime, and the winning team will win by a TD or less. Should be an exciting, grind it out game.
Even though I think it will be the Patriots in a landslide, this is a game for people who like smash mouth football. I think both defenses will be inspired to out-hit the other. The biggest problem with this game is the lack of someone to hate (often associated with star factor). Last year, there was the entire Raider organization or Gruden, Keyshawn, and Sapp. Who is there to hate on this team? Delhomme because he's so damn lucky (but he's really been playing well)? Bellicheck because he's so dull in postgame shows? David Givens because he always makes me think about Ernest Givens?? It's tough to hate either team because they both just work hard. And my thoughts about McNair and Manning: McNair is better. In the same environment, McNair nearly beat the Patriots if it wasn't for a dropped pass. Plus, he had less to work with than Manning considering that George had a separated shoulder. And don't tell me Manning's games against the Chiefs and Broncos puts him above McNair. As impressive as they were, I was just as impressed with McNair's performance against the Ravens.
Heh. It might be that good. But, if I was to bet, I'd say 24-0 or 24-3, Patriots. Fox has built good chemistry, but they've been oh so lucky. I could not believe that gift touchdown Sunday on that absolutely horrible pass (horrible decision, and horrible actual throw) from Dumbhomes. The way the eagles ran past that dead duck pass looked like something from a junior high football game. Ugh.
Man am I the only person who likes the Panthers? I feel like i've been saying that a lot lately - anyway my man Steve Smith is going to have a big game and the Panthers are going to shock the Pats (just as they shocked the the Rams). 24 -13 Panthers. Nostrocheetus has spoken.
THE REFS CHEATED IN THE PATS VS COLTS GAME. COLTS REALLY SHOULD HAVE WON I AM SO NOT WATCHING THE SB ON MY B-DAY
Marino never won squatt when it mattered nor did Elway until he was an afterthought in the offense. I do agree with this however. Both guys were good, but not Elway, Marino, or Staubach good. Overall though, I think Manning has been underrated. If he had Aikmen or Montana or Youngs or Phill Simms supporting casts he would have rings. Moon has a great defense and fine supporting cast and still didn't win, largely do to a dumbass offensive coaching philosophy though. Those teams that lost of the Chiefs and Bills might just have won the Superbowl with a less 1 dimensional scheme. Manning and the Colts will certainly be one of the favorites next year, they really need just a little more toughness on D. The pats, Titans and Colts were the three best teams this year.
You never know. But Damn. This is not exciting on paper. The Panthers are a team people could root for. But we needed a goliath for them to match up against like the colts. Then I could really get behind them. The Pats are no Goliath. This is shaping out as a boredom bowl. The game will need a spectacular ending to be remembered.
