Super Bowl XLII: New England Patriots vs. New York Giants

the hardest thing about new england, and this was on display sunday, is they can beat you so many ways. as stated numerous times by phil simms (love that dude on the broadcast btw as opposed to the always bland aikman) new england can play smash mouth, they can play west coast offense, and they can go deep. heck they can go jabbar gaffney. their offense is unreal. their defense can be had, but their offense is unstoppable.

 

I don't know if I agree with the 1st part. SD very much contained the offense. Indy and Phily and Bmore had a lot of success against their offense. The issue with the Giants is they have a well below average secondary. Brady and the Pats broke that defense down in the second half by getting better protection. The long Green Bay pass last week was another example. Brady will be more patient and is more accurate than Romo and Farve were.

I think NE's defense can be had. That I agree with. They are a good but not great defense. If the Giants oline can dominate, Eli and Buress have career days, and Bradshaw makes plays getting to the 2nd level (I think NE is more suseptible to quickness than power [Jacobs])--they have a good chance. But that is a lot that has to go right.

Lets remember, the Giants have only put up 24, 21 and 20 points in regulation the last 3 weeks-- a lot of that also helped by short fields (TOs, special teams). As good as Eli has played, and as good as Buress was last week, that kind of output will not be enough to keep them in the Superbowl. I will say I don't think NE defense is significantly better or worse than those 3--they all are good defenses (with some weaknesses). I think right now the Giants D and SD's are/were playing at the highest level in the NFL--but SD had the much superior defensive backs. The Giants have to sack Brady and hit him a lot to have a chance, because the Giants Dbs have less of chance to keep the downfield plays from happening than SD (or Indy). That (pounding Brady legally) is far much more important than hitting NE's receivers. But again, I think NE can bring in extra blockers if they need to and then exploit the Giants downfield with their WRs. I think NE has the counters to the Giants, and Belichek is the best at using them.

 

We will have to agree to disagree, if you think that playing Game 17 in NY had little to no impact. I don’t see how thousands of screaming fans can’t affect them visiting team in some way, and the fans were nuts for that game. This is not the same as saying NE couldn’t or can’t overcome a tough crowd, but clearly a tough crowd makes it harder to run your offense, hear your QB’s calls, etc.

 

Until the playoffs, the whole Giants are a better road team was misleading. 4 of their 6 loses were to NE, Dallas (twice) and GB. It so happened 3 of those 4 regular season games against the NFL elite were at home. Their other two loses were at home--but they were against Minny and Washington at their peak (they had beat Washington 24-17 on the road earlier when they had to win or go into a 0-3 hole, and probably never recover). So it wasn't so much they were such a better road team than home team--it was that their home schedule was loaded with their toughest opponents and a couple of other solid and peaking opponents.

Now beating Dallas and GB on the road in the playoffs is impressive. But I think it has more to do with the Giants peaking than where the game was played. They also played probably their best game--versus NE--at home.

Overall I think probably more is made of home and road as a factor in the late stage of the season than is reality--but I certainly don't think being on the road was in the NYG's favor--other factors (difficulty of opponnents, peaking trends for NYG or opponent) were responsible for their record disparity.

 

Finally the day is here - enough with the hype, almost time for the game.
I'm pulling for the Giants to win, I can't stand the Patriots, but I'm making my pick objectionably on who I think is going to win.

Patriots 31 - Giants 20

 

At least we know that the Giants can play them close in a big game.

 

I wouldn't say close -- reasonably close, perhaps. The play that completely turned around the first game was the Hixon kickoff return... that gave the Giants momentum, and masked a game where the Patriots controlled the line of scrimmage and had a significant advantage in total yards. (final was 391-317, and would've been an even larger disparity if not for the Giants' late TD drive when the Patriots were up 10 and in prevent.)

Giving the Patriots two weeks to rest, prepare, and play in a stadium without weather is tough to overcome. For the Giants to have a chance, they need another huge special teams play like what Hixon gave them the first time around. If they don't get it... I'm thinking 34-20, New England.

 

Meh, i already know Pats are going to win. They have to much on the line, a perfect season and another shot at the superbowl. Definately going to take it home.

 

All the pundits I've heard say the key to the game is pressure on Brady but I think the real key is pressure on Manning. We know Brady can handle pressure. The guy looks like he's asleep back there he's so calm in the pocket. It's Eli that can't handle pressure. In the last meeting, the Giants were up 10 or 12 in the 3rd and Eli was having a very good game and all of a sudden the Pats brought the blitz and Eli disappeared. I don't think they scored again until that last meaningless touchdown. The Pats are going to score on the Giants but can the Giants score enough? I don't think so. That last game in New York, the Giants were playing with no pressure at all and they got a huge special teams touchdown... there's going to be a ton of pressure on them today. Eli's had a string of good games and the Giants have only scored 24, 21, and 23 points in the three playoff games. Not only that, the Giants have been on about a five game hot streak and I think that extra week off is going to kill their momentum. Meanwhile, the Pats haven't played really well the last few weeks so I think that extra week is going to give them a real boost.

I think the only way the Giants can win is to hope Brady turns it over a few times (not likely to happen for a second game in a row) and force the Pats to run Maroney. On offense they should run Jacobs right up the middle to control the clock and shorten the game, then pop a couple play action passes deep for big plays. The only chance for New York is a ball control smash mouth game. I don't think they can pull it off.

Pats win 27-13.

 

I think people forget how many superbowls are complete blowouts.

Old defense rested, better coach given two weeks, Eli becomes youthful and interception-prone again.

Pats 42-20.

Take Pats and the spread. Take the over.

 

how is it possible for tom petty to follow prince's performance last year. prince put on the best halftime show ever . check out this video of his stealing petty's performance with his guitar solo

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Remember the Tuna's second Super Bowl win versus the highly favored, offensively high-powered, veteran anchored defensed Buffalo Bills?

This one's coming down to a field goal.

27-24... Norwood style.


New nickname upcoming: Leftkowski.

 

This is the worst pre-game ever in the history of pre-game. Fox should be disbanded.

 

I expected Paula Abdul to lip sync. But I'm disappointed that Alicia Keys did as well. I especially like how I heard a bari sax when there was only a trumpet and alto on stage. That was awesome.

 

yall see those new yorkers?

The ones in the Giants jerseys, with the kangol hats? They look like staten island goombas.

 

what time is kick-off?

 

The Russell Crowe video was pretty good.

 

About 5:30.

 

gracias

 

5:17 central time.