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Retired_Member_001
02-02-2008, 06:15 PM
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Super Bowl XLII Preview




Did you know that the top 10 most watched programs in television history are in fact Super Bowls?

Well you probably did. There’s no doubt that the Super Bowl is one of the biggest events on the face of the earth, and with the NFL expanding, more and more people are going to be watching this up and coming Super Bowl in Arizona. So with the Super Bowl being such a big event, there’s no doubt it would require two big teams.

The New England Patriots come into this game hoping to go 19-0 for the season + playoffs. This, as we all know, has never been done before. The Patriots are a team of domination, a team so good, they can beat you in more ways than you could possibly imagine. They are perfect for the time being. But no one should forget the heartbreak that the Giants nearly threw upon the Patriots. In Week 17 of the NFL season, the Giants had a bigger lead over the Patriots than anyone else in the league had. The Giants couldn’t hold on, but still, they proved to be a bigger fight than anyone else the Patriots have faced.

However, this game won’t be like that game on a cold night in Foxborough. This game will be completely different, even if the score line ended the same as the game in week 17, it will be completely different. The stakes are different, the mentality is different, the Giants are different.

No longer do the Giants need to feel that they are inferior to the rest of the league, that they are merely a pretender. No longer are the Giants scared their quarterback will mess things up. This New York Giants team is full of confidence, of belief, that they will defeat the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Here's a comparison between the two teams:

If you’re comparing both offenses, it’s pretty clear that the Patriots have the better offense. No one will argue that the Patriots have the best passing game in the NFL. They have mind boggling talent with guys like Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker and so on. Tom Brady has thrown more touchdowns than anyone else has in a single season, and Randy Moss has caught more touchdowns than anyone else has in a single season, they are both really big forces. It’s also important not to forget, the Giants are down to practice squad players at cornerback, and the very wise Patriots will take note of this and abuse it.

The Giants offensive game plan will be balanced as it has usually been of recent times. The Giants will need to establish what running back is going to be hot for them for that game. Brandon Jacobs or Ahmad Bradshaw, if they both show up then great but the two Giants running backs go hot and cold from game to game. The main difference for the Giants between this game and the Week 17 game is that the Giants now aren’t afraid to throw the football. Eli Manning has matured a lot in the past few weeks and it is one of the main reasons the Giants are where they are. The Giants have also done well pass protecting in the playoffs which helps Eli Manning a lot. What will be a problem is dropped passes because the Giants lead the league in dropped passes. The Giants can’t drop passes at key times against the Patriots or else the Patriots will punish them, make the catch, give your team a chance of winning. Obviously Plaxico Burress will be Eli’s main target. The Giants offense will have to communicate really well to figure out the tricks of a 3-4 defense. The Patriots like to use the 3-4 to their advantage and overload one side; a miscommunication could lead to a big sack.

When it comes to comparing both defenses, it is not so clear cut. Maybe the Patriots have a more balanced defense, but an in form, fired up Giants front 7 gives the Giants a better defense in my opinion. Maybe the Giants banged up secondary will give them problems, but a pass rush made up of Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck cancels that out. The trio managed 32 sacks combined during the regular season. The Giants will want to get to Tom Brady and pressure him, if they can blast the lights out of him a few times they can throw him off his rhythm. The Giants BETTER get to Tom Brady because if they don’t, Tom Brady will torch a banged up Giants secondary all night long. When it comes to red zone defense, the Giants may want to double cover Wes Welker who is Brady’s favourite target in the red zone. Also the Giants should watch out for a trick play, you just get the feeling there’s going to be one, like Randel El’s pass to Hines Ward in Super Bowl XL.

The Patriots linebackers are old. Power running teams have had success running straight at them. Apart from that the Patriots have a solid defense as well. With guys like Vince Wilfork, Mike Vrabel and Asante Samuel, they are definitely someone to fear. In the Week 17 game, the Giants did an extremely good job of pass blocking. But the Patriots pass rush will be looking to come out on the upper hand in this one, it’s pretty obvious that if the Patriots get to Eli Manning, he will make a bad throw, turn the ball over and lose confidence.

With all the Devin Hester’s and Joshua Cribbs’ running around the league I guess it’s quite important to compare Special Teams. The Giants scrape away with the Special Teams battle. Neither team has got a good kicker but Lawrence Tynes has more experience which will be key when kicking in a big game. The Giants also have a better punter, Jeff Feagles can be a real advantage in terms of downing the ball inside the 20. I also think the Giants have a better return man; the Giants rotate return men but when given the chance, Domenik Hixon has been really effective. If you look at the stats, in this 8 returned kicks, Domenik Hixon has put up better stats than Patriots kicker returner Ellis Hobbs.

Obviously there is one more factor to consider and compare. That is, who has the better backroom staff? Now this clearly goes to the New England Patriots. Bill Belichick has been in this situation before and the man is just a football genius. It’s almost unfair to have let Bill Belichick study this upcoming game for 2 weeks. If you add Belichick’s knowledge with Patriots offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels knowledge and Patriots defensive coordinator, Dean Pees knowledge, you get a great coaching staff.

However the Giants defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo, is one of the best in my opinion. Good calls from Steve have been a major factor in getting the Giants through some tough playoff games. Tom Coughlin is a good coach but definitely outmatched by Bill Belichick.

Based off my opinion here’s how the match ups look.

Patriots Offense V Giants Offense. Winner – Patriots.
Patriots Defense V Giants Defense. Winner – Giants.
Patriots Special Teams V Giants Special Teams. Winner – Giants.
Patriots coaching staff V Giants coaching staff. Winner – Patriots.

The New England Patriots are clear favourites here, and if I had to put my own money on a team to win it would be on the Patriots. However it would be unwise to rule out the Giants just yet because of the reasons stated above. This Giants team is very very mentally strong, they will put up a big fight untill the end. You never know, this could turn out to be the Patriots walking over the Giants, or it could be a very interesting game.

We won’t know the result until tomorrow evening but for the mean time, everyone out there enjoy Super Bowl Sunday because it only comes once a year. Have a great time!


You may not have known:

I’ve been going on about this since the last Super Bowl. It seems that if you lose the toin coss, you win the Super Bowl.


Look at this:

Toss Caller Toss Winner Game Winner
XLI: Indianapolis Chicago Indianapolis
XL: Seattle Seattle Pittsburgh
XXXIX New England Philadelphia New England

We also lost the toin coss on each of our Super Bowl wins.

dogfish
02-03-2008, 04:52 PM
good article wook. . . i think the point you brought up about the new york secondary will likely be one of the deciding factors-- the pats have too many solid WRs, and they'll spread the field and find the mismatches they want. . . i expect welker to have a big game. . . new york's only hope is to pressure brady-- we've shown that they're very beatable when you put him on his ass-- but even with their excellent pass rushers it's going to be very difficult. . . the pansies will probably use a lot of quick-hitting stuff to negate the pass rush. . . three step drops and throw the slant or the drag, maybe somes flares to faulk out of the backfield. . . they'll look to get the ball out of brady's hands as quickly as possible, and use the short passing game to control the ball, and keep them in manageable down and distance situations. . .

new york's only hope, IMO, is if they can counter effectively with their running game, and try to keep the new england offense on the sidelines as much as possible. . . but even controlling the ball isn't going to be enough-- they need to come away with touchdowns when they get in position, not field goals. . . given the overall disparity in talent that i see, i think the G-men have to play pretty close to mistake-free football. . . the pats won't beat themselves-- they're a veteran team that knows how to take care of the ball and not take a lot of penalties (not that they don't COMMITT penalties, but they have a bunch of vets who know how to get away with it, and they also have a healthy dose of luck). . . the giants can't give that patsie offense any short fields and expect to win. . .

manning doesn't have to match brady throw for throw, but he has to play at a high level the entire game, and i don't think he can do it. . . bellyache will have all sorts of things planned for him-- odd fronts, overload blitzes, multiple coverage looks, etc etc. . . he'll keep him from getting comfortable, cause him to hesitate for that extra second. . . . i expect manning to play a solid game for the most part, but i think they can force him into a mistake or two, and then they'll pounce. . .

med's right, the G-men need to get a little lucky if they're going to win this one-- a special teams score, blocked kick or punt, a few unexpected turnovers-- something like that. . . otherwise, i think the pansies run away from them in the second half. . . . :sick:

Retired_Member_001
02-03-2008, 05:12 PM
good article wook. . . i think the point you brought up about the new york secondary will likely be one of the deciding factors-- the pats have too many solid WRs, and they'll spread the field and find the mismatches they want. . . i expect welker to have a big game. . . new york's only hope is to pressure brady-- we've shown that they're very beatable when you put him on his ass-- but even with their excellent pass rushers it's going to be very difficult. . . the pansies will probably use a lot of quick-hitting stuff to negate the pass rush. . . three step drops and throw the slant or the drag, maybe somes flares to faulk out of the backfield. . . they'll look to get the ball out of brady's hands as quickly as possible, and use the short passing game to control the ball, and keep them in manageable down and distance situations. . .

new york's only hope, IMO, is if they can counter effectively with their running game, and try to keep the new england offense on the sidelines as much as possible. . . but even controlling the ball isn't going to be enough-- they need to come away with touchdowns when they get in position, not field goals. . . given the overall disparity in talent that i see, i think the G-men have to play pretty close to mistake-free football. . . the pats won't beat themselves-- they're a veteran team that knows how to take care of the ball and not take a lot of penalties (not that they don't COMMITT penalties, but they have a bunch of vets who know how to get away with it, and they also have a healthy dose of luck). . . the giants can't give that patsie offense any short fields and expect to win. . .

manning doesn't have to match brady throw for throw, but he has to play at a high level the entire game, and i don't think he can do it. . . bellyache will have all sorts of things planned for him-- odd fronts, overload blitzes, multiple coverage looks, etc etc. . . he'll keep him from getting comfortable, cause him to hesitate for that extra second. . . . i expect manning to play a solid game for the most part, but i think they can force him into a mistake or two, and then they'll pounce. . .

med's right, the G-men need to get a little lucky if they're going to win this one-- a special teams score, blocked kick or punt, a few unexpected turnovers-- something like that. . . otherwise, i think the pansies run away from them in the second half. . . . :sick:

Yep, the best play from that Giants secondary still isn't good enough. I think the Giants pass rush is scary though and they will definitely get to Brady several times. As I said in the article, the Giants better hope that Osi or someone blasts the lights out of Brady and gets him shaken up.

The Giants really need to do everything perfectly for it to be a close game. I also worry that Eli Manning will panic at the big game and have a Rex Grossman of last Super Bowl performance.

As I said in the article, the Giants have a chance, but I definitely favour the Patriots.

Retired_Member_001
02-03-2008, 10:27 PM
You can expect my Super Bowl Review to be out before the Pro Bowl.

Medford Bronco
02-04-2008, 09:24 AM
You can expect my Super Bowl Review to be out before the Pro Bowl.

and it should be very complimentary to Eli and David tyree the game saver
along with that sick D line:salute:

Retired_Member_001
03-01-2008, 01:46 PM
I'm going to have an article on the importance of drafting a running back up soon.