Are you ready? It’s almost the time for the best unofficial holiday of the United States. Dips are being concocted. Posters are being drawn. Parties are being assembled. Pizza’s will be ordered. Commercials will be critiqued. With all of these other activities going on, how much of the game will you actually be watching? Hopefully I don’t miss a second of it (outside Madonna’s halftime show maybe).
The New York Giants
If you would have said that this team would be in the Super Bowl after loosing 4 in a row (weeks 10-13) many people would have said you were crazy. This team most of the season could not run the ball or stop anyone on defense. They were riddled with injuries everywhere but in the passing game (which was brilliant all season). The one thing this team had going for them was Eli Manning. The guy was getting MVP talks early in the year simply for his 4th quarter comebacks (NFL fan’s be glad Tebow didn’t get hat kind of recognition). More than that but brother Eli even threw for way more yards than ever before, throwing for almost 5000 yards! Most of this was due to the emergence of Victor Cruz. Cruz often took patterns over the middle or little hitches, and turned them into huge TD scoring plays. Cruz can thank Hakeem Nicks for taking double teams helping him to be able to be so open over the middle. Nicks is a premier NFL receiver due his route running, his body size and his monstrous hands (he wears a 4x!), which all helps him just outmatch many corners. This tandem has been one of this years best at WR.
Since they caught fire and became healthy, the teams dynamics have changed a little. Yes the Giants will still throw the ball up and down the field but they have been more successful at running it down your throat as of late. Not only that but the front 4 of the defensive line has been able to create enough pass rush so that the coach doesn’t need to use exotic blitzes to create pressure. The Giants aren’t the best team in the NFC this season, but they are the best team in the NFC right now.
The New England Patriots
The team formally known as the dynasty is there yet again. Lets face it, this Patriots team the past decade has been Belichick’s brain-child. I mean they can even put Matt Cassel behind the helm and still have a winning record. On top of that they are playing with a defense that, if on any other team, would get laughed out of the league. This will be Brady’s 5th Super Bowl appearance, the only other guy to achieve such a feat: John Elway who went 2-3 in Super Bowl appearances. Making a Super Bowl more than once is amazing, but 5 times? Common Brady your making the rest of the NFL look bad.
This team all year has been dominant (offensively at least). The Patriots help the tight ends reclaim to fame this year, with the beyond outstanding performance of U of A’s Rob Gronkowski (now simply known as Gronk). The Pats were going to be contenders this year regardless, but with the emergence of Gronk, their offensive if quite possibly the best in the league.
There were reports that Gronkowski got off a plane in Indi wearing a boot. This freaked everyone out so during press day he did not have the boot as part of his attire. Rob has a high ankle sprain which normally, keeps guys off the field for more than the 2 weeks he’s been off. Gronks presence in the redzone has what has helped the Pats punch it in this year (he has 14 redzone TDs). It will be interesting to see how his injury pans out, since I believe Gronkowski’s impact will heavily effect the outcome of the game.
The Match-Up
The rematch! Who can forget Super Bowl XLII, played here in Arizona? Brady and the Patriots were going for history as the first team to win 19 games in a season and be the second team to go undefeated. The Giants just happened to be who they were playing. They were 10-6 and much like this season, in order to even make the playoffs they had to catch fire. I’m sure many of you remember the game. More specifically, I’m sure many of you can give a detailed story of Manning breaking away from a sack to throw the deep pass to David Tyree who made one of the best catches is Super Bowl history. Needless to say the Giants upset the Patriots and Eli was thrust into an elite quarterback group; a Super Bowl winning QB. This game was probably one of the most exciting games I have ever seen, on the biggest stage. It is a modern day, football version of David and Goliath.
Fast forward four years and we’ve run into a rematch. To be honest I would love to see a close game but to ask for a repeat of the amount of excitement 2008 had would be asking too much. Although I might have preferred different teams to match up in this years Super Bowl, my eyes will still be glued to the TV.
I think the key for the Patriots will revolve around their effectiveness in the redzone. Gronkowski won’t be 100% although I believe he will make an attempt to play. This puts a heavy burden on Belichick to create a scheme that is different than the one they have been running all year. As dead pan as his personality is, Belichick is an intelligent coach and will most likely figure something out. If however the Patriots settle for field goals on drives, they may lose another Super Bowl to the Giants.
As for the Giants, I think two things are crucial: can they create an effective pass rush with only four down linemen and can one of their premier receivers make the big play, scoring a long TD. The Giants this season have lived off of Cruz breaking tackles and scattering off into the endzone, or Nicks catching vertical routes or even hail mary’s like against the Packers. If the Patriots can tackle well and limit the big plays, the Giants might struggle to keep up with New England.
To be honest I’ve never liked the New England Patriots and will be rooting for the Giants this year. But thats just me, who are you guys rooting for?
Anyways, that’s sports: from the fans perspective.
