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Keyboard Quarterback: Super Predictions
Authored by Andrew Perna - 1st February, 2008 - 12:31 pm
There’s a difference between a favorite and a lock. When up against a team with playoff-level talent, it’s rare that the team with the better record ever appears in the second category.
Braylon Edwards will join Jericho Cotchery to form an elite wideout tandem, at least on paper.
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This year’s Super Bowl could end up being one of the most watched games in the history of the National Football League. The New England Patriots, representing the AFC, are sixty minutes away from the league’s first-ever 19-0 season. The New York Giants, representing the NFC, have won ten straight road games and have adopted the killer instinct it takes to go from the Wild Card to the Super Bowl in just four weeks.
Leading up to the biggest game of the season there have been a pair of dominant storylines: the mysterious ankle injury of Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady and the rise of Eli Manning, who has spent his entire professional career in the shadow of his older brother Peyton.
I don’t care what anyone says. Brady’s ankle ‘injury’ is about as real as Bill Belichick and Eric Mangini’s friendship. I picture Belichick pacing around his bedroom at three o’clock in the morning trying his hardest to dream up a way to take the pressure and focus off of the legal woes of Randy Moss and the weight of a perfect season.
Picture this.
In-between rapid play scribbling and shots of Vivarin, a light bulb shines above Belichick’s hoodie-covered head. He lunges for his cell phone and dials Brady’s number. Seconds later Tom answers the phone, annoying Gisele in the process...
“Hey coach, what the heck are you doing up?” Brady asks.
“Tom, I got an idea,” Belichick responds.
“You know I’m in New York with Gisele in bed, right Bill?”
“Yeah, whatever. Women are distractions. Anyway, run to the local CVS and grab an air cast for your foot. Hurry, before the sun comes up!”
“I repeat. I’m in bed with a smokin’ Brazilian model, and you want me to go get something I don’t even need?”
“Tom, trust me. As far as the media knows, you sprained your ankle against the Chargers.”
“Bill, have you been taking Vivarin again?”
…and the legend of Brady’s ankle was born.
Ankle injury or not, the Giants are going to play their best to upend the undefeated Patriots this Sunday. New England has won eighteen times this season, and each victory seemed to have its own unique flavor. They’ve dominated from the opening kickoff, taken off at the whistle of the third quarter, and even come from behind in the final minutes to earn wins this year.
I have the eerie feeling that the Patriots have been toying with their playoff opponents so far this postseason. I’m not trying to take credit away from the Jaguars and Chargers, but in each game New England took control seemingly at will. They failed to even show the vulnerability they did against the Ravens and Eagles in the regular season. Brady may have heaved three lame ducks into San Diego’s secondary, but with Laurence Maroney running the football and their stifling defense, the Patriots never seemed to lose handle on the game.
On the other hand, the Giants have more heart than any football team we’ve seen in the last decade. Eli Manning, who often looked confused and inexperienced at the beginning of the season, now looks nearly as confident as his more-heralded older brother.
New York gave New England a run for their money during Week Seventeen when the Patriots just barely knocked off the Giants en route to a perfect 16-0 regular season record. While some list that as an advantage for the underdog G-Men, I think it’s more of a setback. Tom Coughlin and Steve Spagnolo seemingly threw everything they had at the Patriots, not leaving much for them to shock the well-prepared Pats with this Sunday night.
For a majority of the postseason Plaxico Burress has been writing checks that many doubted he and the Giants could cash, but finally with the Vince Lombardi trophy within their grasp, Plaxico’s check will be returned due to insufficient funds.
The Patriots’ defense is unlike anything the Giants have seen so far this postseason. They are a veteran group of players that Belichick has plugged in all the right holes. Many of New England’s defensive stars would be the anchors of other team’s units, but this defense is efficient because of their communication and how they play as whole and not because of any one performer.
Again, what’s unique about this year’s Super Bowl is how the two teams met a little more than a month ago in the final week of regular season. Manning and company have seen this defense and how they operate. Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean they will know exactly how to handle it – just ask the Dolphins, Jets, and Bills, who all lost to the Patriots twice this season.
Belichick rarely shows a team the same thing twice. So while the Giants might feel as though they have the upper hand having played the Patriots just four weeks ago, it’s New England that has the edge. Belichick has a majority of New York’s offensive plays on file and has spent the past two weeks planning how he’s going to shut down Manning and the surprisingly potent Giants’ rushing attack.
This New England team wouldn’t be the same one that New York gave a darn good scare at the end of December. That means that Brady and Belichick aren’t going to give Manning and Coughlin the same chance at knocking them off in Arizona this weekend. The Pats may not be the most talented team in all of football, but they are always the most-prepared.
The Giants will give it their all but valiantly fall short of what would be one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history. I’m not saying that because the Patriots are head-and-shoulders ahead of the Giants but because of what’s at stake for New England and the history of the game.
Perna Prediction: New England 30, N.Y. Giants 21
Brady will lead his team to the first end zone trip of the game, and Belichick’s defense will never relinquish the lead. The question asked by many immediately after the game will be – ‘Can the New England Patriots can accomplish this historic feat once again in 2008?’
Andrew Perna is a Senior Writer for RealGM.com. Feel free to contract him at: Andrew.Perna@RealGM.com.
