Super Bowl XLII
New England vs. New York Giants
Line: Patriots by 12
This Super Bowl is for history, as the Patriots have a chance to accomplish something that has no team has ever accomplished: a 19-0 season. Winning the Super Bowl will immortalize the Patriots with the 72 Dolphins and the 34 Bears as the only teams to finish a season completely unscathed. It will certainly open the debate for this team being perhaps the greatest ever. All that stands in their way is a resilient Giants team that used and end-of-season loss to the Patriots as motivation to surge through the NFC as the surprise representative. They beat the Packers and Cowboys in resilient fashion to get there and their QB showed championship poise to deliver the Giants to their fourth appearance in the big game. Eli will have to again play a perfect game if his Giants are to stand a chance against this Pats team. That means making the smart throws he's been making and giving the ball to Jacobs and Bradshaw as much as possible. It also means spreading the field by getting Steve Smith and Kevin Boss involved in the middle along with Toomer and Burress on the outside. If the Giants' protection holds, Manning could make plays, but he needs to be wary of Samuel and Hobbs, who are opportunistic CB's who can take advantage of poorly-placed throws. Defensively, the Giants have to get pressure on Brady. They have a diverse enough pass-rush to give Brady the same kind of problems teams like Baltimore and Philadelphia did in the regular season. What New England has shown teams, though is that on Brady's worst day, they have enough of a rushing attack to move the football. Laurence Maroney has two consecutive 100-yard rushing games and Kevin Faulk remains a huge 3rd down weapon. The Giants will be game, but they just won't have enough on defense to stop the never-ending dimension of the Patriots' offense. Patriots 37, Giants 27
Conference Championship Games vs Spread: 2-0
Conference Championship Games Straight Up: 1-1
Season vs Spread: 137-124-9
Season Straight up: 169-81
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment