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Finally, the end of the season is here.
16 weeks and three weeks of postseason play, as well as another boring Pro Bowl to help stretch out the wait for the big game an extra week, and we are left with a rematch of Super Bowl XLII between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.
The last time these two teams met it was an instant classic, but can they possibly put on a repeat performance? Shockingly, pretty much everything is the same this time around. Sure, the Patriots aren’t going for a perfect 19-0 record, but they were still the No. 1 seed overall and the Giants still had to overcome a fierce NFC road to the championship.
So, the question is, can history be repeated?
In each round of the playoffs, save for the first, I picked against the Giants. I did not think much of this team coming in and assumed all the hype surrounding them was just a culmination of the desire to see the team match back up with the Patriots.
I was wrong. This team is a different one than what it was in the regular season. No longer are teams plowing through their defense and making New York look like something less than impressive.
On top of that, the receiving core has stepped up to help Eli Manning quite a bit. Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham are quite the trio. Nicks and Cruz both had 1,000 yard seasons, but you didn’t hear a lot about them before the playoffs. That has changed.
The Giants scored 47 touchdowns on the season, but opponents of the Giants scored 46. For a team in the postseason to only have one more touchdown than its opposition is pretty unusual, but given how New York has played in the postseason it would appear that the trend is over.
Speaking of teams that look different, how about the New England Patriots?
New England started the postseason off against a weak Denver team and the results were predictable. Brady shredded the Broncos. Something that wasn’t as predictable was how well the defense played.
New England went into the postseason billed as an all offensive unit whose defense was secondary.
Looking at the opposition, New England allowed its opponents to gain 6,577 yards compared to its 6,848 yards. It was easy to move the ball on the group, but at the end of the day New England’s offense would continually excel and the opposing offense would fail to cash in on all of its opportunities.
Finally, the end of the season is here.
16 weeks and three weeks of postseason play, as well as another boring Pro Bowl to help stretch out the wait for the big game an extra week, and we are left with a rematch of Super Bowl XLII between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots.
The last time these two teams met it was an instant classic, but can they possibly put on a repeat performance? Shockingly, pretty much everything is the same this time around. Sure, the Patriots aren’t going for a perfect 19-0 record, but they were still the No. 1 seed overall and the Giants still had to overcome a fierce NFC road to the championship.
So, the question is, can history be repeated?
In each round of the playoffs, save for the first, I picked against the Giants. I did not think much of this team coming in and assumed all the hype surrounding them was just a culmination of the desire to see the team match back up with the Patriots.
I was wrong. This team is a different one than what it was in the regular season. No longer are teams plowing through their defense and making New York look like something less than impressive.
On top of that, the receiving core has stepped up to help Eli Manning quite a bit. Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham are quite the trio. Nicks and Cruz both had 1,000 yard seasons, but you didn’t hear a lot about them before the playoffs. That has changed.
The Giants scored 47 touchdowns on the season, but opponents of the Giants scored 46. For a team in the postseason to only have one more touchdown than its opposition is pretty unusual, but given how New York has played in the postseason it would appear that the trend is over.
Speaking of teams that look different, how about the New England Patriots?
New England started the postseason off against a weak Denver team and the results were predictable. Brady shredded the Broncos. Something that wasn’t as predictable was how well the defense played.
New England went into the postseason billed as an all offensive unit whose defense was secondary.
Looking at the opposition, New England allowed its opponents to gain 6,577 yards compared to its 6,848 yards. It was easy to move the ball on the group, but at the end of the day New England’s offense would continually excel and the opposing offense would fail to cash in on all of its opportunities.
In this postseason, the defense is arguably the reason they have made it this far. While even a meager defensive performance would have gotten the job done against Denver, a superior performance was needed against Baltimore.
New England struggled greatly in the contest and continually turned the ball over. In fact, thanks to the Baltimore game, New England’s turnover differential for this postseason is -3. Keep in mind, New England ended the regular season with a +17 turnover differential.
Still, New England’s defense held off Baltimore and prevented what would have been a massive upset by keeping Baltimore from pulling ahead like it could have.
Honestly, watching the game, it felt like New England could have been trailing huge, but they hung in there.
Maybe it has to do with coaching, I mean Bill Belichick is a guy who once voluntarily took a safety as time was winding down in the fourth quarter because he felt he would get another shot at the ball if he did so.
He ended up winning the game. You could pretty much see his face under those headsets break out into a grin that said just as planned. Hard to go against a guy like that.
So, with both teams seemingly different from what they were at the start of the season, it makes this matchup a bit more difficult to pick.
I honestly think New England has a better offense and has been one of the top teams in football all year long. I know I said both teams are different, but I don’t see the Patriots turning the ball over so many times in the Super Bowl. If that superior offense can get going once again with what appears to be an improved defense,
New England should be able to escape with a victory.
New York has shown that it is competent this postseason in all fields of play, but I think New England is too much for them. The Patriots will win this Super Bowl rematch.
I’ve been wrong about every other New York game this postseason, so maybe New York will continue to work its magic and we’ll get another postseason classic featuring these two teams.
