The two-week period between the conclusion of the conference
championship game and the beginning of the Super Bowl is an abyss of
redundancy, over analysis, and anticipation. Fans must listen to writers and the football maidens break
down every centimeter of the upcoming game to the point of irrelevance. By the end of the first week, every
“meaningful” plot element will be covered. We will know all about the player matchups, the history of
the two teams, and, of course, the response to the most banal of all questions,
“What is coach so-and-so doing to get his players ready for the game?” By the end of the second week, the
punditry will expand to topics as extraneous as when the players decide to
arrive in Indianapolis, where they sit on the plane, the typical consistency of
a pregame meal, and how the softness of hotel beds impact Tom Brady’s
accuracy. I can assure you that the
endless rambling will be assuaged only with bi-hourly mentioning of Tim
Tebow. The regression and
sidestepping can turn the minds of an otherwise sports-savvy individual to
gelatinous mush.
How am I going to placate this seemingly inevitable
situation? Well, the moments during
this two-week period for which reaction, banter, and predictions are
pleasurable and interesting are at the beginning and end. Therefore, much like I did leading up
to conference championship weekend, the Super Bowl coverage will come in three
parts, only in this case there will be a strict, weeklong moratorium separating
the second and third article during which the words Super Bowl will not be
written.
In order to develop a way of accurately selecting a winner,
I have decided that I will devote an entire article explaining why the Giants
will be victorious and another article detailing precisely why New England will
not allow a Super Bowl 42 repeat.
Both outcomes seem equally plausible now. My hope is that I will be able to devise an accurate
prediction once both columns are written.
The 2011 season for the Giants was perhaps the most up and
down season a Super Bowl team has ever had. New York started the campaign by winning five of their first
seven games. Despite the 5-2 record,
many wondered if the Giants were a legitimate contender since their two loses
came against Washington and Seattle, two of the worst NFC teams at that point
of the season. However, New York’s
week 9 victory at New England sparked what at first glance seemed like a
turning point for both teams – New York on the rise and New England looking the
most dire it ever has with Tom Brady.
But, as is often the case when people sense a dramatic change in the
fabric of a given season, the New York victory did the exact opposite. The G-Men proceeded to lose their next
four games while New England began a winning streak that has carried all the
way to the Super Bowl. New York
wrapped up the season winning three of their final four, have a five game
winning streak of their own, and will defeat the Patriots for these four big reasons.
1. Even third string
wide receiver Mario Manningham is too good for any of New England’s defensive
backs. The trio of Giants wide
outs, Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks, and Manningham, are the best wide receiving
core in football. They’re
athletic, clutch, have great hands, and are sensational after the catch. We have seen impressive receiver duos
(or trios) emerge over the last few seasons, but none have been less flashy than New York’s
committee. Even when Nicks and
Cruz turn twenty yard passes into 60+ yard touchdowns, they somehow manage to
do it without slap-you-in-the-face athletic fanfare. What I mean by this is that there’s no unnecessary flip into
the end zone, dramatic spin move, or running over of the defensive back. They simply move to the open space on
the field and make opposing defenses look completely befuddled and out of
position.
Previous great wide receiver groups often come with
different roles for each member.
When the Giants and Patriots met in the Super Bowl four years ago, Moss
and Welker spent all season being matchup nightmares for defenses. However, opposing teams knew what role
the two would be fulfilling. They
didn’t really need to be concerned with Moss going over the middle of the field
much like they could almost ignore the possibility of Welker going deep down
the sidelines.
This is simply not how things work in New York. It is often the case that the specific
style a wide receiver adopts can be linked to his physique. The three Giants wide receivers play
and look so similarly it’s almost impossible to know who made the catch without
seeing the name on the back of the jersey. Just one inch and 28 pounds separate Nicks, Cruz, and
Manningham, which help to explain their high versatility.
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| While other receivers might do more to dazzle, the NY wideouts are as talented as they come |
The talent disparity between New York’s elite receivers and
the stumbling mannequins that New England calls their defensive backs is simply
too vast for Belichick, or anyone else, to create an effective way to take more
than one of them out of the game, let alone all three. The teams that have had success against
the Patriots have been the ones that take shots deep throughout the entire
game. Baltimore tried this a few
times this past Sunday, one of which worked to perfection in the first quarter
of the game in which Flacco rolled to his right before heaving the ball
downfield for 42 yards to a wide-open Torrey Smith. New England also struggled defending Anquan Boldin who went
for over 100 yards. Boldin plays a
similar style as the New York receivers in terms of his ability to catch balls
anywhere on the field. The Giants
should look to throw the ball deep often and early.
Nicks, Cruz, and Manningham have all shown the ability to
make big catches, especially while covered. Manning just needs to give them a chance.
2. As Hannah Montana
says, the New York Giants, “Get the best of both worlds [thanks to Jason
Pierre-Paul, Osi Umenyiora, and Justin Tuck].” Everybody knows that the key to New York’s success in Super
Bowl 42 was the pass rush.
Everybody knows that what the Giants were able to do became a blueprint
for other teams to follow against the Patriots. Of course, just because the Giants showed the rest of the
football world how to slow down Tom Brady, it does not mean doing so is an easy
feat. In fact, there is still no
other team in the league that can get to Brady like the New York Giants and the
reason for this is their superb defensive line.
Few, if any, teams can generate the pass rush of the Giants
using just their front four.
Pierre-Paul emerged as the teams best defensive player this season,
earning AP all-pro defensive end honors.
He is now the third defensive end on the team to receive such
honors. Osi was named first team
all-pro in 2005, Tuck earned the award in 2008, and both were named to the
second team AP all-pro list in 2010.
There is simply no other defensive unit that can compete with the pass
rushers of the Giants.
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| This is an image the Giants must see more of if they want to repeat. |
Aside from pressuring Brady, New York’s biggest task will be
to devise a game plan that limits the New England tight ends. As we have found out, and as I made
perfectly clear as to why, this is a borderline impossible objective to
fulfill, especially when you consider that the secondary is not the strong
point of the Giants team. However,
since they rarely need to blitz to create pressure, they will be able to use
all seven of their remaining defenders to achieve this goal. Baltimore should be pleased with how
well they contained Hernandez and Gronkowski in the AFC title game. Do not expect the Giants to do quite as
well, although if the two tight ends combine for less than 125 all purpose
yards New York should feel they did about the best one could expect given the
strengths and weaknesses of their defense.
3. Eli Manning. If Eli can play at a similar level as
he has done the last three games, his 2011 postseason campaign could go down as
one of the best ever. He has
thrown for 923 yards and eight touchdowns with just one interception, good for
a rating thus far of 103.1.
There is really no reason why this type of high-level
football should not continue into the Super Bowl. The concept of pressure does not seem to be one by which
Manning is negatively influenced.
His fourth quarter numbers this season are staggering. He’s also throwing against one of the
worst secondarys in football.
Perhaps it was too high of a finish, but I gave Eli my second place MVP
vote at the conclusion of the season.
That doesn’t look so silly now.
Manning is playing consistently, confidently, and most importantly,
gutsy. You could have played a
front 9 with all the grass shoved into his helmet this past Sunday.
Is it any coincidence that under Peyton Manning the Colts
were able to produce a plethora of talented offensive threats like Harrison,
Wayne, and Clark and now, with Eli doing all the good things he is doing, we
have seen the same thing in New York?
Great quarterback play is the only way to develop young receivers.
Say what you will about Brady, Rodgers, and Brees, but right
now Eli Manning is the premier fourth quarter, clutch-situation quarterback in
the league, bar none. Ten
quarterbacks have won multiple Super Bowls and, of those, Jim Plunkett is the
only eligible one not to be in the Hall of Fame. A second Super Bowl championship would at least put Manning
into a HOF discussion although he has a long way to go make that legitimate.
4. The Giants are the
ones who have the rematch.
Only seven players who played in Super Bowl 42 are still on New
England’s roster. Seldom-used running back Kevin Faulk is one of them. Wilfork is the only defensive
player. Compare that with the
Giants who have 15 players who were a part of the first bout.
The Giants have veterans at major positions including
running backs Jacobs and Bradshaw, defensive ends Umenyiora and Tuck, and
cornerbacks Webster and Ross. All
those players participated in Super Bowl 42. You could make an argument that if the Giants can win the
battle at those three positions than they will come out on top. I’ve always believed that past trends,
“bulletin board material,” trash talking during the week, and pretty much
everything other than the coaches’ game plan and players’ execution of it are
all but irrelevant. However, in a
close game we cannot overlook the experience discrepancy of the two teams.
The Giants may not have made it to this Super Bowl were it
not for the mistakes of an inexperienced team. If the game goes down to the wire, which I am essentially
assuming it will, you have to consider which team is more disastrous-mistake
prone. I don’t think it is the
Giants.
-AW
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