About half way through the 2007 NFL season, I was pulling for a Super Bowl game between the undefeated Patriots and the Cinderella-story Packers.
Picture it: Brett Favre, arguably the best quarterback in NFL history, squaring off with Tom Brady. Of course, Favre would pull off the biggest win in NFL history. He would help the Packers prevent the Patriots from their perfect season and ride off into the sunset, looking forward to retirement.
But that didn’t happen.
Instead, the Packers went cold in the sub-zero temperatures at Lambeau Field in the NFC Championship game, and that other Manning guy helped the Giants to the Super Bowl.
I think most people were hoping that the Packers would make it to the Super Bowl and give Favre the proper send-off he deserves. Favre was supposed to knock off the NFL’s Evil Empire, the New England Patriots. Still, anti-Patriots fans should be looking forward to this year’s Super Bowl.
Compared to the Packers, the New York Football Giants really have the best shot at beating the Patriots, which makes Sunday’s Super Bowl one of the best in recent memory. The Giants are the only team that can realistically beat the Patriots.
In Week 17, the final week in the NFL regular season, the Giants out-played the Patriots. Besides the Baltimore Ravens, no team had played the Patriots as well as the Giants. Eli Manning threw four touchdown passes on 251 yards passing. The Giants’ offense torched the Patriots’ secondary.
It’s hard to beat a team twice in one season in the NFL, especially when the first match up was close.
Also, the Giants are road warriors. The Giants have won 10 road games in a row this season, which means they have not lost an away game since, well, the first week of the season. New York has looked like a completely different team in the postseason.
And the Patriots’ star quarterback might not be 100 percent for the Super Bowl as well. The Patriots’ offense is clearly better than the Giants’ defense, but if Brady is injured, who knows what could happen. It’s not a question of whether or not Brady will play; it’s whether or not the Giants’ defensive front can rattle his cage, which is hard to do.
But Brady can be beaten in the playoffs. The Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts each showed us that in the last two years.
On paper, it’s no question the Pats are the better. And Eli Manning is like Jake Plummer: it’s only a matter of time when he will implode and throw three interceptions. New York always seems to be on the brink. The Brady/Randy Moss combo is one of the best in history.
Still, don’t count the Giants out because stranger things have happened in the Super Bowl. Heavily favored teams have lost in the past.
The point here: I’m not picking the Giants, even though I think they can probably beat the Patriots, but please don’t watch the Super Bowl for just the commercials.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Kyle McDaniel at Kyle.Mcdaniel@colorado.edu
