Super Bowl XLVI Thread - Giants Vs. Patriots
 

I'm rooting for the Giants. I would rather see Eli get another ring instead of Brady. I think it would be pretty special for Brady to get another ring and get into the record books, but he can do that next year. :D

Here is an article about Peyton Manning. He's talked to Bob Kravitz last night and gave some insight into what's going on with him and the Colts.

http://www.indystar.com/article/2012...s-future-Colts

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ... for the SB. What about the commercials???

Expecting a good game. As a Pats fan, the Giants defense scares me. If it comes down to a tight 4th quarter, I fully expect Eli to pull another late-drive miracle out, but if the Pats can get up 10 or 14 points by the middle of the fourth, I'll be happier.

i love eli. you look at those bambi eyes and think, 'there's nothing goin on in there.'

and yet, here we are. again.

What matchup would have made you happy?

Take away the team names and you have great matchups and players. An awesome pass rush against arguably the greates QB ever. A tight end no one can stop ( i realize he may be hurt), 2 electric receivers, a great over the middle receiver, a QB who has kept his team in games and led multiple exciting 4th quarter comebacks, 1 coach who is for sure a hall of famer and another likely going.

What is there to not like? Would you have rather seen the Harbaugh bowl again?

I don't get the hate for this matchup. I think it is going to be a really good game.

I'm going to take advantage of it being here and go to Media Day and the NFL Experience early next week

SI

For me, it stems from what somebody mentioned I believe on this forum. Was a great season of the unexpected. Bengals. Lions (Not too shocked but were fun to watch). 49ers. AFC West. A lot of new blood. And then at the end. The same old boys in the Super Bowl. Just a disappointing ending. And you can't really take the team names away (im a cowboys fan :( )

Oh, and speaking for me, I really wanted the 49ers to win because I wanted to see that defense take on that Patriots offense.

Anything but NY and Boston. And I hate the Pats.

First time in my life I've ever seen Tom Coughlin referred to as a likely HOFer.

Wasn't he about to get fired a few weeks ago?

edit: not saying he doesn't belong, per se, just that the turnaround is quick and I've never thought about it before.

Non NY/Boston fans tire of the eat coast championship games. That said, I think this should be a pretty interesting matchup.

From a gambling standpoint, a lot of action on the Giants. I got in on NY at +3 (+105 juice) and now it's +3, but -125. I wouldn't be surprised to see the line move to 2.5 or even 2 by the end of the week.

Rooting for the Pats this time around. :D

The playoffs, overall, resulted in many close and exciting games. Given which teams made the playoffs this year, this is about the 5th best matchup possibly. I think I preferred the Saints or Packers versus the Ravens or Steelers, but Giants vs Patriots will do.. I'll like these more than, say, Patriots vs Packers or Patriots vs Saints. Heck, any game not involving the Bengals or Broncos, or maybe the Falcons would have been a good matchup.

Rooting for the Giants, of course. Stick it to the Pats again, Manning!

Granted, 2/3 of NFL teams are on the east side, but still ...
Super Bowls since 2000:

And the Seachickens, Redbird Chickens and Ghetto Chickens had no chance in hell of winning.

Just a bone throw a little more often would be cool.

Tell the West Coast teams to play better then. :lol:

No more Flere Diagrams...but could we be seeing the first instalment of Rizon's Google Map Sketches?

Though this is probably why the NFL needs to look at a Western/Eastern Conference setup at some point in the future...

Let me clear this up then:

...

I don't get the 'small old teams' argument.

The last time either of these 2 teams were in the Super Bowl was 4 years ago.

Packers beat the Steelers last year. Did you want them?
Saints beat the Colts the year before that. Did you want the Saints?
Steelers beat the Seahawks in 2008. Want the Steelers?

I don't see how folks can say this is a boring matchup. Both teams have the ability to march down the field and put up lots of points. We're going to see a 34-31 final. It is going to be a good game to see a lot of big plays, IMO.

I'm torn on who to pick in this game...

I'd pick the Patriots but two words scare me to death: Julian Edelman.

If I'm the Giants, I'd have audibles that target him everytime he's on the field on defense. Toss sweeps, screens, slants and go deep. I'd have Nicks, Cruz or a TE line up across from him every play. I'd wear him out, force Belichick to give him help, opening up other areas of the field or take him out.

+1

Wanted the Cardinals in 2008 and Saints to win as they hadn't before. Leaned toward GB last year because of Greg Jennings, no Favre, and I had forgotten how farking annoying Packer fans were, which I re-learned this season.

I think it's meh because just four years ago it was the unstoppable 18-0 Patriots against the plucky underdog Wild Card Giants. What's this year's storyline? Whatever it is, it's nowhere near as interesting as a 18-0 team.

It's redemption for the NY/Boston area as they look to end their 1 season championship dry spell ... and maybe reach their 900th hockey, NFL, MLB and NBA championship in the last 10 years.

didn't you get the memo?

eli better than peyton?
eli better than brady?
brady/belichek better than walsh/montana?
what's david tyree up to nowadays?

these are important questions!

Great matchup, and possibly a developing rivalry. I know the NFL wants to push parity and It's sad to me that they're right, that's what fans what. They want different teams to be good every year with no year-to-year continuity. I think that would suck, but I guess I'm in the minority on that I can't believe so many people would be so cool with Harbaugh family retrospectives and the constant family shots in the crowd. That's fine for a single regular season game but it would be nauseating and repetitive for a super bowl.

As for the game, I'm fired up the Pats are there, but I do see Brady with one or two picks, a offense that is slowed down by the giants, and tons of yards through the air for the Giants. Something like 30-20 Giants would be my guess, but if a few plays go the other way, it could easily be a big Pats win as well.

Football season is over... Unless I have a chance of winning the SB block pool.

Somebody pointed out some storylines for this year, but if you're really into storylines, doesn't new super bowl teams every make it much more difficult to develop those storylines? When teams win, have success over time, stars are born, legends grow, that's where the storylines develop. Let's say we got the crazy random super bowl that the board wants, I don't know - Texans v. Falcons. And then the next year it's Chargers v. Saints. Then the year after that it's Ravens v. Cardinals. Then Jets v. Bears. Is that kind of thing really conducive to storylines? It just comes off as random and arbitrary to me. I want to see upstart teams rise up, and then either fall apart, or reach their peak. Then they have a window of greatness, which eventually closes. I mean, those are natural kind of stories that are developed. Yes, Brady was great very early, and the Patriots are a very well-run organization, so their window is longer than most, but even they don't win every year. (and why, it what universe, would that universe be closed already, still in Brady's prime?) And by now, we know them, we know the stories going in, a 10-year story is going to have a lot more wrinkles and ups and downs than having a 1-year flash in the pan every year.

Football in the 80s and 90s was fun because you had these kind of storylines. The Giants and 49ers in heavyweight-fight type games, the Cowboys rising from the ashes before being dethroned by Green Bay, and then the Colts/Patiots stuff last decade. I mean, you get a sense of the history of football when you have great teams with some kind of consistent success facing each other. I'm glad the Colts and the Patriots got to play all those times, that's a storyline if I ever saw one, and football history would be a lot less interesting if we only had one Manning/Brady playoff game, and instead everybody else in the conference cycled through those games and those playoff appearances equally.

My burning question is wondering if my principal will get mad if I use all 3 of my personal days next week to hang out in Indy. I'm really looking forward to hanging out and seeing the fanfare, getting some autographs, and just enjoying the moment. As for the game, honestly, I probably won't watch it. I just don't enjoy watching the Patriots play football. If they win, so be it, but it's like trying to watch a Kentucky basketball game. I like IU, don't like Kentucky, why would I want to watch them play? Looks like I'll have to dive into Skyrim to keep me from checking the score.

As for the Manning issue, that'll definitely be on my mind while I'm around Indy. I'll wear my Manning jersey and scope out any other Colts' fans on the ledges around downtown. His comments definitely make me feel what Kravitz said...he seems at peace with it. Manning has done so much for this town. Hell, I've been a season ticket holder through the Jeff George years, Lindy Infante, Ron Meyer, Gary Hogeboom, 1-15....we may never see another Manning again in this town. I'm bummed about it, but I think I'm going to have to get over it and realize the change will be absolute.

Why bother? Just throw at their starting CBs.

I'm suprised the Patriots are favored in this one actually. The only way the Patriots win is if Wilfork and co. can collapse the pocket and they actually stick with the run for long enough to burn some clock (which they never do). I think the Vegas line is an ode to brand power rather than talent levels.

Despite the fact that I'm still bitter about last weekend, I think this will be a very good game.

Of all the people in the baseball thread, you guys all know how I hate the NY-BOS thing, but I'm actually fine with this matchup. Different sport, different economics (tho some of the same douchey fans). I find the Giants kindof boring, frankly, and was hoping for the 49ers. They were one of the good stories from this year and I wanted to Pats offense vs the 49ers defense angle. But this one is fine- nothing special but not bad either.

Also, I feel a little cheated out of the Packers not making it. Rather than choking, it seems like they'll join the 1998 Vikings in the pantheon of "best teams to not make the Super Bowl" because of injuries. But in this year of offense, I'd love to have had a Pats vs Packers/Saints crazy scoring game.

SI

In all seriousness, what injuries did the Packers have? I know last year they had tons and won it all. What were the big injuries that caused them to lose at home by 17 points. After receiving several gifts from the refs, mind you

Definitely worth it - went to these events when it was in Detroit a few years ago and had a blast.

Well, I have next Tuesday and Friday off to go up to Indy. Media Day fix are sold out, but getting ready to get my NFL experience tickets. Still considering a third day. Principal seemed to frown on the 2 I did take, but luckily the stomach bug is going around school. Maybe I'll catch it! ;)

Stubhub has Media Day tickets for $32 aka what it cost me once the ticketmaster "screw you" fee was tacked on. You then have to add on the stubhub "screw you" fee but it's totally doable.

SI

I'd rather see Brady get #4 and absolutely cement his legacy as one of the greatest, but my mind says the Giants will win as they are balanced on offense and defense.

I dunno - I can see a path to victory for the Pats.

Everyone is talking about the Giants pass rush, but what if the Pats get a favorable (to them) set of defensive personnel on the field and just go hurry-up and rip up the field and exploit some of the TE/LB coverages or pick on some of the corners?

I think I'm leaning Patriots. I've been leaning against the Giants every round in the playoffs though, so what do I know.

I think it will be a fine game.

I just have in my memory of how pathetic the Giants were looking a little ways past midseason(losing 4 straight and 5 out of 6). Kind of hard imagine them being in this situation.

Wish the Giants would just go out and dominate the regular season one of these years they end up making the Super Bowl.

My two top choices were ended because of the Giants and they earned it but I would have liked to have seen
1. Packers vs Pats
2. Ravens vs 49ers

Packers/Pats kind of had that dream matchup feel to me if it would have happened. The old dynasty vs the potential new dynasty with a potential passing of the guard at QB matchup.

O-Line.Which kid that lived in a dorm with me gets a ring? ;) As a (well now that we're in the MAC I guess ex-) FCS/1AA fan, it's pretty awesome to have probable starters (Cruz /Ihedigbo) on both sides of the ball. And it makes me feel a lot better about the beatings they used to give me in pick-up basketball :lol: True enough on defense, particularly if Arrington is hobbled. (And btw, the fact I care about a 2nd year UFA's health is testament to how dire it is.) I also don't want to say Edelman (or, god forbid, Slater) has been good in man to man, but clearly zone and pick routes are the bigger issue. On offense, we've basically patented the ball control WCO, and depending how the Giants match up vs our 1 TE/1 slot receiver/1 hybrid (Hernandez) I could see a lot of 4-6 yard WR screens that control the clock. (BTW, I would be more worried about Gronk's ankle if I was convinced he was a human being.)

I live amongst Foreskins fans (the least sports-knowledgeable group of fans east of the Mississippi by a wide margin) and I've pointed out to several of them that Washington's past season was totally irrelevant to determining who got in the Super Bowl this season. The few games they won did not prevent the Giants from both winning the division and reaching the SB, while they won just enough to not be in the Luck-lottery. None of Washington's games mattered at all, their fans could have saved their time and money and stuck to NASCAR.

I can't think of another season in which one team's wins did not prevent anyone from advancing, and their loses did not 'bless' another team with a playoff spot that they otherwise would have earned.

Any examples I've missed?

Are you just going off of memory, or did you do research on that point? Because I can't imagine being able to think through, after a season, every team's schedule to figure out after the fact what each win/loss might have meant to another team. It wouldn't shock me to find out that happens fairly regularly, but I have no idea. Maybe it's just an oddity this one time.

Either way, I don't think I've ever thought of it, let alone kept track of it.

Remember that turkey you ate on Thanksgiving? Well, you were watching this game while eating that bird.

Oh, and the Ravens won 16-6. ;)

Interesting, if I did my math right:

No 16-0 team has ever won the Suberbowl
Only 2 of 5 15-1 teams have ever won the SB, the last being the 85 Bears
And I think 7 of 17 14-2 teams have won the SB, last being 04 Pats

If you win 14 or more games, you only have a 41% chance of winning the SB.

Winning = losing!

Not exactly. Care to do the math for all the 13-3, 12-4, all the way down to 7-9(?) teams? I bet those top ones still have a better winning percentage (tho, yes 16-0 is 0 for 1).

It's still a 12 team winner-take-all tourney. Even with a bye, you have to win 3 games in a row. Your odds aren't great.

SI

What he said.

SI

yeah, they looked really pathetic losing to the 15-1 packers, the 13-3 49ers, and the 13-3 saints in those games.