Joe Public
Gabibbo's Finest
And I can make all these arguments for the Giants.
Though he hasn't seen them with Randy Moss, Giants' DC Steve Spagnuolo
has seen this Pats team in the SB before, two years ago with the Eagles. This is in addition to seeing them four weeks ago in NY.
That bodes very well for NY. As does their front four.
The fact that they have so much skill and speed along the D-line is perhaps the Giants' biggest plus in this game. I know the Pats have a great O-line, a tremendous O-line, but that the Giants can generate pressure with this front by itself is absolutely huge and it allows Spagnuolo to move his LBs around constantly and mix things up.
This obviously helps because that secondary's not very good, but I look at this matchup and I don't think so much about what the Giants did to the Pats defensively a few weeks ago, but what the Eagles could have done to the Pats a couple of years ago had, as we all know now, the Pats not been cheating at the time. I think they can mix it up---I think it will cost them once or twice, but I also think they can get to Brady in this game a couple of times and probably turn him over as well.
On the other side of the ball, being as much of a slave to preparation as he is, I have trouble seeing Peyton Manning not volunteering to feed Eli as much info on how the Pats play as possible. It took a while, but Manning has started to play the Pats better in recent years, and I understand someone saying, 'I want to do it on my own,' (not that I've heard Eli say this), but it would just be stupid not to pick Peyton's brain here.
Besides, is there any other team Peyton would like to see his brother beat in the SB more than NE? I doubt it.
But beyond all that there's how NE has actually played in SBs to this point. Everybody lauds this team for their wins, and rightly so, but they are still 1-2 ATS. They also didn't play all that well in either of the first halves of the Philly game or the Carolina game if memory serves me right.
So as I look at this game, everything rational lines me up behind the Giants for both the spread and the ML.
Except this.
As soon as that GB/NYG game went into OT I thought about the last team to get to the SB via OT from the NFC.
It was Atlanta, winning on the road in Minny. They were a team with a good running game, a shaky QB who could be really good at times, and an OK defense.
In the SB, that Falcon team was absolutely pasted by a Denver Bronco team that was at the height of its run.
They were just crushed.
And I have this horrible feeling that, as much as I want the Pats to lose, that exact same thing might happen this weekend.
Though he hasn't seen them with Randy Moss, Giants' DC Steve Spagnuolo
has seen this Pats team in the SB before, two years ago with the Eagles. This is in addition to seeing them four weeks ago in NY.
That bodes very well for NY. As does their front four.
The fact that they have so much skill and speed along the D-line is perhaps the Giants' biggest plus in this game. I know the Pats have a great O-line, a tremendous O-line, but that the Giants can generate pressure with this front by itself is absolutely huge and it allows Spagnuolo to move his LBs around constantly and mix things up.
This obviously helps because that secondary's not very good, but I look at this matchup and I don't think so much about what the Giants did to the Pats defensively a few weeks ago, but what the Eagles could have done to the Pats a couple of years ago had, as we all know now, the Pats not been cheating at the time. I think they can mix it up---I think it will cost them once or twice, but I also think they can get to Brady in this game a couple of times and probably turn him over as well.
On the other side of the ball, being as much of a slave to preparation as he is, I have trouble seeing Peyton Manning not volunteering to feed Eli as much info on how the Pats play as possible. It took a while, but Manning has started to play the Pats better in recent years, and I understand someone saying, 'I want to do it on my own,' (not that I've heard Eli say this), but it would just be stupid not to pick Peyton's brain here.
Besides, is there any other team Peyton would like to see his brother beat in the SB more than NE? I doubt it.
But beyond all that there's how NE has actually played in SBs to this point. Everybody lauds this team for their wins, and rightly so, but they are still 1-2 ATS. They also didn't play all that well in either of the first halves of the Philly game or the Carolina game if memory serves me right.
So as I look at this game, everything rational lines me up behind the Giants for both the spread and the ML.
Except this.
As soon as that GB/NYG game went into OT I thought about the last team to get to the SB via OT from the NFC.
It was Atlanta, winning on the road in Minny. They were a team with a good running game, a shaky QB who could be really good at times, and an OK defense.
In the SB, that Falcon team was absolutely pasted by a Denver Bronco team that was at the height of its run.
They were just crushed.
And I have this horrible feeling that, as much as I want the Pats to lose, that exact same thing might happen this weekend.
