Superbowl Preview - New England Patriots

Posted Monday Jan 21:
I was going to roll out a paragraph or two about Tom Brady’s demeanor, in my piece on the New England Patriots. Looks like we might have an explanation. You know I go to TMZ for my sports news. And ESPN reports the entertainment gossip sight has a video of Tom Brady in a walking cast on Monday.

Posted Monday Jan 22:
So I posted about the walking boot TMZ caught Brady in yesterday. Now they have a picture of him in cowboy boots .All of my cowboy friends (count: 00) have told me that if he can hit a club in those boots, he ain't hurt that bad.

The patriots are masters of distraction. Actually they are masters at dealing with it. Make no mistake Randy Moss is part of that Patriot philosophy. The legal issues coinciding with his sub-par performance in the last two weeks are not actually related. Those games weren’t just against the Jaguars and Chargers. They were against Antonio Cromartie and Resheen Mathis; 6’2’’, 203 and 6’1’’, 200, respectively, versus Moss’s 6’4’’, 210. In the NY Giants he will match up against Aaron Ross 6’0 193 and Cory Webster 6’0’’ 203. Obviously Webster is close to Mathis but that inch is a big deal, and Webster is not nearly the athlete that Mathis is. Randy Moss has waited his whole career for this and he will deliver.

The Patriots defense will not want to here this. Unfortunately, the reality is, a few of these guys are making their last run at a championship. they probably know they need to get it done now, not to say their age is going to hurt them in this game , I don’t think it will. Belichick always has a scheme put together to make them very effective against the strengths of the other team.

It is interesting to note though that against the teams they have faced twice this year the Patriots have not had the results I expected. I figured with a mastermind like Belichick familiarity would breed greater success, however it was a mixed bag. Against the Jets the margin of victory dropped by two touchdowns in the second meeting, against Miami they were even, winning by twenty-one points each time. Against the Bills they saw a 15 point increase in the second game. No real definitive proof to be gained from that. I also think that while Coughlin doesn’t get the same press as Belichick (some of which I am sure Coughlin is glad to miss) I have some confidence in the him, knowing that he get’s the same two weeks as Belichick, in order to prepare.

One of the interesting angles to the meeting of the minds as far as the coaches go is the fact that Belichick and Coughlin are both old school Parcells disciples. Nothing really important but if you needed one more storyline to think about there you are.

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Superbowl Preview - New York Giants

The Giants record is somewhat of a double edged sword. They are the first team to make the Superbowl with a losing record. The upside of that is that they are on a 10 game road winning streak. I was not as sold on this winning streak as most people. As the season came to an end they had defeated Buffalo Bills, Philadelphia Eagles, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Miami Dolphins, Atlanta Falcons, and the Washington Redskins (x2), that is exactly 1 play off team. So that doesn’t tell us much about how they will play in the playoffs right. Wow was I wrong. They now have wins against 3 more playoff teams; Tamp Bay, Dallas, Green Bay, the 3 that matter.
Eli Manning has always been a great talent, nothing has changed in that regard. What has changed is the confidence in what he can do. On his part, as well as the people around him. Both the coaches as well as the media. Several people spoke out against the Giants playing at full strength against the Patriots in a “meaningless” game, including Skip Bayless and Jimmy Johnson. I think the Giants are sitting at home right now if they don’t get the confidence and momentum they gained in that game.
In the same sense that Coaches around the league should learn a little patience with their quarterback development. Owners, should also learn a little patience from the journey of Tom Coughlin. In the first 4 weeks of this season you would have needed Bill Belichick’s camera equipment to see the tiny thread Coughlin’s job was hanging by. Now all of a sudden he is back to being a football genius. I certainly have not always supported Coughlin (this isn’t going well we are on paragraph two I am on admission of error two) but while part of the credit for his work should go to his new found attitude and relationship with players, a big part should go to the ownership of the Giants waiting ‘til the end of the season to axe him. Yeah you read that right, if this doesn’t shake out the way it has, we all know Coughlin is joining the line of people turning Arthur Blank down in Atlanta right now.
I am a huge fan of the game. I love to watch the linemen work their skills, and I enjoy the technical aspects of the game. But the thing that really tops it for me, and let’s be honest the thing that really make the difference to the peripheral fan. Is the story, the sentiment. On the Giants side I love the story of Eli getting out from under his last name. I also like the angle of another Boston vs. New York struggle. But to me the real sentimental favorite is the Michael Strahan, last real run angle. Don’t let the fact that he will probably return make you think for a second you aren’t going to hear about it being his big shot to get a ring. Strahan who began the year by debating whether he would hang it up, or return for another year skipping training camp, already made reference to this last week. He basically said he was a little tired of hearing about Favre’s last chance to add another ring, when he and many other Giants don’t have their first one yet.

Skip Bayless should be a man

Skip Bayless, who is one of the talking heads on ESPN, is killing me. A few weeks ago Bayless said that Tom Coughlin made "the dumbest coaching decision" ever. He was referring to the decision to play all his players in a "meaningless" final regular season game.
This morning when the clip was played back so he could acknowledge the mistake. What does Bayless, Captain "I am never wrong" do. Bangs his hand on the table and continues to refer to the move as "the dumbest coaching decision" ever.
How can you continue to say it was a bad move. I don't think anyone actually believes at this point, that without the momentum and confidence(especially Eli's confidence) they would be where thay are.
Be a man admit you were wrong. It is so simple. I would have so much more respect for him and his opinion down the road if he would admit that he is wrong.
I would also have more respect for him if he didn't use more hair product then Jimmy Johnson but that is another rant