Super Bowl XLII: Giants Vs. Patriots

panther ad man · 01-26-2008, 12:04 PM

Lots of story lines for this years Super Bowl BUT how good will the game actually be? How will it compare with the Greatest Super Bowl ever? Ironically there are many similarities with Super Bowl XXXVIII. Foremost of course the AFC Champs are the MIghty New England Patriots led by the same Tom Brady and their NFC opponent comes from the Wildcard round. A team that has been the DOG every week and surprised everyone all the way to the big one. The game its self probably won't campare with the Greatest Ever but one can hope. Here is a reminder of what could be.

What more could you want?
Super Bowl XXXVIII had it all, making it the best ever

SI.com's Peter King
HOUSTON -- Greatest Super Bowl of all time.
The Jets' upset in Super Bowl III wasn't a great 60-minute game, it was simply an event that marked a sea change in pro football. The 49ers' 92-yard drive to beat Sam Wyche's Bengals in XXIII was fun, but the game wasn't a classic. Tennessee-St. Louis four years ago was my personal favorite (head-knocking defense, some great long plays, the Kevin Dyson stretch) until XXXVIII.

Now this was a wonderful championship battle, full of everything that makes the game dramatic, draining, enervating, maddening, fantastic, exciting -- and makes you so ridiculously upset that there is no more football, real football, for seven months.

Here's what Super Bowl XXXVIII gave us:

1. Legitimate pregame debate about which team was better, and what kind of game it would be. I made a pregame brunch appearance with Jon Gruden and Howie Long on Sunday. Gruden said, "This is the Panthers' day of destiny. I like them, 23-13." (He really talks that way, as you know.) Long was just as passionate about why the Patriots would win. I picked the Pats to prevail 17-9 and predicted it would be a low-scoring game, with more field goals than touchdowns. The entire Los Angeles Times staff went with New England. The last four NFL players I talked to during the week liked Carolina.

2. The thrill of victory. When I cornered hero Mike Vrabel after the game, he said: "Never, ever in my wildest dreams did I think I'd have two sacks, a forced fumble and a touchdown catch in the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl! It's such a blur right now. I'm going to have to see it on TV to believe it really happened."

3. The agony of defeat. Ricky Proehl (who, by the way, is one hell of an NFL player, full of guts and guile and the owner two of the best hands in recent football history), eyeblack still streaking down his face, sweat pasting his hair to his head, walked through the bowels of the stadium 15 minutes after the game, leaned over to me and said: "Deja vu all over again. What a killer, man. What a killer."

4. Great plays from unexpected sources. Dan Morgan had 18 tackles. Man, what a game. Will Witherspoon, brick wall. What an impressive couple of early stops he made on Patriots runners.

5. Smart coaching. A hundred examples, but here's one I really liked. The Pats lost Rodney Harrison, their warrior safety, to a broken arm, and Carolina saw a hole in the New England deep secondary. The Panthers had already been probing the corners, but then they went for the jugular -- Proehl, over the middle, wide open in the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown. Bang! Carolina offensive coordinator Dan Henning turned from cautious to cowboy, because that's what the game called for.

6. Total, ridiculous unpredictability. First 26 minutes: zero points. Last 34 minutes: 61 points.

7. Mood swings. Huge ones. Pats, 7-0. Tie, 7-7. Pats, 14-7. Pats, 14-10. Pats, 21-10. Pats, 21-16. Panthers, 22-21. Pats, 29-22. Tie, 29-29. Pats, 32-29.

8. Strategy controversies. Carolina drew to within 21-16 on a touchdown with 12:39 left in the fourth quarter, and John Fox chose to go for two. My peers fainted. Phil Simms disagreed. I liked it. First of all, Carolina could still have gotten the ball one more time. The Patriots were wearing down the Panthers defense. Points were vital. If you kick the point and draw to within four, you still need a touchdown, same as if you were down by five. I know in retrospect it looks dumb, but you can't coach in retrospect. Good call.

9. Thirty-seven points in the fourth quarter. I mean, here are two of the great defenses in the league, maybe the best two, and they looked like Ali and Frazier in the 12th round, just trying to stay upright and go the distance. Five touchdowns and a field goal in the final 15 minutes. The Vrabel score, and his general heroics, typify what the Pats are -- one of the great true teams of our day. "Are we going to be able to fit your head through that door anymore?" New England personnel director Scott Pioli asked Vrabel after the game. "Are we gonna be able to renegotiate?" Vrabel shot back, grinning. He's a metaphor for the blue-collar team with one star -- Tom Brady. Vrabel broke his right arm Sept. 21 and stayed out three games instead of the eight that the bone requires to heal properly. As Vrabel talked with team trainer Jeff Whalen after the dramatic win, the linebacker was asked if the arm hurt. Vrabel gave a wry smile. Whalen said: "Only on days ending in 'Y'." According to Vrabel, football players play, regardless. Plus, he's grateful to New England for giving him a chance to line up regularly on defense. The Pats were the only team to offer him an opportunity to play defense after he spent four years mainly on special teams for the Steelers. "I wasn't going to see the field in Pittsburgh, except on special teams," he said. "It was either go to New England, stay in Pittsburgh or sell insurance in Ohio." Now, for the reasonable cap costs of $2.05 million this year and $3.66 million in 2005, Vrabel will remain a Patriot ... perhaps until his next career begins. He'd love to one day be an assistant coach at his alma mater, Ohio State.

10. The ascension of two legends-in-the-making. Bill Belichick, with three or four more very good years, will have my mental vote for the Hall of Fame -- if the guy ever decides to hang 'em up. That's doubtful to happen anytime soon. He's having too much fun, and he's still able to effectively recharge at Nantucket each summer. Brady is 26 years old. He is 6-0 in playoff games, 26-4 in games played in November or later, 7-0 in overtime games, 2-0 in Super Bowls, two-for-two in Super Bowl MVPs. If you seriously think it's premature to compare him to Joe Montana, you are high.
I didn't even mention Adam Vinatieri.
"Clutchest kicker of all time," Vrabel said. "Uh, is that a word? 'Clutchest?' Whatever. Most clutch."
I was in a group of three or four writers talking with Vinatieri after the game. Someone asked him: "Do you think this was the best Super Bowl of all time?" Vinatieri said he would leave it up to others to decide.
"Best Super Bowl of all time," I said. He smiled and said that was good enough for him.

TIP
I believe there are enough similarities to place a wager on this Supr Bowl. 12 points with the way the Patriots have been playing of late (have actually looked beatable) and the Giants with Eli looking better and better I think taking the Giants could put some extra cash in the old bank account. Good Luck and enjoy the game.