Super Bowl Prediction and Write-Up

Well, the culmination of another NFL season takes place this evening, where Eli Manning, JPP and the NY Giants represent the NFC and Tom Brady and the New England Patriots represent the AFC.

This is a rematch of the legendary game played just four years ago, where the undefeated Patriots went into battle against the underdog Giants in as close to a David Vs. Goliath story as you can get.  The Giants won that matchup and that David Tyree catch off his helmet has been shown to death ever since.

I always look forward to the Super Bowl, yet for most years it serves a reminder as to how far away my Buffalo Bills are from making their long awaited return to the biggest game of them all.  Typically though, it's really not all too difficult for me to get up for this game, regardless of who is playing who, but this Super Bowl is a bit different.

I'm not a Giant's fan by any means, but out of the three teams my Bills lost to in their four consecutive Super Bowl losses, the Giants are the team that I don't loathe as much as I do Washington or Dallas.  After all, they, for the most part, were outplayed by Buffalo on that day, and it really was Scott Norwood's fault Buffalo didn't win that game, so for that reason I can't hold too much animosity towards the Giants franchise and I don't have anything against this version either.

Actually, there's a couple things I like about this Giants team, for me personally anyhow.  Their Defensive Coordinator, Perry Fewell, held that position for my team a few years ago, under then HC Dick Jauron.  When Jauron was fired, Fewell took over as the interim coach and he did a pretty good job for what he had to work with back then too.  I really do like the coach we have now in Chan Gailey, but looking back now, I can honestly say that although, at the time, it would have been a highly unpopular decision, Perry Fewell would've been a quality choice and should find himself with head coaching opportunities in the near future, as he's done a tremendous job with the NY defense.  So yeah, I do want him to do well and win this game today.

After Fewell I like the idea of the underrated Manning brother making the comparison with his much lauded brother Payton in the who's better conversation that much more intriguing to debate.

As for the Patriots, well, there's only one thing I like about that team, that being their Tight Ends.  I had Aaron Hernandez on my fantasy team the past couple years and he, for the most part, did right by me in that regards and I was a fan of his when he was connecting with Tebow back when the two played at Florida.  Gronk, on the other hand, is a local product from here in the WNY area, and for that reason I want him to succeed.

But that's it, for both teams I have only three things combined that I like about those playing in this game.  On the dislike side, well there is many, many more.

For the Giants I really don't dislike anything about the team, although I'm not a big Coughlin fan, just something about the man rubs me the wrong way, but I don't dislike him.  The same thing can be said for running back Brandon Jacobs, who is another one of those me first type of guys, at least that's how his portrait's been painted for me, through stories and reports.

For the Patriots, I can honestly say I despise their HC and their QB.  Is the Hoodie, one of the greatest coaches of all time?  Absolutely, but that doesn't mean I have to like him, which I don't, not even a little bit.  Is Tom Brady one of the greatest QB's of all time?  Yes, yes he is, but I detest pretty much everything about him.  Then you have Wolfork, who is a dirty player in my opinion and I never wish success on players like that.

So I'm stuck with a situation of pulling for the least possible evil here, and that case is clearly the Giants for me.  I would love to see, midway through the third quarter, a shot from the sideline that shows Brady sitting alone on the bench, with his hands up to his face, and just for a second the camera catches as he lifts his head, and there, in that moment you can see the tears flowing something fierce.  Seconds later the camera pans over to the scoreboard and one of the biggest blowouts in NFL history is taking place.  That's what I'd like to take place today.  If something of that nature takes place, for me, the Super Bowl will surely be super.

That said, Jay Leno's balloon popping dog, who's never been wrong, picked the Patriots.  And unfortunately I think I'll have to do the same.  If Gronk doesn't play, I think the Giants can win this game in pretty solid fashion, but if he does, the Patriots can do so much more offensively and has been virtually unstoppable since they lost to NY earlier in the season.

I do think this will be a decent game from the standpoint of scoring.  Both defenses have their flaws, New England with many more than NY, as I believe they finished dead last in Defense this year.  But both defenses have been playing better in the playoffs, but I do like the match-ups for both teams, from the offense against defense point of view.  So in the end I think we'll see the Patriots pull this one off in a close but high scoring game.  I'll go with New England Patriots 31  NY Giants 28.

Next week sometime I'll go through my preseason posts, where I picked the entire season out and gave out awards and a few other things and see how, when all is done, how those preseason predictions fared.  Win or lose today, I feel my record this year, picking week to week, has been on par with any of the elite prognosticators out there, and that, although somewhat surprises me, feels pretty good.  I'm already looking forward to next season to do this again.

Thanks for stopping by to check out my picks and analysis this year, and stay tuned as in a few weeks or so, about the time of the combine, I'll start putting some mock drafts together as well, which is always a fun time for myself, and football fans in general.