bostondave	36 years old DANVERS, MA
Subscribe to this Blog Add as Friend Start a SlugFest Send a Message

Super Bowl XLII
New England Patriots vs New York Giants
6:18pm EST

The Super Bowl has finally arrived and its almost game time. Its been a long two weeks.

The game will be a much tougher game than a lot of people think. It will probably be a lot similar to the last game of the regular season.  Expect a pretty close game for most of the first half and then the Patriots will slowly pull away.

The whole thing revolves around Tom Brady. I expect him to come out throwing early and often. He didn't seem to have a problem with the Giants defense even when the Giants were playing at their best. He might of had problems from time to time but the team made the necessary adjustments.

Take away Moss, go to the short game with Moss and Stallworth. Take away those guys, go to Maroney. Take away the running game, go back to the short passing game with Faulk and Welker. On and on it goes. The Patriots should be able to score via the passing game. The Giant's db's aren't very good.

Early in the game, I would think Tom will try to get Moss into the flow of the game.

With the emergence of Maroney in the last several games, he could be a key in getting the Pats moving on offense. I would expect the Giant's defense to slow down the passing game a little at first.

The Giants defense is good though. Their defensive line and linebacker corp will have to keep them in the game and attempt to stop Tom and Co.  OC and Strahan will be dangerous with the pass rush. The Pats were missing their right side of the offensive line and all of their tightends in the last game. Their return will be a welcome return and should be able to neutralize the pass rush.

The Patriots' offensive line will have to protect Tom. I would expect some Giant's player to try to roll up on Tom Brady's ankle to test it. Protection is a major key.

The same can go with the Giants and Eli Manning. Their offense had a great game against the Pats in the last game but I would expect the Pats defense to show up. They did slow down the Giants in the second half and were able to force Manning. Get in his face and force him to make bad decisions.

Even though Burress is injuried, I think he'll have a good game. If he doesn't, the Giants are cooked because the Pats can stop the run if thats all thats working.

The Giants running game is very good with Jacobs and Bradshaw. They are complimentary runners and give a nice change of pace. The Pats will have to account for them. The linebackers certainly will be tested tonight. Seau and Tedy will be tested.

Rodney has to stay away from making stupid penalties and late hits as well. He kept some drives going with these mistakes.
 
Will the Pats be able to stop Burress or at least slow him down? Hmm Which Pats defense will show up tonight? There are still some lingering questions about the defense but I think they should have a good game.

Can the Patriots rattle Manning? Make him throw an interception and go back to the old Eli?

The Patriots will have plenty of motivation without any external crap that has been swirling around the team. Perfection isn't easy to attain and I certainly don't think this game will be easy. The Pats have won the last three Super Bowls by only three points. Can they break this trend? I just want a win. I could care less how they do it.

Coaching is probably on or about the same. Both Belichick and Coughlin are from the same tree and aren't prone to making mistakes.

The Giants are playing with house money though and will have to rely on doing things they might not have done in the past. The Patriots just have to play their game and not make mistakes or stupid penalities. That should be more than enough to win the game.

Hopefully a win will at least, shut up some of the Patriots haters ...for a few hours. I don't look forward to the rest of this week though in either case.

It should be a great game to watch. The Patriots haven't let us down yet and I don't see them letting us down tonight!

Go Pats!!!