Super Bowl XLVI Preview: New York Giants vs. New England Patriots

I needed a day to let it all sink in, but now that clarity has settled in, here comes the preview for the upcoming Super Bowl.

The Patriots are making their seventh overall Super Bowl appearance, and have a record of 3-3 in the prior Super Bowl games. The Giants are making their 5^th overall appearance, and are 3-1 in the previous appearances. So, both teams are looking to hoist the trophy for a fourth time in franchise history.

New England is impressive, as they always are. They finished the season 13-3, an offensive juggernaut. Tom Brady is forever immortalizing his status and proving his credentials to rank amongst the greatest quarterbacks of all time, leading another record setting offense. They won their last eight games of the regular season, the last loss being the home game to the Giants. Since then, they managed to clinch everything that they could, earning home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They absolutely destroyed the Broncos in the divisional round, and then played a hard-hitting Ravens team that was intent on knocking off the Pats in New England for the second time in three seasons (they had eliminated the Patriots in New England in the 2009 Wildcard Game).

The outcome was indeed in doubt. New England seemed always in good position to win, but the Ravens kept clawing their way back. Ultimately, it famously came down to the field goal attempt n the waning seconds of the 4^th quarter, and we all know how that turned out. Their placekicker, Cundiff, missed the kick, and it sent the Patriots to the Super Bowl, for the first time since they lost to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII. The same Giants that they will be facing in Super Bowl XLVI.

I had the opportunity to see the Giants in these playoffs, during the one home game that they hosted against the Atlanta Falcons. There was a special feeling there, and I do not mean, simply, the nice feeling of finally being there for a playoff game, although that was undeniably special, particularly enjoying it with my son.

No, what was special was the feeling that there was something unique about these Giants, that after a long season in which not much seemed to go right (starting, really, prior to the start of the season, when they seemed to lose talent, and not replace it quickly enough to field a competitive team). That feeling started to become clearer for me when the Giants enjoyed success early in the season, and then it went away when they experienced that dreadful, four game losing streak. But it grew again, specifically when they played the Packers the first time. You see, the Packers were undefeated at the time at 11-0, and looking to make history with a potentially undefeated season, and a winning streak that would soon be approaching the record books. It was much like the way he 2007 season ended, with the Patriots hoping to complete a perfect 16-0 regular season record at Giants Stadium. Both games saw the road team (the Patriots in 2007, the Packers in 2011) win by the same score, 38-35. Both games saw them extend their bid for perfection continued at the Giants expense. Yet, in both cases, the Giants would enjoy the last laugh once the postseason rolled around.

The Giants, famously, ended the Patriots bid for perfection in the Super Bowl. To be sure, it was very close. New England got as close to completing the "perfect season" as anyone really could have done without actually completing it, losing the lead to the Giants with 34 seconds left on the clock, and then not being able to answer in the scant amount of time left. But it was that first game between the two teams, the one that the Giants lost, that really got the ball rolling. That was the game where the Giants seemed to gain confidence that they were a better team than their own record (10-6 after the Patriots regular season finale game in 2007) indicated, and which, I believed, fed their confidence and allowed them to catch fire at the right time, heading into the playoffs with aton of momentum, enough to win three consecutive games on the road against Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Green Bay, and then hold off New England (just barely!) to pull off an incredible upset in the Super Bowl.

The Packers regular season game reminded me a lot of that. Same score, same surprised reaction that the Giants, the team that was supposed to be dead in the water, had put up such a fight against the heavily favored, well oiled machine that was the Green Bay Packers at that point. It was not exactly the same circumstances, yet it did very much the same for the Giants that the loss to the Patriots had done years before: it showed them just how good they could be.

The next game was a must win in Dallas. The Giants needed to win in order simply to realistically stay alive in the division, and they got the job done. Then came the letdown against the Redskins, although maybe that was just the wake up call the Giants needed, precisely when they needed it. It looked like a bad loss, and maybe that is what it was. Maybe that was what this team used as a reminder that nothing just comes to you, you have to earn it.

There were two games left on their regular season schedule, and come what may, the Giants needed to win both. They controlled their own destiny, and if they won those two games, they would be division champs. The first game was a "road" game against the Jets, although it was played at the stadium the two teams share. It was a highly billed showdown, right before Christmas, and both teams needed the win. In effect, it was as close to a playoff game as these two teams had ever had, and the Giants, after a sluggish start, came to dominate it. It took a while, to be sure, and they really only fully secured it in the fourth quarter, but they did secure it, thus effectively eliminating the Jets, for all intents and purposes, and setting up a winner takes all showdown at home against a familiar opponent, the Dallas Cowboys.

The Giants raced out to a commanding 21-0 lead, dominating Dallas as well, until the Cowboys rallied with some quick points to pull within a touchdown late in the game. But after that, the Giants got a field goal, and the physical defense got to the Cowboys, who turned the ball, and the season, over to the Giants, who secured the division and a home game in the playoffs.

Then came the dominance in the Wild Card against Atlanta, in effect shutting out the Falcons offense en route to a 24-2 victory, earning them a rematch against the heavily favored Packers, who had finished the season with an impressive 15-1 record, and looked to complete what could have been considered the most successful season in Green Bay's history.

By then, the similarities to the 2007 Giants were becoming more obvious, and I predicted that the Giants would win. What nobody could foresee was that the Giants would dominate. The Packers had lost one game all season, a bad loss where they played poorly against the lowly Kansas City Chiefs. Otherwise, they had pretty well handled everyone else.

So when the Giants were playing well enough to lead late in the first half by a score of 13-10, and had the ball, it was surprising to most people. When Eli Manning threw a Hail Mary pas that was completed to give the Giants a commanding 20-10 lead for halftime, then it was becoming clearer. What was shocking to me, though, was the manner in which New York completely dominated Green bay in the second half. The Packers responded, as you would expect champions to do. But the Giants, emerging champions themselves, kept answering them back, with interest, en route to a 37-20 rout of the defending champions.

Next up was a trip to San Fransisco to face an old rival that was reinvented in the 49ers, who were reminiscent, in fact, of many of those old Giants teams of the 1980's and early 1990's. This team played very conservatively, made few mistakes, and would not likely give the Giants anything in terms of mistakes. Indeed, San Fransisco gave the Giants the hardest test of the playoffs thus far, but the game went into overtime, and the 49ers, rather uncharacteristically, made a mistake. In fact, they made two crucial mistakes throughout the game, both by the same member of the team. Bu the final one gave the Giants possession deep in their own territory, close enough for a field goal attempt to clinch it, and the Giants were able to capitalize shortly thereafter, earning them this trip to the Super Bowl, their second in five years.

So now, the rematch against New England. Yes, I am picking the Giants to win this Super Bowl, based on that strong feeling of déjà vu that this team gave me of the 2007 campaign that earned them the surprising championship. They just feel like a team that is peaking at the right time. They were riddled with injuries all season, they were underdogs all season (and the Patriots are favored in this one once again, being touted as a 3 or so point favorite to open the Vegas line), and they seemed plagued with inconsistencies in their play all season. But as the season was ending, something happened, something changed. This team seemed to come together at precisely that moment when people were writing them off. They swept Dallas, knocking them out. They knocked out the Jets from playoff contention, then knocked out the Atlanta Falcons, the Green Bay Packers, and the San Fransisco 49ers from the playoffs.

Some people seem to feel that the Giants showed vulnerabilities in the Championship Game, claiming that the Giants should have won more convincingly. Perhaps, but there are counters. First of all, San Fransisco is a tough team, and the Giants were on the road. Also, the Patriots themselves, who are rolling with a ten game winning streak, barely hung on at home against the Ravens. That was hardly the most convincing win that they enjoyed this season, either. Indeed, they came close, very close to losing, while the Giants won soundly against a very tough opponent on the road, although it was close throughout. There were no crucial missed field goals or horrible calls against the 49ers. The Giants just beat them. They won by earning it.

I predict they will earn another one. They will beat the Patriots again in the Super Bowl. I am never good with predictions of scores, but I will predict that they will win not so much by a blowout, but simply by outplaying New England, by clearly being better on that day. I will go ahead and say that, at the end of Super Bowl Sunday,  the Giants will become only the fifth team to have won at least four Super Bowl trophies!