| Giants (12-7) vs
Patriots (15-3)
The Patriots are on a
10 game win streak, having beaten the Broncos and then the Ravens in their two
post season games. The Broncos were no match and went down 42-10. The Ravens were
a much tougher battle, but they came up short on a missed field goal that would
have tied the game. The Patriots prevailed with a 23-20 victory that moved them
on to Super Bowl 46. The last game the Patriots can remember losing was way back
on Nov 6, 2011, but it was to the Giants 24-20.
The Giants are on a 5 game
win streak, including their 3 post season wins over the Falcons 24-2, the Packers
37-20, and the 49ers, 20-17. That last game was their toughest to win as the 49ers
tied things up with a field goal in the fourth quarter. Neither team scored after
that and the game went into overtime with the new rules being explained. After
three possessions, the Giants special teams unit made their second big play of
the game causing a turnover that led to the ensuing field goal to propel the Giants
into Super Bowl 46. New
England Patriots.
Both teams have a lot
to lose in this game. After all, it is the Super Bowl, but maybe the Patriots
have a bit more at risk. The Giants already put a big dent in their legacy when
they won that Super Bowl 42 match to take away the Patriots perfect season. It's
a hard struggle to make it back to the Super Bowl. It took both teams four years
and it's an odd coincidence that they end up facing each other when they accomplish
that. Once again, here are the Giants ready to take away more glory and another
Super Bowl ring from the Patriots. The Patriots have one of the top offenses in
NFL history, but they were held to just 14 points in that Super Bowl game and
to only 17 points in the regular season matchup.
Thanks to the Giants winning
that game at New England in November, more Patriot streaks ended. Aside from the
Patriots rarely losing two games in a row, the wins in an NFL record 31 regular
season starts at home by Tom Brady, and in 20 regular season home games for the
Patriots, bit the dust. One day football conversations may go like this. 'Sure
the Patriots at their time were one of the best teams, but just think how great
they would have been if they never had lost those games to the Giants!' Patriots
offense.
The last time Tom Brady
faced the Giants he made good use of his tight ends. There were only two touchdowns
and Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez each caught one. Gronkowski finished the
game with 8 catches for 101 yards and Hernandez caught 4 for 35 yards. Much of
the talk this week centered on Gronkowski's high-ankle sprain and with good reason.
He holds the tight end regular season record for catching 90 passes for 1,327
yards and 17 touchdowns. In the two playoff wins, he had 15 catches for 232 yards
and 3 touchdowns. Wes Welker is the top receiver on the team and he can get by
you. He caught 9 passes for 136 yards last time against the Giants and on the
season he was good for 122 catches for 1569 yards and 9 touchdowns.
The Patriots
know that the Giants will plan to bump Welker, Hernandez and Gronkowski at the
line to disrupt their timing and allow the pass rush more time to get to Brady.
They also know the Giants gave up 5.4 yards per rush to the Niners, so running
back BenJarvus Green-Ellis might be called on more in this game. They also have
been using Hernandez to run the ball in these playoffs. The tight end did that
only five times during the sixteen regular season games and eight times these
last two. The Patriots are always thinking and have the second-ranked offense
in the league. Expect Brady to go no-huddle to keep the Giants off balance and
unable to mix personnel on him. He needs to slow their pass rush and have time
to look for mismatches on the field. Patriots
defense
They might not look good on paper,
having ranked next to last in the league in giving up yards per game, but they
are stingier with points and have been better in their post season play. In their
game against the Ravens they recorded three sacks, one coming by defensive tackle
Vince Wilfork. The Giants offensive line will have to block Wilfork and it could
be a mismatch when he goes up against center David Baas who had his hands full
last game against the 49ers nose tackle. Wilfork was effective pushing the pocket
back at Joe Flacco in his last game and will probably require some double teaming.
The Patriots mix things up and Wilfork also lines up at defensive end.
In
the regular season game, the Patriots didn't record a sack, but Bill Belichick
has had plenty of time to review how the 49ers were able to get to Eli Manning
for six sacks. If the Patriots defense can't pressure Manning they will be in
trouble. Their secondary is the worst in the league in allowing passes of 21 yards
or more to be completed and Manning has attempted that more than any other quarterback
and with a 42.7 completion percentage. They also have to worry about covering
Nicks, the Hail Mary pass catcher at Green Bay, who they haven't gone up against
before and he has a nice height advantage. Giants
offense.
Eli Manning has played great this
season, including his last outing in the playoff win against the 49ers. Manning
recorded 32 completions on 58 passes for 316 yards and 2 touchdowns with no interceptions.
This was while facing constant pressure, taking a beating, sustaining numerous
hits and being sacked six times. The 49er defense was as ferocious as the Giants
in that game. The Patriots are not up to that level, but they are improving and
had three sacks against the Ravens in their last playoff game. The Giants offensive
line had been looking good, but they let down against the 49ers defense and Manning
paid the price. They will have to contend with the speed and shoving power of
Vince Wilfork coming their way and figure a way to slow him down.
Once again,
the Giants will try to establish the running game and this time they look to have
both top running backs available. Ahmad Bradshaw missed the first game, while
Brandon Jacobs averaged 4 yards a carry and there's a definite benefit of being
able to switch off. Bradshaw can bounce to the outside when the Patriots bottle
things up. As for passing the ball, in all the games the Giants played this season,
the leading receiver has been either Victor Cruz or Hakeem Nicks with Mario Manningham's
name coming up once. These are wide receivers, not tight ends and they can catch
deep balls or take short passes deep after the catch. The Patriots shaky coverage
managed to hold up against the big play in the first matchup but remember Nicks
was absent from that game. This time Giants will be coming at them full strength. Giants
defense.
You can never have enough defense
going up against Tom Brady and his offense. In the last regular season game they
played, the Giants hit him three times, recorded two sacks, caused a fumble and
came away with two interceptions, but still, there was Brady with just 1:36 left
in the forth quarter throwing a come from behind 14 yard touchdown pass to tight
end Ron Gronkowski. Eli Manning matched that touchdown, hitting his own tight
end Jake Ballard for the 24-20 win. The Giants pass rush has recorded 20 sacks
and 11 takeaways in the last five games they've played and won against some of
the better quarterbacks and they'll have to maintain that fierce pass rushing
defense to win this game.
They finished up third in the NFL with 48 sacks,
with Jason Pierre-Paul having 16.5 and Osi Umenyiora having 9 despite missing
seven games. The secondary seems to be on the same page and has been covering
much better and that has allowed more time for the pass rushers to do their job.
Also the Niners said after the game that the cornerbacks did a great job jamming
their receivers at the line. Gronkowski playing hurt, might not be effective the
whole game, but he can't be ignored and the Patriots will find your weaknesses.
Luckily the Giants have the experience and smarts of Michael Boley and Chase Blackburn
on the field. This defense has allowed an average of only 200.6 passing yards
in the playoffs. Overall.
After 19 games the Giants are in the Super
Bowl. They struggled through losing 7 of those games and didn't have anywhere
near a season like the Patriots did, winning 15 games and losing only 3 and with
their nearest division competitor finishing with an 8-8 record. Neither
team had a perfect season like the Patriots did the last time these two teams
met in the Super Bowl, but the Giants had to be perfect for the last five games.
The Patriots had time off before starting their post season and the Giants finally
got a rest this past week. You have to say that favored the Giants who had more
players in need of a break. They also were missing two very talented players on
offense the last time they played the Patriots.
Nearly every game the Giants
play seems to have its own measure of give and take, its own bit of craziness
with some fluke circumstances in regards to rules, play calling, exceptional plays
or whatever, and their last regular season game with the Patriots and previous
Super Bowl matchup was no exception. Given that anything can happen in any football
game, the Giants have already beaten the Patriots this year, beat last year’s
Super Bowl champions at their own stadium in Green Bay and fought off one of the
league's best defenses in winning at San Francisco. Why shouldn't they win now?
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Notes.
Giants have won in their last two meetings
with the Patriots and are on a 5 game winning streak. Giants
Eli Manning has averaged 360 passing yards and the offense has averaged 445 total
yards in dome games. Patriots will be
playing in their first dome game this season. Patriots
have outscored opponents 359-188 during their 10 game winning streak after losing
to the Giants.
Next Game
Next Year.
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