After a long, grueling regular season and three playoff rounds, we have arrived at the pinnacle of the NFL season:  the Super Bowl.  Super Bowl XLII, in case you have been living under a rock all season long, features the undefeated (18-0) New England Patriots trying for their fourth Super Bowl title in seven years, and attempting to join the 1972 Dolphins as the only team to go undefeated through an entire season, taking on the New York Giants, a team who struggled at the outside, but rode a NFL record ten game road win streak to where they are, including three straight road playoff wins, over Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay, the last in sub zero temperatures.

While this is the culmination of everything that has gone on in this NFL season, it also means that it is the last relevant NFL contest for seven months.  Sure, the Pro Bowl is next week, but that is no better than the NBA or NHL All Star Games, merely a showcase for players to rack up obscene statistics as tackling seems to have been forgotten by the time the game rolls around.  No, it will be September before the popping of pads, long passes, ankle breaking jukes, and bone jarring hits mean anything again after this evening. 

Let's look at the game here and see what shakes out:



NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS vs. NEW YORK GIANTS:  First let's look at how they got here.  New England had a bye in the opening round, then dispatched Jacksonville 31-20 in the divisional round and a game, but battered, San Diego team in the AFC Championship 21-12.  The Giants had a much more difficult road to travel. 

The Giants, after sewing up a wild card berth in week 16 with a 38-24 win over the Bills, were stuck going on the road for all three contests.  After beating Tampa Bay 24-14 in the wild card round, they would travel to Dallas, a team that lit them up in two regular season contests.  Tony Romo threw eight TDs in the two games, half of those to Terrell Owens.  They would not be as successful this time around.  R.W. McQuarters picked off Romo in the end zone in the dying seconds to preserve a 21-17 win and a trip to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field to face the Packers. 

To say Lambeau was frozen was an understatement.  The temperature was 3 below with the wind chill hovering near 25 below zero.  While it wasn't the Ice Bowl of 1967, it was frigid enough.  Brett Favre launched a 90 yard touchdown pass to Donald Driver in the second quarter for the biggest play of the game offensively, but Eli Manning kept the Giants in it.  Twice in the fourth quarter he drove the Giants into position to kick the winning field goal.  Twice Lawrence Tynes missed, and the game would go to overtime.  In the opening minute of overtime, Corey Webster made the biggest interception of his life, snaring an errant Favre pass to set up the Giants with prime field position.  They would go on to win as Tynes banged a 47 yard field goal through the uprights, giving the Giants a 23-20 overtime win in the NFC Championship.  In doing so, Tynes became the first opposing kicker to hit a field goal longer than 40 yards in the storied history of Lambeau.

These two teams met in week 17 of the regular season, where the Giants had New England on the ropes, leading 28-16 in the third quarter before allowing 22 straight points, and succumbing 38-35.  However, that seemed to be the turning point for Eli Manning's season.  He was 22 of 32 for 251 yards, four touchdowns and just one interception in that game, though the interception was costly.  In the postseason, he and the offense did not turn over the ball at all.  Manning has hit 62.4 percent of his throws for 599 yards, 4 TDs and no picks.  Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs have split the workload running the ball, as Bradshaw has 163 yards, Jacobs 155 in the postseason.  Plaxico Burress snagged 11 balls in the NFC title game, giving him 15 in the postseason, while Amani Toomer has 16, and rookie Steve Smith has broken out, catching nine passes, most of them key receptions.

On the flip side, for all the powerhouse, ridiculous numbers New England put up in the regular season, they have been slowed in the postseason.  After seeing Brady chuck 50 TD passes in the regular season to set a new record, he has five in two games, but has been hit more than in the regular season.  San Diego picked him off three times in the AFC title game, an impressive feat since he only threw 8 in sixteen regular season contests.  The Pats have had to grind it out more, as the line up and let it fly offense has not been there.  Wes Welker has 16 receptions in the two games, but their second leading pass catcher is...Kevin Faulk.  That's right, the safety valve out of the backfield.  Randy Moss has been a complete non factor in the playoffs, as he has totaled two grabs for 32 yards.  To put that in perspective, not only do Welker and Faulk have more receptions, so does Ben Watson, Jabar Gaffney, Donte' Stallworth, and Laurence Maroney, while little used fullback Heath Evans only has one fewer snag. 

Speaking of Maroney, he has responded to the added workload, tallying 122 yards in each of the two playoff games.  Perhaps more impressively, he averaged 5.2 yards per carry in those two contests.  Expect New England to try to work Maroney against the soft Giants defense, which will be keying on the pass.  After all, Brady was 32 of 42 for 356 yards in the last meeting, while Moss had 6 catches for 100 yards and two scores.

All in all, this game is a battle of attrition.  Can New England stay focused despite the renewed allegations of Spygate?  A new report came out that a member of the staff videotaped the Rams final walkthrough before Super Bowl XXXVI.  Now Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania wants answers from NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.  Can the Giants overcome the seeming destiny of New England going 19-0?  More importantly, can they put together another turnover free game as they have done all postseason long? 

Conventional wisdom says that the Patriots will win this game.  They have so many weapons, have the ability to hit the big play, and have a bend but don't break mentality on defense.  The Giants have to score touchdowns to be successful.  You can't bog down in the red zone the way the Chargers did.  Three times the Chargers were inside the New England 10.  Three times Nate Kaeding banged a field goal through.  The end result:  the Chargers lost by 9.  The Giants can't afford to make the same mistake.

Defensively, they need to hit Brady early and often.  Not necessarily sack him, mind you, but knock him down.  Let him know that the pass rush is there.  If you can rattle him enough to make him throw the ball earlier than he wants, then he becomes a normal quarterback.  You can't let him sit back there and pick apart the defense.  Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck will have to be extremely active in disrupting the attack.

Offensively, they need to punch New England in the mouth and batter them with the run game.  Manning will need to utilize the size advantage Burress has on Asante Samuel and Ellis Hobbs to work the pass.  Toomer and Smith will be key factors as well, along with TE Kevin Boss, who will most likely be matched up on a LB.  If the Giants play as if they have nothing to lose, and hang in there, anything is possible.  I don't see them pulling it out, but I do see them staying within the 12 point line...Patriots 34-30

As much as it pains me to see New England go undefeated, it will take a flawless game from the Giants and one or two big plays from their defense and special teams to be victorious.  One thing is for certain, when the final gun sounds, another NFL season is laid to rest, leaving us only with this: