Congrats to the Giants as they win 17-14 over the heavily favored New England Patriots. The Patriots choked in the last game of the year trying to become the second team to go undefeated. They fell short as the Giants became the first team to play a complete game. I have nothing left to report. Read the news. Do whatever. It's over.
How 'bout that Barkley commercial?
ASSESSING THE OFFENSES
New England: This is the most dynamic offense in the history of the NFL. They broke records in points scored for the year. They are led by MVP quarterback Tom Brady who broke the single season touchdown passes record set by Peyton Manning with 50 TD's. On the receiving end, Randy Moss caught 23 TD passes from Brady, another record held by Jerry Rice that was broken. Moss is aided by Dante Stallworth and Wes Welker, who combined for 168 catches and 11 TD's. The ground game consists of the dangerous tandem in Larence Maroney and Kevin Faulk who are both threats in the air from the backfield. Tight end Ben Watson has been spectacular in the playoffs.
New York: Eli Manning has finally proven that he is a clutch QB. He was inconsistent all year but found his consistency in the playoffs, knocking off the Buccaneers and top seeded Dallas and Green Bay. His receiving corps is very depleted compared to Brady's with Plaxico Burress being injured most of the year. Burress still finds a way to perform well every week. He is joined by Amani Toomer, who has always been clutch in the playoffs. With tight end Jeremy Shockey on the IR, Kevin Boss has been filling in for him, Boss is going to need to step up his game this Sunday.
Edge: Patriots
ASSESSING THE DEFENSES
New England: The Patriots are number four in the league. The defense is strong. They have stuck together for most of the Super Bowl titles they accumulated. The addition of Adalius Thomas has been huge and Junior Seau has really been playing like a guy who wants to win one. The Patriots secondary is led by Asante Samuel and the hard hitting Rodney Harrison. Also Ellis Hobbs and Brandon Meriweather have been good in the supporting cast.
New York: There has been a lot of criticism on this team's defense this year. The secondary isn't great but the line is amazing. The linebacking corps is also good led by Antonio Pierce. The defensive line is led by Michael Strahan and Osu Umenyiora who combined for 22 sacks. They will give the tackles a tough job come Sunday. Sam Madison and Gibril Wilsonlead the team with 4 interceptions.
Edge: Patriots
ASSESSING SPECIAL TEAMS
New England: Stephen Gostkowski is supposed to be the as clutch as Adam Vinatieri. He is 1-2 in the playoffs. Chris Hansen has been solid. Ellis Hobbs is one of the best returners in the game.
New York: Lawrence Tynes is 4-6. He needs to get over almost losing the game for New York in the NFC Title game. Jeff Feagles is the best coffin corner kicker in the league. RW McQuarters is not a game breaking returner but Dominick Hixon is a good KR with on TD this year.
Edge: even
COACHING
New England: Bill Belichek is a genius
New York: Tom Coughlin needs to really work to outsmart Belichek
Edges: Patriots
The Patriots are the better team, no doubt. The Giants have been really hot in the playoffs and came close to beating New England in week 17. They have nothing to lose and a lot to be motivated for. The game will be a shoot out. Eli will be good and Tom will be good. This should be a good Super Bowl as the final score ends up being 31-28......Giants.
Well I went 2-2 this past week, killing my perfect bracket. I also lost my championship pick with Indianapolis. I've been thinking about this week already after the Giants win over Dallas. Do I want to go with an upset or do I want to go with the home teams. Both home teams (New England and Green Bay) play in the frozen tundras.
AFC: The Patriots have been perfect. They are 17-0 and 2 games away from history. They already tied the '72 Dolphins by winning their first 17 games and they are one win shy of being tied with the '85 Bears' total of 18 in a season and playoffs. They go up against the #3 Chargers who upset the defending champion Colts. The Pats are fully healthy while the Ladanian Tomlinson (hyper extension) and Phillip Rivers (sprained meniscus) are both questionable for Sunday's game. Antonia Gates has also been battling injuries in the playoffs. Look for a low scoring game as San Diego's defense, especially Shaun Merriman look for revenge after last year in the AFC championship game. If LT is having problems with his knee, look for back-up Michael Turner to see plenty of touches. The Pats offense is explosive. Tom Brady is the best in the league, Lawrence Maroney and Kevin Faulk are a dangerous duo, Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Dante Stallworth are a dangerous trio to defend, and the defense is tough to do anything on. I have the Patriots winning 21-10.
NFC: The #2 Packers emerged victorious last week with a big win over Seattle as the Seahawks couldn't handle the snow and wind. Brett Favre is riding this record-breaking season to another championship game. He will look to cap it off with a ring. The Giants are coming off of a huge win in Texas as the Cowboys struggles near the end of the season and in the playoffs again. Romo can't seem to get his first win as a starter and T.O. needs a box of tissues. Maybe Jessica Simpson can cheer him up. The Packers are a very balanced team. They have Ryan Grant in the backfield, Favre at the reigns, solid receivers in Donald Driver and Greg Jennings, and a good defense with a great secondary. The Giants have young but inconsistent QB in Eli Manning, a very strong running game with Brandon Jacobs, weapons for Eli, and a vicious run defense. If the secondary plays their game for both teams, the scoring will be low as well. I still have the Packers 20-10.
Look for a repeat of Super Bowl XXXI with hopefully the same outcome.
OK after a 4-0 Wild card week for me, I correctly picked New York, Seattle, Jacksonville, and San Diego to move on to the Divisional round. We already had 2 "upsets" with wild card Giants and Jags winning. Will a few more upsets occur? I picked no as the #1 and #2 seeds should advance to face eachother in the Conference championships.
AFC: The AFC is featuring 2 very anticipated match ups. The first of these is the Saturday game, #5 Jacksonville at #1 New England. After a 16-0 season, the first of it's kind, the Patriots are the pretty pick ot win it all. They have a tough road ahead of them as the other 3 AFC teams are very tough as well as the winner of the NFC. The Jaguars are known for beating good teams as they have proven in the past. Their no-name defense and ground-oriented offense could pose a threat to NE. The Pats are favored heavily but the under-estimated Jaguars will keep it close but fail.
Pick: NE over JAX
The Sunday game features the #3 Chargers, who are coming off a close game against Tennessee, versus the #2 Colts, who are now healthy and ready to defend their championship. The Colts quietly went 13-3, while the Patriots took all the spot light. The Colts enjoy being the under-dog. With Marvin Harrison back, all Peyton needs to do is find his ryhthm with him and they will lock up victory. The Chargers don't seem to stand a chance unless LT can run all over the defensive line who is featuring the return of Dwight Freeny.
Pick: IND over SD
NFC: The Saturday game features the #3 Seahawks going to Lambeu Field to face #2 Green Bay Packers. Brett Favre is looking to cap off a magical season, and probably career, with a Super Bowl ring. The Seahawks, who got 14 of their points from the defense last week, needed the whole game to put away the fighting Redskins. Hasselback has shown he is an interception machine and with the secondary the Packers have, it could get worse. The run defense, led by AJ Hawk and Nick Barnett will look to shut down the inconsitent Shaun Alexander. Look for domination as Green Bay wins easily.
Pick: GB over SEA
The Sunday game will be played in the great state of Texas (yea ok) where bad presidents come from. The #5 Giants look to knock off hated rival #1 Dallas. Going into the final weeks of the season, Dallas has played awful, getting shut down by Philadelphia, a team absent from the playoffs, and Washington, a team getting knocked out last week. Tony Romo has been very poor to finish off the regular season while T.O. got hurt in week 16. He is expected to play and maybe his efforts will be "heroic." The Giants are coming off of a solid win over Tampa but another inconsitent QB, Eli Manning, is leading them. He could wind up throwing 3 TD's or 3 picks. He needs to prove if he really is as tough as his Ecko Citizens watch.
Pick: DAL over NY
There's been nothing really to report. Sports in Philly have been boring if not depressing. The Eagles are eliminated from the playoffs, the Flyers are on a 6-game losing streak (2 points), and the Sixers are having another dismal season. The only bright spot is the Phillies can't depress us with blowing it even though their front office has been dormant other than siging Jenkins and Taguchi and trading for Lidge.
Other news...
-Prior signs one year deal to Padres
-Pats/Giants to be aired on national TV
-Blazers are on an 11-game win-streak
-MSU punishes five players from bowl game for accademic violations after 36 from FSU got banned for cheating
Patriots 31, Eagles 28
If for some reason you were stuck in a barn, you missed the Eagles' best and most well-prepared performance of the season. For those stuck on the '22 point underdog' you would have seen the Eagles pull off the most unthinkable upset according to NFL history. Why the Eagles were ranked as the Patriots worst opponent thus far, I'm still not sure, but they played great football the entire game.
Going into this game as the 24 for point underdogs, no McNabb, and a depleted secondary, the Eagles were sure losers on Sunday night. In fact, the Patriots were highly anticipated to embarrass the Eagles like they have to almost every other team they faced this year. No one expected the Patriots to only beat the AJ Feely and the Eagles 31-28.
For the first 3 plays, it looked as if it was going to be a blow out when on the 3rd play of the game, Asante Samuel picked off Feely's pass and returned it for a touchdown. Philly then marched down the field and tied it at 7. The teams alternated with scoring until it was 24-21, New England, at halftime.
The Eagles looked poised to tie the game up at 31 in the 4th when on 2nd and 4, Feely went deep to Curtis but overthrew him. The pass was picked off my Asante Samuel in the endzone ending the drive and the hopes for the Eagles upset. The final score was 31-28, Patriots.
There was a lot of good that came out of this game. New England is beatable and Andy Reid set a "blueprint" for success against New England:
1) Hit Brady - The Colts did it first and it worked. The Eagles did it better and it was masterful. You need to be able to rush only four guys and keep the rest in coverage. What the Eagles did was mind blowing. They rushed three guys most of the night and hit him over and over. It was beautiful.
2) Press Moss - One on one. Get physical and make him work for everything. Bring the safety in for help on deep balls and let your CB go to work. The problem with this is having a good enough CB to stay on him the whole game. Sheppard and Brown proved they were good enough.
3) Attack the Middle - The Patriots give up the middle of the field on defense. They let you catch and then make the tackle. The problem most teams have is buying the quarterback enough time to get the recievers open. If you can protect the quarterback you can hurt them in the middle of the field. The line was amazing all night. Feely had time and he got into a rhythm.
4) Keep Tom Brady Off of the Field - Mostly by doing a lot of numbers 1&2 and keeping long scoring drives going. Once Brady gets in a rhythm its all but over. Keep him over there, off the field and then once he gets on the field, hit him in the mouth. The Pat's are going to score, just do these things to try and stop them from doing it so often.
I see New England falling. They are beatable. Let's go Steelers. End Brady's dreams.
Cowher: Brady could be target of cheap shot
Wednesday, Oct 31, 2007 4:13 pm EDT
Getty Images
As the New England Patriots pour it on opponents, fans have to be wondering about it and Tuesday former Pittsburgh Steelers coach Bill Cowher said it: If the Patriots keep running up the score, will someone like Tom Brady be the victim of a retaliatory hit?
The subject of the Pats' late-game tactics is causing a lot of buzz around the NFL, particularly after Sunday's 52-7 victory over the Washington Redskins. On a CBS conference call with reporters Tuesday. Cowher noted the Patriots could be playing a dangerous game.
"At some point if this continues, someone's going to take a cheap shot,'' Cowher said. "Is that worth subjecting your players to if it comes to that?''
Source: Boston Herald
In my opinion, after what they did to the Redskins last week, I wouldn't be suprised of this either. If they beat Indy, they will be the next unbeaten team in my mind. If they keep running up scores, their pretty boy could get a little roughed up pretty soon.
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