Random rants or posts by a Brown Guy who is not always Angry.
Talk about The Boston Globe jumping the gun a little early with this book on 19-0. Also, how about the Patriots earlier this week trying to file a patent on the term “19-0″… Maybe this time it was the Patriots who got caught up in all the hype this time?
So a few people mentioned the idea of live blogging which further pushed my own intention of doing it. So follow the game on your television sets and when you get a chance, stop by there for my analysis. Feel free to drop any comments and I will throw them in here.
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10:37 PM:
Me: go read the update
Cindy: hahahh
Cindy: umm that the GIANTS ARE THE BEST TEAM!!
Cindy: duh!
Cindy: and the pats can sit on it!
Cindy: the the 72 dolphins still own.
Cindy: =]
10:34 PM: So Cindy is also pointing out that David Tyree made a ridiculous 32 yard catch on the 3rd down conversion and he also had a touchdown reception as well. So his props are there now… did I miss anything else Ms. Murray?
10:04 PM: THE MOST DISAPPOINTING 18-1 SEASON! There will never be a more disappointing season than the ones Patriots just had. Quite a disappointing end by Belichick when he ran onto the field and would not leave with 2 seconds left. Congratulations to Eli for having his moment, taking that knee and winning that championship. Congratulations to the New York Football Giants.
10:01 PM: I kind of expected that deep bomb pass to Moss to fall into his hands.
9:57 PM: This is the stuff legends are made of. Crazy play on 3rd down to convert and then the touchdown pass…
9:47 PM: Important first down by Jacobs.
9:44 PM: Two minute warning… can Giants convert the first down?
9:39 PM: Can they make it any more easier for Brady and Moss? Touchdown Patriots… 13-10 Pats. 2:42 to go. Is this where Eli becomes a legend?
9:25 PM: Careless mistake by Eli to Burress… could have easily converted the first down. Now the Patriots get the ball back with 8 minutes to go and Tom Brady has another chance to led a game winning drive in the 4th quarter. Can the Giants D continue to come up with great stops?
9:12 PM: Good Coke commercial with Bill Frist and James Carville.
9:10 PM: 11:05 left in the final quarter.. the Giants score their first touchdown and lead 10-7.
9:07 PM: Finally the big play Giants had been looking for… and the one to catch is Boss – who has stepped up big time since Shockey went down.
9:00 PM: The look on Brady’s face after the failed deep bomb to Moss fails says it all. Brady is frustrated, Patriots offense is stopped yet again… can the Patriots be unraveling?
8:51 PM: Good call by the Giants to go over the top to Burress but still have not converted anything big. How long can the Giants D hold down the Mighty Patriots?
8:43 PM: Interesting call by the Patriots to go for it on 4th-and-14 from the Giants 35. Once again the Giants stop them, now can Eli and company reply?
8:40 PM: Now the Giants allow 14 yards on a 3rd-and-13…
8:37 PM: Big overturn here… Patriots successfully challenge that the Giants had 12 men on the field. Get that call, get the first down and usually the Patriots will capitalize on opportunities like this one.
8:30 PM: Giants D in the past 3 of the 4 Patriot drives have held them to only 3 drives on the possession.
8:21 PM: Almost the start of the second half now… The Patriots struggled on offense in that first half. Their defense did pretty good holding the Giants to only 3 points and you know they are more than happy playing like this and gonna keep waiting for Giants to make their mistakes.
7:50 PM: Important fumble. I have not seen Brady pressured this much in the longest time. Very impressive first half for the Giants… If you are a Giants fan, you have to feel really good knowing you held the Patriots to only 7 points in the half. Giants had a couple of opportunities to convert and they will have to start converting because sooner or later you know the Patriots are going to strike again. Manning looking good so far, short passes are there and even the running game is there every now and then.
It’s me signing off for an hour or until Tom Petty is done. I’ll be back for the second half.
7:27 PM: I do not remember a single time this season that Brady was sacked on back to back plays… Giants D playing great, holding Patriots with back-to-back 3-and-outs.
7:21 PM: Just when the Giants’ D comes up big, their offense comes out just as flat… follows a Patriots 3-and-out with one of their own… barely taking any time off the clock.
7:18 PM: BIG stop here by the Giants defense. I was talking here during the last Giants possession with my brother and I agree with what he said. The Giants do not necessarily have to get a touchdown but just protect the ball and put something on the board. Keep your eyes for the end zone but be happy with a field goal… this is only the first half.
7:12 PM: That is the last thing the Giants needed. HAVE TO make those catches there… cannot give the Patriots these free opportunities. Wasted at least 3 points right there and now with the interception, Patriots can have a time consuming drive to limit the Giants to probably only one more drive this half.
7:09 PM: Impressive catch by Toomer and now Giants need to convert.
7:00 PM: 7-3 Patriots. Giants need to respond now, do not want to give Patriots the ball back with the chance to push the lead to 11.
6:57 PM: Costly pass interference by Pierce for the Giants. You have to turn around on a play like that and just not tackle a player without looking. Had a chance to hold the Patriots to 3 but probably will not now. 4 downs to pound it in.
6:45 PM: Giants ran an impressive first drive. 16 plays – the longest drive in terms of plays for an opening drive in Super Bowl. Eli Manning looks pretty good so far but they will need to convert drives into touchdowns instead of field goals if they want to keep this game close.
6:26 PM: Giants call tails and end up winning the toss… 3 minutes to kick off now.
6:18 PM: Unofficially the anthem was at 1:55… good luck to those that betted over on the 1:42 line.
6:13 PM: Here come the Patriots, led by Brady and Bruschi.
5:50 PM: Switched over to C-SPAN for a bit and turns out Maria Shriver comes out to support Barack Obama in California.
5:39 PM: My dad continues to insist that since the Patriots are 18-0 they might as well win the 19th game as well. I am certain he does not understand that the Patriots are now like the Yankees of baseball. They are going to be hated. Maybe it is not fair to the Yankees since they were never caught cheating.
5:36 PM: I was not aware but my friend Matt from RIT tells me Coughlin coached there when they had a football team from 1971-73. Who knew?
5:29 PM: Talking about Tom Coughlin’s mentality… several Giants’ players joked that if they win the game today, Coach Coughlin might give them the day off tomorrow.
5:22 PM: Jeremy Shockey is shown on tv… turns out he is actually going to be at the game with the team.
5:15 PM: So far I saw two early commercials… one about the deaf community in America and certainly a well done commercial.
Only an hour and 15 minutes until game time…
Well here it is… Super Bowl Weekend. It’s also time for a game preview between the hometown New York football Giants and the team everyone loves to hate – the New England Patriots.
New York Giants vs. New England Patriots (6:30 PM – FOX)
It has been nearly two weeks since the Conference Championships but here we finally are. New York Giants against the New England Patriots, certainly not the match up most people expected at the start of the playoffs.
Everyone always likes a feel good story and this year’s Giants are just that. They have won about a million straight games on the road, having defeated the Cowboys and Packers in back to back weeks, their quarterback has finally come into a zone, the team has all the confidence in the world… but let us not forget who they are going up against. The Patriots are in pursuit of a perfect 19-0 season, they are not going to let that slip away to a team with just momentum on their side.
Breakdown:
Head Coach:
Tom Coughlin has done wonders getting his team to finally believe in each other after the miserable start but he is always a visibly angry coach. Bill Belichick is truly a genius at his position and no one comes close to him. Maybe if they had one week to prepare… maybe… I would have given the Giants the nod especially with the way they played week 17. Edge: Patriots.
Offense:
The Patriots have put together the greatest offensive season the NFL has ever seen. Tom Brady threw for 50 touchdown passes, Randy Moss caught 23 of them and I have not even started talking about Wes Welker or Laurence Maroney or Kevin Faulk or Dante Stallworth. As good as Eli Manning is playing, the Patriots just have too many weapons compared to the Giants. Edge: Patriots.
Defense:
This is the place where the Giants can provide the difference. Even though I would probably give the two teams a push here with the Giants D-Line and the Pats’ Secondary. I think if Osi or Strahan some how find a way to do something no team really has all year – rush Tom Brady or apply constant pressure, they can create turnovers and keep the game close. Edge: Giants.
Special Teams:
Giants’ fans hold their breath everytime Lawrence Tynes comes on to kick. That is enough reason to give the Patriots the edge but if Domenik Hixon can give the Gaints good field position, it can prove to be the difference. Edge: Patriots.
This is not going to be a rout as many people are expecting the Patriots to put on the Giants. Give the Giants some credit. It is too hard for a team that is not talented to make it to the Super Bowl by fluke. They have the ability to win it but they lack the experience and possibly a true superstar. Randy Moss has been completely ineffective for the Patriots in the playoffs and they still have won their games rather comfortably. The Giants have had everything clicking and they have pulled off two heart-wrenching victories. This playoff season was the time for Eli Manning to step out of his brother’s shadow and has the chance to not only become the 2nd quarterback to win a Super Bowl after going 0-2 in his first two playoff games (Peyton Manning) but he can also lead the first team to a championship after they had a losing record at home (3-5).
Giants keep it close but Patriots find yet another way to win their 19th game and complete the great season in NFL history. 35-28 Patriots.
P.S. How funny would it be if the game came down to a game winning kick and Stephen Gostkowski pushes it wide with Adam Vinatieri sitting at home watching the game.
EDIT: Early results on an ESPN.com poll asking viewers what they would rather see. The Patriots go 19-0 or would you rather see the Giants upset the Patriots. Too bad this is not like the Presidential Elections, New York Giants are carrying about 40-45 states… enough to translate to about 57% of the total votes.
So early this morning my best friend from Ireland sent me this article reporting that Senator Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee from Pennsylvania, wants to call National Football League commissioner Roger Goodell in for hearings regarding why the confiscated video tapes which allegedly implicated the New England Patriots in the SpyGate scandal were destroyed and never made public.
Immediately after reading the story, my initial response was “Congress really needs to find better things to do.” With the economy failing and the dollar dropping, there being no end of the war in sight and the rest of the world cannot stand for anything American… one would think Congress really has more pressing matters to sort through than the Steroids in Baseball and now SpyGate in Football. Yes those are troubling issues plaguing the sports world but let the commissioners and owners and players clean that up and certainly if the fans really care this much about cleaning up their sport, they should stop attending… but we know that is not happening so just the sports clean it up themselves. Baseball was a little late but they eventually did it, and yea Patriots probably cheated with SpyGate but adding asterisk to their season does not prove anything. You can have all the information in the world but you still need to have coaches and players on the field who can execute plays game in, game out. No amount of cheating and make up for that.
Congress… just go back to work on more pressing issues and get these American fans some jobs or try fixing the economy or how about improving the situation in Iraq or the way Americans are viewed around the world? Baseball and Football are really third-class issues when compared to those.
The all too jolly character on ESPN, Chris Berman, finally goes berserk… Enjoy fellas.
Courtesy: Ayaz Hyder