NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS v.
Sunday, February 3, 2008
6:17pm
| Patriots | | Giants | Edge |
| Tom Brady | Quarterback | Eli Manning | PATRIOTS |
| Laurence Maroney Kevin Faulk Heath Evans Kyle Eckel | Running Back | Brandon Jacobs Ahmad Bradshaw Reuben Droughns Madison Hedgecock | |
| Randy Moss Wes Welker Donte Stallworth Jabar Gaffney Kelley Washington Troy Brown | Wide Receivers | Plaxico Burress Amani Toomer Dominic Hixon David Tyree Sinorice Moss Steve Smith | PATRIOTS |
| Benjamin Watson Kyle Brady Stephen Spach | Tight Ends | Michael Matthews Kevin Boss | PATRIOTS |
| Matt Light, LT Dan Koppen, C Stephen Neal, RG Nick Kaczur, RT | Offensive Line | David Diehl, LT Rich Seubert, LG Shaun O’Hara, C Chris Snee, RG Kareem McKenzie, RT | EVEN |
| Ty Warren Vince Wilfork, NT Richard Seymour | Defensive Line | Michael Strahan, LDE Fred Robbins, RDT Osi Umenyiora, RDE | EVEN |
| Mike Vrabel Junior Seau Tedy Bruschi Adalius Thomas | Linebackers | Reggie Torbor Antonio Pierce Kawika Mitchell | PATRIOTS |
| Rodney Harrision, SS James Sanders, FS Ellis Hobbs, CB | Secondary | Sam Madison, CB James Madison, SS Gibril Wilson, FS Aaron Ross, CB | EVEN |
| Stephen Gostkowski, K Chris Hanson, P Ellis Hobbs, KR Wes Welker, PR Lonie Paxton, LS | Special Teams | Jeff Feagles, P Ahmad Bradshaw, KR R.W. McQuarters, PR Zak DeOssie, LS | PATRIOTS |
Quarterbacks:
Super Bowl XLII is a chess match between the Patriots and Giants. Whichever team can get to the quarterback, disrupt his game plan, force turnovers and act upon them will be crowned champions of the National Football League. Currently the New England Patriots are the best at getting to the opposing King before they can get to Tom Brady. Brady has a great presence in the pocket which allows him to wait the extra second to find the open receiver. He is willing to take the hit in order to make a completion down field. With Brady’s ability to move around in the pocket and take a hit the last second, it transformed the 199th pick of the 2000 draft into a league MVP and two-time Super Bowl MVP.
On the other side of the ball, Eli Manning was seen as a first round bust until last December. In the 2007 post-season the Giants feel they know have what they traded for in 2004. Going into Sunday, Manning has not thrown an interception in his three playoffs and silenced the critics in games against the Buccaneers, Cowboys and Packers. As good as Eli has been in the last three games, he is no Peyton. Brady is still the better quarterback. Looking at history, in games were Brady is coming off one of his worst games of his career, he typically has one of his best games of his career. And you can not forget the last time he came off a bye week, he threw for 26-for-28 against the Jacksonville Jaguars. EDGE: PATRIOTS
Running Backs:
As of late, Laurence Maroney has become the back Pats fans thought they were getting when they drafted him 21st in the 2006 NFL Draft. In the last two games, Maroney ran for 244 yards on 47 attempts, averaging slightly more than five yards a carry. That is about a yard more than he averaged in the entire regular season. While Maroney was accumulating the yards on the ground, Faulk was becoming the go-to guy on third-downs. When the Patriots needed a first down to keep the Chargers off the field in the AFC Championship Game, Faulk caught a five yard dump pass and rolled for the first. Wasn’t it just a few weeks prior that national commentators were saying the Pats were one dimensional? They do not look one dimensional any more.
As good as the Giants have been in the running game this post-season, the Patriots have been slightly better in the post-season. Neither of the Giants feature backs ran for a hundred yards in the post-season. The 1,000-yard rusher, Brandon Jacobs, combined for only 155-yards in three games while his teammate Ahmad Bradshaw accumulated 163-yards in three games. The Giants are good running team but the Patriots take the edge in this category. EDGE: PATRIOTS
Wide Receivers:
There is no doubt the Patriots have the better receiving corps. During the season Randy Moss, led the team with 23 receiving touchdowns and 1,493 total yards but has been relatively invisible in the playoffs. Even though Moss has caught the ball only two times in the last two games, he has still been a major factor for the Patriots in the 2007 playoffs. Moss makes defenders worry about the deep threat, allowing Wes Welker or Kevin Faulk to get open underneath. In the post-season, Welker and Faulk came up big with 110 yards on 16 catches and 118 yards on 13 catches, respectively. Moss has also become a good blocker for the running game, opening up lanes for Maroney to run.
Plaxico Burress has become Manning’s go to guy and he is sure to get a lot of balls thrown his way on Sunday. Combined with Dominic Hixon and Amani Toomer, the Giants have a good receiving corps. But the Manning-Burress connection is key with this team. The Pats have more receiving weapons than the Giants and is the reason
Offensive Line:
For the Patriots, these men were the guys keeping Brady vertical all year and three of them were rewarded for it. Center Dan Koppen, left guard Matt Light and right guard Logan Mankins are going to their first Pro-Bowls while Kyle Brady has reverted to old form and became the blocking tight end that he was earlier in his career. Brady along with Benjamin Watson create holes for Maroney and other Patriots backs. Maroney’s renaissance partially has to be attributed to the excellent job of the offensive line. They will face a difficult task in the Super Bowl, of protecting Brady from one of the better defensives lines in the game.
Like the Patriots, the Giants have a former
Defensive Line:
The Giants base defense is the 4-3 defense with Pro-Bowlers, Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora as well as
Starting in the first six games of the season for an injured Richard Seymour, Jarvis Green led the Patriots D-line with 6.5 sacks while fellow lineman Ty Warren was 2.5 sacks behind him with 4.0.
Linebackers:
Combined the Giants starting linebackers had 218 tackles, two forced fumbles, 5.5 sacks and two interceptions. They are a relatively young group of guys compared to that of the Patriots. The average age of the Patriots starting linebackers is 33.5 years but they are like a fine wine, they get better with age. The grandfather of the group – Junior Seau – recorded 4.5 sacks for 39.0 yards lost in the regular season and post-season while first time Pro-Bowler, Mike Vrabel led the team with 12.5 sacks during the regular season. Vrabel also led the Pats with four forced fumbles during the season and one fumble recovery in the playoffs. Newcomer Adalius Thomas was one of the 21 players that scored a touchdown in the 2007 with his interception of Philip Rivers in game two of season and 65 yard return. Patriots veteran Tedy Bruschi rounds out the Patriots linebackers with 2.0 sacks and five quarterback hits. EDGE: PATRIOTS
Secondary:
Asante Samuel led the Patriots with six interceptions in the 2007 regular season with one interception during the playoffs. Usually regarded as the lesser cornerback, compared to Samuel, Ellis Hobbs has come into his own as of late. In the last game of the regular season,
Cornerback R.W. McQuarters had an interception in each of the Giants post-season games including a pick in overtime against the Green Bay Packers that led to kicker Lawrence Tynes’s game-winning field goal. The Giants corners have come up big in the playoffs with Corey Webster collecting two interceptions to go along with McQuarters’s three. But against the Patriots receivers, the Giants secondary will be tested, thus giving an ever so slight edge to the Patriots. EDGE: PATRIOTS
Special Teams:
Many people regard special teams as not important but for the Patriots, Special Teams has come up big in 2007. First with Ellis Hobbs’s record tying 108-yard kick return for a touchdown in the first game of the season against the New York Jets and then again with Kelley Washington’s blocked punt against the Jets in week 15.
During the regular season, Tynes converted 40-of-42 PATs and 23-of-27 field goals. Against the Packers Tynes made a 47-yard field goal in overtime to win the NFC Championship Game for the Giants. But before that kick, Tynes missed a 43-yarder halfway through the fourth quarter and a 36-yarder with four seconds left that would have won the game for the Giants in regulation.
Like the Patriots, the Giants have their own version of
Coaching:
It was said earlier this year, “the only coach who can stop the Patriots’s offense is coaching the Patriots’s offense.” Bill Belichick took a lot of heat this year from “Camera-Gate” in week one. The media and fans, outside
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