An unlikely rematch of Super Bowl XLVI
Super Bowl XLVI ended with a dramatic (and failed) Hail Mary pass by eventual Hall-of-Famer Tom Brady. Poor Rob Gronkowski just couldn’t reel in the deflected ball and the game ended in an unlikely Giants victory, even though the Patriots were the favorites going into the game.
Will they get a chance for revenge?
As usual, New England is among the league’s top teams, despite the lack of Gronk on the offensive line. With a 10-4 record, they’ve already clinched the AFC East and are among the betting favorites to win the Super Bowl.
The Pats have beat the crap out of the opposition this season, having scored 61 touchdowns with a net point total of 191, both league highs. Brady and co. are certainly looking to make up for falling just short last season, and they don’t care who gets hurt along the way.
Meanwhile, the Giants may be 8-6 right now, but they still find themselves atop the NFC East in a three-way tie with the Cowboys and Redskins. They’ll be up against it this weekend in Baltimore, who aren’t exactly playing their best football right now. Should New York sneak away with a victory, they’ll finish the season playing a very winnable game against Philadelphia at home while Dallas and Washington play each other. Obviously, somebody will have to lose that game, putting the Giants’ fate into their own hands.
Even though the Giants have been the better team, all the national attention this season has gone to the Jets, thanks to the quarterback crisis featuring Mark Sanchez and Tim Tebow. The Giants can put themselves back on top of the football conversation by getting into the playoffs. Once there, it’s anybody’s game as nobody in the NFC has looked overly dominant, save possibly the Falcons who will likely get a bye in the first weekend of the playoffs anyway.
New York will need to find a rushing game in the final weeks of the season – on either side of the ball. They’ve been average at best when trying to carry it, and have been even more ineffective when trying to stop the opposition’s ground game. Eli Manning can’t do everything. Although the offensive line has done a fine job protecting Manning, probably because they know that if anything happens to their QB, the team may as well pack it in and go home.
They’ve been maddeningly inconsistent thus far. Losing 34-0 to Atlanta last weekend was not only embarrassing, but also completely unacceptable for a defending Super Bowl champion.
The chances of seeing the Giants and Patriots both make it back to the Super Bowl aren’t great, but it certainly would create some interesting storylines. If you asked any member on New England who played in Super Bowl XLVI, they’d probably tell you there’s no team they’d rather face more than the Giants.
Here’s hoping that Goliath will get his rematch with David. Although which team plays which character remains to be seen.
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