David vs. Goliath? Not so fast...
01/31/2008
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The New York Giants want football fans to believe that Super Bowl XLII is a true David vs. Goliath matchup, but it isn’t. They themselves want to believe that it’s them against the world, but it’s not.
The fact of the matter is that the general public appears to be on their side.
Sure, the majority of stories that have flooded the net have been about the New England Patriots’ quest for perfection and/or Tom Brady’s gimpy right foot. But that’s just what the mainstream media wants you to focus on because those are the storylines they think you want to read about.
The media also wants you to believe that the Giants don’t have a shot at winning, but that’s ridiculous. Quite frankly, the media probably doesn’t even believe that themselves. Again, it just makes for a better storyline.
Not only can the Giants hang with the Patriots, but they can win the damn thing too.
What’s one thing that the Eagles, Ravens and Chargers had in common that disrupted the Patriots’ high-powered offense? The answer, Mr. Trebek, is a steady pass-rush that gave Brady fits and wrecked his timing with his receivers. The Giants have a fierce pass-rush with the combination of Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora (above). They also have three linebackers that stick to their assignments, a highly sought-after coordinator in Steve Spagnuolo and a secondary that has overachieved in the past month. (It’s amazing how much rookie Aaron Ross has brought to New York’s defense.)
That said, the X-factor for the Giants is still Eli Manning. Check the numbers and you’ll see that Manning hasn’t dominated opponents recently. But he is playing to his strengths and for the first time in his career, he’s not carrying the weight of his team’s success entirely on his shoulders.
Some of the throws Manning made in the NFC Championship Game against the Packers were Peyton-esque. Sure, it helped that Plaxico Burress made some incredible catches, but Eli showed the confidence to put the ball in spots where only his receivers would come down with it. And maybe Jeremy Shockey suffering a late-season injury helped Manning to rely on his receivers more. Being without his safe check-down target in the middle of the field has forced him to take shots down the sidelines.
But let’s not fool ourselves; the fact that Brady is banged up certainly helps the Giants as well. He’s going to play, but Tom Brady at less than 100% is good news for opponents.
Enough glad-handing the Giants, though – it should be obvious that they can hang with the Patriots. They’re a good football team with a solid defense and a quarterback who looks like he’s finally realizing some of his potential. They also gave the Pats fits in Week 17 and they have the confidence that they can beat anyone.
I don’t want to take any of the Giants’ glory away if they do win, because no matter what, it would still be considered a fantastic upset. However, the mainstream media wants us to believe that this would be the ultimate underdog story and, quite frankly, it isn’t.
The Giants deserve more credit than that.
Fun With Gambling
Gamblers have offered a glimpse into which team the general public is pulling for, and it’s not the guys who wear the Elvis-looking logo on their helmets. According to the New York Post, the Giants are backed by a 3-1 margin over the Patriots by Vegas bettors, yet another dent in the team’s “us vs. the world” façade.
Vegas made the Patriots 14-point favorites Sunday night following the two conference championship games. As of this column, they’re now a 12.5-point favorite, which means the majority of wagers are being placed on the Giants. A 1.5-point difference doesn’t sound like much, but in the gambling world, it’s a pretty significant swing.
According to TheSpread.com, of the 44,487 online wagers placed on the Super Bowl, 67% of bettors favor the Giants. Granted, this doesn’t necessarily mean that bettors actually believe the Giants will win, just that they’ll cover the 12.5-point spread. However, it does support my claim that while the mainstream media wants us to believe the Giants have a huge wall to climb in beating the Patriots, a large group of football fans think the G-Men can hang with God’s gift to football.
More Super Bowl Rumblings
I devoted an entire column to this last year, but it needs to be said again: The phrase “Super Bowl quarterback” should be stricken from the sports dictionary. The phrase is often used to describe a quarterback who possesses the right mix of talent and intangibles to make him a Super Bowl winner. Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Brett Favre are the prototypical SBQ’s, but guys like Chad Pennington, Vince Young and Michael Vick aren’t. Well, before his team beat the Packers, Eli Manning wasn’t a Super Bowl quarterback either. Last year, Rex Grossman wasn’t a Super Bowl quarterback before his Bears topped the Saints in the NFC Championship Game. So did Eli wake up one morning and use the Super Bowl quarterback soap? How does one magically become a Super Bowl quarterback? Football has always been a team game and it always will be – so stop using the phrase because it’s ridiculous. - I just love the panic that’s going on in the media concerning Tom Brady’s injury. Does anyone really think that he would miss the Super Bowl after getting two weeks of rest? Whether you like him or not, Brady wouldn’t miss the Super Bowl even if he only had one leg. And even on that one leg, you know he’d complete 26 of 28 passes for 262 yards and three touchdowns.
- Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo deserves credit for how he’s handled a tough situation during the playoffs. The Falcons and Redskins were interested in interviewing him for their head coaching vacancies the week New York beat Tampa, but the Giants denied their requests. At least, that’s what was reported. Rumor has it that Spagnuolo told the Giants to deny the Falcons’ and Redskins’ requests because he wanted to focus on getting his team to the Super Bowl. If that’s true, it’s an incredibly loyal move on his part and it proves that not all coaches these days are self-centered.
- Wes Welker caught 112 passes for 1,175 yards and eight touchdowns this season. He also hauled in 16 catches for 110 yards and two touchdowns in the Patriots’ two playoff games. And you know he’s going to play a huge role in the Super Bowl too. However, when New England traded a second- and a seventh-round draft pick to the Dolphins for Welker this past offseason, it raised some eyebrows. He was good in Miami, but it was ridiculous to think that he was worth two draft picks, including a first-day selection. Now it looks like Miami got the raw end of the deal.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Kylie Minogue, Paula Abdul, Soulja Boy, Jordin Sparks and Akon are performing at the halftime show. I get why Petty and Minogue were booked (at least they’re still relevant), but Paula Abdul? Is this the same Paula Abdul who appears to be drunk and/or high as a kite on "American Idol," or is this some new Paula Abdul that has graced the entertainment world? Paula Abdul?! And I don’t even know what a Soulja Boy is, but I can assure you I’ll be nowhere near the tube when it performs.