SUPER BOWL XLVI
NEW YORK GIANTS vs. NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS
What a matchup this figures to be.
The Patriots stormed their way to a 13-3 record and the top seed in the AFC.
The Giants caught fire at the end of the season and defeated the top two teams on the road in the playoffs.
The memory of the Giants’ 17-14 win over the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII is still fresh. That defeat spoiled New England’s bid for the second undefeated season in NFL history.
This most recent Giants-Patriots matchup is as compelling as the one four years ago.
It is impossible to ignore the impact of Patriots’ quarterback Tom Brady. The guy finds ways to win, even when he doesn’t play his best. Ask the Baltimore Ravens about that. Brady has been on this stage before and performed at the highest level.
But beyond Brady, the Giants are more impressive in virtually every area. On defense, the issue isn’t that close. New York’s front four has controlled the line of scrimmage in the playoffs. They have pressured quarterbacks without having to blitz. As an example, the Giants rattled Aaron Rodgers of the Packers and made him look ordinary. They did that without a steady diet of blitzes.
The Giants have allowed an average of 13 points in three postseason wins. While the Patriots have given up an average of 15 points per game in their two playoff wins, the Giants have played better teams.
While Brady is always tough to slow down, it is hardly impossible to do so. The Ravens proved that in the AFC Championship game. The Giants have also showed they can limit Brady’s explosiveness. In a 24-20 win over the Patriots on November 6, the Giants allowed only three points through three quarters.
While Brady tends to grab the headlines, Giants’ quarterback Eli Manning has put together a stretch of terrific play. He has been the better quarterback on the field in all three of New York’s postseason wins.
Furthermore, he engineered an 8 play, 80 yard touchdown drive, capped by a scoring pass to Jake Ballard with 15 seconds to go in the road win over the Patriots in November.
Plus, Manning was the winning quarterback when these teams met in the Super Bowl four years ago.
Beyond all the stats is the fact that the Giants are the hot team right now. They are brimming with confidence after road wins over the top two seeds in the NFC. They pulled out critical wins in the final weeks of the regular season just to get to the playoffs.
Their quarterback has lived up to his claim of being an elite player earlier this season.
New England is talented, to be sure. But they won’t have enough to get by the G-Men.
The Giants have put together another memorable playoff run. That run will continue on Sunday when they win Super Bowl XLVI.
NEW YORK GIANTS 27, NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS 24
Tags: Mike Rice, Super Bowl XLVI
B-R-O-N-C-O-S BRONCOS BRONCOS BRONCOS
Agreed Mike, Giants 3 points win, I got 34-31.
The Giants being able to apply the QB pressure with the front 4 is at the forefront of their success, other than Eli.
And that goes as a reminder as to how far we have to go since we can’t generate much pressure at all from the front 4 other than Doom on the edges and of course we don’t have anything close to an elite QB yet.
But we all know that.
It’s just that a game like this points out to all the deficiencies of others.
I`m thinking Pats win 23-16.
If we do go after a RB in FA I`d like to get either.
1. Mike Tolbert ; age 26
2. Marshawn Lynch; age 26
3. Kalil Bell; age 25
Matt Forte, Ray Rice and Arion Foster will re-sign with their teams. Foster is a RFA.
This game has a lot of parallels to the Broncos/Niners Superbowl…
Brady leading a team through a week AFC with his arm and his talent…
Manning working through a much deeper and Talented NFC…
New England having a very suspect defense…
New York having a very Strong Defense and aggressive, affective pass rush from the front 4…
New England has little to no Run Game…
New York has a healthy Jacobs and Bradshaw…
If Brady wins this game it will be by far his greatest accomplishment… Hold on to your hats, and hope the Pats hold on to the ball… It could be a long day.
(I’m not saying Brady can’t do it himself, but we all know firsthand what happens when a Single man goes against a quality team in a Superbowl)
Giants by TKO this will be a snoozer of a game Pats got to Super Bowl on an easy schedule and just beat their first team with a winning record 2 weeks ago.
Some very good sound football points being made, well done guys.
Peter Kings Super Bowl Predication:
“Final score in the House That Peyton Built: Peyton’s Brother 23, Peyton’s Archrival 20, with Peyton watching from on high”.
Hope everyone’s doing well.
Enjoy Super Bowl Weekend!
** Super Bowl Prediction**
Like what I’ve read re: Fletcher Cox. A player who has a good base, makes quite a bit of plays behind LOS. Also is the versatility to play both DE/DT. Can beat one on one blocking with power and speed.
The Patriots do have one intangible working in their favor that the Giants don’t have, the spiritual lift the players will have in their hearts to win for their bereaved owner. The Giants have the edge in all phases but that one. I’d take Eli over Tom anyday, Tom gets rattled when he gets decked, Eli brushes himself and get back to business. I picked the Giants a couple weeks ago and will stick with it but it wouldn’t suprise me if the best team didn’t win this game.
Broncos may not have a QB playing at an elite level in all phases of the position but I don’t know if it would be fair to say we don’t have a player that has the potential to reach that level of play. A real off season should provide some answers. Only time will tell. Go Broncos!
If we did draft DT Fletcher Cox with our 1st round pick, he`s consider by some college analysts as #2 at his position in the 2012 draft. He`s also a man of faith and good sound charactar. If he be an elite DT in the NFL thats a great thing but good charatar goes along way too. It would hurt my feelings if we selected him.
A Dt in the first would be great but do you think he would fall to us?
Lots of wrong spelling, in that one, MAN! If he can be an elite DT, and it wouldn`t hurt my feelings if we got him. I`m off today. LOL
Quite a few DT`s to choose from, Dontari Poe, Fletcher Cox, and Brandon Thompson for starters. Thats off the top of my head anyway.
So……. your saying there’s a chance!
We need a DT or CB for starters. I`m looking forward to FA and then the draft.
And this year is leap a year, adding a extra day to our NFL wants and desires in the offseason. LOL
strand …. how’s it going? I like Poe as well but feel he’s more suited for NT in a 3-4 D. jmo.
The other kid that looks tough is Jorel Worthy – Michigan State.
And here to ALL the Tebow folks, no matter which side of the fence you sit on.
New Jags owner is a Tebow fan
February, 2, 2012
By Bill Williamson
New Jacksonville owner Shahid Khan caused a stir when he said he would have drafted Tim Tebow in 2010.
Khan later clarified that he wouldn’t have taken Tebow — who is from Jacksonville — with the No. 10 spot, but in a trade down. Denver took Tebow with the No. 25 pick.
Khan said it would have been a natural fit for Tebow to play in his hometown. One has to wonder if he will ever try to bring Tebow to Jacksonville. It is now in his power.
The Broncos said Tebow is their starter going into training camp. But if Khan really wanted Tebow, I wouldn’t be shocked if the Broncos were willing to listen. It would be difficult for the Jaguars to make any deal for a quarterback now since they took Blaine Gabbert in the first round last year. Gabbert was not good as a rookie, but the Jaguars have a lot tied into him.
Still, because of Khan’s words, we all know how much he’d like to see Tebow in a Jaguars’ uniform.
Anybody else anxious to see if Julian Edelman gets matched up against Victor Cruz or Hakeem Nix? Willfork is a beast but so is Baas…
Alot of good matchups this week, but I am still not really feeling any true excitement…
Hey EFX… CAN WE GET SOME BEEF?!?
Broncos raise some, lower other ticket prices for 2012 season
Posted: 02/03/2012 10:20:45 AM MST
Updated: 02/03/2012 11:14:01 AM MST
The Denver Post
INDIANAPOLIS — — For the first time in three years, the Broncos have adjusted their ticket pricing for the 2012 season.
Roughly 45,000 seats at Sports Authority Field at Mile High will increase $2 to $15. At the same time, approximately 16,000 seats will have a price decrease of between $25 to $30 in the club sections, to $5 in the upper corners of the upper deck.
Add it up and the Broncos’ ticket price increase is 0.6 percent. In comparison, the Detroit Lions recently announced a ticket-price increase of 7.9 percent.
“When you consider our pricing in relation to other NFL teams, we feel good about our value proportion,” Mac Freeman, who heads the Broncos’ business department, said today at a downtown Indianapolis hotel. “We’ve listened to the fans this year and made pricing decisions based on that feedback data.”
A look at the Broncos’ new pricing schedule:
Section ……….. 2011 price … 2012 price … Increase/decrease
Lower sideline …….. $110 …….. $125 ………. +13.6 percent
Upper sideline ……… $63 ……… $65 ……….. +3.2 percent
Lower corners ……… $95 ……… $95 ……….. No change
Upper corners ………. $58 ……… $53 ……….. -8.6 percent
Lower end zone ……. $77 ………. $80 ………. +3.9 percent
Upper end zone …….. $42 ………. $45 ………. +7.1 percent
3rd level end zone ….. $77 ………. $80 ……….. +3.9 percent
Club Red Zone ……. $340 …….. $315 ………. -7.4 percent
Club Gray Zone ……. $280 ……. $250 ………. -10.7 percent
Club Blue Zone …… $230 ……. $185 ………. -19.6
Club Orange Zone … $180 ……. $150 ………. -16.7 percent
Club Purple Zone …. $150 …….. $150 ………. No change
Lower prime ………. $150 …….. $150 ………. No change<
Turtle,
A famous hamburger joint made billions off there “beef” slogan.
Maybe the Broncos will extend a charitable check your way for your “beef” slogan. I kinda like it myself. Says just what we need to do in this years draft.
I am way more interested in the fight this weekend between Carlos Condit and Nick Diaz. I have always been obsessed with football most of my life but I can’t stop thinking about this fight Saturday Night.
As for Josh Hamilton’s RELAPSE. That is what us ALCOHOLICS and DRUG ADDICTS do. The fact that he has only RELAPSED twice in 3 years is AWESOME.
Diaz get owned G…. jus sayin lol well i hope he does, as for the superbowl im calling a 27-21 giants win… no real reasoning behind it jus how i see it going down… I am also looking forward to this years offseason and draft… I have faith EFX will have a solid draft… other then that jus saying a friendly hello to all the bloggers out there, I havent showed up here since the blowout but I hope you are all doing well!!
Hey Mike,
This is off-topic, but can you find out why the team photo on broncos.com is still the 2010 version with Josh McDaniels?
Thanks.
Good things are hard to part with, LOL.
Come on, has there ever been a pro bowl football player with the last name Cox? I don’t remember one. I know I’m being super superstitious, but still, it seems like some names do better. Kind of like country singers.
Bryan Cox? 3 times pro bowler.
Great news!!!
INDIANAPOLIS — — Now that he’s has taken a year to learn the football operations’ business, John Elway is continuing to rebuild the Broncos’ front office in his own vision.
Two weeks after he promoted Matt Russell, the former University of Colorado linebacker star, to director of player personnel, Elway
made another significant move this week when he brought in a new salary cap guru.
The Broncos did not renew the contract of Mike Bluem, their longtime capologist, and replaced him with Mike Sullivan, who oversaw Octagon Sports agency football division, and has been negotiating player contracts for the past 25 years.
Bluem had been with the Broncos for 17 seasons working closely with general managers Ted Sundquist, Jim Goodman and Brian Xanders.
Bluem had been responsible for negotiating many of the player contracts and overseeing the team’s payroll budget.
In some of those contracts, Bluem talked with Sullivan, who will now be negotiating from the other side of the table.
Sullivan is an attorney and certified public accountant who has gained a reputation as a bulldog negotiator. He got his start in the sports business 25 years ago when he hooked up with then uber-agent Leigh Steinberg.
That’s interesting as heck to me because I am always the one here saying Xanders has zero clue playing at the poker table and here Elway gets us a bulldog negotiator. Well done Elway, glad to see the status quo for you isn’t good enough, thank you. My hope is Sullivan will teach a negotiating trick or two to wet behind the ears Xanders. Not to mention helping with working the cap in our favor a lot better than in the past. Totally on board with all of this, best news all week!
And the article in the DP goes on:
Sullivan created the option bonus — which is really a second signing bonus — and one-time playing time bonus in player contracts. They are now common part of the more lucrative NFL contracts, including almost every first-round draft pick.
Elway’s apprenticeship reminded him that football operations is not only about a player’s talent, but how contract structuring is vital in acquiring that talent.
Fantastic news.
The structure set in place by Bowlen makes getting a new GM a nearly impossible task but Elway found an excellent alternative way to address it as best as he could.
That hire had to cost a pretty penny, thank you Mr. Bowlen, seems as if we are learning a thing or two as far as spending money with upper management in the organization.
Used to be Shanny got all of that, now it’s been spread around bringing in valuable assets, glad to see all that would be an understatement.
It looks like the Shanny hangover for Bowlen is finally over, that guy cost him a fortune and it took him quite a while to get over it.
The future looks brighter every day.
TGIF and it’s a good one!!!
Get blasted for me BFE, LOL.
He must have been before I really started following football, bay.
Did I hear that right, Bay saying something positive about John Elway? Maybe somebody stole his identity. LOL No suprise to us Elway supporters, we know John Elway is going to do whatever it takes to get up back on top! Go Broncos!
And that’s supposed to be funny? Wow, I guess I’m not in elementary school anymore.
A massive O-Line vs. a great front 7 pass rush.. Two well above average, and easily the best TE tandum in history vs. a mediocre secondary.. One could argue the outcome of this game may impact if we go DT/LB/DE or TE in the draft.. For that reason I hope NY wins. LOL
JJP is gonna get him some, but can’t quite eat greedy like Von Miller! Ha
jPP
Whoops.. My point of that rant is that I can’t wait to draft the best available pass rusher in this draft!
Miller, Dumervil, _______, plus one will be equal to Osi, JPP, Tuck, Kiwanuka
A true pass rusher really can’t be obtained via free agency IMO.. That’s probably the shortest window as far productivity by position in the game, it’s truly a fine art and unique skill set.. No team let’s a top tier pass rusher go in his prime