By STEVEN LIENERT
The Phanatic Magazine
There better be some really good beer and decent but copious amounts of food at the Super Bowl party you're going to next Sunday.
You're going to need something to fill the time, because February 3rd may just be the most anticlimactic day in sports since the public was force-fed a lousy Ravens-Giants contest in Super Bowl XXXV.
All of a sudden, Eli Manning is as good as his brother, Tom Brady is as good (or better than) Joe Montana, the Patriots are the only thing interesting to write about and Tom Coughlin has gone from Rich Kotite to Mike Holmgren (circa 1996).
Is anybody else rooting for a terrorist attack in this game?
At least the game is on Fox, so there's an above average chance of a wardrobe malfunction. Unfortunately for the public, Tom Petty isn't as sexy as he used to be.
Here's how this thing plays out: Eli dinks and dunks his way down the field, avoiding mistakes (for the most part) and the Giants put points on the board.
The Patriots, however, will show the Giants' defense things that aren't on any film from this season whatsoever. Something tells me that Bill Belichick wants to end this season orchestrating one of the greatest offensive displays of power and precision possible. What makes bile shoot up my throat is the fact that he can. The Pats might break out the Wing-T or solely run plays out of the option.
Brady goes 30-for-30, Randy Moss explodes for over 200 yards and three scores, the Patriots score on every drive except when they kneel down to run out the clock and win 56-17. It's 37-7 by halftime. And Boston can just float off into the Atlantic and sink already.
At least last year, Eagles fans could look at the Bears and say "things woulda been different if we went to Soldier Field. The freakin' Saints? I mean, c'mon."
In 2005, it was "When Donovan went down, so did we. Andy won't let that happen again."
In 2004, the Birds were there. Three years removed, though, it's "the Patriots stole our Super Bowl."
In 2003, the denizens cared because Carolina came into the Linc and wiped the 4th-and-26 smiles off the faithful's faces.
In 2002, Ronde Barber's return sealed the Eagles' history at the Vet, and his Bucs went on to destroy a thoroughly out-coached Raiders team. In hindsight, that was the big fish that ultimately got away.
In 2001, when a skinny, 6th-round pick from Michigan was marching the Patriots down the field against the Rams' and their Greatest Show on Turf, Eagles' fans could see their defense halting the drive and forcing overtime. That was if they could have stopped the Rams on their final drive of the NFC Championship game a week prior.
Which brings us to Super Bowl 35, when Kerry Collins and Jason Sehorn led the Giants to a divisional playoff win over the Birds before shutting out a stunned Randall Cunningham-led Vikings squad in the NFC title tilt. Everybody knew the Ravens' defense would completely shut down the Giants. The only question was whether or not Trent Dilfer would mess up in the worst way imaginable. He didn't. The result? A boring snooze fest that was over by halftime.
For six of the past seven years (let's face it -- 2005 sucked) the Eagles have had some say in some way, shape or form in the NFL's penultimate game. Even though the Birds weren't in the game, there's been a side to stand on.
This year, though, the Giants are once again the lambs being led to the slaughter. They looked
totally beatable until the last game of the regular season and, granted, Eli has been decent for four consecutive games. But four consecutive hot games do not a Peyton make.
Eli and the Giants will be exposed on the 3rd. Another Super Sunday will troll by like the years between Super Bowl XVIII to XXIX, when two of those 11 games were competitive.
The Patriots will put a punctuation mark on this season come Super Bowl Sunday, and it will be their first crown that was achieved by more than three points.
And it will totally suck.
The Phanatic Magazine
There better be some really good beer and decent but copious amounts of food at the Super Bowl party you're going to next Sunday.
You're going to need something to fill the time, because February 3rd may just be the most anticlimactic day in sports since the public was force-fed a lousy Ravens-Giants contest in Super Bowl XXXV.
All of a sudden, Eli Manning is as good as his brother, Tom Brady is as good (or better than) Joe Montana, the Patriots are the only thing interesting to write about and Tom Coughlin has gone from Rich Kotite to Mike Holmgren (circa 1996).
Is anybody else rooting for a terrorist attack in this game?
At least the game is on Fox, so there's an above average chance of a wardrobe malfunction. Unfortunately for the public, Tom Petty isn't as sexy as he used to be.
Here's how this thing plays out: Eli dinks and dunks his way down the field, avoiding mistakes (for the most part) and the Giants put points on the board.
The Patriots, however, will show the Giants' defense things that aren't on any film from this season whatsoever. Something tells me that Bill Belichick wants to end this season orchestrating one of the greatest offensive displays of power and precision possible. What makes bile shoot up my throat is the fact that he can. The Pats might break out the Wing-T or solely run plays out of the option.
Brady goes 30-for-30, Randy Moss explodes for over 200 yards and three scores, the Patriots score on every drive except when they kneel down to run out the clock and win 56-17. It's 37-7 by halftime. And Boston can just float off into the Atlantic and sink already.
At least last year, Eagles fans could look at the Bears and say "things woulda been different if we went to Soldier Field. The freakin' Saints? I mean, c'mon."
In 2005, it was "When Donovan went down, so did we. Andy won't let that happen again."
In 2004, the Birds were there. Three years removed, though, it's "the Patriots stole our Super Bowl."
In 2003, the denizens cared because Carolina came into the Linc and wiped the 4th-and-26 smiles off the faithful's faces.
In 2002, Ronde Barber's return sealed the Eagles' history at the Vet, and his Bucs went on to destroy a thoroughly out-coached Raiders team. In hindsight, that was the big fish that ultimately got away.
In 2001, when a skinny, 6th-round pick from Michigan was marching the Patriots down the field against the Rams' and their Greatest Show on Turf, Eagles' fans could see their defense halting the drive and forcing overtime. That was if they could have stopped the Rams on their final drive of the NFC Championship game a week prior.
Which brings us to Super Bowl 35, when Kerry Collins and Jason Sehorn led the Giants to a divisional playoff win over the Birds before shutting out a stunned Randall Cunningham-led Vikings squad in the NFC title tilt. Everybody knew the Ravens' defense would completely shut down the Giants. The only question was whether or not Trent Dilfer would mess up in the worst way imaginable. He didn't. The result? A boring snooze fest that was over by halftime.
For six of the past seven years (let's face it -- 2005 sucked) the Eagles have had some say in some way, shape or form in the NFL's penultimate game. Even though the Birds weren't in the game, there's been a side to stand on.
This year, though, the Giants are once again the lambs being led to the slaughter. They looked
totally beatable until the last game of the regular season and, granted, Eli has been decent for four consecutive games. But four consecutive hot games do not a Peyton make.
Eli and the Giants will be exposed on the 3rd. Another Super Sunday will troll by like the years between Super Bowl XVIII to XXIX, when two of those 11 games were competitive.
The Patriots will put a punctuation mark on this season come Super Bowl Sunday, and it will be their first crown that was achieved by more than three points.
And it will totally suck.
2 comments:
Well we're all wrong sometimes.
What a great prediction. You should be a football expert when you grow up.
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