Four years ago, when the Giants upset the Packers and Farve on the road and made the Super Bowl, I was rather unimpressed with the subsequent Super Bowl match-up. The Patriots and Giants had played a great game in prime-time the last week of the regular season. The Patriots had won, proven they were worthy of 16-0 and one of the best teams of the last forty years, and the Giants proved they could hang with the Patriots. So the Super Bowl seemed flat, and even flatter in light of the potential Brady-Farve match-up.
So now we’re debating who has more to add to his legacy by the winning another Super Bowl, Tom Brady or Eli Manning, a debate people love to hear in light of the Occupy Movement. This game feels a lot like the Super Bowl last year: a good game between two teams who did things the right way, and the team that was slightly better (Green Bay) won a close game in non-dramatic fashion. The only thing that could make this game at all interesting is the potential revenge factor and Bill Belichik running it up on the Giants, but he likely lacks the players do just that against this Giants team. Of course, the Giants did have some huge losses in the middle of the years, which no one remember now, so it could happen.
For this Super Bowl to be great, Brady and Eli will have to match each other throw for throw. The really great Super Bowls of my lifetime, Patriots-Panthers, Steelers-Cardinals, and the best of them all, Packers-Broncos, featured lead changes, long plays, and momentum swing like that of a pregnant woman. Of course, the Rams-Patriots Super Bowl was dramatic, but only because it featured the impossible feat a Patriots defense shutting down one of the league’s all time great offenses. If these quarterbacks coming back time after time, it could be a great game. Neither time is good enough in their back seven to dominate the other team, although the Giants are able to compensate with their pass rush. The wildcard could be this: does Bill Belichik see his team as the true underdog, and if he does, would he then try a trick play? Remember, Belichik called a halfback pass in the Super Bowl against the Rams (Kevin Faulk never threw the ball on the play, though).
Personally, I am betting the Giants at +3, although I did this before I considered the Giants edge: Peter King said on ESPN Radio in the middle of the season that, if the Giants did not generate a pass rush, they were a vulnerable team. With the time to prepare, Belichik can come up with something to counter the Giants’ rush, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Patriots were able to jump out early on the Giants. But I don’t regret the bet; really, I feel this game is similar to the first LSU-Alabama game this year, and at -5, Alabama covering seemed like the least likely outcome. Same thing I feel with the Patriots at -3.
As far as the commercials, I don’t really get into Super Bowl ads, unless they are really good. My favorite year for commercials was 2005 (the one I remember was the Fed Ex one with a list of things you had to have in a Super Bowl ad, which included a dancing, talking bear and Burt Reynolds), and the worst year was 2006, when the second commercial was a hideous musical parody for Burger King that feature the ugliest streamers. The group of people I was with was playing video games when the second half started.
The undoubted highlight of my Super Bowl experience this weekend will be monitoring twitter chatter and reporting it back to you. I don’t know what format it will take, but expect me to have a post by halftime, and possibly one or in the middle of the game, depending on how able I am to get my thoughts together. Of course, I myself will be tweeting during the game too, so feel free to follow me there. I look forward to hearing you thoughts to, and recapping on Monday.
A note on the halftime show: when it was announced on halftime of Sunday night football that Madonna would be performing at halftime, I did a twitter search for her, and it turned out the majority of people did not care. Really, Madonna should thank Lady Gaga for getting her the gig.
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Derek Johnson
