Super Bowl Preview

Will we see this again?

It’s Super Bowl Sunday.  Well, almost.  I’m typing this up Saturday night waiting for the Julio Ceaser Chavez, Jr. fight to start.  Don’t worry, no boxing in this column (RIP Angelo Dundee) I’ll have my thoughts on Floyd Mayweather’s next big boxing contest in a little while.  For now it is time to wrap up my brief coverage of football.

Sunday will feature two teams that slugged their way to the Super Bowl.  New England advanced only after Billy Cundiff shanked a field goal while New York needed overtime to advance on their side. Despite rooting for one of the teams that lost on Championship Sunday I thought overall both games were pretty fun to watch. Now we move on to the fun stuff.

Gambling-wise here is where we stand:

Link – 5-5 against the spread and 2-4 straight up.

Justin G – 5-5 against the spread and 4-7 straight up.

We both enter the Super Bowl with a chance to finish with a winning record against the spread.  However, when the confetti settles on the field and the MVP proclaims his desire to visit the Rat Kingdom there will only be one.

Per vegasinsider.com the Patriots are the 3 point favorite.

First, via twitter, Link’s pick –

New York Giants 27, New England Patriots 24

That sounds like an exciting Super Bowl.  Isn’t that what we’re looking for?  At least those of us without a dog in the fight.  I really don’t want to have to talk to people about the commercials being better than the game this year.  The stars are lining up for a pretty good offensive game.  It’s in a dome, both teams have questionable defenses and both quarterbacks like to throw the football.

There is a 50 percent chance that I’m going to watch the game at a movie theatre on Sunday.  The Duchess is kicking me out of the apartment for the game and with no party to go to I was thinking bar.  Then I noticed The Vic is showing the game for free.  They have cheap beer and popcorn.  Winner Winner Super Bowl Dinner.

Speaking of dinner, I’m kind of glad that I’m not going to a house party this year. With the fried food ban in full effect it would be hard to resist any type of buffet-style party.  According to some expert somewhere, the only day where Americans consume more food is Thanksgiving.  I’m willing to bet dollars to (fried) donuts that more fried food is consumed on Super Bowl Sunday than any other day in the year.

I’m starting to see people say that they’re tired of the Super Bowl-hype.  Let me tell you something.  Going off the cable grid is the answer to that.  Since we’ve dropped cable I find that I don’t get overwhelmed by sports chatter.  I feel like I have the ability to control what I watch or read about since all of my access is through the internet. I don’t find myself mindlessly drifting to ESPN to watch Skip Bayless yammer on for 15 minutes.  I highly recommend it.

As for my pick.  I’m going:

New England Patriots 31, New York Giants 24

The two themes I have heard this week are that the Giants front four will harass Tom Brady (so calm so poised) all game long and the Patriots will have Julian Edelman covering a wide receiver.  For those reasons everyone is supposedly hammering the Giants at the betting windows.  Somehow, despite being the odds-on favorites the consensus is that the Patriots are the underdog.

I’m not so sure about that.  I can see Tom Brady (so calm, so poised) coming out with a hurray-up/pistol offense and dink and dunk the Giants to death.  The Patriots offense isn’t based on long passes or plays that take a long time to develop.  They love the quick shots to their tight ends and then letting them run for 10 or 12 yards after the catch.  That’s hard to defend, and if they’re going quick-huddle the big four linemen for the Giants are going to be gassed.

Any time you can post a picture of Brady with a goat you have to do it, right?

As for the Patriots secondary matching up with New York’s receivers – that’s going to be an issue, but I think they find a way to minimize the damage.  I think they’ll find a way to keep the receivers in front of them and not give up the long bombs. Bill Belichik has two weeks to figure out a solution.  He might not shut them down, but he’ll make them work for it.

That being said, I think the Giants have a legitimate chance in the game.  A lot of folks think Eli Manning is just lucky.  They point to the Tyree helmet catch and say, “Oh he just flung it up there and got lucky”.  Yes, but did you see what he did to get in a position to be able to throw that pass?  He has a little Roethlisberger in him.  In a good way, that is.  Get your minds out of the gutter, folks.  He hands around and makes the plays he has to make.

For the Giants to win I look for them to try and establish the run and keep the Patriots off the field.  Their offensive line will have to find a way to clear Vince Wilfork out of the way and open up holes for their runners.  Use the run early and throw late. Keep Tom Brady (so calm, so poised) and his band of tight ends on the sidelines.

In the end I just hope for a good game and at least two good commercials that I haven’t seen yet.   

Sorry Rory, this was too good not to share with dozens of readers.