SUPER BOWL SPECIAL

This Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday!

The 46th Super Bowl will take place on February 5, 2012 at Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis. Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 ET (00:30 ECT)


The two Teams:  New York Giants Vs. New England Patriots

This match will be the re-edition of Super Bowl 42nd 4 Years ago, which The Giants took 17-14 in a game for history.  Eli Manning, the MVP of the match is still the Giants QB.

There is a lot of Expectation around 46th Super Bowl, and no one in the world of American Football dares picking a clear Favourite.   Patriots are not the same "Perfection Team" of 2008.  Giants are not the same team either, they are better many would argue.

We are going to analyse both teams in terms of strengths and weaknesses and finally we shall give our prediction, for a game that historically erases the whole season and takes the very best of each player on the pitch.


New England Patriots.

2012 AFC Champions (def. Baltimore Ravens 23-20)

It's impossible to talk about the Patriots Strengths without talking about their legendary Quarterback: Tom Brady.  Winner of three superbowls, Brady is a cerebral leader on the field.  The Patriots bigger strenght is their Offense.  They led the AFC with 32.1 point per game and have an average of 34 during the post-season.  
wes Welker was NFL leader in completed receptions and versatile Aaron Hernandez among other great players will give Brady plenty of options for making the plays.  
New England's greatest offensive weapon is the ability of Brady to run play after play without gathering with his players, but just giving vocal commands.  This can burn out the rival defense since they have to guess from scratch what players to take and makes Brady much more difficult to press or to capture. Against the Ravens, a team that has an experienced defense, this didn't make a lot of difference because they were able to quickly adapt and guess which receivers to guard.  Can the Giants defense play at Brady's rhythm?  One of the matche's big questions.

New England's most commented weakness is their Defense, especially their secondary defense, which was among the worst in the NFL this year.  If we look at the numbers slowly, they were the worst.  The giants offensive line needs to test the patriot's secondary defense and they need to do it quickly.  Manning knows the patriots very well, and being much more experienced than that rookie who became MVP 4 years ago, he surely will attack where it hurts more to the Patriots.
New England will face a game with a low score, and great coach Belichick knows that.  He prefers to play and build the victory dominating the score, but this game will be reduced to a BIG play or to a BIG mistake.  The Patriots seemed to commit such mistake in a return against the Ravens, but they could still win.  Usually the Super Bowl won't forgive as much.

New York Giants

2012 NFC Champions (def. San Francisto 49ers 20-17)

New York had a hard way to go before christmas 2011 if they wanted to be in Indianapolis this Sunday.  They had to defeat the Jets, Dallas, Green Bay and San Francisco to get here.  Last two games as the visit and facing teams that were 28-4 combined.  And They prevailed.  They prevailed because they gave it all, they fought every inch of the field and they defended.  Defense is the name of the game for the Giants, specially facing Tom Brady once again in the Super Bowl.  The giants have been outstanding in defense, specially against Green Bay, defending champions and open favorites to win it all again this season.
Many have commented the amount of fumbles commited by the Packers receivers but it was actually New York defense covering each play in an impressive display of intelligence and power.  The second line has been the weakest part of the defense, while the front line defense has been able to succesfully press and capture opponent Quarterbacks.  Can they capture Tom Brady? Or pressure him as well as they did in super bowl 42?
New York's offense is not unable or anything.  Ely Manning has become a great Quarterback, and New York has an excellent group of runners/receivers that can compromise New England's defense.  But the most important aspect from my perspective is that New York Giants is the team with Momentum.  They were an underdog team when the post-season started, and here they are, believing in their ability to win it all.
It will be a close game with a low score.  It can be even decided with a filed goal kick.  And New York Giants seem to have the mentality, the team and the momentum to win another close one, it's just what they have done all season long.

My Pick:

I was really tempted to choose what I see more clear for this game, a bet under 52 points (odds 2.05 @ bet365), but come on, it's the super bowl and everybody wants to pick the winner of the Super Bowl.  

So I will go with:  New York Giants to Win the biggest Must Win Game of all, only second to the Fifa World Cup Final.