The Sports Rumors

Favre vs Brady? Not So Fast

Unbelievable.  That’s the only word I can think of that accurately describes the Giants season, from start to finish.  I’m talking about when they were 0-2, down to the Redskins in game three with their season 30 minutes away from being finished.  They followed that up with a six game winning streak.  Then they began slumping towards the latter part of the season with everyone, including myself, saying that it’s the same old Giants who collapse in the final stretch of the season every year.  There was a point in the final two weeks where it looked as if the Giants could possibly miss the playoffs entirely.  Had they not beat Buffalo, it probably would have been the case.  However, they got through it and made the playoffs with a 10-6 mark.  The path to the Superbowl?  At Tampa Bay, at Dallas, at Green Bay. 

There is no one out there, including all the Giants fans, who thought that they could have won those three games when the playoffs started.  Nobody.  The Tampa Bay game was a 50/50.  I didn’t think it really mattered who won.  The Dallas game was one where I would have liked the Giants to win, but didn’t think it was all that likely.  The Green Bay game?  I gave the Giants no chance.  But here they are, winners of three straight road playoff games and on their way to the Super Bowl. 

Eli Manning hasn’t played at a level that is unforeseen, but he has played good enough to keep the Giants in every ball game.  He has stayed away from the mistakes that have cost him to be called out by any and everybody.  He’s not fumbling the ball, not throwing interceptions, he’s managing the clock, and he’s throwing the ball away when needed.  You can’t ask for much more at this point.  The Giants defense has played superb.  You take away that one 90 yard touchdown pass that Favre had and you can see that the Packers had a miserable game offensively.  They couldn’t run the ball.  They were inconsistent in their passing game.  Even the Giants special teams played decent.  Most of all, this team has confidence that is through the roof right now.  That’s dangerous. 

Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin have shut up the critics in New York, at least for the next two weeks.  As much as I hate the Giants, given they are an arch rival of my Redskins, it is a lot harder to route against them than I thought.  I guess it’s because America loves the underdog.  It’s hard to route against a team that was already officially a 14 point underdog in the Superbowl before they even got to thaw out their fingers.  Sometimes it’s nice to see a great story rather than a great team win a title.  The Giants are a great story. 

And oh by the way… Tiki Barber.  Eli Manning says what’s up. 

NFL Divisional Playoff Previews

Seattle @ Green Bay (-7.5)

Lambeu Field.  January 12^th.  30 degrees with snow showers.  Playoff game.  Brett Favre. 

I should conclude my preview of this game by just pasting those 5 statements over and over, but I will elaborate for those who are not familiar with the point I’m trying to make.  Seattle is not going to go into Lambeu field with their non existent run offense and beat Brett Favre in a playoff game, especially while it is snowing.  You think Matt Hasslebeck is going to be able to throw all over that Green Bay secondary that features Charles Woodson and Al Harris?  I don’t.  You think Shaun Alexander and Co. will be able to muster up much of a run game at Green Bay, after they couldn’t do it against Washington in Seattle?  I don’t. 

There is no question that Seattle’s front four is impressive.  Patrick Kerney is a monster.  I’ll be honest; I didn’t think he was AS good as he looked against Washington last Saturday.  But let’s not forget that disrupting the game of Brett Favre is not the same thing as disrupting the game of Todd Collins, with all due respect.  Throw in the fact that Green Bay running back, Ryan Grant, has been as good as anyone in the league as of late, and you’re looking at a pretty big problem.  He has amassed 770 yards on 141 carries over the past eight games.  That comes to a 5.4 yards per carry average. 

I’ll put it as simple as I can.  Green Bay’s young defense (youngest in the league) will outplay Seattle’s old and talent lacking offense.  Seattle’s young defense will play well against Green Bay’s offense, but not well enough to hold them under 20 points.  I foresee Green Bay feeding off of the Packer faithful early, jumping ahead in the first quarter, and never looking back.

Final Score

Seattle 13

Green bay 24

Jacksonville @ New England (-13.5)

All week long, I have heard nothing but praise for Jacksonville and how they are the team that has what it takes to knock off the big bad wolf.  They have the dual running threat.  They have the quarterback that doesn’t make mistakes.  They have the front four that can put pressure on Brady and leave 7 others to congest the passing lanes.  People.  There is a reason Vegas has set them as 14 point underdogs. 

Everything that we have heard about how good Jacksonville is, the Patriots heard too.  Everything that we, in our coaching genius minds, have come up with to beat the Pats; the Patriots heard too.  All this water cooler talk, “Yeah Jim to beat the Patriots, the Jags will keep Brady and Moss off the field by running Taylor and Jones-Drew effectively and the Jax defense will get enough stops because that front four is going to harass Tom Brady.  Yep, this is the week the Pats fall.”

Bull.

The Patriots are going to win and they will win big; here’s why.  They will have an answer for the two headed monster that is Taylor & Jones-Drew just like Pittsburgh did.  Do you know how many yards the two of them got combined on the ground?  77.  Do you know WHY Jacksonville beat Pittsburgh on the road?  It wasn’t because of their formula for success.  It was because of a 96 yard kick return by Jones-Drew and two interceptions by Mathis.  THAT is why they won.  All of the things people have said the Jaguars will do against the Patriots is the same stuff they failed to do against the Steelers.  David Garrard, the mistake free quarterback, made mistakes.  He didn’t even complete 10 passes.  Think about that for a moment.  9 completions in 4 quarters means slightly more than 2 per 15 minutes.  The passing game failed.  The running game failed.  So now what makes you think that they will suddenly hit on all cylinders against New England?  Oh, and that front four of the Jaguars.  Yeah, they are pretty good.  But that defense gave up 29 points to Pittsburgh, most of them in the second half.  You know who is really good in the second half?  Tom F’ing Brady. 

All the angles we take and the studying we do as fans still fails to give us insight on what Belichick is going to do.  I couldn’t tell you with certainty if the Patriots are going to come out and run the ball 30 times with Maroney or if they’re going to pass 30 times in the first half with Brady.  You just, don’t, know.  What we do know is that Tom Brady can beat you in two styles of football.  He can beat you with the clock management, run the ball with a pass here and there type of game (see previous Patriot championships), or he can beat you with 5 guys spread out like it’s a video game. 

You know what element people forget to add to their formulas for beating the Patriots?  Luck.  You need to play your best game of the year on offense, your best game of the year on defense, avoid any mistakes on special teams, and then hope for some luck.  You need to hope that a ball slips out of Brady’s hands inside his own 20.  You need to hope that Randy Moss drops a wide open pass on 3^rd and 10.  You need to hope that one of your corners gets hold of a tipped ball and runs it back for a touchdown.  Basically, if you are Jacksonville, you need the 96 yard return of Jones-Drew and the two interceptions of Mathis, PLUS a great game from Garrard and the rest of the team to have an opportunity to win in the fourth quarter.

Problem is, Jacksonville might have spent all of their luck in the last game. 

Final Score

Jacksonville 17

New England 41