Super Bowl Observations

As with many people who reside outside of the Northeastern United States, I am not a fan of either team. For many people, this means that their Super Bowl viewing consists of watching the latest and greatest commercials rather than on focusing on the game at hand. Me? I try to root for a team with an intriguing storyline. My choices this year were the New England Patriots and the New York Giants.

First of all, I analyzed reasons why I should root for the Patriots. Rooting for the Patriots in football has come to be synonymous with rooting for the Yankees in baseball. It is EASY to root for them because you kind of KNOW they are going to win. There is no danger of your heart being yanked out and pummeled so long as the coolly efficient Tom Brady is under center and Wes Welker, Randy Moss, and Kevin Faulk are on offense. The Patriots were 18-0 going into the Super Bowl, and when my father called me on Super Bowl Sunday, I told him that, though I was rooting for the underdog Giants, it looked to be an impossible task for those Giants to win. I told my father, confidently, that the Patriots would win. My father, on the other hand, an individual who does not follow football at all, opined that the Giants would prevail. I kind of dismissed his assertion, but I was most surprised by my own reaction. I had not realized until that moment that I was rooting for the Giants. All I knew was that a Patriots win would finally make Mercury Morris and the rest of the overrated undefeated 1972 Dolphins shut up-I mean, that would be worth it for the Patriots to go 19-0, right? The Giants were not that much of an underdog, were they?

Actually, they were. No team in the NFC had ever won 3 games on the road as a wild card to win the Super Bowl. No wildcard NFC team had EVER won a Super Bowl, as a matter of fact. These Giants lost their playmaking tight end, Jeremy Shockey, to a broken leg during the regular season and their all pro running back, Tiki Barber, to retirement at the end of last season. Michael Strahan, their marquee defensive end, was on the decline. Eli Manning was the younger brother of the best QB in the NFL and years away from seriously contending for a Super Bowl title. These Giants had lost 6 games in the regular season, many of those (including the season finale to these very same Patriots) at home.

But a funny thing happened on the way to the playoffs. The Giants defense started to play like the defense of the '85 Bears. Eli gained confidence and starting leading the team. Rather than just being told to minimize mistakes, Kevin Gilbride, the Giants offensive coordinator, started trusting Eli to make plays. Eli rediscovered Amani Toomer and renewed his productive relationship with Plaxico Burress. The Giants were eminently watchable during the playoffs. They played smart and dominating football. They defeated the best teams in the NFL on the road. They played like a team. Maybe getting Shockey and his "me first" mantra out of the locker room helped. Maybe removing the unmotivated and disinterested Tiki Barber helped. Maybe Tom Coughlin's change in coaching philosophy this season helped. Maybe the emergence of Bradshaw and Jacobs as a potent 1-2 rushing combination helped. Maybe the emergence of Boss as a goto tight end (who may just be better than Shockey) helped. Definitely the emergence of the defense as a suffocating force helped. I think that a combination of all of these aforementioned elements culminated in a perfect storm that started at 6:25 EST.

At game time, the Giants were 12 point underdogs. During the game, the Patriots came out tight and the Giants came out confident. Although the game remained at 7-3 for the longest time, in retrospect the outcome should never have been in doubt. What teams successfully held the Patriots to numerous 3 and outs during the regular season? None. What teams kept the Patriots to a single TD in a half (with that TD aided by a pass interference call)? None. Who knew that Eli Manning could rise above the New York media and rabid fan base to turn into the second coming of Peyton? I doubt that even Peyton could have scrambled as Eli did in completing that 35 yard bomb in the 4th quarter on 3rd and 5 (and Tyree deserves a LOT of credit for pinning that catch to his helmet on his way down to the turf).

In the end, the Patriots were a part of history. This is: the first time that 2 brothers have been Super Bowl MVPs, the first time that 2 brothers who were QBs were Super Bowl MVPS, and the first time one brother was a Super Bowl MVP the year after the second brother was a Super Bowl MVP. I guess that was a history the Patriots did not want any part of, but history is history.

Oh, and most 4 year olds are better losers than Bill Belichick. Grow up, dude.