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Can the Giants beat the Patriots
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Is this naive, idiotic? Does it discount the cavernous talent gap between the two conferences and overlook the essence of the Patriots, which is that they don't need to crush opponents to dominate them? Absolutely.
Sometime in the next 12 days, this feverish fantasy will pass, and it will become clear again that the Pats on an offday are better than the Giants at their best. I'll remember that as the message of Dec. 29 at the Meadowlands, where the Giants came shockingly close to blocking the first 160 regular season in NFL history.
For now, though, that game stands as the perfect advertisement for professional football and the reason that the Giants have become that rarest of phenomena: a sentimental favorite from New York. With nothing to gain, no place in history and no homefield advantage in the playoffs, the Giants extended themselves as far as a team possibly could.
They ended up surrendering a 12point lead and losing to the Patriots 3835, but they went down and here's a word that pro sports rarely inspire valiantly. In the process, they validated New England's undefeated season; no one could say the 160 came cheaply. The Giants also lifted and toughened up themselves. It's entirely possible that the team that has blazed through the playoffs was born that night.
In the last two rounds, New York has looked suspiciously like a certain dynasty in its toddling stages. The patient, methodical way the Giants beat Dallas and Green Bay calls to mind the Patriots of six years ago, minus the tuckrule turn of luck. A friend and I used to call 's teams "the Cobras," because they spent most of a game hypnotizing the other team, lulling it into the belief that the Pats were beatable, before swallowing the prey whole. Unlike this year's team, New England's past champions rarely looked spectacular.
A lot of people can say the same of these Giants. They didn't need to be spectacular Sunday to beat the Packers, especially after started looking cold and vulnerable in what was supposed to be his element. While Favre pressed a tissue past his face mask and against his nose, the other Southerner behind center remained boyishly frisky, impervious to the arctic surroundings.
Can stay cool in the desert,[url=http://www.sport.fr/smartphones/moncler.asp]doudoune moncler[/url], with a global audience peering in and looming over the line? That will be utterly beside the point if the Giants' defense can't deliver. That's certainly where New York's luck began Sunday. Think about what it takes for a visiting team in to win after missing two fieldgoal tries in the last seven minutes of regulation and losing the coin toss in overtime.
The defense kept getting the ball back, undaunted by offensive failures. That's not a fluke. It doesn't matter how badly the Packers bungled their playcalling or how poorly Favre made decisions at the end. The Giants were still remarkable.
But the Patriots have two weeks to get ready for the big day, and they are masters at preparation. On pure talent, they would be a very good football team. They would not be undefeated, or winners of three of the last six Super Bowls.
When they were mauling teams early in the season, they weren't quite themselves. Now that they've hit thin air and descended a bit, they've relied more on guile and confidence and bruising energy their old stapes.
No athlete in sports today looks as sure of himself, as thoroughly unflappable, as standing in the pocket. By all rights, he should be the sentimental favorite over Manning, who parlayed his family name into the No. 1 spot in the draft and the leverage to place himself in New York. Brady went in the sixth round and so far has bested two undrafted quarterbacks ( and ) and one No. 2 overall pick () in the Super Bowl. He's due to take out a No. 1.
There's something exhilarating about watching the redemption of a New York whipping boy, even one who begged for the abuse by demanding passage out of San Diego. Besides, the