Bag the hype, let’s play some ball
GLENDALE, Ariz. – The time for talking is over. The daily news conferences are done. A week of super hype and celebrities and parties and glitz all step aside today and make room for the main attraction, the one thing that actually means something in the end.
Super Bowl XLII.
The New England Patriots vs. the New York Giants.
It’s one last shot at perfection for the unbeaten Patriots, who will try to make history by becoming the only team to finish 19-0. It’s one shot at vindication and major respect for the underdog Giants, who came close but fell short against the Patriots in the final week of the regular season.
Like the Super Bowl slogan says, “Who Wants it More?”
We’ll find out today at 3:17, when they kick off at University of Phoenix Stadium in the second Super Bowl to be played in Arizona – one that may go down as one of the most remembered in NFL history.
If the Patriots win, it will be their fourth Super Bowl title since 2002 and it will earn them praise as perhaps both the greatest team assembled and the best dynasty the league has seen to date.
If the Giants win, it will go down perhaps as one of the greatest upsets in sports and be the game that everybody always talks about.
So much is on the line, it’s almost unfathomable.
“Like Tom (Brady) and Bill (Belichick) said, ‘This is the biggest game of our lives,’ ” Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said, referring to his quarterback and head coach. “We have an opportunity to do something special that no one else has done and if we win this football game, then you guys (the media) would have so much to talk about and so much time to analyze, and so will we.”
Only the 1972 Miami Dolphins have had a perfect season. They went 17-0.
The Patriots already have them beat by one more victory at 18-0, but a loss tonight would spoil it all and mean nothing if they can’t complete their quest for perfection.
They’ve dealt with the pressure all season, including distractions such as “Spygate,” Harrison’s four-game suspension for violating the NFL’s drug policy, and allegations of running up the score on opponents.
“We’ve been through the grind for 18 weeks now and the focus has been on us ever since we started,” said Patriots linebacker Junior Seau, who is looking for the first Super Bowl win of his 18-year career. “This is definitely something we can handle and we are going to handle.”
But the Giants, who finished 10-6 during the regular season and have won 10 straight games on the road, aren’t in awe of the Patriots. New York brings a physical presence into every game, has a relentless pass rush, an impressive running game, and a starting quarterback in Eli Manning that enters Super Bowl XLII brimming with confidence.
“I just haven’t made many mistakes,” said Manning, the younger brother of last year’s Super Bow-winning starting quarterback, Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts. “With the way our defense is playing, the way we’re running the ball and doing some good things, that’s just what it’s going to take.
“Same thing against New England. You can’t give them turnovers. You have to find completions and our guys have done a good job of getting open and the offensive line is protecting and the backs are running the ball so we haven’t been in a lot of tough situations.”
This could be one of them, though.
The Patriots set an NFL record for scoring with 589 points this season and Brady bested Peyton Manning’s league mark of four years ago by throwing 50 touchdown passes. Randy Moss, whose career has rebounded with New England following a draft-day trade last April from the Oakland Raiders, caught 23 of them for another NFL record.
“Even if we don’t sack (Brady), we can’t let them sit back there and pick us apart,” Giants defensive lineman Justin Tuck said. “We have to get pressure in their face. It’s going to be very hard to rattle him, but we can’t let him sit back and look down the field with Randy Moss and Wes Welker and all of his weapons.”
Brady came to Arizona with his teammates sporting a sore right ankle and walking with a limp, but he’s practiced all week and said he is fine.
“I’m ready for this game,” Brady said, “and it’s going to be a game we will remember all our lives.”
Who wants it more?
The oddsmakers are siding with the Patriots, who are listed as 12-point favorites, but the Giants could care less.
“This is the NFL,” Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora said. “There should be nobody who isn’t given a chance to win. We are professional athletes and anything can happen on any given day. People are acting like it would take a bolt of lightning to strike in order for us to win. I don’t think that’s the case at all.”
The Patriots, for their part, have spent the majority of the season trying not to buy into all the hype and glory, preferring to stay focused and stone-faced like their head coach while they eat their “humble pie.”
“We haven’t said much about the streak or about how great we’ve played all year,” Patriots defensive lineman Vince Wilfork said. “We’ve kept it in. We’ve stayed focused and tried not to ever look ahead.”
There is nothing after today, though. It’s all on the line right now.
If the Patriots win, will they revel in their dynasty delight or will they keep the celebration simple, as they have all season?
“I know what I’m going to do,” Wilfork said. “I’m going to celebrate!”