The Giants Are Playing the Patriots Today
If you’re interested in some fake analysis, check out this article. If you’re interested in some real analysis, there are two points I want to make.
First, the Giants chances rest solely on their ability to get to Tom Brady. The key to Brady’s success (and Peyton Manning’s for that matter) is the fact that he usually has all day to throw. Brady is a great quarterback, but there a
re 5-10 other guys in the NFL who could put up MVP numbers if they had that kind of protection. Look at any game the Patriots or Colts have lost or nearly lost in the last few years. In all of them their opponents were able to get pressure on the quarterback. The good news for the Giants is that in week 17 they got pressure on Brady with three and four man rushes. There’s no reason to think they can’t do it again.
The other thing I want to mention is what a big advantage it is for the Patriots to play the game in a warm weather. Despite being from New England, the Patriots are not a cold weather team. Wes Welker had spent his whole career in warm weather. Randy Moss had spent his career in warm weather or indoors. In the Patriots close calls against the Eagles, Ravens, and Giants (which were all in cold weather) Brady’s receivers dropped a lot of passes. If this game was being played somewhere else, the Giants could count on the cold forcing two or three drops. Those two drops might not seem like a lot, but they could easily be the difference between a three-and-out and a 70-yard touchdown drive.
Since every other point about the game has been discussed to the point of overkill, I’ll leave you with a prediction.
Patriots 34, Giants 24.
