Super Bowl XLVI Prediction

The Super Bowl is just hours away and I now have my prediction for this year’s game. Of course, you may choose to take the following with a grain of salt. In the 11 years I have used Madden to predict the outcome of the Super Bowl I am 9-2. Both incorrect predictions have been in the games involving the Giants, XXXV against the Ravens and XLII against the Patriots.

The Giants won the toss and chose to receive. Eli Manning wasted no time in reverting to his 2010 self, throwing a pick on his first pass of the game. The Patriots used the short field and Green-Ellis finished off the drive with a goal-line touchdown to put the Patriots on the board first.

After the two teams exchanged possessions, the Giants finally got a sustained drive going, but had to settle for a mid-range field goal to cut into New England’s lead.

Defense dominated early, as the score remained the same for the next 15 minutes. Finally, on a 3rd & 17, Tom Brady flipped the ball to Danny Woodhead on a screen pass for a long touchdown.

Da’Rel Scott, a rookie for the University of Maryland I might add, took the ensuing kickoff 97 yards to pay dirt to keep the score close. That element didn’t last long, however.

The Giants turned the ball over seven times in the game, four times on Eli Manning interceptions and three times on failed fourth down conversions. A third Manning interception and a failed fourth-down conversion allowed the Patriots to score twice more before the first half ended with a score of 28-10.

The Patriots took the ball first in the second half but the Giants limited their turnovers for most of the second half and their defense continued to play well. Tynes chipped into the Patriots lead mid-way through the 3rd quarter but that was as close as the Giants would get. Devin McCourty took Manning’s fourth interception back for a touchdown on New York’s next drive.

A late-fourth quarter touchdown pass to Victor Cruz and a successful two-point conversion rounded out the scoring for the game.

Tom Brady finished the game 23/30 for 219 yards, 2 TDs and 2 picks. Manning threw four interceptions and just one touchdown while going 28/47 for 263 yards.

Green-Ellis scored the games only two rushing touchdowns, though Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs combines for 89 yards on 23 carries.

Mario Manningham, Victor Cruz, and Deon Branch all had 7 catches. Cruz led the Giants in yards with 110 while Wes Welker gained a team high 58 receiving yards for New England.

Perhaps the most dooming stat for the Giants was found in the sack column. The Giants registered just one sack, made by Justin Tuck. The Patriots took Manning down five times, three of them by Shaun Ellis.

The final stat of interested was that all six interceptions in the game were made by different players.

Below is the scoring summary of the game.


Scoring Summary:

Quarter 1

(NE) B. Green-Ellis, 1 Yd run (S. Gostkowski kick), 12:48
(NYG) L. Tynes, 35 Yd FG, 6:53

Quarter 2

(NE) D. Woodhead 42 Yd pass from T. Brady (S. Gostkowski kick), 6:34
(NYG) D. Scott, returned kickoff 97 Yds (L. Tynes kick), 6:21
(NE) B. Green-Ellis, 1 Yd run (S. Gostkowski kick), 1:22
(NE) W. Welker 34 Yd pass from T. Brady (S. Gostkowski kick), 0:32

Quarter 3

(NYG) L. Tynes, 39 Yd FG, 7:49
(NE) D. McCourty, returned interception 21 Yds (S. Gostkowski kick), 4:53

Quarter 4

(NYG) V. Cruz 6 Yd pass from E. Manning (2pt – Manning to Barden), 5:01


Once again, this is not the worst outcome for the Giants. In fact, if those two incorrect picks were indeed significant due to the Giants’ presence, this could actually be the best outcome they could hope for.

I am currently on a three-game streak of correct predictions. Last year was my second closest prediction, as my game concluded with the correct score for the Packers was five more points than the Steelers would score. My closest prediction came in 2002 for Super Bowl XXXVI, when my game finished with a 21-17 win for the Patriots. They went on to beat the Rams 20-17 that evening.
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As always, I would like to thank you for reading and I invite you to read my recap post tomorrow. No worries, it will be much shorter than my first recap from last year’s Super Bowl.

My pick:

New England beats New York, 35-21