Super Bowl XLVI Recap

Wow. Is it too much to say that the sequel was better than the original?

Yeah, that’s what I thought. That might be a little bit of a stretch, but it was pretty darn close.

I won’t try to hide that I am very happy the Giants won. But I am even happier that the game was so close. I have my ties to specific teams, but I am first and foremost an NFL fan. I will be excited for the Super Bowl if my least favorite teams from each conference are in it (sorry, Eagles in the NFC and Raiders and Patriots in the AFC) as occurred in Super Bowl XXXIX. I was just as excited for that Super Bowl as I was yesterday and as I was during the Colts’ two recent Super Bowl appearances.

I can now say with much certainty that my Super Bowl predictions simply do not apply to the Giants. Of the three Super Bowls involving the Giants since I began making my predictions, those same three are the only ones I have predicted incorrectly. Nothing can be said for the Patriots, however, as they have won in every prediction game I have played since 2000 and are now 3-2 in the real deal over that span.

This is the second consecutive (and I believe second overall) year that I have correctly predicted the winning team’s score. Notice that doesn’t say winning score. I predicted the Patriots would win with 35 points, but I predicted the Giants to score 21, which they did. Last year I predicted a 31-30 Packers win and they went on to beat the Steelers 31-25.

Eli Manning, who won Super Bowl MVP honors for the second time, played exceptionally well. Tom Brady played very well, too, though I cannot bring myself to place blame entirely on the receivers for those late drops. Though Welker “makes that catch 100 times out of 100” (thank you Cris Collinsworth), there is no arguing that the pass was a bit high and made for a difficult attempted catch by Wes. Likewise, the 3rd down pass to Branch on the next play was thrown way late and gave the Giants secondary a chance to close in and force Branch into a position where the ball could only glance off his gloves.

Mario Manningham’s catch was sensational. It was a catch I have seen tens of other receivers make in much less important games, but the throw by Manning was unreal and Manningham played it beyond perfectly.

New York’s defensive line deserves a lot of credit. The Patriots got to Manning a fair amount early, but the Giants put the pressure on Brady when it mattered most, when they absolutely has to prevent him to coming through in the clutch.

The only play from this game that might outshine Manningham’s catch 25 years down the road was Bradshaw’s bizarre score with just under a minute left. I said before the play that Manning should just down the ball between the hash marks, though I was more concerned with a fumble than a touchdown. Either way, my dreaded expectation almost came to life, but Gronkowski just missed a diving effort at a tipped pass in the end zone with no time on the clock.

So again I ask, better than the original? I would never claim that, but I will say that they are too close to separate. NFL.com ranks XLII and XLVI #2 and #3 all-time, respectively. I would put them at a tie in the #2 spot, but that is one man’s opinion, and they make good points for theirs as well. You can read their take here: Super Bowl XLVI definitely ranks in top three

Thank you to everyone for reading all season. I will be writing about what some teams need to do over the offseason, but I will not be posting separately for each team this year. Instead I will just make a few points about each team’s offseason needs, in my opinion, and separate posts by division.

Let me know if there is anything I could do next season to make my posts more interesting. I love having people read my blog, but want them to feel like they are getting something out of it, too.

I hope everyone enjoyed the 2011-12 NFL season as much as I did and I look forward to the offseason and what next fall brings.