The Official End of the NFL Season

Well, this year's NFL season has mercifully come to an end with the NFC beating the AFC in yesterday's Pro Bowl. I didn't watch one second of the game but if you want to read about it, you can do so here.

As for me, I'm more the looking forward type. So, in the immortal words of Mark McGuire, I'm not here to talk about the past, I'm here to talk about the future. And the future looks bright with Tom Brady (or Matt Cassel) leading the way.

It's Time to Trade Tom Brady

Last week I wrote an article about how it may be time to trade Tom Brady. My, how things have changed. Today, I'm writing about it being time to trade Tom Brady. There's no ifs, ands or buts about it- he's got to go. I've analyzed this situation from a lot of different angles and I was finally pushed over the edge by one Thomas Edward Brady, Jr. Since going down with a season ending injury in the first quarter of the first game, Brady has pretty much disappeared. Well, except for the fact that we learned that he likes rare art and he also got engaged. And neither of those topics has me very excited to see number 12 back in a Patriots uniform come next year.

All of this leads up to the event that has pushed me from being a Tom Brady sycophant to a staunch Matt Cassel supporter: Brady did a radio interview. Seems pretty simple, right? The guy is entitled to do radio interviews. But do you think this interview took place on local sports station WEEI where he does a quarterback hour with Boomer Esiason during the season? Nope. Okay then, it must have been some radio station near his home in California, right? Nope. In fact, the radio interview took place on a radio station in Canada. So we hear virtually nothing from Brady the entire season and then he surfaces in Canada! He's kidding, right? He's pretty much fallen off the face of the earth since his injury and then he spurns the entire Boston media market for a radio interview in Canada?

Anyway, the most egregious part of the whole story is that he was also pushing some special sports medicine cream called Myo-med, which is ironically a banned substance by the NFL. In addition to the odd fact that Brady was on the radio station in Canada, I'm also confused as to why people in Canada would care about Tom Brady?

So there you have it. In the year since losing the Super Bowl in a crushing defeat to the Giants, Brady basically has closed the door on his football career. First it was the art exhibits with Gisele, the public events with Eli Manning, wearing a Yankees cap and his numeruos photo shoots for Calvin Klein and Stetson. In addition, during the NFL's biggest week, where do you think Brady is? If you guessed working on his rehab back at Foxboro in an attempt to come back at 128.7 percent next year while working on his deep ball then you would be completely wrong. If you guessed in Mexico with Gisele, then you're getting warmer. Apparently Brady likes all of the countries just to the North and South of America.

Anyway, doing this interview was too much. It's time for this to end. I'll take Matt Cassel any day of the week over Brady and twice on Sunday because, in the immortal words of Bill Parcells, "Football players play football." And I think it's becoming increasingly apparent that Tom Brady is no longer a football player.

It May Be Time To Trade Tom Brady

Ever since Tom Brady went down in the first game of the year people have been saying that Matt Cassel looks more and more like the next Tom Brady. Well, if that's the case than maybe I don't want anything to do with either quarterback. This is according to The Boston Globe:

Pats poster boy Tom Brady is apparently looking to add art collector to his already impressive resume. There are whispers in the art world that Brady and his girlfriend Gisele Bundchen recently sat down with a few dealers and are preparing to drop serious dough on select paintings. In particular, the pair is interested in buying a piece by the 19th-century Spanish artist Eugenio Lucas y Padilla, a gifted follower of Goya who's relatively unknown outside expert circles. The provenance of the painting, thought to be called "A Scene From Carnival," is unclear, but it's believed to be in private hands in South America. Although Brady and Bundchen have a mountain of money between them, word is they're not alone in looking for the painting. Billionaire Eli Broad, casino owner Steve Wynn, French businessman Bernard Arnault, actor Steve Martin, and financier Theodore Forstmann are just some of the ultra-rich A-list collectors who are believed to also be in pursuit of the painting.

Did I miss the news that Brady has completely given up on his football career? I always thought of him as the collector of paintings such as dogs playing poker, not some 19th-century Spanish artist. Actually, I always thought of him as thinking of nothing but football but apparently times have changed. Seriously, does he have any interest in playing football again?

I've thought all along that giving the franchise tag to Cassel was a smart idea. He's progressed a lot as the season has gone on and now he's got the Patriots in the AFC Championship game in Pittsburgh this weekend. Huh, the Patriots didn't even make the playoffs at 11-5? And a 9-7 Arizona Cardinals team that we embarrassed is hosting the NFC Championship this weekend? Crazy world. Anyway, the idea of bringing Cassel back into camp next year is exciting for one reason and one reason only: to show Brady what real football players do- play football.

Oh, and for those who are interested in this kind of stuff, the reports of Tom and Gisele's engagement only serve to further question Brady's commitment to the Patriots. I have a sneaky feeling that this is the beginning of the end of the Tom Brady era in New England.

Some Links That You May or May Not Enjoy (Tom Brady Edition)

Painful details on Tom Brady's knee


A nightmare scenario


Profile: Tom Brady's surgeon


Brady's recovery hits snag


Brady has more procedures for infection, Pats unsure of return


Report: Pats' Brady has two more procedures done on knee


Pats deny report they're upset with Brady choice


Patriots fire back at ESPN over unsourced Brady story


No matter how you slice it, Brady's knee is bad news


Dr. James Andrews says Tom Brady is getting better

Is Matt Cassel the 2001 Tom Brady?

I've been pretty critical of Matt Cassel in his incredibly uninspiring six games as a staring NFL quarterback this year. Cassel has shown that he has weaknesses in his game, such as holding onto the ball waaaaaaaayyyyyy too long but he's also shown us that he can be an incredibly serviceable quarterback in the NFL, which he demonstrated on Monday night by winning the Offensive Player of the Week Award. All of this got me thinking to when Tom Brady took over for an injured Drew Bledsoe and never looked back. Here are some basic numbers to analyze and we'll do it Jeopardy style again:

Answer 1: 4 wins, 2 losses

Question 1: What are the won-loss records of Tom Brady and Matt Cassel through their first six games as starting NFL quarterbacks?

Answer 2: Matt Cassel

Question 2: Which quarterback had a higher completion percentage in the first six games as a starting NFL quarterback, Tom Brady or Matt Cassel. It's 120 out of 190 for Brady for a .632 completion rate while Cassel comes in at 110 out of 166 for a .663 completion rate.

Answer 3: Ten

Question 3: How many more yards passing did Brady have than Cassel after their first six games as starting quarterbacks? Had you asked me that question without already knowing the answer, I would have bet that Brady had at least 1,458 more yards passing than Cassel.

Answer 4: Thomas Brady

Question 4: Who had more touchdowns through their first six games as a staring quarterback, Brady or Cassel? This is the only real difference I can find in these two right now. Brady threw 10 TDs in his first six games, while Cassel has only thrown six, three of which came on Monday night.

Answer 5: Tie, four each.

Question 5: Which quarterback threw more interceptions in their first six games as a starting quarterback, Brady or Cassel?

Kind of strange (in a good way, I think) how close these numbers are. But my real question is how are we judging Cassel? And the only way to find that out is to compare him to other backup quarterbacks. Here are actual numbers from actual NFL games last week:
Matt Cassel, NE: 18 of 24, 185 yds, 3 TDs, 0 INT
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Cin: 21 of 35, 164 yds, 1 TD
Seneca Wallace, Sea: 12 of 23, 73 yds, 1 TD, 1 INT
Damon Huard, KC: 9 of 16, 96 yds
Brad Johnson, Dal: 17 of 34, 234 yds, 3 INTs
Gus Ferrotte, Min: 25 of 40, 298, 2 TDs, 4 INTs

So now let's move on to Final Jeopardy. The answer: Matt Cassel. The question: Which of the six starting quarterbacks listed above was the only one to win a game last week?

I think the point I'm getting to (if I have a point) is that Cassel is among the best backups in the league. In fact, no one has a great backup quarterback and if they did, they'd probably be make nine million a year somewhere else to start.

Now let's do a simple comparison of Cassel to some of the other starting quarterbacks in the league using the most basic of litmus tests: quarterback rating. Want to know what Jake Delhomme, David Garrard, Matt Ryan and Peyton Manning have in common? They all have lower quarterback ratings than Cassel.

Not bad for a backup quarterback that's going to lead New England to our fourth Super Bowl in seven year. And yes, I'm back on the Kool Aid diet.

Is Tom Brady Really Injured?

I was all prepared to finish my Red Sox column today and then I saw pictures of Tom Brady walking around in New York with Gisele, which led me to question whether Tom Brady is really injured. Seriously, watch the video below. Yeah, he's walking with a bit of a limp but isn't a little limp better than starting a healthy Matt Cassel? Heck, Brady with a little limp is still better than 98.62 percent of the starting quarterbacks out there. I say that if Brady can walk then he should still be playing. And if he can go shopping and carry Gisele's bag then he should definitely be playing. I still think that Bill Belichick may have just given Brady the entire year off and there really is no injury.

And I love how everyone around here was saying that Brady would be such an asset to Cassel throughout the year even though he was injured because he'd be in all the team meetings, at practices and helping to break down film. Yeah, last I knew, the Patriots didn't practice in New York.

Just a few comments about the video, too. Why is Gisele not laying down palm branches as she walks ahead of Brady? Did she really need to bolt from the car just so she could take the full forty seconds to open the door? And that's a pretty cool wallet chain Brady's got. Although, I didn't think he ever had to pay for anything. And what's up with the questions from the "reporter?" That guy cracks me up with asking if Tom's actually going to have surgery in Europe. He obviously still thinks that Brady is injured.

I can't wait for Brady and the Patriots to annihilate the San Francisco 49ers in two Sundays. Maybe they will finish 18-1 again this year.

The J-E-T-S Suck

If you're a Jets fan waking up this morning, do you still feel good about your team? Seriously, this is the team that everyone picked to be the new leader of the AFC East after Tom Brady was knocked out for the year and you play like that? That was some ugly football on display in nearly every facet of the game, especially considering all the talk leading up to the game. When all is said and done this year, I think the Jets will be exactly what we thought they'd be: a team that was 4-12 last year who added an aging hall of famer as their quarterback. In other words, look for another losing season out of the Jets.

Anyway, here are just a few of my thoughts while I ponder if the Jets would have been better off keeping Chad Pennington over Brett Favre.

• There was never a moment in this game where I felt like the Patriots were in danger of losing. The Jets looked like a team that thought they should win the game just because they were favored. The blame on that one has to fall on Eric Mangini, the Jets head coach, for not getting his team fired up.

• On the flip side, Bill Belichick has his team ready to go on offense, defense and special teams from the start of the game.

• The defense for the Patriots played extremly well. Richard Seymour was in on a lot of pass rushes, as was Tedy Bruschi, and Favre was under constant pressure. Once again, the weak link was Rodney HGHarrison who got burned on the only Jets touchdown. On the replay, you can see HGHarriosn faking a pass interference call as the Jets reciever breaks free. Any ball thrown HGHarrison's way scares me.

• I don't recall ever seeing a sack go for a 20 yard loss like the play where Adalius Thomas sacked Favre. That was a pretty spectacular play to take down both Favre and the other Jets defender together.

• Randy Moss wasn't nearly as involved as I thought he'd be and that has me a little concerned, as does the dropped ball in the fourth quarter. Yes, I realize Matt Cassel underthrew the ball but it still hit Moss right between the numbers. If the Patriots want to continue winning, Moss needs to be more involved, and I think he will have some monster games in the next few weeks. This was Moss after the game: "The New England Patriots are 2 and 0. So, all you haters, keep hating. We're coming."

• What happened to Laurence Maroney? He only ran eight times for 16 yards. With some quick math, I figured out that's an average of only two yards a run. Lamont Jordan seems to have taken the starting running back job from Maroney by rushing 11 times for 62 yards. More importanly, I never saw Jordan run into any of his own guys.

• Cassel did a good job protecting the ball and pretty much did what people thought he would do. He finished 16 for 23 for 165 yards. Even though he had no touchdowns, he also didn't have any interceptions.

• Can you imagine if Brady were healthy and played in this game? What would the score have been? 52-10? 60-10? If you're Mangini this morning do you wake up wondering if you'll ever be able to beat the Patriots? I sort of think that Brady could have still played this game with a torn ACL and MCL and won based on how pathetic the Jets looked.

• Here's an interesting note about the salary of Favre: through the first two weeks of the season, Favre has earned $1.41 million in base salary. For the entire 2008-2009 season, Matt Cassel, Matt Gutierrez and Kevin O'Connell will earn $1.16 million in combined base salary. And now that I've thought about it, I think I would rather have Chad Pennington than Favre if I were a Jets fan (thank goodness I'm not because that team is pathetic). The Jets, for the most part, are a young team. Having Favre play quarterback for a year or two is only going to impede the development of another young quarterback. Favre will be long gone when this team is ready to seriously compete for the AFC title and at that point, they may be left with no real options at QB.

• Was the final score of the game a reflection of the Jets being over rated or the Patriots being under rated? I think the Patriots will use the under rated card for the rest of the year to try to get themselves fired up but I also feel like the Jets are way over rated.

• Did you catch the footage of Bob Kraft towards the end of the game? Was he wearing an all white shirt? Apparently his only blue shirt with the white collar must have been at the dry cleaners.

• Up next for the undefeated Patriots are the hapless Miami Dolphins. If you thought the Jets played poorly yesterday, just wait until you see the Dolphins next week. We may actually see Matt Gutierrez come in the game to run out the clock.

Stay tuned for NFL Week 3 Picks Wednesday and my Pats-Dolphins preview Friday or Saturday. I may even throw in a Red Sox update at some point as they march towards repeating as World Champions.

I Think I May Have Been Brain Washed

In the last forty eight hours since Tom Brady collapsed on the field, I've somehow gone from the Patriots being 1-15 this year to them going 11-5. At first, I didn't think a torn ACL was that big of a deal and that Tom Brady would be back after the week four bye. At the latest, I thought he'd be back for the Colts game in week nine. How long does a torn ACL take to heal anyway? But apparently even Brady is human and will miss the rest of the year (I just threw up in my mouth).

So, yes, I officially drank the Cool-Aid that Bill Belichick passes out during practice and am brainwashed into thinking that Matt Cassel is going to go from being the ultimate clip board holder to leading this team back to the Super Bowl even though Cassel hasn't started a game at quarterback since before his high school prom.

Somehow I believe that this is all just part of Belicheat's plan to level the playing field around the NFL. He looks around the league and figures that they have a pancake schedule this year so let's give Tom Brady a year off to hang with Gisele. Remember last year how the Patriots were simply crushing their opponents early on by scores of 52-7 at halftime? Well, now Belicheck wants to show that he can win the close games, too, and do it without Brady. Gotta love a guy up for a big challenge.

So in comes Matt Cassel to save the day, just like Tom Brady did when Drew Bledsoe went down in 2001. I have no doubt that Cassel will be breaking Brady's TD record this year. In fact, I'd be shocked if he isn't already dating some super model. Remember- he's been learning from Brady the last four years.

And for all of the people out there who want to quote Belicheat's record without Brady, which is 42-58, I say it has no relevance whatsoever. Seriously, have you seen the team he was handed in Cleveland? That team stunk and he took them from being a perennial loser to a playoff team. And once that team bolted for Baltimore, it took years for them to be any good again. Same thing when Belichick took over the Patriots- the team was a mess because of what Bobby Grier and Pete 'jacked and pumped' Carroll did with the draft and free agents.

So how are the Patriots going to go 11-5 without Tom Brady. Well, as Mayor Menino would say, "They'll do it with teamwork." Here's what I think:

Kansas City Chiefs W 17-10
@ New York Jets W (Belicheat would rather get caught cheating again than lose this game) 2-0
Miami Dolphins W 3-0
Week 4 Bye Week
@ San Francisco 49ers W 4-0
@ San Diego Chargers W (we own the Chargers) 5-0
vs. Denver Broncos L (Monday night in Foxboro) 5-1
vs. St. Louis Rams W 6-1
@ Indianapolis Colts L 6-2
Buffalo Bills W 7-2
vs. New York Jets W 8-2
@ Miami Dolphins L 8 - 3
vs. Pittsburgh L 8 - 4
@ Seattle Seahawks W 9 - 4
@ Oakland Raiders W 10 - 4
vs. Arizona Cardinals W 11 - 4
@ Buffalo Bills L (starters rest after Patriots clinch a first round bye) 11 - 5

I have no doubt that Belichick probably threw up when he saw Brady go down but I love the fact that he never even went over to check on Brady. It may as well have been the 53rd man on the team being helped off the field for all Belichick cared. And that's the message he sends to the entire team- no one player is any more important than another. If that means using Cassel in an efficient manner that utilizes a lot of short drop passes and screen plays while grounding it out with their running game, so be it. All I know is that this team is still Super Bowl bound.

See, I told you I drank the Cool Aid. In Belichick we trust.

Pats-Chiefs Preview

Now that the preseason is out of the way, the Patriots can get down to business. And just like the Patriots, I'll get right down to business with this preview: I don't care that the Patriots went 0-4 this preseason, which is exactly how I would feel if they were to go 4-0 in the preseason. It means nothing, especially when you have people like Matt Cassel taking snaps as the starting quarterback. Cassel is on this team for one reason and one reason only: he's really good at holding a clip board.

The Patriots' opponent will be none other than the Kansas City Chiefs, who were just awful last year. They ended up 4-12 and finished the year on a nine game losing streak. But the real story is that Herm Edwards is, unbelievably, still their coach and that's never a good thing. When the Chiefs come to town with Edwards as their head coach, they should automatically be disqualified. He reminds me of the dead guy in Weekend at Bernie's with the way he handles game adjustments and play calling. No team with him as the head coach is coming here to beat the (almost) defending Super Bowl Champions. Have I told you I hate the New York Giants? In fact, I hate the San Francisco Giants, too, just because they're also Giants. If my daughter's soccer team is called the Giants this year, I'm holding a protest until it's changed and the shirts are incinerated.

From what I can tell, the Patriots will start the year off by unveling the Perfect Season 19-0 banner at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. Oops, I think it's actually a 16-0 banner but what's the difference, right? Can we watch the tape again and see if they really lost the Super Bowl. Actually, no, I don't think I want to watch the tape again. By the way, unless you're hanging Super Bowl banners, I don't want to hear about 16-0 banners. That's just lame.

Anyway, when the offense for the Patriots steps onto the field on Sunday, number 12 will be there. I don't care what people are saying about Tom Brady's foot/ankle injury. In fact, I have a hard time believing that he's even injured. Somehow, I think Brady's "injury" was Bill Belicheat's sneaky way of getting the Chiefs to feel like they had a chance in this game, which they don't. Let's remember that this is the same Brady who has been listed on the injury report with a shoulder injury for the last four years and yet, has never missed a game or received any treatment for that "injury" either.

The Patriots opened as 14 point favorites in Vegas when it was still questionable if Brady would start. That line has gone up to 16 1/2. Even Vegas doesn't believe Brady is injured.

As for Brady, this reminds me of last season when everone was so concerned about Randy Moss because he missed all of the preseason. Yeah, how'd that work out for him? How about having 98 catches for 1,493 yards and a record setting 23 touchdowns. Not bad for a guy who didn't play in the preseason.

So I don't expect the "injury" to Brady to be a concern going forward. Besides, everyone knows that the only thing that can harm Superman is kryponite and I'm pretty sure there's not much of that stuff around anymore. But the thought does bring up an interesting point. What if Brady does go down with a real injury at some point during the season? I think we could say hello to the 2008 Miami Dolphins, holders of the 1-15 record. For a coach who prepares as much as Belichick does and who is always looking for an edge in every possible category (even if it means cheating), it seems kind of scary that our backup quarterback is Matt Cassel. As for Brady, I have a feeling that he's been practicing his deep routes with Gisele all offseason so I can see him easily going 23-30, 275 yards, 3 touchdowns and that's before he even sets foot on the field.

I do have my concerns on the defensive side for the Patriots, though. Rodney HGHarrison is back again, as is Tedy Bruschi. I thought maybe the Patriots would cut ties with both of them at the end of last year so let's hope they each have another year in the tank. If not, it will still be fun watching HGHarrison trying to get away with late hits. But my real concern on the defensive side is Richard Seymour, who seems to have fallen off the face of the earth in the last year. Either he's hurt or he completely sucks because he's been a nonfactor for too long.

As for the offense, it appears that Belichick is going for the seven man backfield by brining in every available running back. I think the stacked backfield will be good because at some point Laurence Maroney's going to get hurt running into one of his own guys and we need a Lamont Jordan to step in and show him how to be a power back. I think we can expect lots of screen passes out of this offense to help take the pressure off of Moss and Brady and let's not forget about their three tight ends that will start the season on the roster.

While this weekend represents the kickoff of another NFL season, let's not forget that it also represents Bob Kraft returning to show us his unlimited collection of blue shirts with white collars. And if that doesn't get you fired up for football season than nothinig will.

Final score: Patriots 38-10.







And in honor of Herm Edwards, here's one of the oddest conversations I've ever seen. Can you ever imagine Belicheat saying anything like this?

Catching Up With Tom and Bill

You've probably all been wondering what I've been up to the last few months that I haven't been blogging. Well, I'm proud to say that I was jetting around with Tom Brady and Bill Belichick and have some (not-so) exlusive photos from our time together. Now, you may think that the devastating loss to the New York Giants in the Super Bowl would drive these two into the bowels of Gillette Stadium where they would plot and scheme how to become the first team to ever go 22-0 next year on their way to re-breaking every offensive statistic know to man. Well, think again, my good friends, because things aren't always what they seem:

Exhibit A:
Apparently losing the Super Bowl didn't affect Brady too much because here he's seen at some fancy schmancy art opening. I have no clue how Brady could possibly care about anything artsy when the Manning's own the last two Super Bowls. Nice hair, Pat Riley.










Exhibit 2:
The only reason anyone would ever have for wearing such big ugly sunglasses is because you had been lamenting the loss of the Super Bowl for weeks on end. Somehow I don't think that's the case in this photo. I don't care how much you like Gisele, no woman is worth being seen in public wearing those sunglasses. Nice scarf, pretty boy.








Exhibit C:
It was nice to see Brady at one of the Celtics' recent playoff games. Although, I have no clue why he'd be wearing that ridiculous hat. Is it too much to ask for him to wear some home town colors every once in a while?










Exhibit 2:
I was so blindsided by the Yankees hat that I almost didn't realize Brady was wearing white shorts before Memorial Day. I'm no fashion wizard but I think that's outlawed in five or six states.










Exhibit F:
Oh great, here we go again with the white shorts. Umm, note to Tom- no one wears flip flops to play golf.








Exhibit E:
This photo was snapped at a recent opening of the Ermenegildo Zegna store. And no, I have no clue what that store sells nor do I care. My only concern is that Brady is standing next to Eli Manning and somehow Manning survived. The fashion faux paus are one thing but standing next to Eli Manning is another. What's next, the Manning boys and Brady going camping together? Come on Tom, how about some photos of you studying film, throwing a football or working out (or with your kid).

I know what you're thinking- that since Brady is off having a good time, that Belichick must be the one putting in 168 hour work weeks in an attempt to hide video equipment in the opponents locker room or coming up with a better game plan for the last Super Bowl. If that's what you were thinking, you're mistaken.

Exhibit A:
Breaking news Bill: losing the Super Bowl isn't funny and neither is your girlfriend or your two kids. At least you're not wearing a Knicks hat.










Exhibit B:
I'm not sure if Belichick is actually kissing this lady or competing in a competition to see how far away from someone he can stand and still have their lips touch. I'm thinking it's the latter. That's what I love about Belichick. Always competing. There's literally no other contact going on- sort of how Rodney HGHarrison plays defense.





Exhibit 3:
This is more like it, Bill. Now could we get some photos of you doing some legal football stuff, too?

David Slays Goliath

Well, it's taken nearly two days for me to come out of my shock-induced coma and start to formulate some type of coherent response to the total and complete destruction of the almost-greatest-team-ever. And you know that if you have to say almost-greatest-team ever, then you're not the greatest team ever. And the Patriots put that on full display Sunday night in Super Bowl XLII. I give full credit to the New York Giants for winning this game. They came in as huge underdogs with very few people picking them to even stay close in this game. By all accounts, the game was viewed as more of a coronation for the Patriots than an actual contest. And yet, the Giants controlled the tempo from their opening drive, implementing an incredible game plan and completing a two minute scoring drive that I'll probably be subjected to see for years to come, similar to the ball going through Bill Buckner's legs. I feel sick.

Here are my thoughts on the game while wondering if I should have turned off the TV after my son threw up on my Red Sox Championship shirt in the middle of the fourth quarter:

∙ I saw zero emotion on the Patriots as they were introduced and that had me worried right away. You've got Alice Cooper blaring over the loud speakers as you're being introduced for the biggest game of your life and you come walking (yes, walking) out of the tunnel like you're on your way to the gas chamber. I remember back at the 2001 Super Bowl how prior to being introduced as a team Tom Brady was standing in the tunnel, jumping up and down and then he inexplicably starts headbutting one of the players next to him and everyone is getting fired up, including the guy he's headbutting, which turned out to be Drew Bledsoe. I saw none of that type of emotion before or during the game. Brady did have a nice new haircut, though. Is it just me or is he kind of a girly man?

∙ That was an incredible opening drive by the Giants. While they only scored three points, they held the ball for more than nine minutes or 15 percent of the entire game. Again, they cut to Brady on the bench a few times and he looked totally emotionless. His hair still looked good, though.

∙ Belichick definitely could have benefited from having an illegal video tape of the Giants' walk through practices because he was totally and completely out coached in this game. Did he spend the two weeks before the Super Bowl in Mexico partying with Jessica Simpson? Seriously, what gives with his game plan and in-game coaching? That was by far one of the worst coaching jobs I've ever seen. It rivals Grady Little leaving Pedro in the game in the 2003 ALCS against the Yankees. Let's have a recap of some of his blunders:

1. Going for it on fourth and 13. Statistically, fourth and longer than 10 yards is successful 18 percent of the time. Statistically, kicking a 48 yard field goal is successful 55 percent of the time. Why not attempt the field goal on a dry field, indoors with no wind and a kicker who was booting them from 55 yards prior to the game. That's poor coaching with a little bit of arrogance mixed in. When you do stuff like that, you deserve to lose by three points.

2. I guess if your original game plan is to establish a running game that's fine, even though I don't understand why you would do that with Brady and company. But after the first half when your team and, especially your quarterback, was taking a beating, I think you need to start making some adjustments. I saw nothing different in the game plan in the second half, which is fine if you're playing to lose. In all, Brady was sacked five times and knocked down an additional 18. Yes, 18. While the fault lies with the offensive line, it would have been helpful to come out in the second half with a different approach, like possibly using the tight end to block or going more to the shotgun offense where you only need a two or three step drop to get rid of the ball. I can't even remember the last game that Belichick was so completely outcoached.

3. Hey, I understand that the Giants technically had too many guys on the field during the Patriots' punt but he had absolutely no bearing on the play. That's just petty on Belichick's part. When you do stuff like that, you deserve to come away with zero points.

4. What the crap is Ellis Hobbs doing defending Plaxico Burress in single coverage on the winning touchdown? Either someone missed their assignment or that's poor coaching. Hobbs should never be man to man and now more than 97 million people know why.

5. The Patriots take the kickoff with 35 seconds remaining. Why not let the ball go into the end zone and take your chances from the 20? Instead, Laurence Maroney runs it out of the end zone, hits two of his own guys and then gets tackled, at the 26 while waisting six seconds. And on their final sequence, with three timeouts, why are the Patriots throwing deep? Why not try a few crossing routes to Welker or Faulk that go for 15-20 yards each? Remember, we didn't need to score a TD there. We just needed a field goal. Although, with Belichick passing up on the previous field goal, I'm seriously wondering if they even activated him for the game.

6. I've never seen Belichick wearing that red shirt before. What was he thinking? Where was the hoody? Red may work for Tiger on Sunday but it doesn't work for Belichick. Not to mention that he looked ridiculous in it.

7. The only explanation that I can think of for Belichick leaving the field, and his team, with one second remaining is that he's a sore loser. He was clearly told to go back to the sidelines for the final play and he ignored the referee. On a night when he was clearly out coached and his team clearly out played, Belichick was also out classed. If the situation had been reversed and Tom Coughlin pulled that stunt, the Patriots would be talking about how disrespectful it was for decades to come. That was flat out classless.

∙ The officiating crew did an exceptional job in this year's Super Bowl. There can't be any finger pointing, plays that could have been called either way or phantom calls that cost one team the championship.

∙ I've seen enough of Peyton Manning to last me a lifetime. Seriously, did we need to see him after every one of Eli's complete passes? I'm not sure if it was Joe Buck or Troy Aikman but I also don't believe that Peyton is happier watching his brother win the Super Bowl than he was winning it himself last year.

∙ The Giants drive that won the game was pretty unbelievable. The Patriots had three chances to pick off Manning, the easiest one being dropped by Asante Samuel. I still have no idea how Manning escaped the grasp of several Patriots to get the pass off to David Tyree. More importantly, I have no idea how Tyree comes down with that catch.

∙ Wow, Tom Petty as the half time entertainment. I didn't even know he was still alive until they announced him. How about 'Free Fallin' as the new theme song for the 2007 Patriots?

∙ In general, the game had very little flow to it and the fault lies with the NFL and the network, FOX. Case in point, at the end of the first quarter, there is a four minute commercial break. The Patriots score from the one yard line on the first play of the second quarter, followed by the extra point. Then there's another four minute commercial break. After this break, the Patriots come back and kick off to the Giants. Following the kickoff, there's another four minute break. That's a total of three plays that took a combined 20 seconds mixed in with 12 minutes of commercials. That's a ridiculous amount of time between plays and the NFL needs to step in and fix it. And please don't tell me that advertising revenue is at stake when every third commercial is for a show that airs on FOX.

∙ The Giants were 8-16 on third down conversions. Third downs have been the Patriots' Achilles heel all year and they couldn't step up and shut down the Giants on third downs in the Super Bowl, either.

∙ In the past, people have watched the Super Bowl for the commercials. And if that's the case, you have to be disappointed. I don't understand the selling point of half of these commercials and have a hard time imagining an ad agency being able to convince an executive team that screaming squirrels would make a good ad campaign. I don't recall seeing one commercial for a product that I purchase and that makes me kind of happy.

∙ Those Giants sure are a resilient group. Thanks for giving me the definition, FOX.

∙ I have a feeling that the Patriots will be a much different group next year. I'm even thinking that Randy Moss won't be back. He was pretty non-existent in the playoffs and only had a TD catch in the Super Bowl because the defender fell down. And when was the last time you saw him coming across the middle of the field, like Wes Welker? Donte Stallworth will certainly be cut because of his salary cap number and I'm not sure they'll bring him back at a reduced cost. Asante Samuel, who I think is over rated to begin with, may have purchased his ticket out of town with the dropped interception on the Giants' last scoring drive. Rodney HGHarrison, Junior Seau and Tedy Bruschi are all getting old, have a ton of regular season and post season mileage and they may have played their last games for the Patriots. Mix in the fact that the Patriots' secondary wasn't very good to begin with and they have some serious rebuilding to do.

∙ The Patriots are already 2-1 odds to win the Super Bowl next year, the Giants are 10-1. I can easily see the Giants going the route of the 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers, who won the Super Bowl and then missed the playoffs the following year. The Giants play in a tough division and I have a hard time believing that all will be peachy keen with Coughlin, Manning and the New York fans and media again next year if they get off to another 0-2 start.

∙ Somewhere, Don Shula and his 1972 Miami Dolphins are still sipping champagne.

∙ Pitchers and catchers report to spring training in two weeks. There is light at the end of the tunnel.

Stay tuned in the days and weeks ahead as I continue to relive the current misery and begin the countdown to the start of America's past time.

Super Bowl XLII Preview, Part IV

Well, I was going to try to get to Part XLII of my Super Bowl coverage but IV is as far as I'm taking it. I'm not a Giants fan by any stretch of the imagination (as if you couldn't tell) and even I'm feeling depressed for the whupping that I believe the Giants are going to be taking come Sunday night. I've compared the quarterbacks, the defense and the offense of each team and the Patriots have an edge in each of those categories.

Now I'm going to give some general thoughts on the game that don't quite fit into any one category, as well as my Super Bowl prediction at the end of this column. Just a hint: I'm not picking the Giants.

Let's start with the strength of schedule for each team. The Giants played teams that were a combined 132-124 this year, which is pretty impressive. However, the only team that they beat with a winning record (9-7 or better) were the Washington Redskins 24-17 in week three. They later lost to the 'Skins near the end of the season. The Giants also lost to Dallas two times, Green Bay and the Patriots. Basically, they didn't beat any good teams during the regular season. And no, I don't believe that the Redskins count as a good team.

By comparison, the Patriots played teams that were a combined 120-136 (hey, they can't help it if they have to play the Dolphins twice a year). As you may recall, the Patriots won all 16 of their regular season games against teams like San Diego (38-14), Washington (52-7), Dallas (48-27), Cleveland (34-17), Indianapolis (24-20), Pittsburgh (34-13) and the Giants (38-35). That's seven wins against quality teams for the Patriots as opposed to one win against a quality opponent by the Giants. Record aside, who's played best when it's mattered the most against quality opponents? I'd say the Patriots have by a margin the length of the Mississippi River.

So now let's take a look at the coaching matchup, where Tom Coughlin comes in as a career 103-89 coach for a .536 winning percentage and 7-6 in the playoffs over a twelve year span. Bill Belichick's coaching career spans 13 years with a 127-81 record for a .611 winning percnetage. However, in his last eight years with New England, Belicheat is 91-37 for a .711 winning percentage and is 14-2 in the playoffs, including three Super Bowl titles. Equally as important, since coming to New England in 2000, Belicheat has a 12-2 record when coaching after an off week. Those two losses came in the 2001 and 2002 seasons, meaning that the Patriots have won seven straight games under Belicheat when coming off a bye week.

I'm not sure I'm buying into the whole argument that the Giants almost won the season finale when these two teams met in the New York so they only have to make a few less mistakes to pull off the upset of the century. Don't the Patriots also have the same amount of extra time to correct their mistakes, as well? And how long do you think it will be before the Patriots realize that nearly all of their recievers can basically outrun the Giants secondary? Are you confident that with two weeks to prepare for a rematch against the Giants that Belicheat isn't going to draw up some ridiculous play that you've never seen before that will ultimately be the dagger in the Giants' back?

Oh, right, I forgot, the Giants almost beat the Patriots the last time they played. Are you sure? The Patriots turned a 12 point second half deficit into a ten point lead in the fourth quarter before giving up a late TD. And the Patriots ended the game by taking a knee on several straight plays. On their last five possessions of the game, the Patriots punted once, scored three touchdowns and ran out the clock as time expired. Are you sure it was that close of a game?

In their last meeting, it should also be noted that Laurence Maroney ran 19 times for 46 yards in one of his worst showings in the second half of the season. But do you know one of the reasons his output was so low? You're probably thinking it was because of a tenacious Giants defense but it's not. It's because three integral elements of the Patriots rushing game were inactive for that game, including the entire right side of the offensive line, Nick Kaczur and Stephen Neal, as well as tight end Kyle Brady, a blocking specialist. And it should also be noted that the Patriots held Giants running back Brandon Jacobs to 67 yards in that game, as well.

I've heard a lot of people compare this Giants team to the 1985 Patriots team. For those of you who don't remember, the 1985 Patriots went on the road and won three playoff games against the New York Jets, Oakland Raiders and Miami Dolphins. They had no business winning any of those games, especially in Miami where they traditionally played terrible. That was the start of the Squish the Fish phrase, which came with a complete line of clothing, as well. Picking the Patriots to win in Miami in the 1980s was sort of like expecting the current New York Giants to go into Green Bay two weeks ago and win. That's how big of a win it was for the Patriots. My, how the Dolphins have fallen. The Patriots later played the Chicago Bears in the Super Bowl, in a game that was over by half time, and ended up losing 46-10 to a team that was far superior to the Patriots in nearly every facet of the game, much like the current matchup.

I've searched high and low for a silver lining that would allow that Giants to pull off the huge upset and the only thing I can find is an eery similarity between the Giants and the 2001 New England Patriots, who shocked the world by winning the Super Bowl over the greatest show on turf, the St. Louis Rams. I remember how everyone was picking the Rams to completely blow out the Patriots but then the team refused to be introduced by name before the opening kickoff, opting instead to be introduced as a team and then we stayed with the Rams for the first half and then we were neck and neck in the second half. We had the ball with under two minutes to play and John Madden was telling the Patriots to run out the clock and take their chance in overtime. But there was Brady, leading the Patriots down the field with the calmness and accuracy of Joe Montana, players were making insane catches while diving out of bounds, the clock was ticking and before we could even fathom what was happening, Adam Vinatieri was kicking a 48 yard field goal to win the Super Bowl and we were all standing on Boylston Street in the freezing cold waiting for the team to drive by on Duck Boats.

Does Eli Manning, the guy who threw 20 INTs this season, have it in him to pull off this upset? Can Tom Coughlin, the coach who was almost fired after an 0-2 start to the season, come up with the blueprint to beat the Patriots and stop this record breaking offense from going down as the greatest team ever? Will Plaxico Burress back up his 23-17 Giants win statement with the game of his life while playing with a swollen knee and bad ankle? Can the Giants pass rush get to Tom Brady and repeatedly force him to make mistakes? Can the Giants defense stop the numerous offensive weapons we have? I say no, emphatically. And if an eery similarity to the New England Patriots team of 2001 is the only thing you've got going for you, I don't see this game ending well for the Giants.

NEW ENGLAND 41 New York 21

Super Bowl XLII Preview, Part III

I've gone through the quarterbacks and the defense of each team in my last two Super Bowl preview posts and, in my opinion, the Patriots come out with the advantage in both categories. However, you're entitled to be wrong by having your own opinion if you so choose. Now I'm going to break down the offense of each team and there's one phrase I'm going to continue to repeat throughout this post (and it's not a good thing if you like the Giants): record setting offense.

On the regular season road to 16-0, the Patriots racked up offense like no team in NFL history. They set the single season scoring record by a team with 589 points, they set the single season touchdown record by a team with 75, their quarterback set a single season TD record, their wide receiver caught the most TDs ever by a wide reciever in one year, and they set the most records ever set in one season. I think that they also set the record for number of 1972 Miami Dolphin players that have embarassed themselves by commenting on the Patriots season.

By comparison, the New York Giants have. . . Ummm, . . . Well, they've. . . ahh . . well they did score 373 points this year. Oh, that's probably not a good example because the Patriots scored over 200 points more than that. Wow, that's a lot of points to score over another team in only 16 games. To be precise, the Patriots actually score 13.5 points more per game than the Giants. And you were wondering why the early Las Vegas lines had the Patriots as +12 favorites. In fact, during the regular season, the Giants outscored their opponents by a combined total of just 22 points. Yes, 22 points over a 16 game schedule. The Patriots, by comparison, outscored their opponents by 315 points. And no, that is not a misprint.

Similar to my observations on each team's defense, I'm going to break down each offense by four categories and their rankings in each category: yards per game, rusing yards, passing yards and average points scored per game. Maybe if you're a Giants fan you don't want to look at these numbers:





Again, sorry for the fuzziness but it's the best I can do. I can't even believe that I'm going to talk about the running game of the Patriots when we have MVP Tom Brady throwing TDs left and right but we have actually developed a legitimate running game lately. Laurence Maroney in the last five games, including the two playoff games, has rushed for 550 yards, an average of 110 per game. In the other 10 games he played this year, he rushed for 529 yards total, for an average of 52.9 yards a game. Double his earlier average and you still don't get to the 110 yards rushing that he's been averaging lately. And that's not even counting the threat that he is out of the backfield on short screen passes where he's able to use his explosive speed more effectively because there are less of his own team mates to run into.

I won't lie to you when I say that the running game of the Giants is a concern to me. Their two feature backs, Brandon Jacobs (1,009 yards rushing with four TDs) and Derrick Ward (602 yards rushing with three TDs) are a formidable duo that have rushed for more than 1,600 yards combined this season. But let's keep in mind that the Patriots, in the last two games, have held Jacksonville, the league's second best rushing team, to 80 yards rushing and then they held San Diego's seventh best rushing attack to 104 yards.

The Giants also have Ahmad Bradshaw out of the backfield and he's somewhat of a wildcard. The Giants mainly use him in the second half of games in the hopes that a defense will be tired down and more likely to miss tackling the semi-elusive Bradshaw. You know what I think, though? There's a reason that he's not the starting running back and it's because he's not very good. The Giants didn't even begin relying on him until the second to last game of the regular season in a snow game in Buffalo. And if the Giants are down by 10 or more, do you really think that the Giants are going to be running the ball?

For wide recievers, the Giants feature Plaxico Burress (70 catches, 1,025 yards, 12 TDs) and Amani Toomer (59 catches, 760 yards, three TDs). I know that Burress had a monster game against the Packers in the NFC Championship Game with 11 catches for 151 yards. But he never found the end zone in the game or any of the Giants' three playoff wins. In fact, in the other two playoff games combined, Burress only had five catches for 43 yards. Burress also has a bad ankle, as well as swelling in his knee, that has prevented him from practicing this week. But apparently his mouth still works because he spouted off about the Giants winning the Super Bowl 23-17. Maybe his brain is also broken because the Patriots haven't scored fewer than 20 points in a game all year. Does he think a suspect defense, one which gave up 38 points to this same team a few weeks ago, is going to somehow contain this offense to 17 points? And he's also assuming that we will be employing the use of a field goal kicker in his final score. I'm not even sure the Patriots invited Stephen Gostkowski, their field goal kicker, to the Super Bowl.

By comparison, the Patriots record setting offense features Randy Moss (98 catches for 1,493 yards and a record setting 23 TDs), Wes Welker (league high 112 catches for 1,175 yards and eight TDs), Donte Stallworth (46 catches for 697 yards and three TDs) and even Jabar Gaffney (36 catches for 449 yards and five TDs). Whew, that's a lot of catches, a lof of yards and a lot of TDs.

I understand that Randy Moss has been completely neutralized in the first two games of the playoffs and that has me a little concerned. But the goal isn't to make sure that Moss gets thrown the ball a certain number of times. The goal is to win and the Patriots have done that, convincingly.

Tom Brady said that, "I thought San Diego played extremely well. I think Jacksonville did a great job. I'm sure that Randy was a big point of emphasis. I'm sure for the Giants he'll be a big point of emphasis . . . but I never lose track of him." That's right, he never loses track of him. Look for Moss to go deep early and often in the Super Bowl because we all know that the Giants don't have the speed or talent to keep up with him.

And, just for fun, let's say that the Giants do limit Moss during the Super Bowl. Who's stopping Welker? Who's stopping Stallworth? Who's going to guard against Maroney, who's had a huge month? Who's going to keep track of Kevin Faulk and make sure he doesn't stick a dagger in your back when you're not looking? Who's going to keep track of Jabar Gaffney, who has caught some huge touchdowns for the Patriots this year? Who's going to stop Mike Vrabel when he lines up as a tight end? Did you know that the Patriots also have one of the best tight ends in all of football in Benjamin Watson? Who's going to guard Watson while the rest of the defense is running around like chickens with no heads trying to figure out if they should cover Moss deep or let him go in the hopes that it's a play designed for Welker coming over the middle? Pick your poison because this team has too many weapons to be stopped by a middle of the road defense. Case in point:



Now I know that you're thinking that the offense of the Patriots has trailed off recently and you know what? You're right. In their first nine games, they scored 355 points, which was by far the most in the league and nearly as many as the Giants scored the entire year. However, over their last nine games, including the playoff games against Jacksonville and San Diego, the Patriots scored 286 points, down significantly from their first nine games but still best in the league over that time frame. Know what else? Every single one of their last nine games was played outdoors, in the Northeast, where rain/sleet/snow/wind/cold played a factor in almost every game. Super Bowl XLII is being played in Arizona in a stadium with a retractable roof that features what the league is calling a fast track, meaning the speed of New England recievers is going to be put on full display. If I were the Giants, I would be afraid, very, very afraid.

So now that we've established that the Patriots have the much better quarterback, a better defense and a far superior offense, I'll be breaking down some intangibles in the next Super Bowl XLII Preview where I'll even make my pick and scoring prediction. Stay tuned.

A Little Super Bowl Humor

Three quarterbacks, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning and Tom Brady, go to heaven to visit God and watch the first-place Celtics play a game. God decides who will sit next to him by asking the boys a question...

God asks Peyton Manning first: "What do you believe?"

Peyton thinks long and hard, looks God in the eye, and says, "I believe in hard work, and in staying true to family and friends. I believe in giving. I was lucky, but I always tried to do right by my fans."

God can't help but see the essential goodness of Peyton, and offers him a seat to his left.

Then God turns to Eli Manning and says, "What do you believe?"

Eli says, "I believe passion, discipline, courage and honor are the fundamentals of life. I, too, have been lucky, but win or lose (and I've lost a LOT), I've always tried to be a true sportsman, both on and off the playing fields."

God is greatly moved by Eli's sincere eloquence, and he offers him a seat to his right.

Finally, God turns to Tom Brady: "And you, Tom, what do you believe?"

Tom replies, "I believe you're in my seat."

Super Bowl XLII Preview, Part II

In my earlier Super Bowl preview, I broke down the quarterbacks for the New England Patriots and New York Giants. To no one's surprise, there was a huge edge given to Tom Brady over Eli Manning. Even if you're a crunkid (crazy/drunk/stupid) Giants fan, you have to admit that New England has a slightly better quarterback. And when I say slightly, I mean slightly by the width of the Atlantic Ocean.

So now that we've agreed on who has the better quarterback, let's move on to a subject that I can't quite get my hands around lately and that is each team's defense. I say that I can't get my hands around this subject because by the way people are talking, I would have guessed that the Patriots defense totally stunk. It just doesn't make any sense to me so I started running the numbers and even I was surpised by what I found.

There are four major defensive categories that are used to judge each team's defense: yards given up, rushing yards allowed, passing yards allowed and points allowed. Here's how the two teams rank head to head:





Sorry for the fuzziness of the graph but cut me some slack here, I'm still learning and haven't quite figured that part out yet. Anyway, the Patriots take three of the four categories and only lose the fourth category in rushing yards allowed by .6 yards a game. Like I said, I just don't understand why the Patriots defense is getting such a bad wrap lately. Are we as good as we were in 2001 or 2003 when we had to rely on the defense much more because we had a sketchy offense, at best? I'd definitely say no but we're also a much different team than we were then, which was comprised of guys like David Givens, Deion Branch, Troy Brown, Patrick Pass, Doug Gabriel, Christian Fuaria and Reche Caldwell playing way too many offensive downs for us. So the defense doesn't need to be great, even though it's the fourth best overall in the league based on the number of points given up. And do I need to point out that the Giants, on average, give up nearly five more points per game than the Patriots? But by the way everyone is talking, I would have thought that the Giants were lining up a bunch of Lawrence Taylor's on defense.

To get a little better sense of where I'm going with this, I went back and looked at just the last five games of the year for each team so that I could put this into a little bit better perspective. I added up the number of points each team has given up and came up with 110 points given up by the Giants and 84 points given up by the Patriots, which means that the Giants are allowing 22 points a game (on par with their season average) the last five games while the Patriots have averaged 16.8 points given up per game over that same time frame which is actually slightly better than their overall season average.

I'm not sure how valid my next argument is in the grand scheme of things but I was trying really hard to find some type of silver lining in the stats that would help me better understand why people think that the Giants have the far superior defense. Here's what I did- I added the ranking of each of the four defensive categories together for a big picture view. The Giants total was 43, while the Patriots total was 20, which would benefit the Giants if the object were to have a high score. However, the objective is to have the lowest score so once again I'm left believing that the Patriots have the superior defense. It's also worth noting that there's quite a big difference between 20 and 43. Although, again, I'm not quite sure how valid that overall argument is.

I've said before that I'm extremely concerned about our secondary giving up big plays, especially on third down. And especially to mediocre quarterbacks who tend to have huge games against us. I've mentioned that these guys have looked like they're getting old before our eyes, especially Rodney HGHarrison and Tedy Bruschi. But we also feature an incredible pass rush that features Richard Seymour, Jarvis Green, Adalius Thomas and even a blitzing HGHarrison who can come in a get a sneaky sack or steal an interception just as easily as he can make late hits out of bounds.

To be honest with you, I really feel like I'm going easy on the Giants here, too. I mean, their opponents average 207 yards passing against them while the Patriots average 295 yards passing a game. I don't see that adding up to a good thing for the Giants, especially when you factor in the play of each team's quarterback and the amount of playoff experience they have.

In the next few days I'll have a comparison of the offense for the Patriots and Giants, including putting the running games head to head, as well as the wide receivers. I've started doing some of the research on this one already and it's not looking good for the Giants (this is turning into a running theme, I think). Stay tuned.

Super Bowl XLII Preview, Part I

The two week break between Championship Sunday and Super Bowl Sunday is living up to the hype as being one of the worst stretches in all of sports. There's no football games to preview, baseball is still a month away from Spring Training and the C's are suddenly looking like the C's of old and are currently in a 4-4 stretch against some of the worst teams in the NBA.

With little relevant to talk about, I thought I'd start breaking down the Super Bowl preview with some cold, hard facts. I'm not really sure what's going on in the world today but somehow people are starting to jump on the New York Giants' bandwagon. That's fine with me if you want to cheer for the future loser of Super Bowl XLII but consider yourself warned.

To start off my series of Super Bowl previews, I thought I'd do a quick quarterback comparison. And I already know what you're thinking- Tom Brady is a far superior quarterback than Eli Manning and you're right. Is another Manning really in the Super Bowl? This really is Bizarro world. Anyway, while I will eventually get to the head-to-head Brady/Manning comparison, here are some numbers for you to divulge while wondering if it's really a good idea to get a huge Giants tattoo on your chest:

Quarterback Number 1: 262-480 for a 54.6 completion rate, 3,193 yards passing, 23 TDs and 20 INTs for a QB rating of 73.9.

Quarterback Number 2: 297-529 for a 56.1 percent completion rate, 3,336 yards passing, 23 TDs and 20 INTs for a QB rating of 73.9 QB.

You can probably guess that neither of those quarterbacks are Tom Brady. What you probably didn't know is that quarterback number 1 is Rex Grossman from 2006, while quarterback number 2 is Eli Manning from 2007. Just a guess on my part, but there is no way that anyone can possibly feel good about their starting quarterback being compared to Rex Grossman.

Does anyone remember the year Grossman had last year? Well, let me remind you- he was mired in a QB controversy the entire year because of his shaky play and the only thing that allowed him to keep his job was that the defense of the Bears was phenomenal the entire year, carrying the team for games at a time. That is, until they ran into a juggernaut of an offense in the Indianapolis Colts and got destroyed in the Super Bowl by a score of 29-17.

And in case you're wondering, Grossman was 20-28 for 165 yards, one TD and two INTs in the Super Bowl. I think that Eli Manning would be lucky to have numbers that good against the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

So, now let's get to the real quarterback comparison.

Quarterback Number 1: 398-578 for a 68.9 percent completion rate, 4,806 yards passing, 50 TDs and eight INTs for a QT rating of 117.2.

Quarterback Number 2: 297-529 for a 56.1 percent completion rate, 3,336 yards passing, 23 TDs and 20 INTs for a QB rating of 73.9 QB.

I hope I don't need to tell you that quarterback number 1 is Tom Brady and quarterback number 2 is Eli Manning, once again. Beyond the fact that they both play quarterback, there's really not much of a comparison, is there? I think that Brady has more in common with Luke Skywalker than he does with Manning. Brady threw for nearly 1,500 yards more than Manning and you could double Manning's number of TDs and still be four shy of how many Brady threw. Coincidentally, you could also double the number of INTs that Brady threw and still be four shy of the number that Manning threw. And Brady's QB rating was more than 40 points higher.

Everyone is also talking about how great Manning has been the last three games and I will give him credit for those wins. He's managed the games against Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay especially well while not throwing any interceptions during that time. But he's only thrown four TDs in those three games. Brady, in two playoff games this year, has thrown five TDs.

I'd also like to remind everyone that this game will be played in warm weather, which the Patriots haven't seen since they played on a clear night in Buffalo, winning 56-10 on November 18. Since then, they've played in snow, sleet, rain and freezing cold in just about all of their last eight games. In a stadium that is expected to be dry and warm, Brady will be able to once again go deep at will. Do you remember the record breaking play where Brady threw his 50th TD and Randy Moss caught his record breaking 23rd TD? If not, it's the one where the play before, Moss got wide open a dropped a sure TD. The very next play they ran the exact play and Moss again burned his man for the TD. Look for that play early and often in Super Bowl XLII.

So, take heart, Giants fans, you're basically going into Super Bowl XLII with Rex Grossman leading the way. I have a feeling some of those bandwagoners may be jumping ship soon.

Much more to come next week where we'll break down each offense and each defense. If you're a Giants fan thinking that you'll have a possible chance to redeem yourself in those categories let me warn you- it's going to get ugly. And I'll wrap the Super Bowl hype up with a final pre-game rundown complete with my predicted score.