It’s been a little over 15 hours since Eli and the mighty New York Football Giants ended the Patriots string of consecutive wins. I cannot be happier at this moment in my football watching history.
On draft day four years ago, when the Giants made a seemingly impossible trade, giving up Phillip Rivers for an unpolished member of football’s royal family, NY had high expectations that this risk would yield a huge reward. At this point, it was seen by many as the most undeserved coup in history. An SEC quarterback with “ok” stats, when you could get another QB who’s just as qualified? And at least you don’t have to give up another pick. This seemed ludicrous, but the G-men's front office knew what it wanted. This didn’t really matter early on though. Eli struggled through his first season, and NY and other media services jumped on his back to bring him down, as he didn’t make the playoffs his first year. The Giants had looked promising behind Kurt Warner, yet put Eli in half way through to allow for "growing pains". To put salt in the wound, the draft pick they surrendered for Eli turned out being Shawne Merriman, who has proven himself as a perennial Pro-Bowler/ steroid user / freak. Eli continued to progress, despite claims of inconsistency. The media continued to put him down as "Peyton's lil bro" and placed him as one who would never reach elite status. The media outlets touted him as trade bait this off-season due to inconsistency and used him as a scapegoat for Tom Coughlin's lack of success in NY. This year, Eli finally started to come into his own. Some struggles, but overall he looked like he had finally developed into the QB they had expected...most of the time. Finally last night, after 3 great playoff games before, Eli reached the top of the football pyramid as the MVP of the Super Bowl Champion NY Football Giants. So to the NY Giants, Eli, Strahan, et al, Congratulations, you deserved it.
On the other side of the field, everyone is trying to figure out what happened. Some have speculated that Spagnuolo (Giants Defensive Coordinator) had several different sets of signals that the Pats couldn’t steal, thus resulting in Belicheats inability to coach around the Giants’ defense. Others simply say the Pats just peaked too early. They had an unconvincing win against a battered Chargers team 2 weeks ago. They barely won against the Ravens and Eagles. Maybe they just couldn’t sustain being that motivated for that long? My theory is that Brady is hurt. He pulled out of the Pro Bowl today. He couldn’t throw the long ball accurately last night for shit(save the one on 3 & 20 that the Giant’s defended). He looked rattled and uncomfortable. He took his licks. There was a period of time where the Pats ran the ball at least 7 plays consecutively. I know the G-Men's D was great. That is a factor. But some of Brady's throws looked like there was a complete lack of communication or Brady just couldn't throw it the way he's used to. I'm picking the latter, and
That being said, Eli Manning is the Super Bowl MVP. The Patriots go 18-1, tying the records of the 1984 49ers and 1985 Chicago Bears (both of whom won the Superbowl btw). I am jubilant to have a championship team in New York again. However, it was a Pyrrhic victory for me this weekend. The gambling site I use crashed as I was placing my bets, so none were entered. I called ¾ picks in my last post (which 20 dollars would have won you 68) and had so much more to bet, that would have won. Alas, I will walk away from the Super Bowl happy with a Giants win, and happy with the 50$ I won, that I had placed on them to win right after they beat the Packers. Bittersweet, almost.
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