Wow. I definitely did not expect the Giants to win, but I definitely didn’t expect the game to so entertaining and close. That was the best Super Bowl game I can remember.

The last Giants drive was amazing. It certainly won Eli Manning the MVP award. When he got away from the Patriots pass rush and made the crazy throw to David Tyree. It was such a great catch.

Even though Eli was great in the 4th quarter, it was the Giants defensive front that won the game for the Giants. They definitely tired as the game wore on, but Justin Tuck, Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan deserved the MVP just as much as Manning did.

One thing I love more than anything… I haven’t mentioned the Patriots once. They never established their offense and their defense played well, but didn’t shut the Giants down. The Giants controlled the game from the outset. That’s the most surprising thing for me. It seemed like Steve Spagnuolo and the Giants defense out game-planned the Patriots.

I’m so glad we don’t have to live the rest of our lives having to look back to the 2007 New England Patriots as the best team ever. They just can’t make that claim anymore. And I for one couldn’t be happier.

But this moment is for the Giants. They came out and played a fantastic game. It wasn’t a perfect game, but they were able to control both lines of scrimmage enough to win the game. Everything else was secondary.

Congratulations to the New York Giants… Super Bowl XLII Champions.

After a week of this previewing and hoopla, I’m spent. I think I have enough in me to recap, and then give you my prediction, as well as some of my co-writers here at Vigilante Sports.

• Coaching: Patriots
• Defensive Secondary: Patriots
• Defensive Front Seven: Giants
• Offensive Line: Patriots
• Quarterback: Patriots
• Running back: Giants
• Wide Receiver: Patriots

The Patriots, on paper, will dominate this Super Bowl. They take 5 out of 7 categories here. At the time of writing, the line is Patriots -11.5. Here are our picks.

Jared: Giants and the points
Patriots 24
Giants 17

Kendall: Patriots
Patriots 35
Giants 21

Would love to see your predictions in the comments.

Obviously with 2 wide receivers with 100+ receptions, Randy Moss with the TD record, and someone having to catch Tom Brady’s record setting 50 TD passes, the Patriots are loaded at receiver. Randy Moss leads the bunch, complemented by Wes Welker and Donte Stallworth. The Patriots have 7 wide receivers listed on their depth chart, all of which have started at WR in the NFL. That’s impressive. Sure, Troy Brown and Kelley Washington aren’t great, but they’re really good for your 6th and 7th wide out. Randy Moss has a history of disappearing in the post season, and this season is no different, in the Patriots 2 wins this post season, Moss has 2 receptions for 32 yards. Both catches were for first downs, but neither we touchdowns. Not the kind of production you want from your best WR. Can Moss rebound and change his bad post season rep?

On the Giants side of the ball, the receiver story is all about Plaxico Burress. In the NFC Championship game, he dominated. Amani Toomer, Steve Smith and TE Kevin Boss round out the receiving corps for the Giants. Toomer is a strong possession receiver, and Steve Smith (when he can hold onto the ball) is emerging as a threat. Kevin Boss is a very important part of the Giants passing game. He’ll most likely be matched up with a older, slower LB from the Pats. Look for that to be exploited. Giants recievers are 1-2 in catches in the post season in the NFC (Burress and Toomer). The Giants have had problems with dropped passes all season. That must change if the Giants are going to be able to effectively attack the Patriots through the air.

When a team goes 7 deep at the wide receiver position, I have to give them the edge. Patriots have more, and better wide outs than the Giants.

The Giants running backs averaged 134.2 yards per game and 4.6 yards per carry, that’s 4th in the league. The Patriots managed 115.6 yards per game and 4.1 yards per carry.

The Super Bowl will feature teams that have gotten to this point of the season based on the play of their quarterbacks. The ground game for both of these teams is primarily used to set up the pass. Brandon Jacobs will carry the load for the Giants. In the media he was 265 lbs. last week, and now apparently he’s put on 5 lbs. Either way, he’s HUGE. And he’s a hard-nosed runner. The front-seven of the Patriots will have their hands full trying to bring down Jacobs. Right when they start to settle into his running style though, Kevin Gilbride will shuttle in Ahmad Bradshaw, the shifty change of pace back, to switch things up. Bradshaw is a burner. He’s so small and quick, that he can hide behind his offensive line and dart up the field without the defense even being able to see him.

The Patriots bring a tandem of backs into the game as well. Laurence Maroney and Kevin Faulk will handle the rock for the Pats. Maroney has been up and down this season. I think part of it is due to the Patriots devotion to the pass, but he has been absent for a lot of the season. This post-season Maroney has played well. He won’t be asked to win the game for the Patriots, which is good. He wouldn’t be able to.

As for who has the edge in the backfield, I’d have to pick the Giants. Brandon Jacobs is a load, and they have such a solid change-of-pace, I think it’ll be hard to stop them.

This match up, by far, has the most eyes on it as we head into the Super Bowl on Sunday. All-World Tom Brady vs. Peyton’s little brother. I wish it was that easy.

While Tom Brady is nearly faultless as a quarterback, I think that Eli has rallied his team and taken a leadership role in this run to the Super Bowl. Teams have forced Eli to beat them… and he has. His last 3 games have been, arguably, the best 3 games in his career. With the week 17 loss to the Patriots, the Wild Card win in Dallas, and the Divisional win in Green Bay Eli has quieted his doubters. They haven’t gone away. I haven’t gone away. I’m one of those doubters. I’ve had Eli Manning on my fantasy team the last 2 years. Trust me, he’s disappointing. If Eli plays the way he has played in the last 3 games, the Giants will have a chance to win.

It’s not all on Eli when it comes the Giants offense though. In those 3 games, I’ve seen a lot of dropped balls by Giants receivers. You can’t blame Eli for that… but maybe we should… It’s just easier that way.

I’m not sure what I can add to Tom Brady’s legacy this year (or his career for that matter). He’s done it all. He’s surgical in the way he approaches a game. He rarely makes mistakes and he can make all the throws. He has all the weapons a quarterback could want. That doesn’t always work out for teams. But this year, Brady took full advantage of his supporting cast to light up the record books.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t “like” Tom Brady. But he’s a hell of a quarterback. Brady has got to get the nod. Even if Eli plays out of his mind, he’s still not breathing the same air Tom Brady does.

The Patriots offensive line has 3 Pro Bowlers, the Giants have zero. However, the Giants did feature the 4th best rushing offense in the NFL, while the Patriots were 13th on that list. Obviously the Patriots were able to figure out how to score other ways (more on that later). The Giants offensive line, specifically Shaun O’Hara has been accused by pretty much everyone in the NFL for being a dirty player. We’ll see if that comes up in the Super Bowl. It probably won’t but I would look for there to be some intense battles on the interior of the offensive line.
In the passing game, the offensive lines have performed similarly. The Giants allowed 34 sacks (1.78 per game) over 19 games this season and the Patriots allowed 24 sacks (1.33 per game) in their 18 games.  I’ll do the math… the Giants allow about a half a sack more each game. I’d say that could prove significant come Sunday.

Both teams need to keep their quarterbacks on their feet. If either offensive line allows pressure on the quarterback, their team will lose. I have to go with the proven, deep Patriots offensive line.

We can split the front seven into two categories, defensive line and linebackers. They’re 2 different stories. The Patriots feature a linebacking corps with surefire Hall of Famers in Junior Seau and Tedy Bruschi. They line up next to Mike Vrabel, and Adalius Thomas. In terms of experience and talent, the Patriots linebackers have it all.

The Giants linebackers have a less impressive pedigree. The unit is lead by MLB Antonio Pierce and Kevika Pittman. The Giants linebacks have range, and youth on their side. Besides that, they pale in comparison with the Patriots.

On the defensive line, the Giants measure up a little more favorably. The D-line is undoubtedly one of the strengths of the Giants defense. Defensive ends Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck all have motors that don’t quit. They love getting to the quarterback. When Michael Strahan is your 2nd or 3rd best pass rusher, you know you have a squad. The Giants definitely do. They also bring Fred Robbins and Brandon Coefield up the middle at defensive tackle. These guys take up space, and allow the ends to do their thing.

The Patriots D-line isn’t shabby by any means, Richard Seymour, Vince Wilfork, and Ty Warren can handle theirs, but they’re just not as disruptive as the Giants line.

Overall, I have to give the Giants Defensive front seven the edge against the Patriots. The dominant defensive line play of the Giants overshadows the leadership of the Patriots linebackers.

Now we get the guys who have to cover the likes of Randy Moss, and Plaxico Burress. No fun, especially not in a Super Bowl. This is where you can get burned, and have to live with it the rest of your life. If you get torched in a regular season game, people will probably forget about it after the next game, or at least after the next season. Get lit up in the Super Bowl, and you will never live it down.

The Giants come into the Super Bowl banged up in the secondary. Sam Madison, Kevin Dockery and Aaron Ross were all listed on the injury report heading into the NFC Championship game. The Giants will need all them at the tops of their game to match up with Moss, Welker, Stallworth and the rest of the people the Patriots throw at you.

The Patriots have the luxury of locking Asante Samuel on Plaxico Burress. Samuel is a Pro Bowl corner who is very opportunistic. If he can make a play on the ball, he will. Also in the defensive backfield, the Patriots have veteran leadership from Rodney Harrison. He’s often called the dirtiest player in the NFL, but he has been at it a long time, and he knows how to play safety.

I think the battle of who can stop the other teams as they try to stretch the field with the pass, will factor heavily in who wins the game. I have to pick the Patriots over the hurt and undermanned Giants.

It’s almost unfair for anyone to coach against Bill Belichick in a Super Bowl. He is the master tactician. He game plans to expose the other team. He did it every week this season, and now, for the Super Bowl he has 2 weeks to get the game plan right.

On the other sideline will be red-faced, and always red-assed Tom Coughlin. The man always seems he’s about millisecond away from a heart attack, but to his credit he has rallied his troops this year against all kinds of odds and scrutiny. The team lost their best rusher (Tiki Barber), and the Giants offense outperformed the squad from last year. On the coaching side Kevin Gilbride is to thank for that performance. The Giants defense has played very well, especially of late. They have had to contend with major injuries in the secondary, and on the defensive line earlier in the season. If Giants Defensive Coordinator Steve Spagnola can devise a scheme to stop the Patriots offense in the Super Bowl, he deserves any head coaching position that’s offered him. Quite frankly, I wouldn’t be opposed to him taking over for Lovie Smith. But that’s a different story.

On the Patriots sideline, everything runs through Coach Belichick. He’s the boss. Defensive Coordinator Dean Pees, and Offensive Coordinator Josh McDaniels lead their respective sides of the ball, but in the locker room and meeting room, I’m sure there is no doubt that Belichick is the unquestioned leader. In the past few years Belichick has lost his coordinators to other job openings, Charlie Weis to Notre Dame and Eric Mangini to the Jets. So he’s brought in new guys to run both sides of the ball.

Despite my love of watching to see if Tom Coughlin is going to blow a gasket each game on the sidelines, I have to give the edge to the Patriots and Bill Belichick.

As the hype of Super Bowl week starts to really get into high gear, we here at Vigilante Sports will do our best to inundate you with worthless knowledge and previews. We’ll try and stay away from the size and style of Tom Brady’s “boot”, or where he is dining in NYC. We’ll try and stick to the actual game of football that will be played in Glendale, AZ this Sunday.

We’ll look at the coaches, the offensive lines, the receivers, the running backs, the quarterbacks, the front seven, the secondary and all this hype and analysis will culminate with a prediction. Exciting, I know… we’ll try and get all the contributors here to give their predictions.