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.

This is a great spoof on the Coors commercials with the always amusing Terrell Owens.

I’ve said it before, multiple times. The NFL Network Sucks! And this time I am not able to watch the beloved Bears because of their greed. It’s one thing to deprive a man of a good football game, it’s another thing altogether to deprive a man of watching the Bears.

Some might say that it’s actually a blessing to not have to watch the train wreck Chicago Bears. They just don’t get it. I don’t watch them because they’re good. I watch them because they’re my team. And tonight… I don’t watch them at all.

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The week of blown opportunities.

Devin Hester might be the best return man in the game, but he’s not even close to the top 4 wide outs that the Bears have. And that is not because the Bears receiving corps is anywhere close to good. They’re not. They’re actually not very good at all. Bernard Berrian is fast but had trouble holding onto the ball (except last week), Mushin Muhammed is old, a step too slow and rarely can be found at the end of a game, Rashied Davies is fast, and might be good (but probably not), Desmond Clark can disappear and Greg Olsen is probably the best threat the Bears have, and he’s a rookie tight end. Throwing Devin Hester in the game expecting that he’s going to make a difference on offense is just silly. He is definitely fast, and has wiggle that you can’t teach, but realistically, he’s Az Hakim. Unless, he can learn how to run routes, run under the ball, and eventually HOLD ONTO IT.

But all that about Devin Hester doesn’t explain the loss to the Giants. I think that Roberto Garza, Terrence Metcalf, John Tait, and John St. Clair might help to explain it, but I haven’t seen them around in a long time. They definitely didn’t show up on Sunday afternoon. Rex Grossman was sacked 6 times, and was under pressure the entire game. The offensive line is the problem with this football team. Even though Adrian Peterson ran well against the Giants, Lovie and Ron Turner didn’t seem to have the confidence to run behind that line very much as the game wore on. Terrence Metcalf cost the Bears at least 2 first downs, possibly 2 touchdowns because he couldn’t get his feet moving to plant his body in between Adrian Peterson and the guys in the white shirts. Perfectly executed screen plays, timed perfectly, called at the right time in the game, but the offensive line could not execute.

Before the game Tom Coughlin mentioned that it was going to be a field position game. It was, and the Bears won it. They did not capitalize. If it wasn’t a sack by the porous offensive line, it was a penalty. Converting any one of their many red zone visits into a touchdown would have iced the game. I’ve said it before and let me say it again. Please don’t think that the position that needs fixing most in the off-season is the quarterback. It’s the offensive line. No doubt about it.

And with that said, I think all Bears fans can look forward to the 2008 season. Because folks… this one is over.

As I’ve mentioned previously, I think the NFL Network is a bad idea that is purely a revenue generation scam by the NFL.

My problem this week is that I actually want to watch the game “featured” on the NFL Network. The Packers vs. the Cowboys is the biggest game this year, this side of the Patriots vs. Colts game a few weeks back. This game means a lot. Granted, it’s only one game, but it is most likely a preview of the NFC championship game. It’s a big deal. And the fat cats over at the NFL probably think that this will prompt the average NFL fan to go out and get the NFL Network. What they fail to realize is that it’s actually pissing off their most loyal fans… again. Cowboys and Packers fans are some of the most loyal, and most annoying (at least to me) fans in the NFL (btw, Oakland gets the nod for the Most Annoying). Just because they’re loyal doesn’t mean they’re going to bow down to whatever crazy idea the NFL has. They’re loyal, they’re not stupid (most of them).
The NFL needs to remember that the fans pay the salaries, and line the lunatic owner’s pocket’s with cash. You don’t need to alienate them. Sell the broadcast rights to a network. Even ESPN, it’s pretty widely available these days.

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The Chicago Bears did not deserve to win on Sunday against the Denver Broncos. The Bears were outplayed on both sides of the ball. The only reason they were even in the game was that Devin Hester is an amazing returner. For some reason, teams think that they can stop him. Todd Sauerbrun said that the Broncos were not going to be afraid to kick to Hester. I wonder if he thought that after the first time Hester ran by him to score on a punt return. Surely it couldn’t happen twice in one game Todd, could it? Well, I’m sure he was thinking that when Hester blew by him on his kickoff return for a touchdown. Truly amazing.

Besides Hester, it seemed like Brian Urlacher and Peanut Tillman are the only Bears who actually want to win the football game. Sure there were good plays by Adewale Ogunleye, and tying touchdown from Grossman to Berrian was a thing of beauty, but none of those players played with a sense of urgency.

I do have to say, Rex Grossman cannot continue to take the fall for the terrible offense. Their offensive line is horrible. HORRIBLE. Rex was running for his life every time he went back to pass. And even though the running backs the Bears throw out there are below average at best, even LT couldn’t run behind that line. I grew weary of watching Adrian Peterson (the bad one) run into the back of an offensive lineman. It’s just not the most productive way to run the football. And the dropped passes? Muhammed, Olsen and Berrian all dropped makable catches for first downs. That’s unacceptable. Grossman is getting the ball there. It’s hitting them in the hands people. Make the catch.

The defense looked lifeless in the first half, and tired in the second. I can’t blame them too much. They’re on the field way too much. I know Ricky Manning Jr. is not supposed to be a number one corner… but he got torched. And torched. And torched. Adam Archuleta can’t tackle, or cover. It turns out safeties in the NFL should be able to do both.

This team is not a playoff team. I know that Lovie thinks that if they run the table, and finish with 10 wins they’ll make the playoffs. If you ask me, they’ll be lucky to win one more game. Oh yeah, Ricky Manning Jr. just got torched again.