Can you imagine the New York Giants with Philip Rivers at the helm, taking on the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau?
What about Eli Manning, trying to lead his San Diego Chargers past the New England Patriots?
That would have made for one strange looking Conference Championship weekend wouldn’t it?
Well we’re not here to play the “What If” game (although it might be fun to play at a later date), and we’re now looking at a rematch of Week 17: the New York Giants against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl Forty-Two (they don’t teach us roman numerals here in Canada, the main downfall of our education system).
For the Patriots, the fact they got here isn’t surprising. Although it was a little nerve-wracking to some (especially for myself and fellow Bleacher columnist Sean-MC, who reverted to talking about baseball two hours before kickoff to quell our worries), the Pats continued to prove on Sunday why they are the best team in the NFL.
After all, not every team can win in the playoffs despite having their all-pro Quarterback throw for three interceptions, or their most prominent receiver held to one catch for the second consecutive game.
And it’s not just like every team can field an offensive line that can keep Shaun Phillips and Shawne Merriman to a combined six tackles, or keep a Chargers offense that averaged 25.8 points per game throughout the season to a measly four field goals.
That’s just what a veteran defense will do for you.
The story all throughout the regular season and heading into the playoffs was that the Patriots defense, namely its line backing core. Some said they were too old, and they were the “weak link in the chain.”
Well all that weakness did yesterday was accumulate 13 tackles, and 10 assists, while the other “greybeard” on this defense, Rodney Harrison, added 4 tackles and 3 assists of his own (and he was able to keep a cool head, and avoid penalties).
It was another greybeard on offense though, that was able to keep the team rolling to the end zone.
Despite everything this team has done offensively this year, Kevin Faulk is almost a forgotten man when Patriots fans think of great offensive performances throughout the season.
However, his football skills, combined with his veteran presence and leadership qualities, provide Tom Brady with a valuable check-down option who’s reliable hands and feet gave the Patriots 265 rushing yards and 383 receiving yards this season.
1 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Sean Crowe about 1 year ago
Roman Numerals aren't the downfall of the Canadian education system, it's the end of your alphabet. You replaced the letter Z with the word Zed. What's next? Mexico replacing the letter N with the word Ned?
I agree Eli isn't putting up big numbers, but the playoffs aren't about numbers. It's defense, running the ball, and not turning the ball over. Eli is doing an unexpectedly bang-up job at not turning the ball over.
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