Super Bowl 2012: Fire Up the Bandwagon for a Giants-Patriots Rematch

All sorts of dynamite went boom in the NFC playoff bracket this weekend. Now that it has, the shape and direction of this NFL postseason has been changed drastically.

A day after the San Francisco 49ers knocked off the New Orleans Saints in one of the greatest football games ever played, the New York Giants knocked off the Green Bay Packers in a game that may be one of the most surprising football games ever played.

The surprising part, of course, is just how human the Giants made the Packers look. They certainly didn't look like the defending Super Bowl champs, nor did they look like a team that went 15-1 during the regular season.

For that, you obviously have to give a whole heaping pile of credit to the Giants. You also have to wonder just what the heck is going on.

Unless you're one of those folks who already knows what's going on.

I've been rejecting the notion for several weeks now, but today's game has converted me. What they are saying is true: I'll be damned if this Giants team doesn't look like the Giants team of 2007-2008.

You know, the eventual Super Bowl champion Giants. The team that knocked off the 18-0 New England Patriots.

When you realize that, you can't help but realize that the Patriots are still alive in the AFC bracket. They're more than still alive, in fact, as they were last seen beating Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos to a bloody pulp in the frigid New England air on Saturday night.

They looked determined. Determined enough, I'll wager, to destroy the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship game to advance to their first Super Bowl since the one that Pats fans would rather not discuss.

If the Giants do the same to the San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship game, we'll have ourselves a rematch.

It's not what I think will happen, mind you, as the 49ers are one hell of a football team, with a defense good enough to beat anybody. They beat the Giants at Candlestick Park during the regular season, and they could very well do so again in the postseason.

But the Giants beating the 49ers and the Patriots beating the Ravens is definitely what I want to happen.

Let's face it. Super Bowl rematches are extremely rare, and Giants vs. Patriots would be a rematch of one of the best Super Bowls of all time. To boot, today's Giants and Patriots teams are largely similar to the two teams that duked it out in Super Bowl XLII.

Well, there is one pretty big difference, and that's the fact that Eli Manning is a much better quarterback now than he was then, when he still managed to get the better of Tom Brady.

If the Giants and Patriots were to meet again, Manning would look to beat Brady again. For his part, Brady would be looking for revenge, not to mention his fourth Super Bowl ring.

You know, the one that the Giants denied him way back in 2008.

To get it this time around, Brady would have to overcome a Giants defensive line that may be even better than the one that battered and bruised him four years ago.

Storylines, storylines and more storylines. That's what we would have on our hands if this matchup actually came to fruition, and then we would probably have a great game when the moment of truth finally came.

You'll have to excuse me for sounding excited. But when it comes to a scenario like this one, shoot, how can you not be?