Super Bowl Predictions 2012: Why the New York Giants Are Guaranteed to Win

It's the 2007 NFL season all over again—or at least it seems that way.

The New York Giants, a team that did little to inspire during the regular season, got their collective acts together just in time for a late-season push that saw them win the NFC East divisional title and reach the playoffs for the fifth time in seven seasons.

Just as in 2007, the Giants started their year 6-2 and followed that up with a shaky second half of the season.

Unlike 2007, the Giants followed up those first eight games with four straight losses before winning three of their last four games. The first time around, the Giants' second half of the season was much more up-and-down.

However, the result is the same—the Giants are the NFC's representative in the Super Bowl and they will once again face the New England Patriots, this time in Indianapolis, Indiana.

In 2007, the New England Patriots seemed unstoppable. They went 16-0 in the regular season and were heavily favored to end the year with a perfect record and a Super Bowl victory.

However, that all changed when they met the Giants defense, one that ranked 17th in the league in points allowed and seventh in yards.

This year, the Giants defense is not as strong, ranking 27th in yards allowed and 25th in points, but has improved as the season progressed. In their three postseason games, they gave up just 39 points, including holding the high-scoring Green Bay Packers to just 20 points in the divisional round.

New York quarterback Eli Manning is having a far better season in 2011 than he had in 2007. That year he had 3,336 passing yards, 23 touchdowns and 20 interceptions in the regular season. This year he threw for 4,933 yards, 29 scores and 16 interceptions.

His only stumble in the postseason came in the NFC championship game against the San Francisco 49ers, where he had trouble scoring points but still managed to throw for 316 yards.

The Patriots defense will be a far easier squad for him to move the ball against than they were in their first Super Bowl meeting. That year the Patriots ranked fourth in both points and yards allowed. This year they're 31st in yards allowed and 15th in points.

It's likely Manning won't have much trouble passing at will when he's up against the Patriots in two weeks. He had 250 yards, two scores and an interception in their Week 9 regular season meeting, and he's only gotten better since then.

The Patriots defense is also prone to giving up chunks of yardage on the ground, allowing the Denver Broncos to gain 144 rushing yards in the divisional round of the playoffs and the Baltimore Ravens to rush for 116 yards in the AFC championship game.

The Giants ranked dead last in average rushing yards per game this season, but the fact that they boast two effective running backs that will face a Patriots defense unable to consistently stop the run bodes well for the team's chances to gain significant yards—and scores—from their running game.

But it's that ever-strengthening Giants defense that will really clinch the team a Super Bowl victory over the Patriots.

The Giants held the 49ers to just 328 total yards in the NFC championship game, and held them to just one third-down conversion in 13 attempts and allowed a single, three-yard reception to a wide receiver.

Some of that success must be credited to the Niners offense, a unit that hasn't been very productive in scoring touchdowns this season. The Patriots and their many receivers pose a greater threat, to be sure, but the Giants already know how to handle and defeat them.

Looking back to the Week 9 game, it was the performance of the Giants defense that led the team to a 24-20 win. While they gave up 438 total yards, they were able to pick off Brady twice, force him to fumble once and their special teams defense recovered a Julian Edelman fumbled punt return.

Forcing turnovers and putting pressure on Brady will keep New England's point total low, but it's a hard feat to accomplish. They're not going to keep Brady from scoring touchdowns, but they can keep the game close and not allow him to make play after play.

Ultimately, this Super Bowl has every chance to be a shootout as it does to be a lower-scoring contest like it was in 2008.

But pound-for-pound, the Giants field the more well-rounded team. That balance on all sides of the ball will be too much for the Patriots to counter, and the Giants will win their second Super Bowl of the Manning-Tom Coughlin era, once again over New England.