Super Bowl 2012: Could There Be 1,200 Yards of Total Offense in This Game?

There are many ways to imagine how Super Bowl XLVI plays out. The New England Patriots and New York Giants are two teams we know so much about, yet there are still many unknowns when it comes to how they will look when they face each other on February 5th.

There's reason to believe that this could be a low-scoring contest, as it was the first time these two teams met in the championship game in 2008, which ended with a 17-14 win for the Giants.

But it could also be an offense-heavy affair, one that ends with more than 60 total points scored and more than 1,200 yards of total offense.

Let's examine the latter possibility.

The Patriots fielded the 31st-ranked passing defense in the 2011 regular season, giving up an average of 293.9 yards per game, which included allowing Indianapolis Colts quarterback Dan Orlovsky, the 24th-ranked quarterback of 2011, 338 passing yards in Week 13.

They also allowed Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco to throw for 306 yards in the AFC Championship game, just the fifth time this year Flacco has thrown for more than 300 yards.

At the same time, New England's offense averaged the second-most passing yards per game this season at 317.8, and put up an average of 32.1 points per game, the third-most in the league this year. Quarterback Tom Brady had 5,235 yards in the regular season, the most he's notched in his career.

The Patriots put up 600 or more yards of total offense just one time, in Week 1 against the Miami Dolphins, but it may be necessary for the team to put forth that kind of an effort against the Giants in the Super Bowl.

The Giants offense has also been one of the best in the league this year, particularly in the passing game. They averaged 295.9 passing yards per game in the regular season but ranked dead last in average rushing yards per game at 89.2.

New York may attempt to run the ball against the Patriots in the Super Bowl, but the production of running backs Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs has been unsteady this season. They'll more than likely take to the air in an attempt to exploit the weaknesses in the Patriots secondary.

Giants quarterback Eli Manning has been on fire in the playoffs after throwing for nearly 5,000 yards in the regular season. In three postseason games, he's put up 923 yards with eight touchdowns and just one interception.

He has three talented receivers catching his passes, with Victor Cruz and Hakeem Nicks each having postseason games with well over 100 receiving yards.

The Giants defense is looking better now that many of their injured players have returned to the active roster, and they should have success putting pressure on Brady, if his performance in the AFC championship game against the Baltimore Ravens is any indicator.

But Brady is extremely talented and very experienced. It's not likely he'll be caught in that situation for a second consecutive game with the Lombardi Trophy on the line.

Brady will be under pressure, to be sure, and he's not likely to escape from Indianapolis without taking a few sacks, but Brady's adept at reading defenses and making quick adjustments, and those skills will be particularly on display against the Giants.

If he can evade pressure, it's going to be hard for New York to prevent him from making big plays down the field. He's got two game-changing tight ends in Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, a perennial threat in wide receiver Wes Welker and wideout Deion Branch to throw to.

Brady is consistently throwing big downfield completions, and if the Giants secondary cannot keep up, he's going find himself able to pass at will a number of times in this game.

If this game becomes a shootout, then all conventional wisdom about these two teams are out the window. Both teams seem to be on pace to end their seasons with huge output from their respective offenses.

Though the Giants aren't thought of in the same way as the New Orleans Saints and Green Bay Packers were this season (in terms of putting up offensive numbers that look like they belong in a video game rather than on a real-life football field), they are more than capable of matching that kind of production against a secondary as vulnerable as New England's.

It will take a lot of variables to fall into place for the Giants and Patriots to combine for 1,200 total yards of offense in the Super Bowl, but it's certainly possible. If so, it's going to be a wild game full of lead changes, quick scores and big plays—a frenzy of football that could make Super Bowl XLVI highly entertaining to watch.