Giants vs Patriots: 3 Storylines the Media Will Hammer Us over the Head with

With two weeks' worth of time to fill between the conference championship games and the Super Bowl, there's going to be a lot of talk about the same topics when it comes to the big game.

It doesn't hurt that this year's Super Bowl is a rematch of the 2008 game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots.

Considering both teams come from major media markets, there's little chance that the NFL media is going to shy away from battering us all over the heads with the same Super Bowl-related topics day in and day out.

Here are three Super Bowl storylines that are apt to be discussed ad infinitum over the course of the coming days.

It's Like It's 2007 All over Again!

Invoking the 2007 NFL season is going to be a major theme of the media coverage headed into this year's Super Bowl, especially when concerning any discussion of the New York Giants.

Just as in 2007, the Giants opened the year 6-2 and then faltered in the last half of the season. In 2007, they were a wild-card team, coming in second to the NFC East-leading Dallas Cowboys. This year, they won the division as a 9-7 team by defeating the Cowboys in Week 17.

In 2007, they closed their season by losing to the New England Patriots 38-35, avenging it by defeating the then-unbeaten team in the Super Bowl.

This season in Week 13, they fell to the Green Bay Packers, Super Bowl favorites and defending champions, 38-35, and then got their comeuppance by beating them in the divisional round of the playoffs.

And in 2007, they made it to the Super Bowl by defeating the Packers in overtime by kicking a field goal, the same outcome in this year's NFC championship win over the San Francisco 49ers.

The only difference this year is how they managed to be such a good team. The first time around, they did so on the strength of their defense and running game, with quarterback Eli Manning looking overwhelmed in many games and playing the role of game manager rather than offensive leader.

This season, the Giants are Manning's team, and his passing ability—in concert with a talented trio of receivers—is what has gotten them to the Super Bowl.

Never mind that just 16 Giants and seven Patriots who played in the 2008 Super Bowl are still with the teams, and never mind that both the Giants and Patriots are far different squads, philosophically, than they were in 2008.

All you're going to hear is that this is like the 2007-2008 season reprised, even though it's 2012 and things have clearly changed.

Eli Manning, Elite Quarterback

What better rhetoric can there be than "You can't spell 'elite' without 'Eli'?"

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has had the best season of his professional career, with 4,933 passing yards for 29 touchdowns and 16 interceptions, and his playoff performance has catapulted him into the upper echelon of active quarterbacks.

He's thrown for 923 yards in three postseason games, for eight touchdowns and just one interception. To say he's on fire would be an understatement, and he has more than a good chance to have an exceptional performance when he faces the New England Patriots and their 31st-ranked pass defense in the Super Bowl.

But in the coming days, you'll be hard-pressed to find a discussion of Manning that doesn't employ the word "elite." Manning himself claimed he was in that category prior to the start of the regular season, and it's something analysts and writers have been invoking for the entirety of the year.

Now, the claim has taken on a life of its own. Yes, Manning is having an elite year, but there are ways to describe what he's accomplished. Unfortunately, none are as punchy as that singular, five-letter word.

Is Tom Brady the Best Quarterback of All Time?

Only two NFL quarterbacks have won four Super Bowls—the San Francisco 49ers' Joe Montana and the Pittsburgh Steelers' Terry Bradshaw.

Common wisdom is that Montana is the best quarterback to play the game, or at least since the merger. However, with a fourth Super Bowl victory, New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady enters that rare company and thus the discussion of whether it's he or Montana who is truly the best of all time.

Brady has been excellent since winning the starting job in 2001, with the Patriots missing the playoffs just twice.

One of those times, the 2008 season, saw Brady sidelined for the entire year with a serious knee injury and backup Matt Cassel managed to lead the team to an 11-5 record, but they didn't earn a playoff berth.

He threw 50 touchdowns in his team's undefeated 2007 regular season and had 5,235 passing yards this year, one of three quarterbacks to throw for over 5,000 yards in 2011.

Throughout personnel changes, shifts in defensive and offensive philosophy and the varying success of the other three teams in the Patriots' AFC East division, Brady's been the one constant—the catalyst for the team's continued success.

He's an all-time great already and a guaranteed Hall-of-Famer. But will he be the all-time best after winning his fourth Super Bowl? We won't know until he does it, but that won't stop the NFL media from asking the question incessantly between now and February 5th.