Super Bowl 2012: Will New York Giants vs. New England Patriots Be a Shootout?

It's Tom Brady versus Eli Manning. It's the New England Patriots' pass defense. Is there any way the 2012 Super Bowl doesn't turn into a shootout?

It will all start when the Giants have the football.

The Patriots defense is atrocious, ranked at the bottom of the league in terms of yards allowed, and the Giants will likely be able to do whatever they want on the offensive side of the ball. Especially with the way Peyton's brother is playing in the playoffs. Sorry, especially with the way Eli is playing in the playoffs.

The Giants can either throw the ball a ton, score a ton, and rely on their defense going up against one of the best quarterbacks of all time, Tom Brady, a ton. 

The positives of that situation for New York? They score a lot. The negatives? Tom Brady is on the field a lot. He kind of knows how to throw the ball, too.

Or, the Giants can go the other way. Eli can turn around and hand the ball to Ahmad Bradshaw or Brandon Jacobs 20 or 25 times.

If they are able to do that effectively, and that's a big "if," New York won't score as much, but it will keep Gisele's husband off the field. To me, that seems like the best way to play New England.

Everyone assumes they can beat the Pats in a shootout because of their porous pass D, but it just never happens. In reality, you have to keep it low scoring.

But that won't happen.

The Giants have Eli Manning and they believe they can out-score the Patriots. Also, they have defensive lineman like Jason Pierre-Paul, who can do things like this:

He and Osi Umenyiora will get tons of pressure on Brady, so the Giants won't be afraid to let the three-time Super Bowl winner stay on the field. 

We've seen this all year between both of these teams. The Giants and Patriots love shootouts and the Super Bowl is going to be no different.

After college football's "Super Bowl" this year, fans need this.

Bring on the points.