Super Bowl 2012: Making a Case for the New York Giants

Super Bowl XLVI has the potential to go down as one of the best ever.

Both teams have played very close games the last two times they faced each other, with the combined deficit being seven points.

Many people are giving the New York Giants a great chance of winning this Sunday.

The Patriots have a high-powered offense led by quarterback Tom Brady, while the Giants will rely on their stout pass rush and hot play from Eli Manning.

While New England may be the favorite to win the game according to the oddsmakers, here are the reasons why I think New York will win its second Super Bowl title in five years.

Defenses Still Win Championships

As the old saying goes, "defense wins championships," and if the Giants want any shot at beating New England, they will need to continue their solid defensive play that has had them rolling through the playoffs.

The New England offense struggled against a very good defense two weeks ago in the AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens. I think the Giants defense is even better than that of the Ravens, and it will not surprise me to see this unit have better success against New England.

What makes New York's defense so good is the pass rush. By only rushing four defensive linemen, other teams are forced to get pressure on their linebackers and their corners.

New England likes to run short routes in its passing game.  This will help the New York linebackers stay up towards the line of scrimmage, and it will allow the corners to stay back in coverage.

Getting a great pass rush to Brady will be key.  It will allow the Giants to get some big sacks, setting up the offense with great field position.  If New York can win the field position battle, it will be in business.

You Can't Spell Elite Without ELI

There is no nice way to say this, so I am just going to come out and say it: New England's defense is just plain terrible. During the regular season it ranked 31st in total defense and 31st against the pass.

New England fans may be thinking that their defense has possibly turned the corner in the playoffs, but it is hard to say.

On one hand, the Pats had it easy against Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos in the Divisional game, but on the other hand they let Baltimore's Joe Flacco throw for over 300 yards.  And if Ravens wide receiver Lee Evans holds on to the ball for a touchdown in the closing seconds of the AFC Championship game, we wouldn't even be talking about this.

Eli Manning is better than those two quarterbacks combined and has quietly become one of the best quarterbacks in the game right now.

Manning threw for personal records this season, he was accurate, didn't throw into bad situations and rarely turned the ball over.

If New England continues to struggle to defend the pass, Manning will have his way, and I think he will be the difference in this game.

The Run Game

New York's run game was bad in the regular season. 

How bad was it?

Dead last in the NFL.

But things have changed for the better in the playoffs.  In the playoffs, they look like they have turned it around, using Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs effectively.

I don't think New England will be able to stop New York on the ground.  If the Patriots sell out against the run, it will leave less men in coverage for the Patriots, allowing Eli Manning to have a field day.

Having the running game working will allow the Giants to control the clock and the game, and hopefully for them, lead to a victory.

Turnovers Will Be a Huge Key

If there's one thing that has been a common theme in every game in this year's playoffs, it has been the turnover battle.

New England struggled and turned the ball over more than the Ravens in the last game, but Baltimore didn't have the offense to get it done like New York does.

I think New York's defense is playing at an even higher level than Baltimore's was in the AFC title game, and will create a bunch of turnovers by New England on Sunday. This team is great at getting to the quarterback, and I believe Tom Brady will throw at least two picks in the big game.

The Giants, on the other hand, just don't turn the ball over. With New England having such a bad defense, I don't see New York turning the ball over at all on Sunday. They can score off of New England's mistakes, and make it difficult on the Patriots.