Super Bowl 2012: Why the Giants' Best Effort Will Be Better Than the Patriots'

Imagine a Super Bowl during which both teams played to the very best of their capabilities, each member of the squad putting forth their best individual efforts of the year.

Should both the New England Patriots and New York Giants manage to do so, it will still be the Giants who emerge victorious.

In most phases of the game, the Giants have been as good as or better than the Patriots this year; the one area in which they lagged—the run game—still gives the Giants an advantage this Sunday, with their backs more dynamic than the crew fielded by the Patriots.

On offense, if both the Patriots and Giants play their very best football, it's almost a wash. Just as the Patriots have a top-level quarterback in Tom Brady and a glut of receiving talent, so too do the Giants.

Instead, it comes down to defense, and the Patriots defense just cannot measure up.

In the secondary, the Patriots field a number of castoffs and also-rans, and have needed to play receiver Julian Edelman as a cornerback to compensate for their lack of depth.

Only safety Patrick Chung can be considered a playmaker, and even then, his very best won't be any match for the efforts of Giants receivers Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz and Mario Manningham.

Up front, the Patriots seem to have put together an effective pass rush, if not a consistent one. The Giants, however, have a defensive line that is easily one of the best in the NFL, and if they are playing their very best, then it's going to be a long, difficult game for Brady.

Yes, the Giants secondary hasn't been very good this season, either, with a number of starters struggling with injuries throughout the year and ranking 29th in the league in 2011. But, if their defensive front is playing its very best, then Brady's not going to have much success getting passes down the field regardless.

While it's purely hypothetical to think that both the Patriots and Giants can play to the very best of their individual and collective abilities, play after play, in this Sunday's Super Bowl, it is worth noting that even if they did, it would still be a tough game for the Patriots to win.