Giants vs. Patriots: Breaking Down Super Bowl XLVI

The Super Bowl is almost upon us.

The most anticipated rematch in Super Bowl history is upon us.

The New York Giants and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI.

It's a game that is four years in the making, and the time for talking is almost done.

Both teams have taken very different roads to get to Indianapolis and Lucas Oil Stadium.

The Patriots were 13-3, won the AFC East division title and were the No. 1 seed in the AFC. After a first-round bye, they defeated the Denver Broncos 45-10 in the divisional round and the Baltimore Ravens 23-20 in the AFC Championship.

The Giants, on the other hand, finished 9-7, won the NFC East division title and were the No. 4 seed in the NFC. They defeated the Atlanta Falcons 24-2 in the Wild Card Round, then beat the reigning champion Green Bay Packers 37-20 in the divisional round and the San Francisco 49ers 20-17 in the NFC Championship.

It's Eli Manning vs Tom Brady, Part 2. And it's Tom Coughlin vs Bill Belichick, Round 2.

And now, a full preview of this Sunday's epic showdown from Indianapolis:

November 6, 2011: Giants 24, Patriots 20

Before the battle in Indianapolis, there was the battle in Foxborough during Week 9.

The Giants and Patriots went into this game both at 5-2 and neither team disappointed in this showdown.

In the first half of the game, neither team scored a single point. Neither defense gave in and headed into halftime 0-0.

In the second half, the Giants struck first with a 22-yard field goal from Lawrence Tynes and the Giants were up 3-0.

Michael Boley's forced fumble on Tom Brady set up a 10-yard touchdown run for Brandon Jacobs and with a blink of an eye, the Giants were quickly up 10-0 with nine minutes left in the third quarter.

A 32-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski cut into the lead and made it 10-3 Giants.

In the beginning of the fourth quarter, Brady threw a five-yard touchdown pass to Aaron Hernandez and the game was tied at 10-10.

A 45-yard Gostkowski field goal put the Patriots up 13-10, their first lead of the game.

With 3:03 to go, Eli Manning threw a 10-yard touchdown pass to Mario Manningham, and the Giants retook the lead 17-13.

Brady marched the offense down the field and threw a 14-yard touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski that helped put New England up 20-17 with 1:36 left in the game.

It gave Eli Manning and company 96 seconds to work his magic and attempt to win the game for the Giants.

And he marched the Giants downfield, all the way down to the Patriots' 1-yard line, and on 3rd-and-1 with 15 seconds left, Manning threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Jake Ballard that helped put the Giants ahead 24-20.

The Giants went to Gillette Stadium and knocked off the Patriots in their own building.

Manning was 20-for-39 passing for 250 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. Brady went 28-for-49 for 342 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

The Giants sacked Brady twice (once by Boley and once by Jason Pierre-Paul) and intercepted him twice (Deon Grant, Mathias Kiwanuka).

But in the end, it came down to the two quarterbacks and who got the ball last. And just like four years ago, it was Eli with the winning touchdown pass.

Giants Offense vs. Patriots Defense

The Giants have scored 81 points in their three playoff games. The offense runs through Eli Manning.

He's got a ton of weapons to utilize with Victor Cruz, Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham at wideout with Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs.

And in the last three games, Eli has thrown eight touchdowns with only one interception.

Against the Falcons, Hakeem Nicks caught six passes for 115 yards and two touchdowns.  Against the Packers, he had seven passes for 165 yards and two touchdowns, while against the 49ers, he caught five passes for 55 yards, but no touchdowns.

Victor Cruz has spent a lot of time getting double-teams, which helped Nicks get open and have great games. Against the 49ers, Cruz caught 10 passes for 142 yards.

The passing game has become the strength of the 2011 Giants, while the running game has become secondary. But in the three games, Jacobs and Bradshaw combined for at least 80 rushing yards, so it will be interesting to see if they can run the ball effectively against New England.

On defense, long gone are Richard Seymour, Junior Seau, Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Rodney Harrison and Asante Samuel.

This is a completely different defense. Vince Wilfork is the remaining part of the defense of four years ago.

Mark Anderson has bolstered the pass rush, as did Andre Carter before he suffered a season-ending injury.

Against the Broncos, the Patriots sacked Tim Tebow five times. Against the Ravens, they sacked Joe Flacco three times.

Belichick will be looking to bring pressure on Manning, so it will be up to the Giants offensive line to stop them.

And how will guys like Devin McCourty, Kyle Arrington, Antwaun Molden and James Ihedigbo attempt to keep up with Cruz, Nicks and Manningham? Not exactly an easy task.

If the Giants' line protects Eli and allow him to stay upright, he'll likely be able to throw deep on the New England secondary for a lot of yardage.

Giants Defense vs. Patriots Offense

In the playoffs, the Giants defense has played extremely well getting to Indianapolis.

In the three games, they have allowed a total of 37 points scored against them, which is 12.3 points per game.

They have a combined nine sacks in the playoffs with six turnovers. Creating pressure is the strength of the Giants offense.

The front four of the Giants, led by Jason Pierre-Paul, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck, will have to continue to bring a heavy pass rush all game long and help cause turnovers and mistakes.

The secondary of Corey Webster, Aaron Ross, Prince Amukamara, Kenny Phillips, Deon Grant and Antrel Rolle will have their hands full trying to stop the Patriots' weapons. Their main focus is not allowing any big plays down the field.

Defensive coordinator Perry Fewell has done a terrific job with his unit, and he'll have his hands full trying to stop New England and its offense.

On offense, the Patriots have third-ranked offense in the NFL and have scored 68 points in their two playoff games.

Tom Brady has thrown for six touchdown passes with three interceptions in the postseason. All six TD passes came in the Denver game.

Brady has a lot of strong weapons to throw to.

"The Boston TE Party" of Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski combined for over 2,200 yards and 22 touchdowns in 2011.

They're both big bodies who excel in yards after the catch, especially Gronkowski. He'll be coming in with an ankle injury that he suffered in the AFC Championship Game two weeks ago against Baltimore. He's expected to play, but how useful he will be remains to be seen.

Brady also has Wes Welker and Super Bowl XXXIX MVP Deion Branch to throw to. Between the two wide receivers, they combined for over 2,200 yards and 14 touchdowns.

All of them are a reason why the Patriots scored 513 points in the regular season.

For the Giants defense to have any success in this game, it's all about creating pressure and turnovers on defense.

The Broncos only had one interception, but did not sack Brady once, which is why he put up 45 points and six touchdowns against them.

The Ravens, on the other hand, sacked Brady once, forced two interceptions and three turnovers, and came very close to knocking off the Patriots in Gillette Stadium.

If you hit Brady and you confuse him on the field, you can beat him. The New York Jets used that strategy last season in the playoffs.

Now, it's the Giants' turn to take on Brady and the Patriot offense.

Super Bowl XLII Rematch

February 3, 2008. University of Phoenix Stadium. Glendale, Arizona.

The 18-0 New England Patriots were looking for the perfect season, and all that stood in their way was the Giants, who were in the middle of a magical run to get to Super Bowl XLII.

They had met earlier in Week 17 at Giants Stadium, where the Patriots defeated the Giants, 38-35, which made New England 16-0.

That game was a huge boost for the Giants, because almost five weeks later, it gave the Giants all the confidence in the world to play with the Patriots.

The Giants got an early field goal from Lawrence Tynes to make it 3-0 Giants in the first quarter.

A one-yard touchdown run for Laurence Maroney made it 7-3 Patriots.

It stayed 7-3 until the fourth quarter until Manning threw a five-yard touchdown pass to David Tyree to make it 10-7 Giants with 11:10 left in the game.

The score stayed that way until Tom Brady drove the field and threw a six-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss with 2:45 left that made it 14-10 Patriots.

Manning was getting the ball back with 2:39 to go and three timeouts, and he had to go 83 yards to win the game.

You remember the drive.

The 4th-and-1 plunge by Brandon Jacobs to keep the drive going.

The near interception by Asante Samuel that almost ended the game.

The escape by Eli of three defenders, then the 32-yard heave to Tyree, who outjumped Rodney Harrison and somehow held onto with his helmet. To this day, this still may be the greatest play in Super Bowl history.

The 3rd-and-11, where Eli completes to Steve Smith for a first down at the 13-yard line and got out of bounds to stop the clock with 39 seconds.

And then Joe Buck's call on FOX.

"Manning. Lobs it. Burress. Alone. TOUCHDOWN NEW YORK!"

The game-winning 13-yard touchdown pass to the left corner of the end zone from Manning to Plaxico Burress that put the Giants ahead 17-14 with 35 seconds left.

Brady had four downs to get Stephen Gostkowski into field-goal range and started at his own 26-yard line.

On first down, he throws an incomplete pass.

On second down, Brady gets sacked by Jay Alford for a 10-yard loss.

On third down, Brady heaves the ball toward Moss, but the pass is broken up by Corey Webster and Gibril Wilson.

And on fourth down, Brady again heaves it towards Moss, but again, the pass is broken up by Webster and Wilson, and the Giants took over.

Eli takes a knee, and the Giants win Super Bowl XLII, 17-14, and end the Patriots' perfect season.

Manning was 19-for-34 passing with 255 yards and two touchdown passes and was named Super Bowl XLII MVP.

Every Giant fan across the country and world will always remember where they were the night the Giants upset the Patriots.

Prediction

Every step of the way, I have picked the Giants to win in the playoffs.

I picked them to knock off the defending champion Packers and their No. 1 ranked offense, and they did.

I picked them to knock off the 49ers and their top-notch defense, and they did.

And now, I am picking the Giants again to win the Super Bowl.

This is Eli Manning's time to show the entire world how elite he is. He's not scared of the biggest stage.

He's also playing in the house that his brother, Peyton Manning, built in Lucas Oil Stadium. He's playing in his brother's city.

And he has a chance to win his second Super Bowl in his brother's own building.

The Giants have been in must-win situations since Christmas Eve after they knocked off the Jets. They have been the league's hottest team of late, winning five in a row.

Brady has won three Super Bowls and two Super Bowl MVP awards, but the Giants lately seem to find a way against him.

Their key has been to make him uncomfortable, put him on his back side and cause turnovers.

The Giants defense will be coming for him, and I think they will get to Brady several times, which will be a huge factor.

Bill Belichick is a Hall of Fame coach. But nobody prepares for a game and an opponent like Tom Coughlin. Coughlin will have the Giants prepared for battle on Sunday to take Brady down.

But the ultimate factor I see is putting the ball in Eli's hands in the fourth quarter with a chance to win the game. Any Giant fan will tell you they only want No. 10 with the ball taking the team downfield.

When it's all set and done, I see the Giants defeating the Patriots and winning Super Bowl XLVI.

Prediction: Giants 31, Patriots 27

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