Super Bowl Predictions 2012: New England's Tight Ends Will Not Be Contained

It took a while for people to catch on to the reality last season, but one thing about the New England Patriots became painfully obvious throughout the course of the 2011 season.

Their tight ends are simply amazing.

The Patriots drafted both Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez in the 2010 draft, and it's clear now they did so with certain plans in mind. They saw talent that nobody else saw, and they also saw a way to use both of them in ways that would simply overwhelm defenses.

The experiment has been a huge success, and that's not something that is lost on the New York Giants.

The G-Men caught a break when Gronkowski suffered a high-ankle sprain in the AFC Championship Game. The word from NFL.com is that Gronk is listed as questionable for Super Sunday, but it's a good bet that he'll play. He won't be 100 percent, but he'll play.

Having to face Gronk at less than 100 percent is a break for the Giants, but that doesn't mean containing him and Hernandez consistently throughout the course of the game is going to be easy. It's going to be just as hard as it typically is.

The Giants know as well as anyone just how hard it is to contain Gronk and Hernandez. Way back in Week 9, the two of them combined for 12 receptions for 136 yards and two touchdowns. The Giants were able to win the game, but Gronk and Hernandez certainly didn't make it easy for them.

To boot, struggling against tight ends was the norm for the Giants during the regular season. All told, they allowed 82 receptions for 943 yards and seven touchdowns to tight ends. They've clamped down somewhat in the postseason, but it's worth noting that Vernon Davis was last seen burning the Giants for three receptions for 112 yards and two touchdowns in the NFC Championship Game.

On the bright side, at least Davis didn't have that many catches. That's due largely to the fact Michael Boley spent a lot of time covering him. Boley is one of the best coverage linebackers in the business, and Davis had a hard time when he was on him. On his two touchdown catches, he was being covered by other Giants' defenders.

The only trouble is that Boley can't be in two places at once, and he can't cover two men at once. He can cover Gronk or Hernandez, but not both.

Because of that, you can expect the Giants to try and offset the threat of Gronk and Hernandez by using special defensive packages. They'll bring in an extra safety and hope that Tom Brady doesn't notice. They'll also be hoping that the pass rush will get to Brady too quickly for him to make throws.

This worked well back in Super Bowl XLII, but Brady didn't have two stud tight ends to throw to. He spent a lot of his time looking downfield, and he's going to be doing a lot less of that in this Super Bowl. If the rush comes, Brady can look to get the ball to his tight ends.

Rest assured, he will. Getting the ball to Gronk and Hernandez won't mean an automatic win, but Brady is going to do it.

Projection for Gronkowski: seven receptions, 90 yards, one TD.

Projection for Hernandez: six receptions, 75 yards, one TD.