Superbowl XLVI

kmart6

Date: Sunday, February 5th, 2012

Location: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis

Scheduled Kick-off: 6:30PM ET(11:30 GMT)

Half-Time Performance: Madonna :rolleyes:

Patriots are the home team!

So here we go folks, after 17 weeks of Regular Season action, 4 Wild Card Games, 4 Divisional Games and 2 Championship Games all that's left is 60(providing we avoid OT;)) minutes of football between the 2 teams who have earned the right to be here! A rematch of Superbowl 42!

Let the discussion/disagreements/arguments/keyboard battles commence.....

.

New England Patriots

Eli to prove that he deserves to be considered an elite QB.

Hazys

Go Pats!!!!!

Chucky the tree

Forgot where it was being hosted, adds even more to it. Eli to win it in his borthers backyard and go one ring ahead of him or Peytons arch rival to win it while beating his brother?

kmart6

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Forgot where it was being hosted, adds even more to it. Eli to win it in his borthers backyard and go one ring ahead of him or Peyton arch rival to win it while beating his brother.

The storylines for this one are great!

kryogen

New England Patriots

It is actually like a WWE storyline

spiralism

I think this was the one everybody wanted tbh

kmart6

kryogen wrote: »

It is actually like a WWE storyline

First thing that came to mind after reading that was something like Kane stepping up to battle Big Show for the Undertaker!

kmart6

spiralism wrote: »

I think this was the one everybody wanted tbh

Woulda been just as happy with the Harbowl...wouldn't have wanted any of the other possibilities!

Chucky the tree

spiralism wrote: »

I think this was the one everybody wanted tbh

Ravens 49ers in the battle of the Harbaughs would have been great aswell.

Utopia Parkway

New England Patriots

Don't think this is a good match-up for the Pats to be honest. The Giants still have that very good pass rush that gave so much trouble to Brady in 07 and Eli is better now than he was then and also has much better receivers at his disposal. And the Pats can be thrown on. A lot.

Pats can win of course but I think a lot has to go right for them. They will have to protect Brady far better than they did in 07. That day he spent the game running for his life mostly.

spiralism

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Ravens 49ers in the battle of the Harbaughs would have been great aswell.

It would too yeah, having said that their matchup on thanksgiving was quite poor and rather lopsided.

eagle eye

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Don't think this is a good match-up for the Pats to be honest. The Giants still have that very good pass rush that gave so much trouble to Brady in 07 and Eli is better now than he was then and also has much better receivers at his disposal. And the Pats can be thrown on. A lot.

Pats can win of course but I think a lot has to go right for them. They will have to protect Brady far better than they did in 07. That day he spent the game running for his life mostly.

So I guess you don't like the Patriots pass rush then? Or the receivers that are Welker, Gronkowski, Hernandez and Branch? And the best Quarterback ever to walk onto a field?

kmart6

eagle eye wrote: »

So I guess you don't like the Patriots pass rush then? Or the receivers that are Welker, Gronkowski, Hernandez and Branch? And the best Quarterback ever to walk onto a field?

Ryan Leaf isn't on the Patriots roster?!

spiralism

kmart6 wrote: »

Ryan Leaf isn't on the Patriots roster?!

Jamarcus russell got hired as waterboy:pac:

Clareman

I'm going to be in NY for this, woohoo, never been to the states for SuperBowl Sunday before, any advice of where to go would be greatly appreciated.

kmart6

I'd imagine you'd be safe in nearly any bar, you'd just need to be in early!

bruschi

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

Don't think this is a good match-up for the Pats to be honest. The Giants still have that very good pass rush that gave so much trouble to Brady in 07 and Eli is better now than he was then and also has much better receivers at his disposal. And the Pats can be thrown on. A lot.

Pats can win of course but I think a lot has to go right for them. They will have to protect Brady far better than they did in 07. That day he spent the game running for his life mostly.

would agree with this to be honest. Giants have serious WR corps, and Eli has improved lots. they are on a serious run of form, and look good. The main thing to do to get to Brady is have a good pass rush, which is the Giants best defensive quality. Yes, the Patriots have a serious offence, and could beat most teams on their own, but it didnt click last night enough, and they needed the defence to see them out. If the Giants can shut us down like the Ravens did, I cant see the defence bailing us out again.

There are a lot of improvements that can be made, red zone efficiency being the main one, and BJGE showed his worth in the running game, but we need Brady to be at his absolute best, and the defence to be able to make some sort of stands. Patriots can definitley win it, but I still feel the Giants are that much more of a rounded team that they could beat us too.

Clareman

kmart6 wrote: »

I'd imagine you'd be safe in nearly any bar, you'd just need to be in early!

I was thinking that, I'm bringing herself away as a surprise for her birthday, I'm trying to figure out how I can say "Surprise you get to spend the day in a bar watching a sport you don't like/understand while I get progressively worse", I've a feeling my credit card is going to take a hammering in Macey's

The Showstopper

New England Patriots

Can't wait, go Giants

decies

Brady not going to play badly two games in a row, yes it will be close but we win close games this season. It was giants destiny last Super Bowl , it's ours now .

Johnny_Fontane

New England Patriots

decies wrote: »

Brady not going to play badly two games in a row, yes it will be close but we win close games this season. It was giants destiny last Super Bowl , it's ours now .

I know Brady said he played badly, but to be honest, the ravens forced him to play badly. I dont think he missed too many open receivers throughout the game, the gameplan was run dominated (after some great early work by Law Firm).

The baltimore D didnt actually get to him that much, but the secondary did pull off two amazing picks.

All in all, its going to be a great game I think. past history of both NE & NY in superbowls points towards something very close.

I hope it is!

Dohnny Jepp

This is the first superbowl that I can remember that I don't really care what happens or who wins .. .

Unregistered.

helimachoptor

New England Patriots

Giants for me and it's going to be Giants by 10 or more.

tallaghtoutlaws

Johnny_Fontane wrote: »

I know Brady said he played badly, but to be honest, the ravens forced him to play badly. I dont think he missed too many open receivers throughout the game, the gameplan was run dominated (after some great early work by Law Firm).

The baltimore D didnt actually get to him that much, but the secondary did pull off two amazing picks.

All in all, its going to be a great game I think. past history of both NE & NY in superbowls points towards something very close.

I hope it is!

He missed that pass to Gronk. Gronk was wide open and would have scored had Brady thrown him the ball properly. That deep pass to Slater into double coverage is a ball he shouldn't have thrown also. They werent the only bad passes he threw there were a few more. As much as the Ravens pressured Brady, Brady played badly for his standards.

me-skywalker

Dohnny Jepp wrote: »

This is the first superbowl that I can remember that I don't really care what happens or who wins .. .

Similar feeling! Just excited by the prospect of a great matchup and great game! Gonna be a huge hyped game and so it should be!!
Great Offence meeting a Great Defence. However, I think the winner will be decided by the winner of the battle between the Giants O and the Pats D.


Last time I wanted the Pats to win for the undefeated aspect! This year I'm still undecided like the Steelers V Cardinals; I was able to relax and enjoy without any real attachment to either team. Although I was cheering for the Cardinals because my mate is a Steelers fan and the Steelers have Ben.

hdowney

New England Patriots

giants all the way for sure. and hopefully by a clear margin. as long as they keep their heads in the game there shouldn't be any major problems i don't think. but ya never know

Utopia Parkway

New England Patriots

eagle eye wrote: »

So I guess you don't like the Patriots pass rush then? Or the receivers that are Welker, Gronkowski, Hernandez and Branch? And the best Quarterback ever to walk onto a field?

I just don't like the match-up for the Pats. I think they match-up badly with the Giants. I would have fancied the Pats to beat the 49ers even though technically the 49ers have an even better defence than the Giants. The Giants can rush the passer with just their front 4 so won't even have to blitz. They will pressure Brady and on the other end they have a good QB and very good receivers and the Pats have been terrible defending the pass. I expect the Giants will try and do exactly what they did in 07 and try to batter Brady only this time they are much better offensively.

That's not to say the Pats can't win though. If they can protect Brady better and get a turnover or two they could definitely do it.

bruschi

Mike Reiss on Brady:
QB Tom Brady says he didn't get much sleep last night. Says his INT intended for Matthew Slater was play that mostly kept him up.

after a championship win, and he is thinking about the mistakes in his game. imagine if they had lost? his TD run showed what he was prepared to put on the line to get scores on theboard.

spiralism

Anyone else get the feeling that if the Giants pull it off TC will take the John Elway "ride off into the sunset ending" and retire a champion?

fisgon

New England Patriots

Utopia Parkway wrote: »

I just don't like the match-up for the Pats. I think they match-up badly with the Giants. I would have fancied the Pats to beat the 49ers even though technically the 49ers have an even better defence than the Giants. The Giants can rush the passer with just their front 4 so won't even have to blitz. They will pressure Brady and on the other end they have a good QB and very good receivers and the Pats have been terrible defending the pass. I expect the Giants will try and do exactly what they did in 07 and try to batter Brady only this time they are much better offensively.

Agree with this. The Giants are the team that the Patriots didn't want. I reckon they would have handled the 49ers fairly easily in the end, as SF don't have the offence to keep up. I think the stat yesterday was that they had 1 catch from a WR in the whole game! The Giants are much more dangerous. It's going to be a great game I reckon, though we're going to get sick of all the references to Superbowl 42 within days of the build up starting.

Paully D

I voted for the Patriots earlier by an accident when I was using the phone, the Giants will take this IMO.

Giants +3 at evens is a serious price.

woodchopper

New England Patriots

I hope the bookies back the patriots bigtime because I may be in for a welcome pay day. The Giants cannot be stopped, when they are in this form they know how to grind it out. The Patriots do not have the team to dismantle the Giants from what I have see, and were lucky last night. The AFC looks pretty weak compared to the NFC during these playoffs. Eli Manning on current form is in the top five in his position, but so is Mr Brady.

matthew8

New England Patriots

I back the Patriots. Their defense is bad, but I just don't get the feeling Eli will constantly score on them. The Giants have coverage issues that the Patriots can exploit, and the Patriots should get the deep ball back after not using it at all against the Ravens.

DiscoHugh

heart says Pats, head says Giants.

Don't really put too much into the 07' game as the personnel on both teams are quite different.

But the Giants are the form team. Seem to be peaking at the right time of the season.Pats defence has been generally poor. And the Giants pass rush can get to Brady.

kryogen

New England Patriots

The match ups are the thing I dont like from a Pats point of view, I think we will need the Giants to be having an off night to win sadly.

Theyre strengths are our weakness

Utopia Parkway

New England Patriots

The Pats run D is actually pretty good. They more or less shut down the Broncos and Ravens from running the ball effectively and both those teams are better than the Giants at running the ball. It's their pass D that would worry you. Especially up against Cruz, Nicks and to a lesser extent Manningham. They will have to try and get to Eli and not give him time to get settled and throw. At least Vince Wilfork seems to be playing out of his mind right now so they will hope for more of the same from him in the Superbowl.

The Giants have a fantastic defensive line but their linebackers are average and their secondary is nothing to write home about either. If the Pats can protect Brady better than they did in 07 and keep him upright he could have a lot of success because the Giants have nobody than can cover Welker and Gronkowski especially. I'm just not sure they will be able to keep JPP, Tuck and Osi off Brady for long enough.

spiralism

Giants will wear their white road unis. The similarities just keep stacking up. In 2007/8 the Giants won the 4 vs 5 seed matchup, beat the top seed on the road and the second seed in an overtime thriller by a FG in a road game played in poor conditions. This Superbowl, like Superbowl 42, will be played in a retractable roof dome.

cena

Why is it on a Saturday this year.

tallaghtoutlaws

cena wrote: »

Why is it on a Saturday this year.

Its not. Tis on the 5th which is the Sunday.

craggles

Giants should seriously be favourites for this. They will score plenty, they will make stops, they will get to Brady, they will get turnovers, they will be more physical, they will be gritty as all hell if it's tight in the 4th and Manning will be ice.

craggles

Giants have also essentially been in playoff mode for 5 games now.

cena

tallaghtoutlaws wrote: »

Its not. Tis on the 5th which is the Sunday.

Sky sports say its sat. thats why I asked

UnitedIrishman

New England Patriots

I fancy the Giants in this one. Thought they were a good thing against the 49ers given the way they've played in the last number of weeks. The team with the momentum coming into the playoffs always seems to outperform sides who might have had their records locked in well before the playoffs. NY are the kind of team who relish this and even the little things that I read after the Packers game like the jokes in the dressing room etc, it looks like they love doing it by going on the road.

I could repeat much of the stuff already said on here about the Giants pass rushers and that but not much point saying everything again. The NFC has been a lot stronger this season in my opinion and I think the Giants are going to win in the Manning's back yard by 3.

kmart6

cena wrote: »

Sky sports say its sat. thats why I asked

And that's exactly why you were right to question it in here!

kryogen

New England Patriots

Just watched the highlights on bbc again

Carlson is hilarious

He started off by saying if Brady can win his second superbowl he will be up there with the greatest, then corrected himself by saying if he wins his.....third superbowl he can be talked about with the greats!

the man is comedy genius

bruschi

another thing I was thinking of, and even contradicts my own point kinda of the Giants being on a great run of form, winning effectively 5 games in a row, all being playoff games basically, but the Patriots have now won 10 in a row. They have some good form too.

whether or not it will make any difference, but I really get the impression the Patriots are 'mentally' tougher this year. I know Belichick has them well drilled about giving the proper soundbites and speaking to the media in the right manner, but form the various interviews of them, they do seem totally focussed, and have been for quite a while now. I'm not much into or get the spirituality side of things, but a lot of the players are talking and mentioning Myra Kraft a lot, and how the season means so much to them and they are playing for Bob Kraft. He went to find BJGE straight after the game to thank him for his celebration where he touched the badge with her initials on it.

Now as I said, being mentally strong or prepared doesnt win games on the field, but it might just be the difference in a tight game. The Patriots have lost twice to the Giants on last minute touchdowns. Its a fine line between winning and losing, and I think it will be a fine line again

Clareman

cena wrote: »

Sky sports say its sat. thats why I asked

Sky Sports are hyping a build up show they are having on the Saturday, Super Bowl Sunday is always on a Sunday

HigginsJ

New England Patriots

Cant wait for it. Giants are much healthier than they were in the regular season meeting but if i remember correctly either Gronk/Hernandez were missing.

The Giants will have their way with the New England secondary. IF edelman is on the field as a DB Eli will beat him badly.

Hard to know how Giants will handle both Gronk and Hernandez as they struggled with Davis. Grant, Rolle & Phillips need to step up big time. None of our starting LB's are athletic enough and Williams & Jones are too raw in coverage to put on them.

I'd nearly drop Bass and get Boothe in at centre as he would be more capable of holding up againt Wilfork.

Cant wait for it. 27-17 Giants.

Eli with his 2nd ring and 2nd superbowl MVP

Go Giants.

kmart6

Papa Johns SB ad poking fun at Bettis and the coin controversy....gave me a laugh when I saw it on Sunday cause of that and Peyton's bit!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ6SV4EkQHs