***Official Super Bowl XLII Game Thread*** (1 Viewer)

[Statorama]

Kind of surprised more wasn't made of the Faulk injury. Would he have made more of a difference?

 

[DawnBTVS]

Kind of surprised more wasn't made of the Faulk injury. Would he have made more of a difference?

Honestly... probably not I'm sad to say. He was their best blitz pickup man at RB (and a good receiver of course) but the way the Giants were getting to Brady even before the injury, he probably wouldn't have helped much in that regard. Only place he could've helped would be in the short passing game and Welker was doing everything there as it was.

 

[nyftbl_giants]

Kind of surprised more wasn't made of the Faulk injury. Would he have made more of a difference?

He's an incredible football player and couldnt agree more with Salisbury.." the best 3rd down back in the league" I know I was in no rush for him to get back on the field.

 

[pats3in4]

Congratulations to the NY Giants and their fans. Their DL really took it to the Pats' OL. Yet despite holding the Pats in check, they still needed to drive the field at the end of the game to win and they did. Eli and Tyree made one of the biggest plays in Super Bowl history and then Eli finally got Burress one-on-one with Hobbs (something Pats fans were dreading) for the winner.

I thought both defenses played superb. Obviously the Giants' performance was standout, but the Pats' did what they wanted to do as well: shut down the run, keep Plaxico from killing them and force Eli to find Toomer, Smith and the TEs. That is pretty much what the Pats did. To Eli's credit, he took what the defense gave him. I didn't think he had it in him. Still, the Pats held them to 10 points for 59 minutes. That last touchdown drive was epic, though. I'll be replaying that sack-escape and throw to Tyree over and over in my head for the next several months...If Jarvis Green just held onto Eli, it's 4th-and-forever. What could have been :sigh:

 

[Ghost Rider]

Interestingly, the Patriots attempted 53 passes, while running the ball only 16 times. Other coaches get crucified following losses when their pass-to-run ratio is that lopsided. Will Belichick?

Absolutley not. Same way he won't get crucified for forgoing the FG on 4th and 13.He faces a different level of scrutiny from the media. Why? Because he's earned it by being without question the best coach in the league for the last several years. That's how it works.J

I understand all of that, but I think the lopsided pass-to-run ratio is at least worth mentioning, but I haven't heard one single person on ESPN mention it.

 

[jonessed]

Interestingly, the Patriots attempted 53 passes, while running the ball only 16 times. Other coaches get crucified following losses when their pass-to-run ratio is that lopsided. Will Belichick?

Absolutley not. Same way he won't get crucified for forgoing the FG on 4th and 13.He faces a different level of scrutiny from the media. Why? Because he's earned it by being without question the best coach in the league for the last several years. That's how it works.J

I understand all of that, but I think the lopsided pass-to-run ratio is at least worth mentioning, but I haven't heard one single person on ESPN mention it.

It's pretty much what they did all season and it worked. I can't really blame him for putting the game on his best player's shoulders. It's not like the running game was doing anything.The 4th and 13 play was just awful though.

 

[pats3in4]

Re: The 4th and 13 play instead of kicking the FG...

BB does not trust Gostkowski outside of 45 yards. He's got the leg, but not the accuracy. All year the Pats have gone on 4th down when faced with this length of a FG. Gostkowski was something like 19 of 22 on FGs all year, but almost all of them were from within 40 yards. Gostkowski finished his rookie year strong, especially in January last year. This year he regressed.

 

[mbuehner]

Re: The 4th and 13 play instead of kicking the FG...BB does not trust Gostkowski outside of 45 yards. He's got the leg, but not the accuracy. All year the Pats have gone on 4th down when faced with this length of a FG. Gostkowski was something like 19 of 22 on FGs all year, but almost all of them were from within 40 yards. Gostkowski finished his rookie year strong, especially in January last year. This year he regressed.

Hmm, interesting point, and probably quite right. Makes you wonder what would have happened if Vinitieri was still in town

 

[Mik789fl]

Re: The 4th and 13 play instead of kicking the FG...BB does not trust Gostkowski outside of 45 yards. He's got the leg, but not the accuracy. All year the Pats have gone on 4th down when faced with this length of a FG. Gostkowski was something like 19 of 22 on FGs all year, but almost all of them were from within 40 yards. Gostkowski finished his rookie year strong, especially in January last year. This year he regressed.

Hmm, interesting point, and probably quite right. Makes you wonder what would have happened if Vinitieri was still in town

Based upon this past season,he would have been short and wide right

 

[redman]

Re: The 4th and 13 play instead of kicking the FG...BB does not trust Gostkowski outside of 45 yards. He's got the leg, but not the accuracy. All year the Pats have gone on 4th down when faced with this length of a FG. Gostkowski was something like 19 of 22 on FGs all year, but almost all of them were from within 40 yards. Gostkowski finished his rookie year strong, especially in January last year. This year he regressed.

Based upon your handle, I'm assuming you follow them closer than I do, however I always thought that they were going for it on 4th down because of how good the offense was this year rather than shortcomings on Gostkowski's part. They weren't doing this in 2006 when Goskowski was there, but Moss & Welker weren't right? I realize these are to an extent two sides of the same coin, however I still thought the primary factor was how good the offense was.

 

[pats3in4]

Re: The 4th and 13 play instead of kicking the FG...

BB does not trust Gostkowski outside of 45 yards. He's got the leg, but not the accuracy. All year the Pats have gone on 4th down when faced with this length of a FG. Gostkowski was something like 19 of 22 on FGs all year, but almost all of them were from within 40 yards. Gostkowski finished his rookie year strong, especially in January last year. This year he regressed.

Based upon your handle, I'm assuming you follow them closer than I do, however I always thought that they were going for it on 4th down because of how good the offense was this year rather than shortcomings on Gostkowski's part. They weren't doing this in 2006 when Goskowski was there, but Moss & Welker weren't right? I realize these are to an extent two sides of the same coin, however I still thought the primary factor was how good the offense was.

Yes, these are two sides of the same coin, but I think the bigger reason is Gostkowski's regression. It's too coincidental the Pats would go for so many 4th downs between the 30 and 40 yard lines, but would be content to kick a FG inside the 20. If they were truly just using their superior offense to go for it on 4th downs, I would have expected them to go for it more frequently closer to the goal line. They were quite content to take the easy 3 this year.

 

[NE_REVIVAL]

Congrats to the Giants and their fans; I am stunned at how hard and how well the Giants DEF played.

 

[Koya]

Did Brady NOT shake Eli's hand at the end of the game? (This is being reported on NY radio and apparantly Joe Buck mentioned it)?

That would seem out of character as he always has been the classy one on that team (as opposed to belichick)

 

[timintey]

Did Brady NOT shake Eli's hand at the end of the game? (This is being reported on NY radio and apparantly Joe Buck mentioned it)?That would seem out of character as he always has been the classy one on that team (as opposed to belichick)

According to Newsday, No!"Brady was so upset that he didn't bother to stick around as Manning took a knee to run the last second off the clock. He ran toward the stadium tunnel, and so did Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who ran onto the field after Brady's last pass fell incomplete and hugged Giants coach Tom Coughlin. Belichick didn't stick around either as game officials ordered everyone back to their sideline so Manning could take one last snap and kneel down before confetti began to shoot from cannons all over the field."If true, he's a big a POS as his coach...

 

[timintey]

There's also this nugget:

"as the players were on the field for warmups that Eli went to Brady with his hand extended as if to shake Brady's hand and Brady just looked at him with this attitude of "get away from me kid", so Eli just smiled and went on about his business"

 

[Koya]

There's also this nugget:"as the players were on the field for warmups that Eli went to Brady with his hand extended as if to shake Brady's hand and Brady just looked at him with this attitude of "get away from me kid", so Eli just smiled and went on about his business"

Oh, that must be what I heard. I have a LOT less issue with no handshake at the beginning of the game. That is not respect, that is about getting YOURSELF ready and a little gamesmanship at that juncture is perfectly acceptable. Nice to see it didn't work, though.

 

[Koya]

Did Brady NOT shake Eli's hand at the end of the game? (This is being reported on NY radio and apparantly Joe Buck mentioned it)?That would seem out of character as he always has been the classy one on that team (as opposed to belichick)

According to Newsday, No!"Brady was so upset that he didn't bother to stick around as Manning took a knee to run the last second off the clock. He ran toward the stadium tunnel, and so did Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who ran onto the field after Brady's last pass fell incomplete and hugged Giants coach Tom Coughlin. Belichick didn't stick around either as game officials ordered everyone back to their sideline so Manning could take one last snap and kneel down before confetti began to shoot from cannons all over the field."If true, he's a big a POS as his coach...

I wouldnt say that. While I would hold it against Brady for not sticking around, that is a long way from actually being out there and refusing a handshake - which is utterly disrespectful. A coach at that moment I hold to a higher standard in terms of waiting around for the game to end, but I don't have a problem with Brady being so pissed that he just went to the locker room.

 

[Yenrub]

Congrats to the Giants and their fans; I am stunned at how hard and how well the Giants DEF played.

Thanks! The best game the defense played all year. I am very proud of that defense

 

[videoguy505]

Belichick just wanted the advantage of having one extra second of prep time for the offseason.

 

[Koya]

It should not go unnoticed - for all the crap Plax got for making his prediction, when Tom Brady flippantly laughed at the notion that NE could actually be held to a paltry 17 points no one called him out as guaranteeing anything. "Tom Brady brags about offensive laughing at the notion of sub 20 point day"

Yet, here we are.