Larry Brown Sports

If the only football game you ever watched prior to Super Bowl 46 was the Patriots’ playoff victory against the Broncos this year, I could see why the outcome may have surprised you.  As for the rest of us, why should the Giants’ win over New England on Sunday come as any kind of shock?  Apparently the folks over at the NY Post had the Patriots winning this one big.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t the Giants ruin the Patriots’ undefeated season a few years back? Oh yeah, that was the 2007 edition of the Giants.  Didn’t this edition of the Giants beat New England at Gillette Stadium early this year?  Doesn’t this Giants team have almost as good a pass rush and a much better passing attack than the one that beat the Patriots in Super Bowl 42?  It’s clear that creating the enormous underdog illusion must have worked for the G-Men, but there’s really no need for the papers to play along.  New York was a three-point underdog, but anyone who was surprised by what they saw on Sunday night hasn’t been paying attention.

Note to Aaron Rodgers: losing is hard. It’s hard for every player in the NFL an can be particularly difficult for quarterbacks. After following up his Super Bowl-MVP performance with a 15-1 season, Rodgers was understandably disappointed when the Packers were demolished by the Giants at Lambeau Field in the divisional round of the playoffs. In fact, his comments before the Super Bowl on Sunday indicated he had a case of sour grapes. Rodgers told Bob Costas the Patriots should run the no huddle, but claimed New York had an interesting way of stopping it in Green Bay.

“It was a big part of of our game-plan to try to speed the tempo up against them,” Rodgers explained. “Keep them on the field for longer drives. Do everything at the line of scrimmage. To combat that, there was a little bit of gamesmanship on their side. Some phantom injuries you might call them to try to slow us down and give them some time to recover during a couple of those drives. Check it out tonight. If the Patriots get into a rhythm and do a few drives in a row, you might see a little of that gamesmanship from the Giants.”

Rodgers’ comments are mindless in that he stood nothing to gain from them. To most, they would simply make him sound jealous. It is worth noting, however, that New York appeared to fake injuries to slow down the Rams’ hurry-up offense at the beginning of the season. They weren’t the first team to do it and they certainly won’t be the last.

None of that type of “gamesmanship” was evident on Sunday night.  The Giants pass rush got to Tom Brady when it counted and New England’s offense couldn’t overcome their uncharacteristic mistakes. In addition, Eli Manning did what Eli Manning now does.  That is why Brady and Bill Belichick failed once again.

The Patriots may be favored to beat the Giants in the Super Bowl, but they have the most underdog stories on their team. In light of National Signing Day which took place last Wednesday, Steve Megargee of Rivals.com went back to look at how each player from the Super Bowl was rated by Rivals coming out of high school. 39 of the 106 players on the active Super Bowl rosters were pre-Rivals (Rivals began rating players in 2002). Of the 67 remaining players, 26 (39%) were rated with two stars or no stars by Rivals. So what does this tell us? Even if you were hardly considered a prospect coming out of high school, it really doesn’t have an impact on your professional prospects. However, it is important to note that some of the biggest impact players in the game were four or five star players.

Let’s start with the four-star guys.

Pats (6): TE Rob Gronkowski (Arizona), TE Aaron Hernandez (Florida), LB Jerod Mayo (Tennessee), RB Stevan Ridley (LSU), RB Shane Vereen (Califiornia), DB Malcolm Williams (TCU)

Giants (13): TE Jake Ballard (Ohio State), TE Travis Beckum (Wisconsin), CB Will Blackmon (Boston College), C Jim Cordle (Ohio State), WR Mario Manningham (Michigan), WR Hakeem Nicks (North Carolina), DE Jason Pierre-Paul (USF), CB Aaron Ross (Texas), RB Da’Rel Scott (Maryland), WR Devin Thomas (Michigan State), DE Justin Trattou (Florida), OT Tony Ugoh (Arkansas), LB Jacquian Williams (USF).

Giants safety Kenny Phillips, and Pats backup QB Ryan Mallett and LB Brandon Spikes were the only five-star guys.

The number of no or two-star players is astounding.

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It looks like somebody with the Giants jumped the gun. The message you see above appeared briefly on the Giants’ team site Saturday afternoon, calling the Giants the Super Bowl champs. There also reportedly was a link to Super Bowl champion merchandise for fans to purchase. That of course is no surprise — two versions of championship merchandise is always made — one for each team. The team that wins gets to wear their gear while the losing team’s merchandise is usually sent to a foreign country.

The question persists: Was this a good or bad omen for the Giants?

Screengrab via Jeff Frias

With the way the NFC East has been so hectic all season long, it’s only fitting that the final game of the regular season has become an extension of the playoffs. The playoff scenario for the Giants and Cowboys heading into this weekend is quite simple: win and you’re in. Match-ups between Dallas and New York are typically enticing enough, but nothing beats a rivalry game with a playoff spot on the line. That’s why the Giants want the fans at the Meadowlands to give 110 percent. Do you think these “All In” towels can inspire them?

We here at LBS love a good giveaway as much as the next person.  That being said, this seems a little too gimmicky for me since we’re talking about an already rabid fan base.  The Giants are trying to be kind in giving their fans something to wave around, but usually the followers of the G-Men don’t need any type of boost.  Giving away corny towels is normally reserved for teams like the Milwaukee Brewers.  If the team thinks a stadium full of towels might help, I guess it can’t hurt to try.

Pic via N.Y. Giants Twitter account

With the Jets and Giants facing off at the Meadowlands this weekend, and both in desperate need of a win, we expected plenty of trash talk to be exchanged throughout the week. Both teams have delivered a few light blows, with the latest from Santonio Holmes packing a bit more of a punch. In an interview with WFAN on Thursday, Holmes took aim at the Giants secondary.

“They’ve given up big plays,” Holmes said. “They’re poor tackling guys. We know plays can be made over their heads. We’ve just got to be willing to take advantage of them and make them count. They depend on their front four to get in and get pressure on the quarterback. A smart enough defender knows that he has a few seconds in his play clock that the ball should be released and if not, he’s depending on his guys to take care of business and I think those guys just fall victim to a lot of that at times.”

Shots fired? Shots fired. If an opposing receiver calling you out for poor tackling and saying you aren’t smart enough to know how long to stick with your man doesn’t motivate you, nothing will.  Antrel Rolle is tired of being called out by analysts when the Giants get torched, and this would be a good week for the G-Men to step it up in their secondary.

If you ask Derrick Mason, the Giants should handle the Jets with ease.  Mason doesn’t think the Jets know how to use their receivers, but it doesn’t sound like Holmes is worried about that with the way he’s trashing the Giants secondary.  Fortunately for us NFL fans, one of the biggest games of the year on the Jets’ and Giants’ schedule means even more this time around.

Chest bump to Pro Football Talk for passing the story along.

Coming off an inspiring comeback win over the Cowboys in Dallas last weekend, the Giants put up an equally uninspiring stinker against the Redskins on Sunday.  It was a game they had to win to remain atop the NFC East, but instead the G-Men let Washington own them from the game’s opening snap.  Safety Antrel Rolle blamed the loss on a lack of toughness, starting with guys missing practice during the week.

“I’m not calling anyone out. It’s not about individuals,” Rolle said after the game according to the NY Daily News. “What I’m saying is this – and quote me on this – if you’re going to play Sunday . . . granted, some injuries you can’t practice through, I understand that. But little nicks and bruises? If you can push through it, push through it because your team needs you.

“If you’re going to go out here and play the game on Sunday, you need to be out there with your men throughout the week I’ve been nicked up all year long. A lot of other people have been nicked up all year long. We go out there and we’re fighting.”

Despite the untimely loss, the Giants are only a game out of first place.  The slip-up forces them into a must-win situation for the final two games of the season.  Rolle is the same player who guaranteed the Giants would make the playoffs and complained about being blamed for blown coverages.  He is doing an awful lot of talking, and I highly doubt that makes life easier in the locker room.  New York has to take care of business and stop whining in public.  Rolle has officially emerged as the biggest problem in that area.