Stop Dreaming...

In April of 2004, Archie Manning said his son will not play for the Chargers he wanted Eli in New York. The Chargers had the #1 pick and NY had the #8, the Chargers drafted Eli and eventually traded him for Phillip Rivers who the Giants picked. Did Archie and Eli really think New York was a better spot or did Eli not want to be in the AFC and face his brother possibly every year?
Now, it is 2011 and the Colts are going to drop Peyton, we all know its going to happen. But, all I hear is Redskins and Jets fans celebrating like they already have him signed. It is not going to happen.

The Mannings don't want to keep the comparisons/competition to a minimum. New York City is Eli's town, Peyton will not come in and try to take that from him. Stop dreaming Jets fans.

Eli versus Peyton twice a year? Fighting each other for a division? Nope. Stop dreaming Redskins fans. Peyton will not leave the AFC, he will be a Dolphin or Jaguar before he even thinks about joining a NY or NFC East team. I could even see him in Cleveland first, although he is a dome QB, which is why the warm weather of Miami seems the most likely place for him. I think the only NFC team he might think about is Arizona, but I think they will stick with Kolb for a while.

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Super Bowl Review

Well, that's it. New York 21 New England 17, not a pretty game by any means and not as high scoring as some thought it would be. I was surprised how well the Pats defense played, and when NE made it 17-9 I really thought it was over. New England was rolling along and their offense looked unstoppable, until that high ankle sprain caught up with Gronkowski or maybe it was just Brady's 34 year old arm under threw the ball, but either way Chase Blackburn got a huge interception that changed the game.
New England's defense held NY to a couple of field goals and held on to a 17-15 lead deep into the fourth quarter. Then a huge misconnection with Hernandez and Welker gave Eli one more shot at Super Bowl glory. His first pass was an amazing 38 yard pass to Mario Manningham that even Aaron Rodgers would be jealous of. Then with NY down to the 6 yard line and a minute left on the clock, Belichick pulled a Holmgren (Kevin, you will never convince me otherwise, Davis walked into the endzone) and let Ahmad Bradshaw score the go ahead TD rather than let NY run down the clock to 20 seconds. With :57 to play Brady took over, a few incompletions, a sack and a hail mary later, the Giants were standing in the winners circle again.
So, what now? Well, the Colts have until March 8th to do something with Peyton and in April we have the draft. Personally, I think Manning will be in Miami next year or for a dome team like Minnesota maybe. If it is Miami, they become a AFC East favorite. Oh, speaking of...for the fourth straight year I have chosen one Conference Champion correctly in August. My preseason pick this past year was Patriots vs Packers, next year?? Well, I really like the Saints hiring Spags to coach the defense, let's see what everyone else does.
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Super Bowl Sunday

Last game until September, how fast this season went by. What a weird year it was, the Colts have the first pick in the draft after Peyton's season ending (possibly career ending) surgery, the Lions returned to the post season, teams that seemed on the rise last year collapsed this year, and it was the year of the Quarterback (especially in the NFC). In the playoffs we saw one of the greatest fourth quarters ever as the 49ers squeaked by the Saints, we saw the first ever one and done 15 win team in the Packers, and we had probably the greatest Championship Sunday ever as the Ravens Billy Cundiff choked on getting his team to OT and New York and San Fran went back and forth in OT.
Now we have the New England Patriots and the New York Giants in a rematch of Super Bowl 42. The tables have turned this time, and it scares me. Four years ago the Pats were 18-0 and a 14 point favorite to crush the Giants, but NY pulled out the huge upset. This year, even though NE is still a 3 point favorite, the experts are picking NY to crush New England. I've heard scores like 31-23 NY, 38-20 NY, 24-10 NY and I don't like it.
Not only am I picking New England because of my jinx fear, I really do think the Pats will win. They have the bigger motivation on their side, revenge. Well, let's break it down..
The Giants defense has played much better, especially in stopping the run. The Pats would like to play a balanced offense and run well against the Giants to get the play action pass into affect. If the Giants front four is playing aggressive and rushing Brady they will be scorched by the running game. But, look how NY played against Green Bay with no rush in the first half and once they got a lead they came at Rodgers full throttle. Another big part of New England's game plan will be Hernandez and Gronkowski, taking advantage of NY's Linebackers.
Here's what NY will do, they will look to pick apart New England's secondary. Nicks, Cruz and Manningham could have big days and get a lot of yards after the catch. The first half may be a low scoring, Bellichick will have a game plan ready for the Giants offense and I think this game will be a lot like the matchup we saw in Week 9. The score was 0-0 at the half and 10-3 NY after three quarters, things got crazy in the 4th quarter and with 15 seconds left Eli hit Ballard in the end zone to give NY a 24-20 win. I expect something very similar.
Giants could lead at the half, something close and low like 10-7 but things will heat up in the second half and it will come down to who has the ball last or makes that one crucial error. I say New England gets payback and pulls it out 31-29.
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