Sporting Brain

Forget Super Bowl 42. It is irrelevant. These are different players, different motivations, different reasons why each team is here this year. The Patriots don’t care about revenge, they care about winning Super Bowls, and the opponent matters only in the execution of the game plan. It just happens that the team the Pats play in XLVI is the same team that they have played seven times in the past four years (pre-season, season, post-season), breeding a large amount of familiarity. It also just so happens that when the Patriots line up for the National Anthem this Sunday they will also be playing a Giants team that they have an advantage over in six of the nine key positions.

So how come this game will be SO close? Throughout this week I’ll be posting up thoughts on various topics that will ultimately culminate in my prediction for the game.

Health

Let’s face it, any sort of injury to Rob Gronkowski is a staggering blow to a Patriots offense that has depended not simply on Gronk, but the lethal combination of Aaron Hernandez and Gronk. One without the other is simply not that effective and it means the defense can focus more solely on another section of the offense, such as coming over the top of the other WRs, or even blitzing more, which is something the Giants don’t even have to do often, yet have the best pass rush in the league.

But the other injury that might be of more concern is the one that has been hobbling Sebastian Vollmer. With that strong Giants defensive line the Pats offensive line becomes even more important. The lack of Vollmer was apparent to even non-football aficionados last week and if Vollmer is not available the Giants will throw their “four-Ace” defense much more often, and the Pats will need to use the TEs or extra OLs to block (as they did during the regular season matchup), which goes back up to the importance of Gronk’s health. This is all a dangerous game of dominoes.

The Giants also have their health issues, the main one being C David Baas, who gets the unbelievably difficult challenge of playing against a possessed Vince Wilfork during the Super Bowl. Baas has been hurting the past several weeks and went in and out of the conference championship game. Earlier in the year when the Pats lost Connolly I talked about how it would slow the offense a bit, and it was during that time frame when the offense did slow down (relatively). The Giants will be in the same trouble of Baas can’t play every down, allowing the Pats to pressure Manning from the interior and more importantly stuff the run.

Speaking of the run, and health, Ahmad Bradshaw is another concern for the Giants, having foot and back injuries this year. He looks ready to go, but for a bruiser RB his health could be something to watch. Finally, on the Pats side you have another wild-card type health issue with Kyle Arrington who injured his eye in the Baltimore game. This is most likely a non-issue, but something to watch this week as reports come out of Indianapolis.

NEXT TIME: The Giants “Big” Nickel Defense and what it means for Brady