Super Bowl Two-Fer

Well folks I was almost set to get out a post before the big games yesterday, but ran out of time so I'm giving you all a nice 2-fer on this beautiful MLK Day. For the sake of full disclosure I'm keeping my original predictions followed by my post-game commentary. 

I think it's safe to say that we're pretty surprised about half of these teams - we suspected the NFC would be up in the air, but I challenge you to find too many folks who had the Giants (or even Packers before yesterday) in the big game.

The AFC? Honestly, if you go back to the beginning of the year there were quite a few folks giving the Bolts a pretty good chance - although that subsided quite a bit 5-7 games into the season. And the Patriots.....riiiiight.

Let's dissect, analyze and make some wild-ass guesses, you know the drill...

San Diego at New England Prediction:
Personally, I don't really care for either of these teams too much. Objectively speaking, I really believe the Pats will run away with this game - I know that's going way out on a limb, but I mean, does anyone really think that the Chargers are going to go into Foxboro with their 2 best offensive players at half speed and pull off an upset? I can't imagine it. The Colts played a terrible game last week (taking nothing away from San Diego), had 2 "right place, right time" picks off of tipped passes and learned just how important Dwight Freeney is to their defense.

Also, they play in San Diego, the greatest and most comfortable climate on the planet - remember, that upset last week was in a dome. Can't imagine they have much of a chance....a small chance, but not much of one.

The thing with the Patriots is you have to stay right with or just ahead of them in terms of scoring - offense is essential to just compete with these guys and even if Rivers plays, he'll be going less than 100%. You can't turn the ball over against them because Brady never turns it over. And when you're playing the Pats, forcing a punt is just as good as getting a turnover.

And no, the Moss accusations will not have an affect on this. I know the idea of giving Randy Moss the benefit of the doubt may seem a bit laughable, but so is this accusation. Non issue.

Patriots - 37
Chargers - 18

Recap:

Well, the Pats won as most of us expected, but man what a close game it was. The Patriots certainly did not look like the same dominating team from this past year. Honestly though, there was never a point when I thought the Chargers may pull out the victory. I'm a little surprised that Turner stayed with Rivers throughout the game - he was clearly hobbled and looked absolutely terrible; some of those pics he threw were awful. 

BUT, kudos to the Charger defense as they played a really good game. Moss was a non factor and Brady had a few INTs which is very uncharacteristic of him. Either way, he's still the best and I imagine they'll be holding up the Lombardi trophy in a couple of weeks as well. 

You have to think that a healthy Tomlinson would have translated to at least 1 or 2 of those field goals (Chargers scored their points on 4 field goals) being touchdowns....but he wasn't...and they didn't. 

New York at Green Bay:
Gotta love this game - this is true, old-school football. The Giants at the Packers where the temp at kickoff will be hovering at around 0 degrees. Can you imagine getting hit by Michael Strahan at full speed when it's 0 degrees outside? Nuts.

This game should certainly be a bit closer. I do think the home field for the Pack will prove to be the difference here, but I would not at all be surprised to see the Giants pull the upset here. I know the Giants have won 9 straight road games including the last 2 in the playoffs, but they've also played 11 straight weeks without a bye - they may be exhausted. And they're going to Green Bay. Brandon Jacobs is going to have to play extremely well and help them control the game and of course, Eli is going to have to continue to play well - moving the chains and eliminating turnovers.

But don't you just get the feeling that the Packers may this year's "team of destiny"? Of course those Pats are going for history themselves... Either way, I just get the feeling that the Packers just aren't going to lose this game at home - I don't think Favre will let them. Will be interesting to see the match up of running backs - Jacobs vs. Ryan Grant.

Packers front 5 have to protect Favre and keep Ume and Strahan at bay - or that may be the opening the Giants need. I promise you this though, Favre won't pull a Romo, he'll come ready to play. Packers in a close, low scoring game.

Green Bay - 20
New York - 14

Recap:

My-oh-my, just when I'm ready to count out my Giants, they continue to plow through the playoffs. If you'll recall, this team is starting to look a lot like the Steelers from a couple of years ago - they too were a wild card team that had to win all of their playoff games on the road, and we all remember how that worked out for them. 

As you read above, I was a tad worried about fatigue coming into this game - 12 straight weeks now without an off week, not to mention 3 straight playoff games on the road. After yesterday, I'm starting to worry if the week off will be bad for them - they've clearly got a strong sense of momentum right now. No doubt the off week will help heal some of their aching players, but one has to worry just a bit about loss of that momentum. 

I really thought that Favre was going to take the Packers down in OT and win the game - it's not often you miss a chip shot field goal at the end of the game and get a second chance against the Packers in Green Bay. And kudos to Tymes for redeeming himself with that 47 yard boomer in OT - that took some cojones there. 

I must admit, although I'm a Giants fan, I was somewhat routing for Favre to go all the way this year as he's one of my favorite QBs of all time, but I'll certainly take the G-men. I can't help thinking though that this Giants team in the Super Bowl is a lot like the team from 2000 that really came out of nowhere to face the Ravens....that didn't work out too well either. Hopefully we'll see a good rematch of the final game of the year when the Pats visited the Meadowlands and narrowly escaped with a victory - that was a great game. As I say...we shall see. 

Quick Longhorn Football Note:
Cautiously optimistic is the tone I'm going for here so keep that in mind ... I'm pleasantly surprised at the changes I'm seeing in the Longhorn football program. It all started with the "boot camp" mentality Brown instilled before the bowl game (and I think I speak for a lot of us when I say we were a tad skeptical) and ever since the program seems to be evolving (slightly) for the better.

First and foremost, hiring Will Muschamp was a great move and a huge upgrade to the coaching staff. But, almost more important than that was settling on one defensive coordinator and being done with this "co" crap. Akina has talents and strengths - he's proved it in past years - but defensive shemes/play calling was not his strength.

Secondly, and I'm giddy about this, bringing on Major to coach running backs and other "responsibilities". I'll be honest, I was surprised that he would take a lower job to come here - I gotta think that Davis and Mack both know that he (Davis) won't be around too much longer so they wanted to bring on Major to groom for that role. Otherwise, why would Applewhite leave Alabama and Nick Saban for a lower position? By the way, he's 29 and making 250 grand a year - not too bad. Anyway, nice move with that hire, I think he'll do a good job (I sure hope he does).

Now, we'll see what kind of recruits we get, but I'd say Brown has made some nice moves that can be considered big improvements in the program. Gotta give him kudos there because aside from bringing on Chizik a few years ago, this is the first real "shuffle" we've seen. We shall see...

Other Random Observations around the Sports World:

• Can't say I'm overly optimistic about the running Horns narrowly escaping the Colorado Buffaloes...at home. Not sure what's up with this team, but they seem to have lost a bit of their edge and mojo. Abrams was cold to say the least. Long way to go though, but they need to pull it together
• And speaking of taking a bit of a dive - what happened to the aggies? 2 straight conference games result in 2 straight losses...and bad ones too. Will be interesting to see if these guys can also pull it together.
• There was about 30 minutes last week (Wednesday or Thursday) when the Lakers, heading into a game with the Suns (which they lost), were the top team in the western conference. No crap, they had the best record. BUT, at the same time, the Celtics had the best record in the eastern conference - first time that's happened since 1988. 
• By the way, Lakers lost Ariza to injury last night as well - man, that's not good at all for this team to lose both Ariza and Bynum - could be a long couple of months.
• You read it here before it happened - the Titans fired Norm Chow as their offensive coordinator. I'm not at all upset or surprised by this - I don't think Chow was getting it done. Granted, he had crap for talent, but if you can't score more than 9 passing TDs in a season, something is wrong. It's do or die for VY as well - if they bring in another coordinator and upgrade the talent, there won't be any excuses if he continues to struggle. I think they'll be better next year, but it all depends on the personnel moves they make. 
• It's just me, but I think Reggie Bush is guilty as hell - and nothing will happen to him; USC will take one on the chin though if this comes through...which will be a catalyst for Pete Carroll leaving for another job.
• How good has Plaxico Burress been the last few weeks? He's a machine. 

That's what I got guys - enjoy the week and we'll do it again later this week.