How 'Bout Them Giants!?!

Let's have a traditional "How Bout Them Giants?  How 'Bout Them Patriots?" pre-Super Bowl open thread.

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

Giants will win a rather boring game. Pats' D is pathetic.

[Captain Hate]

I can't believe the opening line has the Patriots favored by 3. If I were a betting person I'd be plunking down a lot on the Ginats (and the results will probably illustrate why I'm not a betting person).

[narciso]

What are they basing that calculation on, Captain,

[Walter]

So, I should start trusting more of the dreck that comes out of Biden's mouth these days?

[Appalled]

TM:

I am still wondering what the exit polls were telling you...

[Danube of Thought]

They base that calculation on what they estimate will cause half of the money to be bet on each team.

[Captain Hate]

I have no idea what goes into the setting of lines, narc. I'm sure they're impressed that the Patriots have won so many games in a row, but I read yesterday that the Ravens were the first above .500 team the Patriots defeated all season.

[narciso]

So, they can't kill Bin Laden again, so this is the next best thing, who do they think their audience is;

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/22/obama-team-to-break-silence-on-al-awlaki-killing.html

[Comanche Voter]

Patriots dodged two Flacco bullets in the final seconds of the game. Joey put a ball in the hands of a receiver--who let the Patriot defender strip him of the ball in the endzone. One less lucky swipe by a Patriot and the Ravens are in the Super Bowl.

As for Eli and his boys--meh. A pox on both the Giants and the Patriots houses. Won't even bother to watch the Super Bowl--on a "doggy " scale, I expect it will rate 5 "arfs".

[JJ]

Got to love how Eli always gets in the dirt like its sandlot football...

[MarkO]

"They base that calculation on what they estimate will cause half of the money to be bet on each team."

And I thought they were sincere.

[NK]

Let's see-- NFL has become a coach/AB league.

QBs BOTH are excellent, Brady's better, that's no knock on Eli, but G'ints have better big play receivers. (EDGE- Even);

BeliCHEAT is far better than Coughlin. (Edge - Pats)

Off. v. Defense --Giants can't stop the Pass (uh-oh) Pats can't stop the run-- But G'ints can't run the ball real well. (Edge -Pats).

Conclusion-- Game will be decided by Turnovers-- Pats 31-26 Giants.

[NK]

Coach/QB league

[centralcal]

mkraju Manu Raju
Sen. Mark Kirk had a stroke, has been hospitalized and had successful surgery this morning, his office says

[matt]

three and out should be the lede on any article describing the astoundingly poor offensive performances yesterday.

We spent the afternoon supporting a team of wounded warriors playing softball against local first responders. To see these men play ball was really something.

[Threadkiller]

Looks like the SuperBowl might have new overtime rules also.

http://tribstar.com/news/x907913894/Guv-wants-new-prostitution-law-before-Super-Bowl

[Captain Hate]

BeliCHEAT is far better than Coughlin. (Edge - Pats)

I don't agree with that at all; in fact I think Coughlin is vastly underrated.

[Captain Hate]

I can't believe Mitch is going full retard on that. It's not like he hasn't had a long time to get something like that in place quietly and not acting like a screaming ninny.

[Sue]

The kick returner for San Francisco is receiving death threats. How useless is your life if you issue death threats over a ball game? We should bring back the Roman Colosseum for some folks.

[Captain Hate]

The kick returner for San Francisco is receiving death threats. How useless is your life if you issue death threats over a ball game?

He was only in there because the regular kick returner was injured. This is part and parcel of sports being waaaaaaaaaaaay too important in peoples' lives. Goodell could help nip this in the bud if he'd do something smart, like returning the championship games to the standard 1 and 4 oclock starting times so it doesn't occupy the whole freaking waking day of most people. LOL, who am I kidding; that idiot runs the league like El JEFe runs the country.

[narciso]

I don't think the lions would go for it Sue,

[narciso]

Does he have a deal like the Jayhawks Captain,

[Sue]

Capt'n,

While there have been times I wanted to smack Jerry Jones, I have managed to keep from wishing someone dead over a ball game.

[mockmook]

Since this is a family friendly blog, I'll limit my reaction to:

BOO!!!! HISS!!!!!!!

[Sue]

I'm picking the Giants. I detest 2 quarterbacks. Tom Brady and Peyton Manning. The detesting doesn't transfer to the brother. Go Eli!

[jimmyk]

This is part and parcel of sports being waaaaaaaaaaaay too important in peoples' lives.

This seems to be a particular problem in California. Remember the (baseball) Giants fan who got beaten within an inch of his life in LA?

[Jane]

I bet that was very very cool Matt.

[Rick Ballard]

"what the exit polls were telling you..."

They tell me that Governor Romney does best with those holding post graduate degrees and making $200K. That's a pretty select audience.

Bye and bye the Fnorks will be coming to the same conclusion reached by the Bourbons - the peasants are truly revolting.

[Captain Hate]

Yeah it is jimmyk although I think the baseball altercation was gang driven, at least on the part of the perps. The 49ers fan base has an extremely high annoyance factor; unfortunately under Harbaugh the team will be good for a long time.

[Captain Hate]

Btw a strange 0-13 streak was broken by the Ginats yesterday: The playoff record of teams that beat the previous year's Super Bowl champion the prior week's performance in the following game.

[NK]

CaptH-- Coughlin's a good NFL coach, excellent talent evaluator, prepares his team, he's a real pro-- UNfortunately, BeliCHEAT is the best NFL coach by far-- I hate to say that-- the man is a PIG and a CHEAT (the only good thing he ever did was being fired by Art Modell). So my saying Belicheat is far better than Coughlin, that's not a knock on Coughlin.

[Captain Hate]

NK, I can't argue with Mumbles's Super Bowl wins; he's obviously a future first ballot HOFer. But recently he's been a playoff underachiever and probably should've lost yesterday if Lee Evans could've just secured the ball and not get stripped.

[Jane]

I like Belicheck. And I'm pretty sure he is not a cheat. And I hope the Pats win cause I'm having a superbowl party and I don't want everyone to leave sad.

[NK]

CH-- I'll always appreciate any knock on BeliCHEAT. But I don't think recent playoff "underachiever" is right. Right now BeliCHEAT has Brady, the 2 TEs, a gigantic nose tackle who can turn it up for playoff games, and a bunch of average players. That's it. They are in the Super Bowl. The one legitimate knock on BelliCHEAT is how would he do without Brady? The one year Brady was out, they did OK-- how will he do when Brady retires? we'll find out.

[Jack is Back!]

narciso,

You ask why the Pats are favord by 3.

My analysis:

Pats have better overall record
Handled Ravens defense - better LB's
They are playing inside at indy
They are home team:)
Brady in his 5th Super Bowl
Eli's OL is suspect - 5 sacks yesterday.
Giants should send a case of champagne to Ted Ginn, Jr.

Giants defense is based on 4 DE's that let the LB's focus on pass defense but Pats have the two best TE's on a single team and this is going to be the key - can the Giants LB's cover the Gronk and Hernandez. I have them as the favorites now also.

[NK]

Jane- BeliCHEAT is a convicted cheater of NFL rules and he was fined $500,000 the Pats lost Draft Picks because of his cheating: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3018338 and then of course there is cheating on marriage vows: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/regional/item_YglIyW7evtI1fVTNS53QCL so yeah he is a big time convicted cheat and a liar.

[Jane]

Yeah except all the other teams were doing it too. At any rate, I appreciate the way he handled it. OTOH I'm sure the Giants never have broken any rules and no one involved has gotten a divorced and actually dated.

So I stand corrected.

[Ignatz]

Giants will win.
I was going to make a comment at the start of the playoffs that the Giants would run the table based on watching parts of a couple of late season games, but stupidly didn't, otherwise I'd look smart for a change.
They flew under the radar and are peaking perfectly.
Pats probably wouldn't have gotten by Pitt without Tebow saving their bacon and shouldn't have gotten by Baltimore.
Giants know how to put it away and will.
And I'm no Giants fan whatsoever.

[Dave (in MA)]

Lol, Jane.

Can anyone watch this all the way through without blowing their lunch?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INBayZpjeSY

[Thomas Collins]

As a follow-up to yesterday's discussion on the end zone call, on the Dennis and Callahan radio sports talk show this morning, it was reported that the NFL stated the officials got the call correct because the receiver didn't have both feet on the ground before being stripped. The source of this is Note 1 and Item 3 of Rule 8, Section 1, Article 3(c) of the NFL Rules. This is the rule cited by Cecil Turner yesterday. For the rule including notes and item annotations, see page 51 of the LUN.

Note 1 states that the receiver doesn't have to make a football move but must have control of the ball long enough to make a football move (by the way, what we refer to as a "football move" is referred to in the NFL Rules as "any act common to the game"). Item 3 provides that: "If a player controls the ball while in the end zone, both feet, or any part of his body other than his hands, must be completely on the ground before losing control, or the pass is incomplete."

If the receiver had gotten both both feet on the ground before being stripped, I suspect the ref would have concluded that the receiver had control for long enough to make a football move. However, under the clear language in Item 3, if both feet, or another body part other than the hands, is not on the ground before control is lost in the end zone, whether or not the receiver had enough time to make a football move is irrelevant. In this case, the pass is incomplete.

And some folks think the Internal Revenue Code is complicated!

[Captain Hate]

by the way, what we refer to as a "football move" is referred to in the NFL Rules as "any act common to the game"

I love it when the enneffell does these little make up words that don't mean anything but they become part of the vernacular of the game because they appear in some dipstick rule book. I wish that fraud Goodell would die in a fire of burning rule books and I could ask the CSI guys if his charred body was in the position of a "football move".

[Danube of Thought]

TC, Red Smith had a rule for judging prizefights that he called the "11-year-old boy rule": You put an 11-year-old boy at ringside and when the fight is over you ask him, "who won?" He'll point to one of the fighters and say "he did," and he'll get it right every time.

This still-basically-11-year-old boy called that pass incomplete without the slightest hesitation. Trying to codify the thought process is bound to get complicated, but never in my life have I had doubts about whether a pass was complete or not.

[Porchlight]

I agree with Ignatz about the Giants. They are looking spectacular. Still hoping for a Pats win for predictive reasons only (which I know is utterly meaningless, but humor me).

[Ignatz]

--I wish that fraud Goodell would die in a fire of burning rule books and I could ask the CSI guys if his charred body was in the position of a "football move".--

That is funny stuff.
I'm thinking of starting a Captain Hate's Familiar Quotations.

[Thomas Collins]

DOT, I agree with the 11 year old boy rule, but it fails me on the Brady snow fumble turned into a non-fumble. I look at that play and I think the 11 year old boy (and for that matter, grown up boys) say fumble. Yet, my memory is that most of the expert commentators agreed that under the tuck rule, it wasn't a fumble.

[Thomas Collins]

Ravens thought it was third down when it was fourth down, thus causing a rushed field goal attempt (although Harbaugh could have called a timeout). See LUN.

[Thomas Collins]

Ravens thought it was third down when it was fourth down, thus causing a rushed field goal attempt (although Harbaugh could have called a timeout). See LUN.

[Thomas Collins]

Apparently the scoreboard contributed to the confusion by indicating the wrong down. See LUN.

[Thomas Collins]

Apparently the scoreboard contributed to the confusion by indicating the wrong down. See LUN.

[Thomas Collins]

Apparently the scoreboard contributed to the confusion by indicating the wrong down. See LUN.

[Captain Hate]

I've been trying to tell a dimwit on a sports board that Harbaugh screwed Cundiff up by not calling a timeout to prevent the kick being too rushed and he keeps telling me how great a game Harbs coached.