Stats' Spiel :: First in a While

Boy, it's been quite a while since I've given you a Spiel. I know it must have been hard to survive. But being the first in a while has been a common theme recently in sports, both here and throughout the country.

The Boys' Basketball team here in the Woods finally notched its first win of the season on Tuesday night with a 62-52 win over Wolcott. It was their first win in nearly a year--February 6, 2007 came the last win against... yes, those same Eagles. Congratulations to Coach Hunt and company on the first "W" of the year and hopefully they grab a few more before it's all said and done.

I use the phrase "first in a while" a little more loosely here, but the Girls' squad also took a victory on Tuesday by a 54-41 score over our rival, Seymour. That win snapped a 3-game losing streak and qualified the Lady Hawks for the Class M State Tournament--something they had been trying to do since their last win on January 11th over Wilby.

We turn to college basketball, and notice the sudden resurgence of the UConn Huskies. With huge wins in the past 2 weeks over then-#13 Marquette, a 1-point road win over Cincinnati, a road upset over then-#7 Indiana, and a big 2-point home victory over Louisville, Jim Calhoun's squad is trying to crack the AP Top 25 poll for the first time since January 8, 2007. The Huskies also have a 3-game conference winning streak for the first time since they won 5-straight from February 18-March 4, 2006. Looking like a potential return to the Big Dance for UConn.

And finally, perhaps most importantly, the Giants have returned to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2001, when they were mauled by the Ravens, 35-7. And by the Patriots' standards, it's been a while since they've played for the Lombardi Trophy--the last time was back in 2005 when they beat the Eagles.

So let's preview the Super Bowl. You've got to give the edge in most of the paper categories to the Patriots. Certainly they have the more experienced and, quite frankly, the better quarterback in Tom Brady. They have perhaps the greatest offensive line to ever play football. You would be hard-pressed to find a better core of receivers in the history of the game. Their linebackers--Tedy Bruschi, Mike Vrabel, Junior Seau, and Adalius Thomas--are probably the best in the league.

But perhaps the most important categories in this game are closer, and might even favor the G-Men. The 2-headed running back attack of Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs is helping the NFC Champs move forcefully down the field and dominate the time of possession. Perhaps a reincarnation of their famous cross-town rival Jets' "New York Sack Exchange" (if you don't know, that was a really good defensive line back in the 1980s) is the D-line of the Giants. They can do something most other teams can't--get pressure on Brady with just a 4-man rush.

The ability to do that makes playing defense against the Pats a bit easier. Brady, like many quarterbacks, isn't great under distress. He sometimes rushes to make decisions in the face of a blitz, as we saw with his 3 interceptions against the Chargers in the AFC Title Game. Since the Giants can pressure him with just 4 men, they can drop most of the others back into coverage, and make it additionally difficult for Brady to find one of his receivers--even though he has about 6 that can be threats on every play.

The Giants are going to have to do a couple of things to win. First, they have to score. They have to keep running with Bradshaw and Jacobs. New England doesn't have an amazing defense against the run. If they can successfully run, they should win the time of possession battle (look what happened against the Packers). The less Brady and company has the ball, the less they're going to score (which they did in record numbers this year).

They also have to limit the big plays which the Pats are capable of making. The long touchdown pass to Randy Moss in Week 17 (Moss' 23rd and Brady's 50th of the season) really broke that one open. Granted, the secondary is aching, but they're going to have to step up big in the most important game of their lives.

Finally, Eli Manning can't try to do too much. He can't let the Super Bowl pressure get to him. All he has to do is make throws like he made in Green Bay and the Giants will be right there come the end.

Look, I'm not a Giants fan, but I hate the Patriots worse than the Yankees (yes, I said it). I'm hoping that this year we'll finally get a game that's better than the commercials (and the commercials have been terrible the last few years). I'll tell you one thing, if the game was played this past Sunday, the Giants would have won by 2 scores. But it's on February 3rd instead. That's another full week for Brady to get healthy, another week for the genius to prepare for a team he's already played.

Patriots: 31, Giants: 21