Super Bowl Match-Ups: Pats “O” vs. Giants “D”
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
Over the next 4 days, we are going to take a look at some of the key match-up’s in Super Bowl XLVI. We will start by looking at the Patriots offense versus the Giants defense:
You would think that no matter who the Patriots face on any given week, that their offense would rate the decided edge over the opposing defense. That normally is the case, but not necessarily when it comes to this match-up.
Tom Brady and the Patriots offense finished second in the NFL in total offense (428 yards/game) during the regular season behind only New Orleans. The Patriots (32.1 ppg) also had the third highest scoring offense in the league behind the Packers and the Saints.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTBrady and the Pats relied heavily on the passing game again this season with TE’s Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez and WR’s Wes Welker and Deion Branch receiving a bulk of the targets. That should also be the case on Sunday with Gronkowski’s high ankle sprain being the only fly in the ointment.
However, the Patriots will have a big challenge on their hands with the NY Giants defense which is as healthy as it has been all season long and is playing its best football in the postseason.
This match-up may very well be won or lost in the trenches as New England’s offensive line of Matt Light (stomach bug), Logan Mankins, Dan Connolly, Brian Waters and either Sebastian Vollmer or Nate Solder will have to deal with the very physical and athletic front four of Justin Tuck, Chris Canty, Jason Pierre-Paul and Osi Umenyiora. If the Pats o-line gives Brady time to operate, New England should win this game. If not, the Giants rate the edge.
But there is also another area that will need to be watched closely in this game and that is the Patriots running game. If the Giants choose to rush four and drop seven for most of the game, New England will not be shy about handing the ball off to BenJarvus Green-Ellis, Danny Woodhead or even Aaron Henrandez. The Patriots did this against the Ravens in the AFC Championship game because the Ravens were content with rushing 3 or 4 and dropping 7 or 8 into coverage.
Still, barring an uncharacteristically second straight poor performance by Brady or a number of turnovers, this match-up will be decided up front.
Edge: New England
Tomorrow we take a look at the Giants offense versus the Pats defense.
