I have no doubt that by now virtually everyone, football fan or not, has heard of the outcome of Super Bowl XLII and I will not rehash the details. It is, however, very disappointing to see the Patriots manage to get through the regular season and the playoffs with a small handful of scares and then be completely torn apart by the Giants.
The Giants defensive line and linebackers had the Pats O-line scratching their head from the beginning. What alarmed me was the fact that after the long (and boring, might I add) halftime break, Bill Belichick and the O-line could come up with nothing to stop or even slow down the pass rush that made the passing game entirely impotent.
For a moment in the latter part of the 4th quarter, the sense of urgency that suddenly set into the Patriots reminded me of earlier seasons where they had clearly not dominated their opponents. It also somewhat foreshadowed the end result.
In the end, it wasn’t a lot about what the Giants were able to accomplish as much as it was about what the Pats offense couldn’t. The defense did admirably till the end, but the offense completely and utterly let them down.
The real question now swirling in the minds of pundits and fans alike is what portion of the team will return for a another campaign in 2008. Key players like Randy Moss and Asante Samuel were signed to one-year deals. If the core of the team were to return, perhaps we can be make it 4 in 8!
Cheers
Indeed a disappointing but well deserved loss for the Patriots. They should have taken a lead by far. With victory being only one touchdown away for the Giants and plenty of time on the clock, I was certain that the end result would be unfavorable for the Pat fans!
The Pats bragged about “Team Work” before the Super Bowl and that is one thing that was in fact missing!
Call me superstitious but if I were to blame one person, it would be Belichick for not wearing his usual sweat shirt and coming on the field with a new red one.:)
I agree hon that they should’ve taken a lead in the game. Even if they had trouble with the pass rush in the first half, they shoud’ve figured it out and fixed it in the second half to get the key players involved and get the scoring going.
The defense was doing a great job of keeping the Giants out of the red zone, so a couple of touchdowns would’ve given our D the opportunity to really put pressure on Eli!