Sunday, January 20, 2008

Pats in, Pack out

by Christopher Reardon

Well the Patriots continued to tear the turf up in today's game, stretching their record uh... record to 18-0. Mercury Morris has nothing to say now. Phillip Rivers has no more trash talk left. All that's left is to beat the Giants in the big show, and while Eli and his crew put up a good show during the regular season, it still went down as a notch in the Pat's win column and there's nothing to make me think that it won't happen again, particularly in a playoff setting.

Speaking of the Giants, they surprised a lot of people on their way to the Superbowl, upsetting Brett Favre and the Packers in an edge-of-your-seat overtime showing. Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes, after missing his previous two attempts from shorter yardage, managed to nail a 47-yard field goal and also to nail the lid on Green Bay's season.

So February third will be Brady versus Manning (Eli, that is). Belichick versus Coughlin. Patriots versus Giants. Not quite the show stopper everyone was hoping for in a Green Bay/ New England standoff. Let's face it: whomever the Patriots would have played would likely have turned out the loser. It just would have been much more satisfying for us New England fans still stung by New England's loss to Green Bay back in '97. It would even have been more satisfying for Favre and his fans, who have been looking to see a Superbowl berth since the 1998 loss to the Broncos.

But I guess this game will be okay. It'll still be nice to see the Pats win for the fourth time in seven years. Parity has been the name of the game since the NFL went with a salary cap, but the Patriots have overcome that and become the only modern dynasty in the league due to their great coaching, fantastic scouting, and that golden arm attached to Tom Brady. It'll also be nice to see the Pats go 19-0, a feat never accomplished by any team, ever. Holy cow, the Patriots HAVE NOT LOST THIS ENTIRE SEASON! That's unreal. I hope, nay, I KNOW that they will finish it all. They've come too far to fall now to Archie Manning's lesser son.

Image provided by Boston.com

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