Super Bowl Showdown

The Super Bowl is here, and this year's Pats-Giants game is full of interesting sub-plots. It's a re-match of the great Super Bowl 42 when the 18-0 undefeated Pats were upset by the Giants because a no-name receiver got a desperation pass on his helmet. Now, the two teams face off again. Along with these other juicy storylines:

   - Tom Brady is going for his 4th Super Bowl title which would tie him with Terry Bradshaw and Joe Montana for the most Super Bowl wins all-time for a QB. Throw in his 18-0 season and the single-season TD record, and Brady is playing for a win that would put in at the top of any conversation of "Best QB of all-time".

   - Eli Manning is going for his 2nd Super Bowl win. A win would put him with Brady and Big Ben as the only active QBs with multiple championships and the 11th QB in the history of football to win multiple Super Bowls. Even typing that, it doesn't seem right.

   - Also, an Eli Manning win gives him more Super Bowl titles than big brother Peyton. You know that's going to be a big edge in the sibling rivalry, and something Eli will most definitely bring up at every family gathering. Peyton has long been considered one of the best QBs, not only of his era, but possibly of all-time. But, if Eli ends up with more Super Bowl wins, does that make Peyton not even the best QB in his family? Imagine Eli wins, who's better, Peyton and his long history of crazy regular season success and incredible stats but playoff chokes or Eli with his erratic up-and-down regular seasons who seems to step up big in the playoffs? Very interesting.

   - Oh yeah, Eli is trying to win a 2nd Super Bowl, which is one more than brother Peyton. Brady is trying to win his 4th and end the "Brady or Peyton" debate once and for all. And, all of this is happening in Indianapolis, the city where Peyton has been playing for almost 20 years. This, coming after a year in which Peyton didn't play a single game due to injury and watched his team win 2 games all season. This can't be a pleasant week for Peyton.

   - Pats head coach Emperor Bill Belichek is going for his 4th Super Bowl win. That would tie him with Chuck Noll for the most all-time. No small feat for a guy with no soul.

   Add all of this stuff together, and it's the make-up for a really interesting game. Plus, this should be an actual exciting and close football game. Now, those storylines above have been beaten to death on every sports show and website for the past two weeks, so I'm giving a list of sub-sub-plots to watch for on Sunday. Here's a list of guys who promise to be important, and watching them will be entertaining, and maybe a little funny.

Pats Julian Edelman

I bet when this little guy was
playing QB at Kent State, he
never thought he'd be starting
in the Super Bowl playing
defensive back.

This guy was a 5'10 quarterback at tiny Kent State in college. The Pats drafted him as a wide receiver. He's had 4 catches all season. Somewhere along the line the Pats had one too many injuries on defense this year, so IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SEASON they moved Edelman to defensive back. Now, in the Super Bowl, he's going to be playing a position he probably hasn't played since grade school. At the end of the AFC Championship game two weeks ago with the game and a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, Edelman was guarding Ravens receiver Anquan Boldin, probably the Ravens best receiver. On the game's final drive, the Ravens discovered that the quarterback-turned-receiver-turned defensive back couldn't guard their best wideout, so they threw to Boldin 4 times resulting in 3 catches. Now, the Pats face the Giants who feature three receivers in Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz, and Mario Manningham who are better than Boldin. So, who is Edelman going to guard? None of those receivers are under 6 feet tall, and they all have been playing the position their entire career, not for a couple months. I'm thinking Eli might be looking to pick on Edelman on Sunday, and it's going to be fun watching Edelman try to wing his way through the Super Bowl.

Pats left tackle Matt Light

Most people ignore offensive lineman, like they should since they're fat and uninteresting, but Light has a difficult and very important job this Sunday. He needs to protect Tom Brady's blindside from the talented Giants pass rush. The Giants beat the Pats in the Super Bowl last time because the Giants defensive line got a lot of pressure on Brady and disrupted the entire Pats offense. Now, the Giants made their late run through the playoffs beating Aaron Rodgers and then the 49ers last week with their pass rush leading the way. With Jason Pierre-Paul, Osi Umenyiora, and Justin Tuck, the Giants have a lot of guys to get after Brady. Light needs to hold up and give Brady time to pick apart the Giants suspect secondary. If Light plays a bad game, Brady will get sacked, possibly lose some fumbles, and the Pats will probably lose. It's not exciting to watch offensive line play, but this will be one of the deciding factors on who wins the game.

Giants' safeties Kenny Philips and Antrel Rolle

The Pats love throwing the ball in the middle of the field using tight ends Rob GronkowskiRolle to try to cover those guys. They might get a break because Gronkowski has a high ankle sprain and no one seems to know whether he'll play or how effective he'll be. But, the Pats use their tight ends and Wes Welker over the middle in their passing game way more than they use their outside receivers, so Philips and Rolle will need have a solid game.


Manly Man of the Week - Cassanova McKinzy

Let me explain. Cassanova McKinzy (great name by the way) is a high school senior linebacker from Birmingham Alabama who is ranked at the 245th best prospect in the country by Rivals.com. He just chose Auburn over Clemson. He is manly man of the week for the reasoning behind his college choice. Here is the quote:
      "It was kind of the environment and plus they had no Chick-Fil-A on campus."
So, he made his college choice base on fried chicken. Awesome. Just spectacular. There is nothing manlier than making all important life decisions based on food, especially friend food. So, congratulations Cassanova. I wish you the best of luck and enjoy the Chick-Fil-A.