The theme of the last two weeks of the playoffs for the Giants was
“revenge,” but that’s not what they’re seeking this time. They’ll arrive
in this Super Bowl city on Monday afternoon having already proven
they’re good enough to beat the Patriots.
The trick now is to do it again.
As the Packers and 49ers found out the last two weeks, beating the same team twice in a season isn’t easy. Against a Hall of Fame-bound coach like Bill Belichick, it can be especially hard.
“Knowing Coach Belichick and their staff they’ll have a new game plan, they’ll have some new wrinkles in there,” said Eli Manning. “They’re a great staff and great coaches. They’ll be well prepared. Just from watching one of their games it seems like they’ve already changed up a little bit.”
“Bill is an outstanding football coach who has his finger on everything that goes on there and does an exceptional job of planning,” Tom Coughlin added. “Therefore, it presents outstanding problems. And just as important is that they are a very, very good team.”
In fact, the Patriots team that touched down in Indianapolis on Sunday evening is riding a 10-game winning streak that dates back to their last loss on Nov. 6 24-20 to the Giants in Foxborough. When the Giants beat them, the Patriots were scuttling along at 5-3, looking like a fading dynasty.
Since then they’ve won their 10 straight games by an average score of 36-19.
Maybe most importantly, the Giants had no choice but to show their full hand in that regular-season meeting. It was a big game they needed to win to keep their momentum rolling as they began a difficult stretch of their schedule. They couldn’t hold anything back.
That makes this different than it was in 2007, when the Giants narrowly lost to the Patriots in the regular-season finale, only to beat them five weeks later in Super Bowl XLII. Years later, former Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo admitted “there was a little bit of a pullback there” in that game because they didn’t want to show their entire game plan, in case they met again.
This time they are much more exposed.
“I think any time you play the Patriots they're always going to have something new for you,” Manning said. “The last time we played them they showed a lot of different looks, some different schemes on defense things that they have not shown before. When we played them in the Super Bowl four years ago they had some new things for that game. They tend to have a theme of the game and it changes from week to week.
“So you have to be prepared for a lot of different things. They do a great job of disguising things and showing different looks. We have to be prepared for it all.”
Of course, the same is true for the Patriots. They know the Giants got a good look at what they like to do with receiver Wes Welker (nine catches, 136 yards in that game) and their dangerous tight end duo of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez (12 catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns combined). They saw how to attack the NFL’s second-worst defense, which they beat for 361 yards, even without receiver Hakeem Nicks and running back Ahmad Bradshaw.
That familiarity makes this game an intriguing chess match between Belichick and Coughlin and their staffs. The Giants know how to beat them. The Patriots have two weeks to study that film to figure out how to stop them.
It’s why, after all the studying and scheming, some players are convinced that what happened in the first game won’t really matter at all.
“Those games mean nothing,” said linebacker Michael Boley. “That game was so long ago. A lot has changed not only with their team but with ours.”
“Means absolutely nothing,” added safety Antrel Rolle. “It’s a totally different team, totally different mindset, two teams going head to head. Whatever it takes.”
The trick now is to do it again.
As the Packers and 49ers found out the last two weeks, beating the same team twice in a season isn’t easy. Against a Hall of Fame-bound coach like Bill Belichick, it can be especially hard.
“Knowing Coach Belichick and their staff they’ll have a new game plan, they’ll have some new wrinkles in there,” said Eli Manning. “They’re a great staff and great coaches. They’ll be well prepared. Just from watching one of their games it seems like they’ve already changed up a little bit.”
“Bill is an outstanding football coach who has his finger on everything that goes on there and does an exceptional job of planning,” Tom Coughlin added. “Therefore, it presents outstanding problems. And just as important is that they are a very, very good team.”
In fact, the Patriots team that touched down in Indianapolis on Sunday evening is riding a 10-game winning streak that dates back to their last loss on Nov. 6 24-20 to the Giants in Foxborough. When the Giants beat them, the Patriots were scuttling along at 5-3, looking like a fading dynasty.
Since then they’ve won their 10 straight games by an average score of 36-19.
Maybe most importantly, the Giants had no choice but to show their full hand in that regular-season meeting. It was a big game they needed to win to keep their momentum rolling as they began a difficult stretch of their schedule. They couldn’t hold anything back.
That makes this different than it was in 2007, when the Giants narrowly lost to the Patriots in the regular-season finale, only to beat them five weeks later in Super Bowl XLII. Years later, former Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo admitted “there was a little bit of a pullback there” in that game because they didn’t want to show their entire game plan, in case they met again.
This time they are much more exposed.
“I think any time you play the Patriots they're always going to have something new for you,” Manning said. “The last time we played them they showed a lot of different looks, some different schemes on defense things that they have not shown before. When we played them in the Super Bowl four years ago they had some new things for that game. They tend to have a theme of the game and it changes from week to week.
“So you have to be prepared for a lot of different things. They do a great job of disguising things and showing different looks. We have to be prepared for it all.”
Of course, the same is true for the Patriots. They know the Giants got a good look at what they like to do with receiver Wes Welker (nine catches, 136 yards in that game) and their dangerous tight end duo of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez (12 catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns combined). They saw how to attack the NFL’s second-worst defense, which they beat for 361 yards, even without receiver Hakeem Nicks and running back Ahmad Bradshaw.
That familiarity makes this game an intriguing chess match between Belichick and Coughlin and their staffs. The Giants know how to beat them. The Patriots have two weeks to study that film to figure out how to stop them.
It’s why, after all the studying and scheming, some players are convinced that what happened in the first game won’t really matter at all.
“Those games mean nothing,” said linebacker Michael Boley. “That game was so long ago. A lot has changed not only with their team but with ours.”
“Means absolutely nothing,” added safety Antrel Rolle. “It’s a totally different team, totally different mindset, two teams going head to head. Whatever it takes.”
No comments:
Post a Comment