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Post Super Bowl Thoughts

by Walt Posted on Feb 04, 2008 under Network Madness, Playing With Balls |

Now THERE is a football game.

For those of you who may have been bored by the lack of scoring, got your fill of cool commercials [TVSquad], and left, you missed it.

For those of you too drunk to care about anything but hitting on the Hooter’s waitresses, you missed it.

This particular Super Bowl had just about everything for you.

• An Undefeated Team
• A True Underdog Team
• Half Decent Commercials
• And best of all, A Lack of John Madden [YouTube about 1 minute in]

The sportsbook was very generous, so as to attract the most amount of sports bettors, some of which would never think to bet on football. As we all know now, not only did the Underdog Team “cover the spread” they actually BEAT the other team!

How often does that happen? Well, I already discussed this in a previous post about past Super Bowl upsets. The upset that occurred yesterday will certainly go down in history as one of the more shocking upsets, but for its own reasons. The New York Giants had a weak team led by a wet behind the ears quarterback playing in the shadow of his father as well as a brother who actually won the Super Bowl the previous year. I say “weak team” only to indicate that the Giants were not seeded very high as the season ended. Early season losses and some player injuries made the Giants look like they didn’t belong in any game during the playoffs… games they ended up winning.

Yes, it was a defensive battle. Boring to some who may have idly watched the occasional game. The Giants could move the ball, but not score when it got close, and the Patriots looked like they were just waiting around to make that huge yardage gainer, striking a blow to the morale of the upstart Giants.

The key in this defensive battle was the running game, both for the Giants as well as the Patriots. The Giants were on the field for the better half of the entire first quarter, running the ball. The Patriots indeed moved the ball and scored, but most of the plays didn’t involve the run. Relying on the skill of the quarterback Brady, who had already won Super Bowls on the strength of his passing arm, the Patriots looked to bend a little to the Giants, but would later on simply score seemingly unchallenged.

As you know if you watched, the Giants DID challenge. But not offensively, eh? No, the Giants Defense was the force in this game. Not by forcing mistakes… but by stopping the routes the Patriots had traditionally chosen to gain yardage. That quick pass out to the right flat? Little to no gain. The short passes were covered. … And then the Giants continued to stop the run.

We all assumed that the Giants might come down and score another touchdown or field goal before the half, but a mistake ended that drive. But it was that the Patriots couldn’t score… that was the key at halftime.

So, yeah, a defensive battle.

Halftime… Nothing like watching 20 year old white girls bop around to music that was popular 30 years ago. I suppose the halftime show was a “safe choice”, something without any phallic symbols or other sexual body parts being flashed onstage. Just a darkened arena with a lit up penis shaped “arrow” entering a heart…
UPDATE: here’s a pic:

Geezer rock passed off as SuperBowl entertainment…
If the halftime shows keep up this progression, next year we’ll have Wayne Newton singing “Danke Schoen”…

By now, anyone sticking around to see this bore fest has to really like football or live in New England.

And then the fourth quarter rolled around.

Folks, this is what you watch football for. Normally, you’re relying on well known quarterbacks with balls of steel picking apart the defense with their razor sharp mind and threading the needle with their passes, placing the ball exactly where they want it. Well, not so much. Up until now, this contest was one of futility, with both quarterbacks in serious need of offense of ANY type. Thankfully, we were soon to be saved.

Both quarterbacks ended up coming alive in the fourth quarter. Manning was three for three, all great passes, and suddenly the Giants went ahead by three.

As we all know, a good team wakes up, and the Pats and Brady certainly did. They responded. Oh, wait. They didn’t. Brady made a couple of short passes that he’s so famous for, and then threw two incompletions and the Patriots had to punt.

What do the Giants do? Put the knife in and twist, by scoring again? Uh, no. Three and out. Pats will get the ball back.

You can practically smell the Pats scoring on this drive.

And they do. Short Pass Right, Short Pass Right, running play (hey, finally the run comes back!) Short Pass Right, Short Pass Left, Short Pass Left, incomplete pass… Yeah, you get the point. Something that the Pats could have done the whole game they finally get around to doing at the final part of the fourth quarter. This is what everyone expected to see done in the first three quarters.

You get the point. The Pats score, going ahead again and leaving the underdogs with one last shot. It’s a few seconds before the two minute warning. One last chance. If the winning team has the ball, they take a knee and run out the clock. The team that’s losing has one chance, and you can’t make a single mistake.

And the bettors are all going “Wow! The Giants beat the spread!!”

The Boston Globe is waiting to print their “19-0 Perfect Season” book I mentioned.

The rest of us are just waiting for the Patriot defense to sack Eli Manning and end the Giants’ fairy tale dreams.

And they do sack Manning. Well, almost sack him.
And he hurls the ball down the field into double coverage where the receiver gets one hand on the ball trapping it against his helmet and the ball hits the ground before the guy can maintain control. Well, almost, because the receiver is tackled by the defender, and the defender’s leg hip is under the falling receiver, giving the receiver another 1/4 second to control the ball, which he somehow does. The ball never quite touches the ground, and the catch is official.

Google Vid link
Slightly better NFL version preceded by commercial [NFL.com]

The Giants are on the 25 yard line, and it’s a miracle how they got there. It will take at least one more to win. There’s just 59 seconds left to play. Down by four points, you score a touchdown or else.

And then Manning gets sacked. Timeout. At this level of tension, you don’t go to commercial. You just wonder what the hell is going to happen next.

And then an incomplete pass. Time stops with 51 seconds.

And then…

Two short passes to win the game.
Final Pass in the final seconds to win [Google vid]

The End.

The Patriots are not
19-0
they are
18 and D’oh!

And one fairy tale gets told while the other fairy tale gets trashed.

We all like fairy tales where the underdog wins out, bringing home the chalice, vanquishing the dragon…

But this is football. In football, the underdogs don’t usually win.

While it’s fun to watch one team upset another (and it was, for me at least)

As a football fan, you want strength and ability to count for something. You want skill to triumph over luck.
In short, you want the team that has won more games to continue to win. You want the team dynasty.
That perfect season.

So, I’m torn. I watched a great game that had defense, miraculous catches, quarterbacks escaping and best of all…

no John Madden. Now THERE is a football game.