What I want for the Super Bowl is a Har-bowl, but I think we will end up with a Brady-bowl. I expect the Niners and the Patriots to hold on at home in interesting championship games in the NFC and the AFC respectively. That would lead us to a Brady-bowl where ESPN will feed us a whole lot of Tom Brady for 2 weeks. They don't know this guy named Alex Smith playing out west for the Niners and to be fair to them, Brady is a much bigger star anyways. But not sure if I can handle 24 X 7 Brady love-fest for 2 weeks. Of course what I would like to see instead is a Har-bowl though some people have raised valid concerns about how that would be as bad as the BCS championship game - a repeat game between 2 offensively challenged teams with good defenses. It's not unlikely that we will get this super bowl considering defense wins championships and the Niners and the Ravens have the best defenses in this final 4. I have always liked the Harbaugh brothers and I can totally handle them for 2 weeks leading up to the super bowl. Now that both what I want to happen and what I think will happen are obvious, the NY Giants are the odd team out and ironically, they may be the most complete team left in the dance.
NY Giants definitely have a shot in San Francisco, but I have to go with the home team with the better defense here. And their offense didn't look too shabby either last weekend as Alex Smith sliced and diced the Saints twice in the last 4 minutes. The Giants offense and Eli at QB are better than what the Niners have and their defense is decent too, but everything New York is a little overblown by the predominantly East coast media. I like their front 4 on defense, but the Niners are no slouches either in that department. The NY bandwagon is especially full now since they beat the champions in Green Bay. But the Niners are tougher in every sense of the word. The Niners defense hit people like this is your grand father's NFL, and they know how to deliver those old-school blows without the new-school flags. They routinely knock out running backs and I would be concerned if I was Ahmad Bradshaw. The weather is going to be soggy and I never liked the theory that rain affects the offense. It's hard to play defense too in the rain as defenders have to react and move depending on where the receiver goes. But at the line of scrimmage, the defenders are pushing forward and the offensive line has to back-pedal. So the weather affects both sides and it depends on the position you play. The only added challenge for the offense is holding on to the slick ball in the rain and avoiding turnovers. All things considered, I think the road team is going to be uncomfortable here and the Niners should sneak through.
In the AFC, Joe Flacco is under a lot of stress because of his performance last weekend against a strong Texans defense. He should do a lot better against a weak defense in New England, but the question is, can he match Brady and the New England offense who just look unstoppable? Ravens don't seem to have any answer for Rob Gronkowski - actually no team does, and Gronk is just one of many options at Brady's figer-tips. Add to that the extra motivation the Pats have against the Ravens since they got embarrassed at home by the Ravens in the 2009 playoffs behind Ray Rice's 83-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage. Ray Rice might have to pull something that spectacular again to hang with this Pats team. I would give Ravens a better chance if their defense was more consistent and fearsome. They have a good D, but some of it is just good reputation even while their on-field performance has been inconsistent. Never count the team with the better defense out, but all things point to a repeat Super Bowl appearance for the hoody. A NY Giants V NE Patriots Super Bowl will be awesome considering what happened a few years back, but give me Niners this year. And good luck to Ravens who have the unenviable task of preventing the hoody from going to his 18000-Th Super Bowl.
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