The Tripod

Must Suck To Be Tiki

It's safe to say that the ending of this NFL season was not what people were expecting. On the biggest stage in sports, Eli Manning and the New York Giants took down the previously undefeated New England Patriots. After seeing Sunday's events unfold, we felt it necessary to give our take on Super Bowl XLII.

Greg: Wow. All I can say is wow. I never expected Eli Manning and the New York Football Giants to take down the Pats. Although this New England loss was a huge disappointment to me, I'm ecstatic that Michael Strahan has finally won a Super Bowl ring. He deserves it. Unfortunately, I don't feel the same way about Manning …

Shah: I think we can all agree that seeing Strahan win a ring was a great image, just as it was to see Jerome Bettis win it two years ago in his hometown of Detroit. A couple of weeks ago, I would've been in the same boat as you in terms of how I felt about Eli Manning, but after seeing how he played in the playoffs, I'm going to have to disagree. Eli was hands down the best quarterback in the playoffs. He took control of a team that's been in disarray for sometime and led them to a championship victory over your heavily favored Patriots. He's taken a huge step from being the son of Archie and brother of Peyton Manning to becoming just Eli.

Greg: Eli has impressed me tremendously during this year's playoffs. He's played his best football of late and was strong in the Super Bowl. My question is whether or not he can remain consistent throughout the course of an entire season. There were times during the year in which he had games with a quarterback rating of less than 35, following or preceding another game with a quarterback rating of over 100. I think this Super Bowl win could be the start of great things to come from Eli, but until he can prove to be consistent, I wouldn't put him in the NFL's top five quarterbacks.

Shah: I agree. We shouldn't say that because he beat Tom Brady and the Pats in the Super Bowl, Eli should be crowned as one the league's best quarterbacks. We all know he's still got a ways to go before he's going to be mentioned in the same breath as Brady and big brother Peyton. At the same time, I don't think we should overlook how easy the G-Men (insert Chris Berman sound effect here) made stopping the Pats' offense look on Sunday. They came after Brady all day and made his job, as well as that of the Pats' offense as a whole, a living hell. It doesn't hurt to have two Pro-Bowlers on your D-line (Strahan and Umenyiora), as well as a guy like Justin Tuck as your backup defensive end.

Greg: Forget about Tom Brady's ankle; his entire body took a beating. The Pats outstanding offensive line, which includes Pro-Bowlers Matt Light (who had two false starts … no comment there), Logan Mankins, and Dan Koppen, did a horrendous job of protecting their quarterback. Come on, giving up five sacks in the Super Bowl is not going to give your team any advantage, especially when you have a pocket quarterback like Brady who needs time to let it fly. It was clear the entire night that Brady was rushed. The combination of great plays by the Giants defensive line coupled with poor pocket protection by the Pats led to the Giants' win.

Shah: I'm glad you brought that up, because it wasn't as though the Giants were blitzing on every play or trying to disguise their coverages like other teams have done in the past (Ravens, Steelers, etc.). They were able to go after Brady with just their four linemen, which allowed the rest of the defense to shut down the most prolific passing attack (statistically) in NFL history. Giants' head coach Tom Coughlin and defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo just simply out-coached the great Bill Belicheck.

Greg: One wonders if it's even possible for someone to out-coach Bill Belichick, let alone a man who was nearly fired at the beginning of the season. Coughlin was on the hot seat for many years in New York, suffering one disappointing season after another. The Giants organization stuck by their coach even after a slow start to the season and he responded well, taking his team all the way to the biggest stage in professional football.

Shah: I'm sure everyone will agree that the Pats were a far superior team on paper (better QB, WRs, LBs, DBs, and even OL). The Giants weren't the most talented team in the playoffs, but they were easily the best team in the playoffs. They were able to put everything together and peak at the perfect time, all of which culminated with their winning four road games in a row to capture the title.

Greg: A few readers may be familiar with a television character named Cousin Oliver. He is infamous because he "killed the Brady Bunch," the immortal show that some thought would never end. The perfect family was perfect no more. Cousin Oliver was a goofy-looking kid whom nobody liked initially. Congratulations, Eli Manning: you are the new Cousin Oliver. You've killed the Brady Bunch.

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