Re: Jeffri Chadiha
atriots feeling weight of history they are chasing
Thing is you could recycle Jeffrey's piece to reflect the Giants feeling the weight of opportunity...maybe he will next week when he's again asked to fill space...
"There certainly aren't many reasons to question the
NEP chances of beating the NYG in Super Bowl XLII.
Focus, however, should not be anywhere on that list.
It's actually hard to see the NEP losing sight of anything these days. No team has been more dialed in than the NEP over the last eighteen weeks...
The Giants, on the other hand, have won three straight playoff games on the road. You don't do EITHER unless your head is in the right place.
The NEP have beaten the odds every weekend, whether it was slaying an undeteated Dallas team that was supposedly America's team once again, an undefeated Colts team who were the defending champs and reportedly had their number, or the late surging Jacksonville Jaguars who were the team nobody wanted to face. Now that they're facing the same NYG team that they beat in the regular-season finale, the odds favor NE bringing that same single-minded mentality to Arizona for a week when the Giants will be hearing not only all about the greatness of their opponent, but what it would mean to knock them off (oh wait, they already heard that... ).
"All I can say is that we weren't scared of them the first time we lost to them," Toomer said. "And they knew that when that game was over and they still won."
The first Patriots game of the season obviously has become the genesis of everything that has gone right for NE over the last EIGHTEEN weeks.
From the moment BB opened that week of practice with a matter-of-fact proclamation -- "Just do your job FOR 60 MINUTES," he said during a team meeting that week -- the NEP adopted a sense of purpose that they haven't lost yet.
So far, that's been the major difference in NE. The PATS now approach every game with the same hunger and determination... "If we approached every practice, meeting and game with the same intensity we had that week, we knew we could get to this point." Said <fill in the Patriots player blank>.
Of course, now the Giants have to deal with a challenge that will be infinitely greater than the one New England offered back on Dec. 29. The Patriots haven't lost a Super Bowl in the three times they've reached that game under coach Bill Belichick. They also have strength in numbers. While Toomer and Strahan represent all of the Giants' Super Bowl experience, the Patriots boast 21 players who have played on a team that has advanced to that game. That's a hell of an advantage in a contest of this magnitude.
And let's also be candid here: The GIANTS haven't been winning in the same impressive fashion that had been their trademark earlier this post season when they throttled the anemic Bucs.
They literally labored to beat the self distructing Cowboys and a Packers team determined to throw their shot away, and they definitely look more like a team that is feeling the weight of the opportunity they're chasing. Meanwhile, the NEP have grown more comfortable with their undefeated status each week because it is what it is and they are finally down to winning one game at a time, which is the hallmark of their dynasty.
This is why the Patriots have become so un-intriguing... Theworst thing that happened to the NYG this year is that the NEP already had a great opportunity to see what it takes to beat the best effort of the best team in the NFC. It doesn't come down to good breaks or spectacular plays. It really amounts to attitude and execution, which are the two qualities that New England has displayed every week of this season.
So now that the we all understand that, this Super Bowl officially has a chance to be an exciting contest, or not. That's because the first time these two teams met, the Patriots were the ones who had everything to play for while the Giants had nothing to lose. But one week of practice and one closely fought game in late December has changed that for the Giants.
In other words, the Patriots should be bracing for a vastly different opponent when these two teams meet again. Although, that being the case, so too should the Giants who clearly did not experience the best the NEP have to offer and still lost..."
Have I filled my colum space yet 'cause I'm getting a headache coming up with this drivel...when we all know at the end of the day I have no real clue what I'm babbling about where either of these teams are concerned...
