No, Caputo's Corner has not fallen off the face of the Earth. I've had various other committments over the last few days which have preempted quality blog time, but that does not mean I have not been paying attention over the last few days. As you might remember (or you might not...after all it has been a year), I did a marathon blog last year for Championship Sunday. This year, not so much, but if I had done a marathon, there would have been quite a bit to talk about.
In the first game, we featured the classic irresitible force against the immovable object scenario when the Patriots faced off against Baltimore. Last week, I noted that Baltimore had a very decent shot as long as they can run the football to keep Brady & Co on the sidelines. The Patriots defense is suspect, especially their run defense. Why can't teams exploit this?! Ray Rice and Ricky Williams had some really nice holes to run through in the second half. The first half they were shut down somewhat, but as the Patriots started to tire, the Ravens should have taken advantage. Instead, Flacco tried to play the hero, and I'll give him credit, he played a MUCH better game than Brady did, a significantly better game than Brady. He only really had one bad throw in the whole game (the 4th quarter pick). Nevertheless, the key to beating the Patriots is to stick with a running game to wear them down. You are NOT going to outscore them. You have to keep Brady on the bench. Even when Gronkowski got hurt, you just knew the Pats were not, just could not slow down. 23 points might not seem like a lot, but it could have been even less if the Ravens had just stuck with the run even more than they had.
Notice in that entire analysis that I did not even once mention the name Billy Cundiff. Morons who blame the Ravens' loss on the kicker are just that...morons. Yes, it was a chip shot, and yes, he should have hit it, but it should have never come to that. The blueprint on beating New England is very very simple, but it is very easy to throw caution to the wind, especially when they score once or twice...just ask Denver. Again, I will give the Ravens credit, they did play an excellent ballgame, but the tactics were very questionable. I think Harbaugh is going to have a chat with Cam Cameron over some of the playcalling in that game, telling him that he should have watched game film from Super Bowl XLII.
Speaking of which....
What do we have here? We have a rematch! This is the first Super Bowl rematch since Super Bowl XXX when the Cowboys and the Steelers met for the 3rd time in a Super Bowl. The Patriots get another crack at the G-Men thanks to the Giants 20-17 overtime upset over San Francisco in the NFC Championship nightcap. As we all remember, 19-0 turned into 18-D'OH when the unbeatable Patriots, fresh off a season full of Spygate, succombed to Eli and Plaxico in the desert. I don't like Eli Manning. I just don't. Eli is a very easy guy to dislike, going all the way back to the 2004 draft when Daddy Archie whined in front of the cameras because Baby Eli didn't want to play for the Chargers. Now, Eli is just one win away from a second Super Bowl, as opposed to big brother Peyton who still only has one. How did they do it? Well, I'll tell you, it wasn't Eli. Here are the MVPs from the NFC Championship: Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Mattias Kiwanuka, and Jason Pierre-Paul. They were wreaking havoc in the San Fran backfield all day. Frank Gore could not get his engine started. Alex Smith was running for his life all night (and so was Eli). When he did have time, Smith found Vernon Davis. Davis only caught 3 balls on the night, but two of them went for TDs (28 and 73 yards each). However, the key play of this game was a punt...yes, a punt. In the 4th quarter, Steve Weatherford (who did about as much as a punter could to earn game MVP honors...12 boots for 557 yards) booted to Ted Ginn, and the ball appeared to graze off of his left knee. Initially the ruling on the field was that the ball did not touch Ginn and the 49ers kept possession. However, the Giants challenged and the ball did in fact hit Ginn, setting the Giants up inside San Francisco 30. They scored a few plays later to go up 17-14. Up to that point, the Giants offense had been stymied, but that sequence of events proved to be enough as the Giants defense was just as up to the task as the Niner defense was.
In overtime, the Giants won the toss, but a quick 3 and out put to bed any chance of the new playoff overtime rule coming into effect. The winning field goal was set up by...you guessed it...another punt. This time, Kyle Williams did the honors, fumbling the punt away to put the Giants in field goal range immediately. Lawrence Tynes was true from 31 yards out, setting up the first rematch in a Super Bowl in 16 years. The early edge has to go to the Patriots. However, as the Patriots can tell you, if there ever was a team that knew the blueprint for beating them (and sticking to it), it's the New York Giants. Eli Manning won the MVP in Super Bowl XLII, but that was more of a product of giving the MVP to the quarterback because there was nobody else who really earned it. The MVPs in that game should have been the entire Giant defense, and expect more of the same this year. Throughout the playoffs, the Giants have succeeded with strong running game and defense, a Tom Coughlin staple. That's how they were able to beat the top 2 seeds in the NFC on the road, both of whom had high octane offenses that could chew up lots of yards in short periods of time. This game against the Patriots will be more of the same. All they have to do to look for inspiration is go back to 2007. They got pressure on Brady and controlled the clock. Even when the Patriots scored, they did not start to panic and go pass-whacky, they stuck to the game plan, and that frustrated the Patriots even more because they got used to teams resorting to the pass early in games. The Giants simply won't do that. I'll have more Super Bowl analysis over the next two weeks. No, I don't have another Super Bowl preview week planned, but I will be bringing back everyone's favorite...the prop bet forecast! Stay tuned.
It was Williams who botched both punts; Ted Ginn was not available for the game. Had Ginn been in the game, we would be talking about New England versus San Francisco in two weeks.
ReplyDelete@Josh-Thanks for the correction. I noticed that afte I had published the post, and was going around to make the correction, but you beat me to the punch.
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