PatsPropaganda

One of the best parts of making it to the Super Bowl? Two full hours of NFL Network’s playbook dedicated entirely to the match-up.

While the Patriots were able to keep an elite defense on its heels with personnel groupings and an efficient running attack, we were surprised how little Baltimore game-planned to attack Julian Edelman as a defender. On the 18 plays that Edelman was in on defense, the Ravens only attacked Edelman three times. The first occasion didn’t come until the fourth quarter with 1:44 remaining. In the end, the Ravens were 2-of-3 on targets toward Edelman for 22 yards. For a majority of the game, Edelman was matched on Anquan Boldin, but Baltimore didn’t scheme to exploit that advantage. And in the run game, the Ravens were not efficient, either. Ray Rice gained only 67 yards on 21 carries. The Patriots offense, on the other hand, was impressive in how it scored. All five of their scoring drives reached double figures in play-count and accumulated 23 minutes and 17 seconds combined (58 plays). Even if Tom Brady didn’t have his best game, the Patriots game-planned well enough to earn a Super Bowl bid.

The Patriots probably won’t be able to use much from this game in their preparation for Super Bowl XLVI because, let’s face it, that wasn’t really the Giants as we now know them. Without Nicks and Bradshaw, they adjusted their approach by using more two-TE packages than usual. In fact, they employed a two-TE look on 36 of 68 plays, with TE Bear Pascoe often lining up in the backfield as a fullback. These days, the Giants are a wide-open passing attack, using three wide receivers as their base offense (48 percent of the snaps in the regular season, according to ESPN Stats & Information).

The Giants were conservative early in the game, trying to establish the run. Maybe it was because they didn’t have Nicks, but they seemed reluctant to attack the Patriots’ woeful pass defense, which finished 31st in the league. That won’t be the case this time. Manning is on an all-time roll and, even though the Patriots have shown improvement in recent weeks, the Giants should have their choice of favorable matchups with the Patriots’ secondary.