Abandon all hope, ye Patriots fans – WEEI | Jerry Thornton
As always Jerry nails it. I have nothing to add.
Facts, as they say, are stubborn things. And for this game coming up, the facts are these:
The Giants have been the hottest team in football over the last month. They’ve won five straight games. The Patriots have only won 10 straight.
The Patriots were lucky to get here. Lee Evans dropped that pass that Sterling Moore ferociously ripped out of his hands, which was pure luck. Kyle Williams letting a punt he had no intention of returning graze off his knee? Typical great clutch play by the G-Men.
Eli Manning is more than just Brady’s equal. You can’t spell “elite” without him. He’s the winningest winner that’s ever won. He LOVES taking sacks. Can’t be intimidated. He never forces a bad throw and laughs in the face of a pass rush. His legend grows like William Wallace’s. He’s 7 feet tall. Kills men by the hundreds. He’ll consume New England with fireballs from his eyes and bolts of lightning from his arse.
Brady? You can pressure him. Put him on the ground. He doesn’t like to get hit. He gets rattled. Don’t let the fact that that’s been everyone’s game plan for the last 11 years, three Super Bowl wins, two MVP seasons and last two weeks of playoff wins make you think it doesn’t work.
Brady’s played gawdawful in the playoffs, if you take away that unworldly, record-breaking job against Denver. And you must take it away. It doesn’t count.
The Patriots looked terrible in some of their games, including that one they barely won in Washington. Sure, the Redskins beat the Giants by two touchdowns twice, but that’s erroneous.
The Giants defensive front four are an irresistible force, as unblockable as a tsunami. There is no hope of stopping them with the Pats’ measly three Pro Bowlers and best blocking tight end in the league.
The Giants can pound the ball with Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs. Don’t get sidetracked by that whole “last in the NFL in rushing” thing.
Rob Gronkowski is missing practices and that’s going to cost New England in a big way. Hakeem Nicks (336 yards, 4 TDs in the playoffs) is missing practices, but he’ll be fine.
The Giants completely shut down the Patriots offense in Week 9. Besides those 17 points the Pats scored in the fourth quarter once they quit worrying about max-protecting Brady, spread New York out and played their own game.
Devin McCourty might have had a great rookie year but this year he’s been a disaster so they had to move him to safety. Antrel Rolle was great as a rookie then was a disaster and had to be moved to safety. But that doesn’t count, either.
Eli will shred New England’s secondary, which was 31st in the league. Brady has no chance against New York’s secondary, which was a whopping 29th.
Coughlin’s superhuman brain operates on a plane of existence the human mind cannot comprehend. Don’t let all those annual demands he be fired that fill the New York tabloids distract you from the truth that he’s the greatest football intellect since the first coach ever crawled out of the primordial ooze and learned to walk on land. Besides, what does Bill Belichick know about winning big games?