new england patriots

Greg Cosell on Patriots alert! Interesting stuff as always. There are definitely some personnel changes for both teams this time around. And while the Giants are getting more impact from guys returning from injury, I think the Pats are getting more impact from finally having some continuity in their line-up.

The Giants winning touchdown drive was fascinating. The most important play was a 28 yard seam completion to Ballard on third and 10. It was Manning at his best: a stick throw into a small window in a critical situation, the kind of throw that separates quarterbacks in the NFL. The coverage defender was Tracy White. What was interesting was White had not played in the nickel sub-package all game until the final drive.

Neither had safety Sergio Brown.  It was his pass interference penalty against Cruz that put the ball on the Patriots 1 yard line with 30 seconds remaining. Watching the tape that week, I was curious as to why White and Brown were in the game at that point, after not playing the first 58½ minutes.

Bruschi and Reiss have been doing full hour long podcasts for the playoffs and they are packed with great stuff. MUST LISTEN!