Super Bowl XLVI What I Learned

Amidst all of the "what-ifs" my fragile little brain conjured up as I contemplated losing yet another Super Bowl pick to Jason--what if the New York Giants lost in Week 17 and missed the playoffs, what if that first Steve Weatherford punt bounced forward into the end zone instead of backwards, what if Tom Brady saw a receiver within 30 yards of where he flung the ball on his first throw of the game, what if Rob Gronkowski wasn't a fucking cripple on the biggest day of his career, what if coaches teach defenders to go strip the football from RBs trying to score in the 4th quarter instead of conceding the score and opening up a lane like they're cashiers at Wal-Mart--I did learn one thing:  I, and many other people, need to quit looking at Eli Manning and seeing Peyton's younger brother, because Eli Manning threw the ball all game as if he were the greatest player in the NFL.  He thinks he's elite, he thinks he's damn good at this, and fuck it all if he isn't correct.  What looking at Eli as Peyton's little sibling did was make me scared shitless on Super Bowl Sunday to pick the #1 overall draft pick in 2004 over a 6th-round system QB.  And that's absolutely pitiful on my part.  I'm not talking about the pick between me and Jason, because he had the Giants anyway.  I'm talking about how I talked myself into thinking that Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were destined to win this game, after I blogged all season long about how the Pats can't win the Super Bowl because their defense was too awful.  I refused to take Eli for what he was and analyze the game on his merits.  I honestly think that I psyched myself out of considering the Giants because I couldn't take Peyton's little bro to go 2-0 against the vaunted Patriot Way.  Well, he's 2-0, and he led game-winning comeback drives to win both games.  The only thing he didn't do is complete every pass.  The game itself had key moments throughout, but the one-sentence breakdown from me goes like this:  NE, thanks to their best weapon being ineffective, couldn't build a big enough lead to shield themselves from the inevitable Eli Manning Comeback.  That's it.  The moment Brady had yet another pass dropped to end a drive and force a punt with the Pats up by only two points, Tom, Gisele, and I knew that the game was over.  NE had overcome the safety to start things off, they overcame the G-Men storming through the o-line and disrupting Brady even with shorter pass routes, they overcame Gronkowski playing the role of decoy, and they had the spread covered, leading 17-9 at one point.  And if they were playing a QB other than Eli, they may have ran off with the win and the cover.  Oops, I just added another "what-if" to my collection.  Oh hell, I'll just end it here.  Congrats to Jason, his wife, his unborn daughter, the Giants, and everyone bright enough to overlook the Little Brother Factor and pick the better QB and better team to win.  I'm still flabbergasted that a team that was 7-7 and lost twice to the clown college that is the Washington Redskins just won the Super Bowl, but hey, I've always said that the regular season is nothing more than a seeding procedure for the playoff tournament, which is the only thing that really matters.  Oh, one more:  What if the Giants don't take Chase Blackburn away from being a substitute teacher and drag him on to the team?  Maybe Gronk can catch that long Brady throw instead of having it picked off by a linebacker 50 yards downfield?  Eh, who knows.  Anyway, we'll be back here at IMLD with our March Madness brackets, which serve only to give us a chance to document how much we hate Duke.  See you then!