2012 Super Bowl Predictions


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We are less than a week away from the New England Patriots and New York Giants doing battle in Super Bowl XLVI. While the Patriots were a popular pick to represent the AFC, few experts had the Giants even making the playoffs. It just goes to show you that you can’t ever be certain when it comes to the NFL. Whether or not you picked these two teams to play in the final game of the season, there is still one more prediction to make. Who will win this highly anticipated rematch. The Giants pulled off one of the best upsets in Super Bowl history against the unbeaten Patriots in the 2008 Super Bowl. They also upset the Patriots 24-20 during the regular season, but none of that seems to matter to oddsmakers. According to our Super Bowl odds, the Patriots are favored by 3-points over the Giants. If you are still debating on which side to take, here is a look at the keys for each team to cover.

Reasons to take New England: While this will be the Patriots fifth Super Bowl appearance in the last 12 years, New England hasn’t brought home the Lombardi Trophy since beating the Carolina Panthers in the 2004 Super Bowl. Head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady were a perfect 3-0 in the Super Bowl before losing to the Giants. Belichick and Brady haven’t forgot about that loss, and it’s hard to imagine there is any team out the NFC they would rather face in than the Giants.

A lot is being made of the Giants pass rush and how it will slow down the Patriots passing attack. In the first meeting against the Giants Brady completed just 28 of 49 attempts with two interceptions, but was still able to rack up 342 passing yards. Anytime you give Brady two weeks to prepare for a defense, more times than not he is going to find holes that the offense can attack. I also believe Brady will benefit from facing the Giants in the regular season. New York gave the Patriots a new look by using an extra safety in place of a linebacker. Don’t be surprised at all if New England runs the ball more than they normally do, especially if New York decides to pull a linebacker for a safety again.

A lot of people want to knock the Patriots because of how poor their defense has looked at times this season, but you can’t ignore the fact that they continue to find ways to win games. A lot of people look at how many yards the Patriots give up, and completely ignore the fact that they allowed just 21.4 ppg (15th best in the NFL) and forced the most turnovers (34) of any team in the AFC. Everyone wants to forget that they held the Giants to just 361 total yards and 24 points.

Reasons to take New York: There is no question that the Giants come into the Super Bowl playing their best football of the season. Most experts thought this team was finished after losing four straight in the middle of the season. At that point the Giants were just 6-6 overall. Things really seemed to turnaround after a horrible 10-23 loss at home to the Redskins in week 15. New York went on to win the final two games of the regular season to secure the NFC East, and completely dominated Atlanta and Green Bay before edging out a win against San Francisco. In reality this team has been in playoff mode for the last five games. New York is riding a very similar wave of momentum that Green Bay used to win the Super Bowl last season.

I think it’s pretty safe to say the Giants once again feel completely disrespected. New York went on the road and beat the Patriots, yet they come into the rematch as an underdog. Sure there are a lot more people backing the Giants compared to the last time these two teams met in the Super Bowl, but the players are going to fuel off the fact that they aren’t the favorites in this game.

The Giants defensive line is arguably the best unit in all of football, and will likely be the deciding factor in this game. If New York can get pressure up front it makes the job of their secondary a heck of a lot easier. If they struggle to put pressure on Brady, New England’s receivers will have a field day against a week group of defensive backs. It’s hard to ignore what this group did to the Packers in the Divisional Round. The Giants held Aaron Rodgers to 264 yards on 26 of 46 attempts. Most importantly they allowed Green Bay to score just two touchdowns the entire game.

Most of the quarterback attention is being given to Brady, but you can’t ignore how well Eli Manning and the Giants passing attack has looked of late. Manning has stepped up into that elite class of quarterbacks, and you have to like his chances against the Patriots defense. If he can take care of the football, New York should have no trouble moving the ball and putting points on the board. In the playoffs Manning is averaging 308 passing yards a game with 8 touchdowns to just one interception.

Find out who Steve Janus has covering the spread, by locking in his 5* Super Bowl ATS Game of the Decade!

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Comments

8 Responses to “2012 Super Bowl Predictions”

  1. Angela Decker on January 10th, 2009 10:02 PM

    The Cowgirls definitely didn’t win the Super Bowl in 2005.

  2. Jack Jones on January 11th, 2009 10:18 AM

    2005 for sure. I think you meant 1995 in which you are correct their Super Bowl win came in January of 1996, which I think Jason meant to be the 1995 season.

  3. george s on November 4th, 2009 1:09 AM

    Browns in AFC championship? Im laughing really hard right now. I could of told you the Browns wouldnt win 5 games in 2009 3 years ago. STOP WRITING COLUMNS ON THE NFL!

  4. Jack Jones on November 4th, 2009 9:52 AM

    This article was written before the 2008 season started (the 2009 Superbowl is for the 2008 NFL season). The Browns were 10-6 the previous year (2007) and while they obviously took a dramatic turn for the worse, there was no reason at the time of this article for the author to assume they would go from 10-6 to 4-12. Your hindsight is perfect from 3 years ago for this season, however, did you also predict their 10-win season after their 4-12 record in ’06?

  5. Chad on January 26th, 2011 10:43 PM

    “The Packers became only the second team in NFL history to win three straight road games in the playoffs to reach the Super Bowl, with the other being the Pittsburgh Steelers back in 2005 when they eventually beat the Seattle Seahawks in the big game.”

    Actually, the 2007 Giants did it, too.

  6. Mark on January 28th, 2011 12:02 PM

    Comments on dome helping Pack are accurate. On an outdoor field, grass/climate involved, this ia a different team. Pack 26-20.

  7. Tim hatch on February 5th, 2012 9:34 PM

    Eli super bowl champ, I told you so I know what I’m talking about. Thank you Jack Jones for the under in the game.

  8. Tim hatch on February 6th, 2012 10:02 AM

    I find eli manning as one of thee elite QB’s of all time, If he wins one more he’s thee greatest of all time thank you Jack Jones.

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