Super Bowl XLII Rewind | Pat’s Pick: Yes, I Believe in Miracles

What prediction did I make for Super Bowl XLII and how close was I to being spot on? See for yourself.

Below is the original pregame prediction I wrote on the Friday before Super Bowl XLII. 

THIS WEEK’S GAME

Giants ( 13-6) at New England ( 18-0)

WHAT IT MEANS

For New York, a win means so many things. 

For starters, they’ll take home the coveted Vince Lombardi Super Bowl Trophy, a nice piece of hardware that very few people outside of the organization ever thought they’d have a chance of even competing for.

Second, they’ll pull off one of the biggest upsets in pro sports EVER if they knock off the “perfect” 18-0 New England Patriots, whose hometown paper, The Boston Globe, is already promoting the sale of a special magazine commemorating the perfect Super Bowl season (how’s that for arrogance, kiddies?)

Third, the Giants will finally get the respect they so rightfully deserve from their critics, both around the league and in the press corps – not that they probably care about that.

WHO TO WATCH

CB Corey Webster. We'll admit that thus far in the postseason, we've been having a love affair with Webster's play and that we were big enough to approach him with an apology for thinking he was a wasted roster spot. Can Webster continue to justify our love? He'll need to keep Randy Moss and Wes Welker in check, a tall order for even the top-tier cornerbacks. If Webster does it, we wouldn't be surprised if it seals the deal for him to return to the starting line up next season.

KEYS TO VICTORY

Get to Tom Brady. This has to be the Giants' defense's top objective. Said cornerback Aaron Ross, "Brady is their main guy. Without him, without your spine, without your leader, it hurts you. We have to put an impression on him and get him out of the pocket.".

So how do they do this? Ross said in addition to watching film of what they did against the Patriots in Week 17, the game film from the Patriots' contests against Philadelphia would probably be most helpful. "The team that's really close to us as far as defense is, of course, Philadelphia, and Philadelphia got after them pretty good. I think we had a little better pressure on them the last game, so I guess we just have to stick to what we did last game and do it a little bit more."

Stop Randy Moss. Short of kidnapping the electric receiver and holding him hostage until after the game, that's a pretty tall order, considering if you double or triple Moss in coverage, you now leave one of the other Patriots weapons - say receiver Wes Welker - one-on-one against someone. The Giants know this and, as such, don't be surprised if they let Moss have a few plays to make sure that Welker or another Patriots target doesn't burn them.

Score When You Have the Ball. Maybe 23-17 was the first thing that came to Plaxico Burress's mind (the 17 points represent his uniform number by the way). That's why every time the Giants get within sniffing distance of the red zone, they MUST, repeat, MUST, score touchdowns. Field goals aren't going to get it done against this team.

WHAT TO AVOID

Mistakes. Against this dangerous Patriots team, you cannot make mistakes and expect to come out on top. While we believe that there's no such thing as a "perfect game," we would hope that the Giants don't commit any mistakes that wipe off points from the board or result in the Patriots getting points.

Avoid a False Sense of Hope. Receiver Amani Toomer, who cited the offenses that had success against the New England defense, said the top thing to remember is not to get false hope. "The Patriots are a bend, but not break defense. There are a lot of teams that will get a false sense of success and hope. Their whole defense is based on stopping you in the red zone."

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING

Much is often made of the Patriots' potent offense, but the Giants' offense has been nothing to sneeze at either. In the regular season, New York bested their opposition in several key offensive categories, including time of possession (31:22 to 28:38); average net yards per game (331.4 to 305.0); average yards per game (134.3 to 97.7); sacks given up (28 to 53); and penalties (77 to 118).

The drawback, however, is that the Giants were bested in categories, such as passing yards per game (197.1 to 207.3), completion percentage (55.5% to 58.5%), and interceptions (20 to 15)'.

QUOTE TO NOTE

"We're so hungry to get to the quarterback and to get a championship back to New York that I think we'll pretty much do anything on Sunday."

--DE Osi Umenyiora on the mental state of the Giants defensive line concerning QB Tom Brady.

PREDICTION

The Giants are still playing with the house money, while New England is under the gun to cap off a perfect season. Maybe that's why the Giants have been "loose" all week long, while the Patriots have been a little more, um, uptight as far as dealing with the media goes.

The Giants know this is a huge football game. They know what's at stake and, also, I think they realize that even if they don't come out a winner in this one, they've still exceeded everyone's wildest dreams, including their own (despite what they say). For those reasons, I think the Giants are going to come out loose, yet not so loose that they forget there's still 60 more minutes of business to be taken care of.

I believe, folks. I believe they can do it. It's going to be a close one, and there will probably be a handful of lead changes, but when the smoke clears, something tells me the New York locker room is going to be the place to be after the game.

Giants 35 - Patriots 27

UP NEXT

The off-season. FINALLY!

(Originally appearing in Inside Football's "The Road to Super Bowl XLII: A Look Back at the New York Giants' Amazing 2007 Championship Season." Reprinted by permission.)