Super Bowl aftermath

Okay, I can do this. It might not even take that long.

I was, obviously, severely disappointed by the Super Bowl. I mean, I joined the Patriots' bandwagon to pull for a winner, right?

A big thanks to Macon who chatted with me in Gmail throughout the game. I think I might have been more distraught had I not had him to 'talk' with.

Let's go back to my disastrous post: Final Super Bowl Prediction:

I couldn't have been more wrong about the Giants' pass rush. It was the deciding factor. They harried Brady the whole game. I don't know why the Giant's had so much more success with their pass rush than the last time they met. Did the (good) field conditions contribute? Maybe they'd just seen enough of the Pats and had a great game plan.

In Brady's defense, he did not throw interceptions as the game crumbled around him. He did miss some passes he would normally make. It certainly looked like he was rattled.

He drove the ball at the end of the game when he needed to.

In general, the Pats defense did pretty well. They needed one more stop than they got.

The Giants thought they had an edge in special teams. I did not notice a major one, aside from field position, which was often against the Pats. There were no returns for touchdowns, blocks, major fumbles - that kind of thing.

I definitely had the sense that Eli could have given it away. Towards the end there were a lot of near interceptions and a couple of dropped-ball fumbles the Giants recovered themselves. Any change in these could certainly have changed the game.

I certainly don't mean to take anything away from Eli. He did great. I kept picking against him and I was wrong. Good for him.

(Minor complaint: does this Super Bowl win justify the Manning family's machinations to keep Eli out of San Diego? I hate to thing that... )

Well, that's about all I've got for analysis. I didn't read much of the postgame reporting. Too painful.

For completeness, a few links for you:

+ Thanks to Brad for linking my prediction post, though it proved so, so wrong.

+ Benet was pulling against the Pats (and makes an impassioned plea for Ray Guy (punter) to be entered into the Pro Football Hall of Fame).

+ Dean Barnett (never read anything by him that lacked a strong opinion), Patriots fan, writes about what he calls Belichick Derangement Syndrome.