NEW YORK GIANTS +3 OVER NEW ENGLAND (54) – Well, the day is here and even though I thought I was ready for this two weeks ago, well..I’m not quite there with 20 hours left before the game. First of all, I thought that the line was off by about 5-6 points. I thought the Giants should be the favorites in the game. The fact that the Giants have been bet up a bit and the majority of the money is on the Giants, I’m not convinced that this is what is going to happen. First of all, I’m a conspiracy theorist. I am afraid of the ghost of Myra Kraft. I think that it would make a GREAT present for owner Robert Kraft and indeed would make for a “good feeling” kind of win for the Pats. Also, the Pats haven’t won a Super Bowl in quite a while. Belichick is due. Brady is due. The Giants are on a big roll but so are the Pats. The Patriots have won 10 in a row, the Giants just 6. The Giants are extremely healthy. But so are the Pats. I’m still not sure if Tom Brady has a completely healthy throwing shoulder. Gronkowski has a high ankle sprain but there’s no doubt he’ll be in the game tomorrow. He’s a fast healer anyway. That is documented.

The total is 54 points. Most people would probably take the over here because it is the Super Bowl and scoring is a good thing, right? Both offenses are strong and have great receivers and a great quarterbacks. However, I think that both of the defenses will be playing better than usual because the offenses haven’t been on the field in two weeks. Personally, I’m taking the under. Is it smart? Who knows? But one thing is for sure. The more tackles and better the defense, the better I’ll feel late in the game if I have the under. I really do feel that both defenses are on top of their games right now. The Pats didn’t look all that good two weeks ago in a game they should have lost to the Ravens. The Giants looked late in the game like they might not even get a chance to win the game their last several possessions as the 49ers defense was putting a lot of pressure on Eli and stopping the G-men dead in their tracks. Only the turnover in overtime saved the Giants and put them on a plane to Indianapolis. This being said, how would a low scoring game come to pass? How would it play out? The game is indoors and that doesn’t play well for the Giants. They’ve played two games inside all season long. A 49-24 thrashing at the hands of Offensive Player of the Year Drew Brees in the Superdome. They came back and beat the Cowboys in Dallas in the spaceship, but it was a very close game. Now they look to keep a string of victories in tact with a win Sunday. This game is such a close game to handicap, it’s almost impossible. Some would say it’s a flip of the coin. Personally, I think that Giants are the value here with the +3, but it seems that all the “experts” are picking the G-men, yours truly included. That SCARES THE HELL OUT OF ME! Sunday, I’ll share everything with all my listeners.

HOT TOPICS FOR SUPER BOWL SUNDAY

GRONKOWSKI – Gonna play 80% of the time the Pats O lines up in double tight end formation. He was walking today without a limp. Not a good sign for the G-men. Also, EVERYONE is healthy on both sides. For those of you out there that think two weeks is too long, this is the one GREAT benefit (besides fans booking rooms and hotels) of waiting two weeks. Always loved two weeks. One week almost killed me. (story there)

BREAKDOWN OF GIANTS AND PATS SEASONS – Pats more consistent, always seemed to be searching for defense with injuries and missing parts. Best job of bouncing practice players in and out in the league. Typical Belichick season. Also, use of TE’s sets a new NFL record by far for receiving yards by TE’s.

Giants 4 losses in the middle of the season not a hiccup. 4 TOUGH GAMES!! Came back with great veteran awareness of the situation and starting WINNING games. COUGHLIN HAVING A MVP YEAR AS A COACH. ELI HAVING AN ALL-TIME BEST YEAR. GIANTS DEFENSE COMING ON STRONG LATE IN THE SEASON.

GIANTS STOPPED TURNING THE BALL OVER LATER IN THE SEASON. IMPROVED DEFENSE WITH HEALTH AND MORE MAN TO MAN DEFENSE. RUSHING 4 DEFENDERS IS HOW THE GIANTS WIN BALL GAMES.

GREAT STORIES ABOUT DEVIN THOMAS, FORMER REDSKINS 3RD ROUND PICK NOW A “GUNNER” FOR THE GIANTS ON SPECIAL TEAMS. MADE TWO BIG PLAYS AGAINST 49ERS THAT GAVE THEM THE WIN. STARRING IN TV SIT-COMS AND BET SPECIALS. GOOD FOR HIM.

VICTOR CRUZ’S LINE OF CLOTHING IS HITTING IT BIG TIME. HE’LL PROBABLY NEED TO TAKE ON INVESTORS SO HE CAN EXPAND HIS LINE AND BE ABLE TO KEEP UP WITH THE DEMAND OF BUYERS.

BRANDON JACOBS SAYS THAT PLAXICO BURRESS HAS SAID HE WISHED HE HAD SIGNED WITH THE GIANTS INSTEAD OF THE JETS. YA THINK??? PLAX LOOKING AND SAYING ALL THE RIGHT THINGS, INCLUDING NOT BASHING ELI.

WES WELKER STORY. HARD TO BELIEVE HE WAS NOT DRAFTED BY ANYONE. KYLE ARRINGTON, THEIR TOP CB WASN’T DRAFTED. PRO BROWL OL BRIAN WATERS WASN’T DRAFTED AND WAS CUT BY K.C. IN 2010.

ANTREL ROLLLE – TOO MUCH TALK? GOOD THING TO TALK ABOUT. GIANTS MAY BE TALKING JUST ENOUGH OR TOO MUCH. GREAT CONVERSATION PIECE FOR SURE. ROLLE DEFINITELY PLAYING WELL AND CONFIDENT.

AHMAD BRADSHAW’S FOOT – IS HE GOING TO BE OK FOR THIS GAME? WILL AN EARLY GAME INJURY TO HIS FOOT BE ENOUGH TO THROW OFF THE GIANTS OFFENSIVE GAME PLAN. CAN THEY RECOVER? HARD TO SAY.

OSI YUMENIORA’S 20K FINE – DISTRACTION OR JUST A BIG MISTAKE. OSI SAYS IT WAS BECAUSE HE WAS PICKING UP FAMILLY AT AIRPORT. WHAT DO YOU THINK?

THE REAL BILL BELICHICK – EARLY STORIES OF HIS LACROSSE PLAYING AT WESLEYAN COLLEGE IN CONNECTICUT SAYS A LOT ABOUT THE MAN.

COLST IRSAY-MANNING SOAP OPERA – WHEN WILL IT EVER END? SOON PEYTON HOPES.

PERRY FEWELL DC OF THE GIANTS AND A LOOK AT HIM AND HIS PAST AND FUTURE. WHAT DID FEWELL DO TO TURN AROUND THIS GIANTS DEFENSE? HE’S A 25 YEARS COACHING VETERAN WITH 13 YEARS BEING AN NFL COACH. COACHED DB’S FOR COUGHLIN IN JACKSONVILLE. WAS INTERIM COACH IN BUFFALO IN 2009-2010 BEFORE LOSING HIS JOB. BEST THING THAT EVER HAPPENED TO THE GIANTS.

NEW ENGLAND RUNNING GAME – IS IT UNDERRATED? PROBABLY AND IN MY OPINION WILL BE THE KEY TO THE ENTIRE GAME, NOT THE PASSING GAME. GIANTS RUNNING GAME THE SAME. WE KNOW THEY’LL BE ABLE TO MOVE THE FOOTBALL IN THE AIR, WHAT ABOUT THE RUN?

THE NFL AND THE OFFICIATING – WHAT WILL HAPPEN ON SUNDAY? OFFICIALS CAN’T AFFORD TO HAVE A BAD GAME. IF THEY DO, IT WILL OPEN UP SPECULATION BY CONSPIRACY THEORISTS. HEY…..LET THEM PLAY.

BENJARVUS GREEN-ELLIS (LAW FIRM) – IS THE FIRM THE KEY TO THE GAME? I THINK SO…AND I THINK THE GIANTS DEFENSE KNOWS THIS TOO. FEWELL HAS HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS LIMITING YARDS THROUGH THE AIR, BUT HE KNOWS HIS WEAK SPOT IS STOPPING THE RUN WITH THAT FRONT 4.

CAM NEWTON NFL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR – COMMENTS, WHO HE BEAT OUT? WHO WILL BE NEXT YEAR’S ROY????

NEW ENGLAND (14-3) -9 OVER BALTIMORE (13-4)(50) – Last week the Ravens barely held on to
beat a tough, scrappy Texans team by a score of 10-13. The 3 picks rookie QB T.J. Yates threw in
the game was the difference. Baltimore, undefeated at home, ran their record there to 9-0 but
didn’t look that good in doing so. I’m not sure if the Baltimore offense can score with Tom Brady
and the Pats. However, two years ago, the Ravens traveled to Foxboro to bury the Pats 33-14. It
wasn’t much of a game. However, this isn’t the same two teams. Tom Brady and his receiving corps
is almost impossible to stop. The only chance that the Ravens have of upsetting the Pats is to
control the ball on offense and put plenty of pressure on Brady to make him uncomfortable in the
pocket. With their pressure from the middle and the corners, the front 7 of the Ravens have to
make Brady get rid of the ball before he wants to and they’ll need to create at least one or two
turnovers. Last week, however, the Ravens didn’t have one sack of the QB and Yates seemed to be
pretty safe in the pocket. He did force 3 turnovers however. What the Ravens do have going for
them is the running game featuring Ray Rice. He ran and caught passes for right around 2,000
yards this season. When he touches the ball more than 25 times a game, they are almost
unbeatable. OC Cam Cameron, however, sometimes falls in love with throwing the ball downfield and
since the Pats defensive backfield is one of the worst in football, that might be tough to ignore.
From a handicapping standpoint, the 9 points to me seems a bit high. I see the Pats being 7 point
favorites at home but the betting public and Tom Brady have pushed this number up. This game is
going to be a late decision on my part probably on Saturday. Stay close to my blog to see changes
in my thoughts. If you held a gun to my head right now, I’d take the Pats minus the points, just
because the Ravens have struggled on the road this year, losing to Seattle, Tennessee, Jacksonville,
and San Diego. Those four teams had a combined record of 28-36 this season. The Chargers, who
like to throw the ball, beat the Ravens by 20 points late in the season.

NEW YORK GIANTS (11-7) +3 OVER SAN FRANCISCO (14-3)(50.5) – This is the game of the day
in my opinion. The Giants are playing at a peak level for the season with all cylinders pumping. They
have almost everyone on their roster healthy. Last week they knocked off the defending champion
Packers in Lambeau and looked good doing it. After beating the Pats 24-20 at the midseason point,
they lost four in a row to four of the toughest teams in the league, only to right the ship after that
and win 5 of their last 6 games. One of the reasons I love the G-men here in this game is the fact
that they LOVE to play on the road. This week they’ll be outside in a wet, nasty environment in
Candlestick Park. The tides will play a part in this game as will the 4 days of rain they seem to be
getting as we speak. The forecast on Sunday is 50% chance of rain also. Eli has always been known
as a bad weather QB. Wet balls don’t’ seem to bother him. He has maybe the best receiving corps
left in the Super Bowl tourney. Hakeem Nicks has caught 4 TD passes the last two weeks. Victor
Cruz had as good of a year as any receiver in the NFL this season. Mario Manningham is running
great routes. TE Jake Ballard is healthy. The past two games the running game seems back with
the O-Line clicking with Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs. The Giants defense hasn’t played
better all year long. Last week I made the statement that the team with the best defense would
win the Packers-Giants game. I was right and they did. Now, the Giants face a 49ers team that

HAS the number 2 defense in the league. They are number 2 also in scoring defense. This is going
to be a very physical game for sure. San Francisco may be the hardest hitting team in the NFC.
They have sent out 7 starting RB’s out of their games this year. Last week they did the same.
I have to think that Alex Smith and his offense will run the ball 25-30 times for sure this game
against the Giants in order to open up passing lanes for their OK receivers. Their star receiver is
their TE Vernon Davis who can create matchup problems for the Giants in the secondary. However,
the Giants secondary didn’t seem to have many problems with the Packers receivers although there
were several drops by their receivers last week of Aaron Rodgers passes. I see this game being
a similar game to their game during the season. Both teams were able to move the ball and the
49ers held on to win at the end of the game. One interesting tidbit of info on this game is that
SF outstanding LB Patrick Willis was a teammate of Eli Manning’s at Ole Miss for one year. It was
the last year Willis was on a team with a winning record till this season. I’m going to STAY WITH
MY PICK FROM EARLY THIS SEASON AND TAKE THE GIANTS TO CONTINUE THEIR ROAD
WARRIOR MENTALITY AND BEAT THE 49ERS OUTRIGHT AND BEAT THE SPREAD AS WELL
FOR 4 STARS.