Friday, February 3, 2012

Dave's SUPER BOWL Lock of the Week

First of all, I profusely apologize! I didn't post the Championship Round LOCKS of the Week, and both of those hit, putting me at 2-0. I picked Baltimore +7.5 and went Giants +2.5. Bing bang BOOM!

Now then, to the Super Bowl's

LOCK (clank!)
of the Week (slam!)

Let's do this thing: The Pats and Giants will meet in Indianapolis for what could be a race down the field for both teams. Many have predicted this will be a low scoring game, but I'm going the other way. I think this will be a very high scoring game with at least one team in the 30's if not both teams. It may well prove to be one of the highest scoring Super Bowls in league history.

Both teams feature a flawed secondary, although I admit the Giants have doing much better with pass coverage. The Patriots and Giants both have very good quarterbacks, no advantage there. However, the Giants have New England beat with skill players. Not only does New England have only one reliable option (Ron Gronkowski), but said option is far from healthy with a high ankle sprain.

To counter, the Giants feature three darn good receiver options: Hakeem Nicks, Mario Manningham, and Victor Cruz. All three of these receivers have shown good speed, and once they catch the ball, any seam will send them flying.

Rushing: Neither team runs the ball all that well, but I think the Giants possess more upside with Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs. Both running backs have had monster performances at one time or another.

Special Teams: This is even. No longer are the Giants plagued by the error of Matt Dodge, once their punter. Both teams can kick field goals about the same distance. Both teams have reasonably good return teams. Both teams have no standout facet of their return coverage.

Defense: This is where the Giants start to really pull away from the Pats. Their front four, including Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre Paul, and Osi Umenyiora. Lately, that's been a fearsome foursome -- the kind of group that would give any quarterback fits. I see Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady as no exception. Expect this front four to tear him apart, as a similar group did four years ago for Big Blue in the Super Bowl.

In short, I have a good feeling about this game, and I select the NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS to pick up the points and win the game outright. Giants for the win.

And that's it for our final

Dave (snap)
LOCK (blam!)
of the Week (boink)

We'll do it again next year. Thanks for reading along all season long!