What to Cheer for, while Rooting against

Everybody wants an upset

An interesting thing happened when the Giants played Green Bay in the NFC divisional title, I began rooting for New York. The reason is simple, I want New England to lose and the Giants were better than the Packers even with Brett Favre, in the cold of Lambeau Field.

It’s true; everybody who can avoid the Boston propaganda machine agrees that the Patriots must lose. Truth is they probably won’t but that does not stop our ignorant conviction that they must.  They deserve it, right? They cheated in the first game and got caught. They are pond scum. Does the past success really mean anything?

With their 18-0 tear the haters are left and with acceptance that these homeboys are good. So good in fact that they will set the achievement bar higher than any team and franchise before. But we can still hope and the Giants will have a chance. For those of you who are rooting that Brady and the boys go down, read on and find out what to cheer for.

The Triangle Effect

The trio of Eli Manning, Brandon Jacobs and Plaxico Burress will have to step up big if the Giants are going to have a chance.  Manning and Jacobs have had breakout season’s this year, while Burress has been steady and clutch well before his first championship with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Throw a little Amani Toomer into the mix and an undefeated Patriots record could crash and burn.

If there is one area of New England’s defense to be concerned about it is their ability to stop the run. The Giants offense is well balanced and the offensive line can bull rush with the best of them. With Jacobs, the meat grinders got just what they needed in a young talented running back. Tiki Barber who?

Eli Manning will have to trust his weapons and at the same time not screw up. This sounds like a tough task but Manning is capable and ready. The real question is whether or not his teammates “won’t screw up”. To top it off, 3-5 miracle catches by Burress would help. He averages about 2 a game so he’ll need to step it up.

The Beginning of the End

The Giants top 3 players on D are defensive ends. This list includes Osi Unemyiora, Micahel Strahan and Justin Tuck. This explains why New York deploys DE’s for passing and rushing downs.

Pressure on Tom Brady can work as seen his 3 interceptions against the Chargers. Unemyiora and Strahan in particular give New York a 1-2 combo not seen since Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson graced the Super bowl stage.

Score More

Playing conservative could preserve a nice 10 point loss. For the Giants to win, they will need to play fast and aggressive on defense, possibly giving up a couple big plays for some big stops. If you sit back and let Tom Brady pick you apart, he will. Test his mobility and test the receivers toughness breaking off the line-of-scrimmage.

On offense, don’t settle for field goals. I’m not talking about 4th and 10, rather down 1-3. The mentality should be to move the chains for a first down, leading to a touchdown. Let Manning throw the ball high in the air and let Burress make the miracle catch. Because in the end to win he’ll need about 5 of them and the country won’t get our wish if they don’t have nerve to take risks. To sum it all up, here are your NFL odds for this game...