The Official Superbowl XLII Thread!!

[molson]

Andrea Kramer wants it from Tom Brady.

Subtle, but pretty funny - watch Kramer's face closely at the end of the clip, and then check out Tom's reaction.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

There has been some absurd criticism of Eli over the years. I definitely think he's a top 10 qb.

People laugh when someone says Eli is a top 10 QB (like Izulde did in reponse to you), but I am wondering what 10 QBs people think are so far and away better than Eli that they think the above comment is insane.

[sabotai]

Originally Posted by molson

Andrea Kramer wants it from Tom Brady.

Subtle, but pretty funny - watch Kramer's face closely at the end of the clip, and then check out Tom's reaction.

Haha, that actually wasn't all that subtle. She gave him a serious "I want you to fuck me" look.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by sabotai

People laugh when someone says Eli is a top 10 QB (like Izulde did in reponse to you), but I am wondering what 10 QBs people think are so far and away better than Eli that they think the above comment is insane.

I am not really an Eli hater, I am a bit tired of hearing about the Manning family the past however many years, but balance that with being tired of hearing about how good the Patriots are the past 7 years too and it balances out.

As for a top 10 QB or not.. I would say the following QB are definitly better, no question:

Brady
Peyton Manning
Roethlisberger
Favre
Hasselbeck
Brees
Palmer


There is another group of QBs that I would say edge Eli even though some arguement may be made, I would still pick them over Eli:

McNabb
Garcia


Then a group of QBs that so far look better than Eli, but are too new for me to know for sure, but right now I would also pick them over Eli:

Garrard
Romo
Cutler
Anderson.


Finally the next group are QBs that I feel are pretty comparible to Eli, maybe I would pick Eli over them, maybe not:

Eli Manning
Warner
Schaub
Kitna


So I guess my own personal thoughts put Eli closer to top 15, or about middle of the pack as far as QB goes moreso than top 10. Of course, who knows maybe he will continue to improve the next few years, we have seen that before. Obviously the strength of the Giants is not Eli, it is their pass rush and their running game. They really need Eli to take a page from Dilfer and simply not lose the game for the Giants. Against the Pats, any mistake could ruin their chances to win. I thought he did really well last time vs the Pats for most of the game, he will need to at least replicate that if not improve upon it.

[Groundhog]

The praise for Eli so far this postseason has been that he basically hasn't screwed up like he usually does. This is not really high praise.

I'd say he has as good a chance as any of moving up in to the top-10 at some point over the years to come, but right now the Giants will be expecting to get more from their D and running game than their QB.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by Alan T

I am not really an Eli hater, I am a bit tired of hearing about the Manning family the past however many years, but balance that with being tired of hearing about how good the Patriots are the past 7 years too and it balances out.

As for a top 10 QB or not.. I would say the following QB are definitly better, no question:

Brady
Peyton Manning
Roethlisberger
Favre
Hasselbeck
Brees
Palmer


There is another group of QBs that I would say edge Eli even though some arguement may be made, I would still pick them over Eli:

McNabb
Garcia


Then a group of QBs that so far look better than Eli, but are too new for me to know for sure, but right now I would also pick them over Eli:

Garrard
Romo
Cutler
Anderson.


Finally the next group are QBs that I feel are pretty comparible to Eli, maybe I would pick Eli over them, maybe not:

Eli Manning
Warner
Schaub
Kitna


So I guess my own personal thoughts put Eli closer to top 15, or about middle of the pack as far as QB goes moreso than top 10. Of course, who knows maybe he will continue to improve the next few years, we have seen that before. Obviously the strength of the Giants is not Eli, it is their pass rush and their running game. They really need Eli to take a page from Dilfer and simply not lose the game for the Giants. Against the Pats, any mistake could ruin their chances to win. I thought he did really well last time vs the Pats for most of the game, he will need to at least replicate that if not improve upon it.

You forgot Rivers. I'd say he's in there somewhere too above Eli.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

There has been some absurd criticism of Eli over the years. I definitely think he's a top 10 qb.

Pass the crack pipe please.

Brady
Manning
Roethlisberger
Favre
Romo
McNabb
Rivers
Hasselbeck
Anderson
Palmer
Brees

That's 11 I take right off the bat, and guys like Gerrard, Garcia, Cutler, Warner, and Bulger still are probably better any given sunday as well.

[st.cronin]

Originally Posted by stevew

Pass the crack pipe please.

Brady
Manning
Roethlisberger
Favre
Romo
McNabb
Rivers
Hasselbeck
Anderson
Palmer
Brees

That's 11 I take right off the bat, and guys like Gerrard, Garcia, Cutler, Warner, and Bulger still are probably better any given sunday as well.

Some of those guys I can see, but Rivers? Anderson? There is no way you can put either one of them even with Eli at this point.

[stevew]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

Some of those guys I can see, but Rivers? Anderson? There is no way you can put either one of them even with Eli at this point.

Dude, if his name was Eli Jenkins, most of the hype would be gone. Anderson's numbers this year are ones that Eli would dream of. Rivers' numbers as well.

I'll proclaim my manlove for Eli if he can slay the dragon next weekend, however.

[Rizon]

This has quickly turned into one of the worst SB threads of all time.

[Alan T]

Originally Posted by stevew

You forgot Rivers. I'd say he's in there somewhere too above Eli.

Yeah, I meant to put Rivers in the group with Romo..

[Atocep]

Originally Posted by stevew

Dude, if his name was Eli Jenkins, most of the hype would be gone. Anderson's numbers this year are ones that Eli would dream of. Rivers' numbers as well.

I'll proclaim my manlove for Eli if he can slay the dragon next weekend, however.

Derek Anderson is going to have to do more before I put him above Eli. I'd say they're fairly even at this point. Anderson completed just 56.5% of his passes and threw 19ints this year. His QB rating was a very average 82.5. Also, in his last 5 games (as teams got more film on him and were able to prepare for his strengths) his QB ratings were: 71.6, 81.3, 57.1, 53.4, and 75.4

IMO, if you were to swap the two players Eli would be able to better the numbers Anderson put up this year and Anderson would put up numbers similar to Eli's.

[stevew]

Agreed about Anderson going downhill at the end. Being forced to watch the Browns weekly, he did have some pretty good performances this year. He throws too many interceptions, but I wonder how much of it was him pressing to make plays, knowing their defense was bullshit.

[SteveMax58]

Originally Posted by stevew

Agreed about Anderson going downhill at the end. Being forced to watch the Browns weekly, he did have some pretty good performances this year. He throws too many interceptions, but I wonder how much of it was him pressing to make plays, knowing their defense was bullshit.

Well you could argue this same point for Eli the last 3 years as well.

I agree with many of your QB's which rank ahead of Eli at this point...but as far as who I'd rather have right now...I think it comes down to you either think Eli will continue to progress as he has been showing or you think you've seen the best he's got and that he's playing above his head the last few weeks. Time will tell.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Originally Posted by Rizon

This has quickly turned into one of the worst SB threads of all time.

And we still have 11 more days until the game!

[rkmsuf]

Originally Posted by molson

Andrea Kramer wants it from Tom Brady.

Subtle, but pretty funny - watch Kramer's face closely at the end of the clip, and then check out Tom's reaction.

hahahahahaha

oh man, she's in heat

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Groundhog

The praise for Eli so far this postseason has been that he basically hasn't screwed up like he usually does. This is not really high praise.

LOL, yep. All the great press for Eli this postseason has been, basically, he didn't completely fuck up, yay!! How that makes him, now, a Top 10 QB, I'm not sure.

[larrymcg421]

Eli has a 99.2 QB rating this postseason. I'd say that's a little bit better than just "not screwing up." If it was anybody other than Eli, no one would be making that same statement. You want to use the stats to backup why he's bad before, then don't ignore the ones that show how good he is now.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by larrymcg421

Eli has a 99.2 QB rating this postseason. I'd say that's a little bit better than just "not screwing up." If it was anybody other than Eli, no one would be making that same statement. You want to use the stats to backup why he's bad before, then don't ignore the ones that show how good he is now.

OK, well lets look at his performances then.

Last week, against the Colts, 251 yards (good), 21/40 cp (not good), 0TD-0INT (well, at least he didn't screw up!). I admit that I didn't actually watch this game (was at work), but this to me classifies as "not screwing up".

Divisional playoffs week, against Dallas. 163 yards (ok), 12/18 cp (good % on few attempts), 2TD-0INT (solid). Better showing here, but you'd struggle to assign a lot of the credit to Eli for this win. Giants D was the winner in this one, but Eli does deserves some credit for doing more than just "not screwing up" in their limited use of the passing attack.

Wild Card Weekend, against Buccaneers. 185 yards (ok), 20/27 cp (solid), 2TD-0INT (solid). His best game of the postseason IMO. Nothing dazzling, but he completed on a couple of redzone TDs and did just enough to give his team the win. Not HoF numbers, but obviously better than just "not screwing up".

After this indepth and expert analysis, I'm willing to upgrade my comment to "...he basically has played above average in the postseason".

[molson]

And we have our official Super Bowl guarantee. Not only that, but Plaxico Burress has given us a score too: 23-17 Giants.

I wonder if this moves the spread any

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080130/...x_s_prediction

[Groundhog]

If you are going to predict a win, it might as well be for the superbowl. It'd be a bit of a surprise to me if we saw just a combined 4 TDs scored in this game however. NY will probably need that just by themselves to go with a few FGs if they want to win this game.

[st.cronin]

I can't believe how stoked I am for this game.

[SteveMax58]

Originally Posted by molson

And we have our official Super Bowl guarantee. Not only that, but Plaxico Burress has given us a score too: 23-17 Giants.

I wonder if this moves the spread any

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080130/...x_s_prediction

I think if the Giants pull it off...that score looks about right. The Giants will have to play (by far) their best defensive game of the year to win. It obviously is not to their advantage to play in a shootout...as the Pats are much better, and much smarter in terms of clock management, to lose that type of game.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by st.cronin

I can't believe how stoked I am for this game.

Me neither. I was really hoping for a Green Bay-Pats superbowl, but I'm shocked how excited I am for it even now, considering how one-sided it looks on paper.

My girlfriend is from NY and she's pretty excited about it, so I think that's rubbed off on me.

[molson]

Originally Posted by SteveMax58

I think if the Giants pull it off...that score looks about right. The Giants will have to play (by far) their best defensive game of the year to win. It obviously is not to their advantage to play in a shootout...as the Pats are much better, and much smarter in terms of clock management, to lose that type of game.

I think the opposite - the Giants have a better chance of scoring 40 in this game than holding the Pats to 17.

They need to pretty much score at will (which isn't impossible against the Pats), and force a couple of TOs.

I'm not sure I ever understood the "you don't want this game to be a shootout" strategy when you're playing a high scoring team. That's exactly what you want to do - score a ton of points, not play all conservative and give the favorite a huge margin of error. If Manning goes nuts and throws for 4 TDs, they have a chance. If he has a steady but unspectacular game where "he doesn't make any mistakes", they're going to be close for a while and then lose.

[Rizon]

For the first time ever, I forgot the SB was on this weekend. I'm more excited for the food, which should be 500x better than this shitfest that is trying to pass for a game.

[SteveMax58]

Originally Posted by molson

I think the opposite - the Giants have a better chance of scoring 40 in this game than holding the Pats to 17.

They need to pretty much score at will (which isn't impossible against the Pats), and force a couple of TOs.

I'm not sure I ever understood the "you don't want this game to be a shootout" strategy when you're playing a high scoring team. That's exactly what you want to do - score a ton of points, not play all conservative and give the favorite a huge margin of error. If Manning goes nuts and throws for 4 TDs, they have a chance. If he has a steady but unspectacular game where "he doesn't make any mistakes", they're going to be close for a while and then lose.

I think you might be right about the approach for the Giants offense, and about not being too conservative(namely if they have another lead in the 3rd or 4th qtr). But I'm not as worried about Eli making plays as I am about Brady making more plays and/or managing the clock better down the stretch.

I guess my only point was that I think the Giants defense will be the key to this game(for the Giants to win). And their ability to pressure Brady & force TO's will be key, as there most likely wont be any easy picks to be made.

I also think a lot of people might be discounting what I think (FWIW) should be an outstanding, physical game. Yeah...the Pats should win on paper, but they should beat everybody on paper. I really dont see a better SB matchup for them, outside of maybe a sharper Dallas squad.

[watravaler]

Just like Grossman last year, the national opinion of Eli will be shaped by his performance in this game. I think he steps up, but time will tell. That Kramer-Brady video is priceless, it's obvious they shared a night that I can only assume Brady wants to forget!

[SirFozzie]

Just a bit of Super Bowl trivia:

I have a friend who is more deep into stats then I ever could be (and that's saying something. But Super Bowl 42 will be a first ever experience.

It will be the first time ever that two teams play each other in their respective final games of preseason (Pats won 27-20), regular season (Pats won 38-35), and post season (Unknown).

[Dr. Sak]

One other Super Bowl stat...


There's Never Been A Super Bowl Without A Big 33 Alumni. The Big 33 is a High School All Star game that has a team from Pennsylvania play a team from states such as Ohio, Maryland, and Texas. At least one former BIG 33 player has appeared in every Super Bowl game ever played.

Here is the list

[rkmsuf]

I thought The Big 33 was a McDonalds hamburger. Loved those back in the day. I would eat them silly I tell you.

[Lathum]

ahem, Jeebs.

You still owe me something...

[VPI97]

Amusing story for Pats fans...Giants RB Ahmad Bradshaw is a family friend and while I've only met him a handful of times (when he would go with my parents to VT games in high school), he's called my dad around once a week since he went off to college. Anyway, my kids were up in Virginia with my mom and dad last week and Ahmad called. Evan (my six year old) got on the phone with him and when Ahmad told him that he would send him a Giants jersey so he could wear it during the Super Bowl, Evan told him no...and that he was rooting for Tom Brady and the Patriots.

[Rizon]

Is the Superbowl this sunday or next sunday? I forgot.

[molson]

Originally Posted by Rizon

Is the Superbowl this sunday or next sunday? I forgot.

Next Sunday.

(Hopefully that'll keep your tired shtick out of the thread until then)

[Cringer]

Wow, even showing where the Superbowl is and first "picture" of the stadium at the begining of the pregame show was sponsored, shown with google earth.

They shouldn't have told me about all the super fabulous stars that are coming up though. Now I am turning off the pregame show. Time to get a little Mass Effect in before I turn on Puppy Bowl IV for the daughter.

[k0ruptr]

Go Excellent and well fought game!

[MikeVic]

Haha, I'm watching a sports station here (thescore), and they're airing some Sirius show they have. One of the guys is talking about something, and I'm not sure what actually... but then all of a sudden I hear "fuck *beep* something something."

Just found that funny. Must be live, and the beep came one word too late.

[Lathum]

Leaving in a couple of minutes for the bar.

GO GIANTS

[MJ4H]

Our local FOX affiliate is OFF-AIR DUE TO TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES and has been for the last 45 minutes to an hour. This will be truly hilarious if it is not back on soon. It would be entertaining to see a tv station BURNED TO THE GROUND and then see grown men pissing on the ashes. I will try to bring you video.

[SteveMax58]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Leaving in a couple of minutes for the bar.

GO GIANTS

+1

LET's go BIG BLUE!!!!!

[SirFozzie]

All ABOARD THE UNDEFEATED CRAZY TRAIN!

I am hyped up

[Eaglesfan27]

Nice to see that Jordin didn't try to do too much with the National Anthem and just sang it really beautifully.

[SirFozzie]

Knew I should've taken the over on the prop bet for anthem length (1:42)

[Buccaneer]

Don't know what you guys are anticipating but I Am Legend has already given us the results of the game.

[SirFozzie]

BTW, anybody else doing the AirPlay Call the Play competition?

[Eaglesfan27]

No sign of happy feet from Eli that play.

[Radii]

GO GO GIANTS(I still can't believe that eli manning is in a super bowl, and that I'm rooting for him).

[Noop]

Originally Posted by Buccaneer

Don't know what you guys are anticipating but I Am Legend has already given us the results of the game.

hxxp://picboost.com/upload/prediction.jpg

Your right. 23-7 Pats how crazy is that?

[SirFozzie]

Oh geez, that's not good.