I pride myself on being more than the fan of a particular team; if I am a fan of a particular sport, I love the sport first, the team second. Despite being a New England Patriots fan, I try to view events in the NFL as objectively as possible. However, I am confused by the lack of respect shown to the Patriots for their accomplishments this year. Don’t get me wrong—people have given the Patriots their “props” for the unblemished 18-0 start.

But, I am simply amazed by the number of fans and sportswriters who when writing about the Patriots, find flaws in their season, claim they are not the best team of all-time, and most importantly, believe that the New York Giants will win the upcoming Super Bowl.

The list of sportswriters who have predicted a Giants victory (not covering the 12-point spread, meaning an outright victory) is astounding. Dr. Z of SI.com predicted that the Giants will win, claiming that he also believed the NY Jets would defeat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.

Greg Cosell, a 28-year veteran of NFL Films wrote in his Sportingnews.com article that the Giants would win the game due to their defense slowing down the Patriots attack.

In the Sportingnews.com “experts” Super Bowl picks, three of the “experts” predicted an outright Giants win (six picked the Patriots, only one to cover the spread).

I have seen fan polls in which the Patriots have only earned 58% of the vote to win the Big Game.

There are actually 42% of fans who believe the Giants will win in less than two weeks.

A reminder, this is the same Giants defense that surrendered 38 points to the Patriots in a December game in the Meadowlands. Now, they are supposed to ‘stop’ the Patriots offense in a game being played in Arizona?

It seems that every week another article is published on how to stop the Patriots explosive offense:

“Bring the heat to Brady”

“Hit the Patriots receivers”

“Mix up coverages”

News flash: The Patriots are 18-0.

They have faced every defense that can be thrown at them, and they have survived them all. They have not scored less than 20 points in any game this season

I repeat: ZERO games with less than twenty points!!

When discussing the best teams in NFL history, I hear plenty about the Steelers defense of the 1970’s, the Bears 1985 defense, etc.

An “expert” on football, Steve Greenberg wrote the following:

“Are the 2007 Pats better than all four of the Steelers teams that won Super Bowls in the 1970s? I'm not convinced. Better than the '72 Dolphins, who won half their games with a backup quarterback? I don't see it.”

I do not think enough credit is given to how the dominance of the Patriots offense this year. They have all the tools and have yet to be stopped, despite competing with the league’s best teams.

Hell, last week they faced a great Chargers defense and Tom Brady threw a season-high 3 interceptions, after throwing 8 all season. That’s right; Brady dropped an NFL record 50 touchdowns on defenses while throwing only 8 interceptions.

Yet, they managed to win the AFC Championship Game, which I attended, by 2 scores (21-12).

This is, without a doubt, the greatest offense in NFL history, on a team that, with a one more victory in the Super Bowl, will be the greatest team in NFL history.

History.

The other criticism of the Patriots is the age of their defense, and the idea that they are overrated and slow. 

“The linebackers are too slow”

“They can’t stop the run”

“Their red-zone defense is terrible,” etc. 

The Patriots defensive unit has heard it all.

In the last 6 quarters of the playoffs, they have allowed ZERO touchdowns to the Jaguars and Chargers’ offenses. That is 1-1/2 games w/o allowing a touchdown—by two teams that supposedly could run the ball.

The red zone defense has not seemed to be a problem when it matters most.

In the AFC Championship Game, the Patriots held San Diego to nine points (3 FGs) on three red zone appearances, 12 points overall.

Most Giants’ supporters point to the 38-35 Patriots win vs. the Giants in week 17 @ Giants Stadium as reason to think the Giants can prevail in the Super Bowl.

The final score of that game does not tell the whole story. Stephen Neal and Nick Kazcur, the Patriots RG and RT respectively, both missed the game. Kyle Brady, the big, blocking tight end, also missed the game.

The Patriots entire offensive line will be healthy and ready for the Super Bowl, protecting Brady while he picks apart the Giants secondary.

In that three-point win, the Giants also scored a touchdown on a kickoff return by Domenik Hixon, after a simply ridiculous 15-yard penalty on Randy Moss. The Patriots led 38-28 late in the game, before playing a very soft defense that allowed the Giants to score a meaningless TD with 1:04 left.

Eli Manning had the game of his life (22-32, 251 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT). The Giants held Laurence Maroney to 46 yards on the ground, whereas he gashed the Jaguars and Chargers for 122 yards each round of the playoffs. The Giants had 223 total return yards.

In short, just about everything went the Giants way, and yet they STILL lost.

The Patriots will devise a game plan to slow down Eli Manning. The Patriots will not allow 223 return yards in the Super Bowl. There will be no soft, prevent defenses devised by Bill Belichick’s coaching staff. The Giants are overmatched and they are not going to win the Super Bowl.

The Giants are playing great football, but they have made been plenty of mistakes, especially in the NFC Championship Game. Despite outplaying the Packers last week, the G-MEN committed costly turnovers and were very fortunate to earn the victory in overtime.

For instance, R.W. McQuarters’ fumble on the INT return gave Green Bay the ball new life at the Giants 18 yard line. The Giants were able to hold them to a field goal on the ensuing drive.

Is there any doubt that the same mistake will result in 7 points for the Patriots?

The Giants will have to play mistake-free football for 60 minutes to hang with the Patriots. If they make mistakes like they did versus Green Bay, this game could get ugly, very quickly.

Just ask the Buffalo Bills twice (38-7, 56-10), Washington Redskins (52-7).

Even the top-tier teams did little to stop the Pats during the regular season. Dallas lost 48-27, San Diego 38-14, and Pittsburgh 34-13.

Unlike the “experts”, I am not afraid to state the obvious.

The Patriots are the greatest team in NFL history, with the greatest coach, and by the time it is all said and done, the greatest QB.

The Giants are a very good team that is peaking at the right time, but in Super Bowl XLII, it all comes to an end.

The Patriots will win, likely by multiple scores, and prove that they are worthy of the title “The Greatest Team in NFL History”, even if Greenberg or the other “experts” disagree.

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