JACK SNYDER
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Sunday, Feb. 3, 2008

ONCE AGAIN, THE Super Bowl is back. The Super Bowl has become synonymous with many things: football, marketing, and mainly money.

The Super Bowl is the one game all year that non-football fans will watch, if even if it’s just because their friends are watching it.

I, however, watch the game every year because I am an avid football fan. I watched the game last year when my Bears were massacred by the Indianapolis Colts.

This year, neither of those two teams returned to the Super Bowl. Instead it is a matchup between the dominant New England Patriots and the streaking New York Giants.

The New York Giants are hoping to stop the Patriots' bid for an undefeated season. I couldn’t think of a better team to beat them.

In their last game of the regular season, the Giants were ever so close to beating the Patriots in a 38-35 loss. The Patriots looked like they would lose until star quarterback Tom Brady led the Patriots on a 68-yard touchdown drive for the win.

Drives like this have been normal for Brady this season. He won the MVP award this year because of ability to save the Patriots when they were down and his ability to flawlessly direct the offense.

In the Super Bowl, Brady’s two favorite targets will most likely be wide receivers Randy Moss and Wes Welker. Randy Moss broke the record for most touchdown receptions in a season this year. The Patriots have a multidimensional offense that is almost impossible for any team to stop.

One of the burning questions of the game is if QB Eli Manning of the Giants will be able to continue his excellent play. Early this season, he struggled to make completions and was a turnover machine. As of late, especially beginning with the last matchup with the Patriots, Manning has been hard to stop.

Manning had arguably the best game of his career against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC championship game. He led the Giants to a 23-20 overtime win in hostile and frigid (wind chill of minus 24) Lambeau Field. Despite the bad conditions Manning threw for 246 yards.

Even though the Giants are on fire, I have difficulty seeing them win this game. The Patriots have too much depth on both offense and defense to be defeated. The defense of the Patriots is one of the best in the league, and it doesn’t really have any holes.

Even if the Giants were able to give the Patriots a game last time, today is a new day, and this time the Patriots will come ready to play. I will predict the Patriots to win 24-14.

Don’t let my prediction fool you, though. I’m hoping the Giants will end the Patriots' hopes of perfection; I just don’t think it can be done.