Monday, February 05, 2007
Super Bowl XLI
I remarked to my wife before Super Bowl XLI began: “I hope we don’t have a blow-out.” My mind harkened back to the lop-sided Super Bowls of the 1980s, when the New York Giants humiliated the Denver Broncos 39-20 in Super Bowl XXI, when the Washington Redskins defeated the Broncos 42-10 in Super Bowl XXII, when the San Francisco 49ers annihilated the … well, Broncos 55-10 in Super Bowl XXIV. This game, with the Bears conservative offense, had the capacity to be as dull and predictable as those games and the 34-21 victory the Tampa Bay Bucs won over the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII.
My fears were allayed on the first play as Devin Hester ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown. No blowout. From there the game developed the way I figured that it would. The Colts overwhelming offensive firepower and newfound strength on the defensive side of the football enabled them to move the ball at will on the Bears. The Bears, offensively challenged with Rex Grossman as their QB, couldn’t do much of anything.
I think the story of this Super Bowl was really the inept offensive unit that the Bears ran all game long. Prior to the fourth quarter it managed just five first downs. Grossman simply lofted the ball into the air and allowed Colts defenders to knock it down or run under it and make the interception. The telling stat was that the Colts had the ball for 81 plays and the Bears for 48. The Bears offense left their defense on the field for Peyton Manning to slowly pick them apart. Aside from the blunder on Reggie Wayne’s 53-yard TD catch in the first quarter, you have to give credit to the Bears defensive unit for keeping the game close. Meanwhile, the Bears offense struggled to move the ball forward.
The Colts had a nice balance, smashing into the Bears 42 times on the ground for 191 yards.
Give credit to the Colts. They were definitely the better team and looked it. They had balance and were aggressive on defense. They really redeemed themselves for blowing that playoff game to the Steelers last season and for being man-handled by the Patriots all of those seasons past.
I think there were two MVPs of the Super Bowl instead of Peyton Manning. First, the award should go to Rex Grossman for completely killing the Bears offense. Second, the award ought to go to Domenic Rhodes and Joseph Addai jointly. Addai rushed 19 times for 77 yards and caught 10 passes for another 66. Rhodes caught a pass for eight yards and ran 21 times for 113 yards. They touched the ball on 51 of the Colts 81 plays and gained 264 of their 430 yards.
It was a good Super Bowl, but not quite the thrillers we had when the Patriots were in there against the Panthers and Eagles. Here’s hoping Super Bowl XLII is between the Eagles and Patriots.
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My fears were allayed on the first play as Devin Hester ran the opening kickoff back for a touchdown. No blowout. From there the game developed the way I figured that it would. The Colts overwhelming offensive firepower and newfound strength on the defensive side of the football enabled them to move the ball at will on the Bears. The Bears, offensively challenged with Rex Grossman as their QB, couldn’t do much of anything.
I think the story of this Super Bowl was really the inept offensive unit that the Bears ran all game long. Prior to the fourth quarter it managed just five first downs. Grossman simply lofted the ball into the air and allowed Colts defenders to knock it down or run under it and make the interception. The telling stat was that the Colts had the ball for 81 plays and the Bears for 48. The Bears offense left their defense on the field for Peyton Manning to slowly pick them apart. Aside from the blunder on Reggie Wayne’s 53-yard TD catch in the first quarter, you have to give credit to the Bears defensive unit for keeping the game close. Meanwhile, the Bears offense struggled to move the ball forward.
The Colts had a nice balance, smashing into the Bears 42 times on the ground for 191 yards.
Give credit to the Colts. They were definitely the better team and looked it. They had balance and were aggressive on defense. They really redeemed themselves for blowing that playoff game to the Steelers last season and for being man-handled by the Patriots all of those seasons past.
I think there were two MVPs of the Super Bowl instead of Peyton Manning. First, the award should go to Rex Grossman for completely killing the Bears offense. Second, the award ought to go to Domenic Rhodes and Joseph Addai jointly. Addai rushed 19 times for 77 yards and caught 10 passes for another 66. Rhodes caught a pass for eight yards and ran 21 times for 113 yards. They touched the ball on 51 of the Colts 81 plays and gained 264 of their 430 yards.
It was a good Super Bowl, but not quite the thrillers we had when the Patriots were in there against the Panthers and Eagles. Here’s hoping Super Bowl XLII is between the Eagles and Patriots.
Labels: Super Bowl
Friday, February 02, 2007
Super Bowl XLI Predictions
So Super Bowl XLI is this weekend, pitting two very unlikely teams against one another. The Chicago Bears, an offensively inept team that struggled badly at various moments in the NFL season, are playing the Indianapolis Colts, a team that seemed sunk when it fell behind the New England Patriots 21-3 in the AFC title game, but whom nevertheless rallied from the 18-point deficit and won 38-34 in dramatic fashion. I can’t say that I am impressed by either team. The Bears especially seemed to benefit strongly from home field advantage, while the Colts did seem to tough up their dead-last ranked defense and become a tougher team in the playoffs.
It reminds me a lot of last year’s Super Bowl, when two very flawed teams faced-off in Detroit. The Steelers had surged into the playoffs late with a team much weaker than the one that had gone 15-1 the previous season. The Seattle Seahawks, whose 13-3 regular season mark was largely built on the rubble on a depleted NFC, were nowhere as good as what their record suggested. I think that this game is very similar. Neither one of these teams dominated the opposition in the regular season, both of these teams had a lot of flaws. I personally expected to see the Saints and Patriots in this game.
I could see this game devolving into a blowout, the way so many Super Bowls in the 1980s did, if the Colts offense gets off to a fast start and the Bears offense struggles. I am skeptical about the big-play capacity of the Bears offense, so this is a definite possibility. Generally speaking, however, I think the Bears defense will keep the game close. I call it, Colts 27, Bears 17, with Peyton Manning, that long-suffering QB finally winning the big one.
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It reminds me a lot of last year’s Super Bowl, when two very flawed teams faced-off in Detroit. The Steelers had surged into the playoffs late with a team much weaker than the one that had gone 15-1 the previous season. The Seattle Seahawks, whose 13-3 regular season mark was largely built on the rubble on a depleted NFC, were nowhere as good as what their record suggested. I think that this game is very similar. Neither one of these teams dominated the opposition in the regular season, both of these teams had a lot of flaws. I personally expected to see the Saints and Patriots in this game.
I could see this game devolving into a blowout, the way so many Super Bowls in the 1980s did, if the Colts offense gets off to a fast start and the Bears offense struggles. I am skeptical about the big-play capacity of the Bears offense, so this is a definite possibility. Generally speaking, however, I think the Bears defense will keep the game close. I call it, Colts 27, Bears 17, with Peyton Manning, that long-suffering QB finally winning the big one.
