Those who follow the National Football League closely have heard the bad prognostications about Sunday's big event. According to the latest predictions by the experts, the New England Patriots don't match up very well against the New York Giants. Many professional analysts are now seeing the Super Bowl going the Giants' way, if only by a heartbreakingly small margin.
We've experienced this before. The 2002 Super Bowl against the St. Louis Rams, the much-vaunted "Greatest Show on Turf," was predicted to leave the Patriots a broken wreck on the field. Instead, the Patriots unleashed a fury of hard-hitting play and solid strategy that rocked the Rams on their heels. The momentum tide gradually turned against the Patriots, but a last-second field goal secured the improbable New England win. St. Louis has since faded from the elite of the National Football League, no more than a passing reference from a bygone "dynasty."
Not so for the Patriots, who were deemed a "dynasty" after their 2004 Super Bowl win. In the years since, no team has managed to grab that title.
Anyone who pays attention to pregame coverage of Sunday's Super Bowl is saturated by analysis on virtually every possible factor that could influence the game. Football is a game that often gets overwhelmed by pregame statistics, match-ups, line-ups, strategic possibilities and other numerical formulas. But the outcome of the game rarely comes down to these cold facts. It turns on chances, momentum shifts and opportunities both made and blown. These things can never be predicted.
We'll go out on a limb here and predict a Patriots win this Sunday. Here's why.
There was a formula to the winning Patriots teams of the 2001, 2003 and 2004 seasons that seems to be with us again this year. The defense wasn't unpierceable, but it was strong, the offensive line was solid, there was a reliable core of receivers, and, of course, Tom Terrific was at quarterback. There was also a confidence and workmanlike mentality that made one feel that this was a united team. That same formula seems to be true today, augmented by the human battering ram, Rob "Gronk" Gronkowski, and his fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez. The other constant is, of course, the head coach, Bill Belichick. The Einstein of football to some, the conniving Nixon to others, he is undoubtedly a man who even his haters in rival cities have to tip a hat to.
The 2007 season — one in which the Patriots came within 2 minutes of a history-making undefeated season — was an anomaly of sorts, a season that in retrospect beat down the team and made the final bitter defeat inevitable. This year's rematch with the Giants is being compared to that year, but both teams have changed. That was ages ago in football time.
Whatever happens Sunday, sports fans in Massachusetts are particularly blessed these days to be living in what is clearly the golden age of our professional sports teams. Not every team is shining gold right now (note to Red Sox and Celtics), but as recent media reports have pointed out, there have been seven championships won collectively by our four top professional sports teams. The Patriots are poised to make it eight.
Some cities pray for just one championship in a decade.
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