Super Bowl 46: Prediction time
Super Bowl 46 arrives Sunday with a rematch. Patriots vs. Giants. New York won 17-14 four years ago in Super Bowl 42, and this is a rematch because the primaries remain. Same coaches, Tom Coughlin/Bill Belichick. Same quarterbacks, Eli Manning/Tom Brady.
The way rosters overturn these days, even a rematch from the previous year’s Super Bowl would have a ton of new faces. If you’ve got the same quarterbacks and same coaches dueling, that’s a rematch in this day and age.
How many Super Bowl rematches have we had? I would say just two:
* Cowboys/Steelers. Pittsburgh won Super 10 over the Cowboys 21-17, then three years later won Super Bowl 13 over Dallas, 35-31. Those rosters didn’t have a ton of turnover. Largely the same teams.
* Cowboys/Bills. Dallas beat Buffalo in back-to-back seasons, 52-17 and 30-13, in Super Bowls 27 and 28. Virtually the same teams.
But 49ers/Bengals was not a rematch. The ’81 49ers and ’89 49ers had the same coach (Bill Walsh) and quarterback (Joe Montana), but Cincinnati did not: coach Forrest Gregg and quarterback Ken Anderson in ’81, coach Sam Wyche and quarterback Boomer Esiason in ’89.
Neither was Washington/Miami a rematch. They played 10 years apart, after the 1972 and 1982 seasons. Don Shula coached both Dolphin teams, but George Allen coached the ’72 Redskins and Joe Gibbs the ’82 Redskins. In Super Bowl 7, Miami won 14-7, with Bob Griese quarterbacking the Dolphins and Billy Kilmer the ‘Skins. In Super Bowl 17, Washington won 27-17, with Joe Theismann quarterbacking the Redskins and David Woodley the Dolphins.
So really only two Super Bowl rematches.
Only eight Patriots remain from their Super Bowl 42 roster: Brady, flanker Wes Welker, tailback Kevin Faulk, guard Logan Mankins, center Dan Koppen, left tackle Matt Light, nose tackle Vince Wolfork and kicker Stephen Gostkowski. Koppen is on injured reserve. Hixon is on injured reserve.
But 17 Giants remain from Super Bowl 42: Manning, tailbacks Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs, guard Chris Snee, left tackle David Diehl, right tackle Kareem McKenzie, center Kevin Boothe, receiver Domenik Hixon, cornerbacks Aaron Ross and Corey Webster, kicker Lawrence Tynes, linebackers Chase Blackburn and Mathias Kiwanuka, deep snapper Zak DeOssie and defensive ends Dave Tollefson, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck.
Of course, since Super Bowl 42, the revamped Patriots have played at a higher level than have the Giants. Including this season. But not including the last month.
The revitalized Giants have stormed through the playoffs, dominating Atlanta in the Jersey Meadowlands before winning at Green Bay and at San Francisco.
Both teams barely escaped their conference title games. It’s not far-fetched to imagine a Harbaugh Super Bowl — Jim’s 49ers vs. John’s Ravens. Instead, we’ve got this rematch.
Judging the Giants on how they’ve played since Christmas Eve — dismantling the Jets, then dominating the Cowboys on New Year’s Night — New York has been the best team in football. The Giants have a vastly superior defense than does New England, and with Eli Manning playing at such a high level, New York’s offense isn’t too far behind the Patriots’.
Let’s go with another Giant victory in this Super Bowl rematch, 27-23.
-------------Berry Tramel can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including AM-640 and FM-98.1. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter @BerryTramel. Visit Berry's website here.
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Comments
I am no fan of the Patriots but their coach will have them prepared and that last sb defeat is great motivation to get even with Eli. Pats by 10.
All the so-called experts picking the NY Football Giants, despite all the years they’ve had to observe, study and get to know them, still don’t know or understand Bill Belicek or Tom Brady. REVENGE! No coach/captain duo in pro football have ever had the burning intensity of these two to show up the naysayers and shut up the opponent more. The Pats will win 31-17.
I predict that one team will win and the other team will lose and both teams will make a ton of money. The losing team will be crying all the way to the bank.
Two mistakes:
You said the Steelers won both SB X and XIII and the Cowboys won back-to-back against the Bills, then later it says that the rematches have produced “one sweep, one split.” If the Steelers and Cowboys both won their rematches, there was no split (until the Pats win, LOL).
And more egregious: the Patriots center (who is on IR and thus inactive for SB XLVI), is Dan Koppen not Dave Koppen.