Listen to The Dean and his scouts!

Show Highlights: From Pub 17 in Ramsey NJ, its The Dean Browski Pro-Bowl Party!

Ah, the Pro-Bowl, the last sniff of football until late summer is upon us. For all the previous years of my life, this was a day that deserved a big ‘WHO CARES?!”. But with today’s Dean Browski Celebration we are going to turn this normally irrelevant day into a day of fun and frivolity. Being that we are a New York/New Jersey based group, expect that there will be plenty of leftover exuberance from the Giants thrilling upset win over the Patriots. Details of the party are below. Come one, come all!! Bring your friends, bring your girlfriends, bring your boyfriends, bring your girlfriends boyfriends and their girlfriends boyfriends.

We all look forward to seeing you!!

New York Giants @ New England Patriots

Giants +12
This game has me torn. Torn I tell ya! I am as anxious for kickoff as any of the players and I will tell you what is tearing me apart. Just as soon as I give you my analysis of the game.

Let me begin with the bye week in my analysis of today’s game between the undefeated New England Patriots and the surprise New York Giants. As a fan I am not in favor of the bye week, and the argument can be made that it may or may not benefit one team or another.

For starters, many people point to the extra week as a huge advantage for the Pats because of Belichik’s genius status. I disagree. Because he is a genius he does not need all this time to game plan and scheme, when he just game planned for the Giants a few weeks ago. Belichik will be the first to admit that all the scheming in the world doesn’t matter if you don’t block and tackle. So I don’t see the extra week as an advantage to the Pats.

In actuality I see the week off as a benefit to the Giants because they had the chance to get their Defensive backfield healthy, which is going to be a major aspect of today’s game. Having numerous, and healthy DBs will allow the Giants to get true cover guys on Moss, Stallworth and Welker. It is no guarantee that those three can be covered, but the Giants fare much, much better if DBs are trying to cover the Patriot WRs than if a LB is tasked with coverage.

That gets us to the most important aspect for the Giants. The Giants must get pressure on Brady, but not at the risk of stunting all the time and exposing their cover guys too often. The front 4 of the Giants are capable of applying pressure on their own, and they must if they want to keep Brady and Co. from hanging another 38 points on them as happened in Week 17.

That is what the Giants defense must do in order to compete today. In order for the Patriots offense to compete, they just need to show up and play. Their OL has shown some vulnerability, Moss hasn’t been great in the post-season and Brady may not be 100% with the ankle. Still, the Patriots can play mediocre on offense and still be ok. If the Giants play mediocre on defense, it will not be ok.

When the ball is in the hands of the Giants they must, and can, run the ball effectively and stay out of unfavorable downs, like 2nd and 3rd and longs. The same can be said for the Patriots, but who would you expect to get a 3rd and 12? Manning and Burress or Brady and Moss?

The Patriots defense can be had, it is the weakness of the team. That is not to say they are bad, just that through the defense is where you will find a way to beat New England. Eli must continue his excellent post-season play or it will be easy for the Patriots to focus on one aspect of the game.

In regards to pressure, all the pressure today is on the Patriots. That in no way dooms them, but it is true. If any team can handle the pressure and not be fazed by it, it is the Patriots. The Giants, being new to Super Bowls, will feel pressure and nervousness at first, but theirs will evaporate as the game goes on while the Pats will only increase as the game goes on, and even more so should the Giants take a lead.

Bottom line to this all is the following. Three teams this year took the Patriots to the proverbial wire: Philadelphia, Baltimore and the Giants. The common thread in those games were that those teams made crucial turnovers in the 4th quarter and the Patriots did not.

Now, let me get to what is tearing me apart. All year long I called the Giants the must over-valued team in the NFL. I said that they will get people’s hopes up, give you reason to believe in them, and when they seem like a very good bet, they will screw the pooch and get blown out, i.e. the Vikings game this year. With that being said, I do have the right to change my opinion. The past few weeks they Giants have shown more than I personally thought they had. But can we trust the Giants recent streak? I do not know the answer to that question, but I do know that the Patriots are 1-8 ATS in their last 9 games, and they have won their previous 3 Super Bowls by 3 points each. All that being said, I am taking the Giants and the points for 5-stars today.

The burning question however is, will this be a repeat of Super Bowl XXXV or a repeat of Super Bowl III? All I am saying is, don’t be too surprised when the Giants pull out a win today.