THE CHALKBOARD
Final 2011 Season
Thoughts
Super Bowl XLVI was a microcosm of New England's 2011 regular season.
Bill Belichick's team got off to a bumpier than expected start. In the Super
Bowl, an intentional grounding penalty on quarterback Tom Brady that gave New
York a safety and a 12-men on the field penalty that negated a drive-stopping
turnover put the Patriots down 9-0 and on the ropes early. But, just as the
Patriots responded after a mistake-plagued 5-3 start to the regular season with
an impressive must-win win over the New York Jets, coach Bill Belichick's team
came back.
Suddenly, New England could do no wrong. Brady completed 16 passes in a row,
including touchdown tosses to Danny Woodhead and Aaron Hernandez. Midway
through the third quarter, the Patriots were in control, 17-9. It was much like
the second half of the regular season in which New England won 8 straight games
while averaging better than plus-2 turnovers per game.
Then, as suddenly as their perfection had emerged, it vanished again. Brady
struggled for the rest of the game and the Giants rallied to win, 21-17. New
York won the turnover battle on 1-0 on the strength of linebacker Chase
Blackburn's fourth quarter interception. It was the third straight game the
Patriots lost the turnover battle and left New England minus-4 turnovers in
their three playoff games.
The Giants, on the other hand, were plus-2, plus-3, plus-2, and plus-1
turnovers in their four playoff games. It's almost impossible for a good team
to lose any NFL game when plus-2 turnovers and coach Tom Coughlin's team is a
good, not great, team.
What New York proved is that a balanced team can still win a championship. The
Giants did not throw the ball the best or run the ball the best or defend the
best. But they did everything well. And Eli Manning and friends one turnover in
the playoffs was by far the best mark in that statistical category.
It is tempting to think that Green Bay, which finished the season 15-1 before
falling to New York in the divisional round, lost this Super Bowl championship
as much as the Giants won it. Behind Aaron Rogers, the Packers offense was
infinitely productive during the regular season. But Miami and Dan Marino in
1984 and Indianapolis and Peyton Manning in 2004 also were infinitely
productive and failed to win the Super Bowl. (San Francisco and Joe Montana was
infinitely productive in 1989 and crushed Denver in the Super Bowl, 55-10.)
After New York won, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tweeted that the
"hot team," but perhaps not the best team, wins the championship.
That's one way to look at it.
But nobody could deny that at the end of 2011, the most complete team was the
New York Giants.
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