Patriots and Giants fight for the 2012 Super Bowl

by Jack Target

High drama, subplots throughout and a crowned champion. It may be the season of film awards, but Super Bowl XLVI will go some way to match any film that wins an Oscar.

On February 5, the New England Patriots take on the New York Giants for the Vince Lombardi trophy.

The two teams are red hot going into the game and opinion is divided throughout the NFL world  on who will win.

Every Super Bowl has a story to tell but this match up has lots.

Hollywood

The game, being played at the Lucas Oil Stadium – home of the Indianapolis Colts - will star quarterbacks Tom Brady and Eli Manning of the Patriots and Giants, respectively.

To keep the Hollywood-esque feel, this could be a sequel to rival the original.

Both sides met in 2008 for the Superbowl at Arizona. New England were on the brink of recording a perfect season, winning all 18 games up to the grand finale but lost to the Giants courtesy of some magic by Manning and some miraculous catches.

Revenge inevitably is on the minds of the also-rans after that ghastly defeat.

The Patriots haven’t quite made the same headlines this year, going 13-3 in the regular season.

They coasted through the beginning of the year and won their last eight games largely due to the emergence of record-breaking tight end Rob Gronkowski.

Their defence or ‘D’ on the other hand has come under a lot of criticism this year with injuries and a lack of leaders being cited as the main problems. It resulted in the Patriots D being ranked last in the league.

Despite this they have stepped up in the playoffs and were the main reason they won the AFC Championship game against the Baltimore Ravens. 

'Elite' Manning

It was a different story for the ‘Big Blue’ who put together a 9-7 record. At the start of the season Manning asserted he was an ‘elite’ quarterback, which caused a ripple of scoffs and ridicule from pundits.

Yet the Giants number 10 has proven himself, guiding his team to another Super Bowl.

The Giants also have an excellent offense and a steady defence and have experience with seventeen players, in addition to their coach remaining from that win against the Patriots four years ago.

It is an impossible task to pick a winner. Both sides look like Super Bowl winning teams with their top players playing at the top of their game.

The biggest battle will be between the Patriots offense and the Giants defence. If the Giants can get to Tom Brady and unsettle him they have a good chance to let Eli win the game for them. However Brady has so many options available to him it is hard to see where he can fail.

So many possibilities can come out of this game too. If the Patriots win Brady will surely cement his place as the greatest quarterback of all time.

If the Giants win it could be the start of a great run of Super Bowl wins, like the Patriots did with three in four years, and Eli would win one more than his brother Peyton in his own back yard.

One thing is for sure Eli Manning is the loser here but we won't know for certain who the winner will be ‘till the early hours of Monday morning.