CNL = Can Not Lose

The Patriots can lose this game, obviously, but consider what happens if they do. First, I doubt anyone who even remotely associates themselves with New England-- the coaches, the players, the fans, even Gisele Bundchen, for that matter-- basically anyone who up to this day roots for the Patriots will be able to overcome the devastation of a loss. Ever. While you wouldn't necessarily equate Bill Belichick to Marv Levy or Tom Brady to Jim Kelly, you would probably say to yourself as if preparing for the analogies section of a standardized test, "The New England Patriots are to the New York Giants as the Buffalo Bills are to the Dallas Cowboys." Excuse the crassness, but they would become their eternal bitch. And that stigma, admittedly a stigma not quite as bad as Buffalo's, would sit above Boston for decades.

Second, the New England Patriots and Tom Brady would become the dreaded inverse of the Denver Broncos and John Elway. Early on in his career Elway went to three Super Bowls and lost them all. In what appeared to be the last chapter of a tragic career riddled with 2nd places, he surprisingly knocked off a giant in Brett Favre's Packers and then proceeded to crush the Atlanta Falcons in his epilogue, ultimately retiring a champion. Losing today would basically stamp Brady as the exact opposite. He wins three Super Bowls early on, and then, after winning all 18 games in 2007, suffers one Giant loss, only to be shown up again by the same simple quarterback and the same red-faced coach in the encore? I just can't see this happening. I love underdogs, but somehow in the grand scheme of this universe, Tom Brady is supposed to be a career champion, not a big game loser. The odd thing about the NFL is that it is always worse to finish in 2nd place than it is to finish 2nd from the bottom. In other words, there is no greater chasm between 1st and 2nd place than in the NFL. Sadly, everyone remembers Jim Kelly as the greatest quarterback to come close to getting it done without getting it done-- not the greatest on-field engineer to call his own plays in the no-huddle, which he really was. Losing today, Brady would become the most tragic 3-time Super Bowl champion you could possibly imagine.

Finally, there's Belichick. The smartest, best decision-making, most feared coach you could ever face across a gridiron. Marv Levy was great, but Bill Belichick is greater. Should he lose today though, his successes would be clouded with an unprecedented taint of a fallen empire. Like a once world leader whose peoples have become discontented or whose economies have turned or whose renaissance is centuries past, he would tread on alone through deep, quiet puddles of frustrated bewilderment, of painful questioning of what could have been. The onlookers will ponder his retirement for him, wondering if there's any more left.

This game is cruel, but it can be no crueler than to the guys who are supposed to have it all. Failure to complete this fateful rematch, failure to re-emerge as champions, failure to satisfy the insatiable Boston sports world-- can only mean epic failure to be remembered for generations. Never before in American sport will one game have such a resounding impact on the careers and images and legacies of two very successful, yet fallible men.

Given that Belichick and Brady were the cause of a similar downfall to a personal sports hero of mine in Kurt Warner (see Wikipedia: Super Bowl XXXVI), it is odd for me to show any sympathy here. But Belichick and Brady have suffered far greater (see Wikipedia: Super Bowl XLII). They have an opportunity today not at true redemption (because nothing will ever redeem falling short of the truly perfect season), but an opportunity to preserve and expand an otherwise great legacy. Falling short though is beyond tragic.

The Gambler's Epilogue

Ultimately, my heart is with the underdog, and I love Tom Coughlin for his unbelievable run of killing, ironically, giants. Starting with his first legendary victory over #1 Notre Dame as BC's head coach in 1993 that kept the Irish out of the national championship (see Wikipedia: Holy War - BC v ND), and then his unbelievable toppling of Elway's Broncos in the '96 playoffs (see Wikipedia: Jaguars Miracle 1996 Season), and finally the aforementioned shocking of the world after the 2007 season, Tom Coughlin's accomplishments are undeniably real-life Cinderella stories, each more impressive than the previous. So speaks my heart.

My mind and my wallet though is on the Patriots. There are several compelling facts: Belichick is nearly impossible to beat twice in the same season; the Giants secondary will flail if Brady doesn't get hit early and often; the Patriots' offensive line is playing the best football yet and will only be helped by the artificial surface. These are all interesting, but the intangibles are what has led me to wager on these easily-hatable New England Patriots. Their locker room, specifically the offense, appears to be the most cohesive unit to ever take a football field. By any semblance of justice, they should have lost to the Ravens, but by some miracle, their porous defense dodged the largest Lee Evans bullet imaginable, and now their entire team has an undeserved second chance. Given what's at stake, given this second chance, we all know what Brady and Belichick, with their world-class preparation, can and will do. Both offenses will move up and down the field today scoring wildly. The Giants will make a mistake or two; the Patriots will make none. Pats -3, Over 54.