What the enemy is saying about Super Bowl
It is quite delightful to read the New York Post these days. As sports columnist Steve Serby points out, it could have been Jets versus Giants, but instead it’s Philadelphia Eagles against New England Patriots. “Enemy Bowl,” as the Post’s headline writers put it. Serby sighs:
So this week, a week that will seem like an eternity, it will be daily commentary on where these Dream Team Patriots rank in history: Better than the Steel Curtain? It will be Tom Brady, Joe Montana. It will be Charlie Weis and Notre Dame, Romeo Crennel and the Browns. It will be Adam Vinatieri, the anti-Doug Brien. It will be Belichick, Vince Lombardi.
Under Edwards, the Jets have won two playoff games in four years. In five years under Belichick, the Patriots have won two Super Bowls, and are 60 minutes from a third. George Young and the Giants didn’t want Belichick to replace Parcells in 1990 and hired Ray Handley instead. Belichick didn’t want the Jets after Parcells left in 2000.
Mike Vaccaro writes about the Ideal Owner, a.k.a. Bob Kraft:
It’s important to remember just how woeful the Patriots were in the three decades before Kraft bought the team, a franchise defined by one fleeting triumph - three road wins to qualify for Super Bowl XX - that was instantly quashed under the trampling toes of the Bears’ Super Bowl Shuffle. The Super Bowl will be the 15th playoff game under Kraft’s watch; the Pats had only played 10 in the years before he took over.
Kraft invested $325 million in the building of Gillette Stadium, a splendid showplace for his team that was completely financed privately and thus avoided the public squabbles that serve as the soundtrack for the Jets’ proposed stadium. And success has come with perks: According to Forbes magazine, the 2004 Patriots rank fourth in the NFL in franchise value at $861 million - behind the Redskins ($1.1 billion), Cowboys ($923 million) and Texans ($905 million) - and have a 10-year streak of consecutive sellouts.
It is the ultimate dream come true for any fan, which is what Kraft was for years before buying the team, a season-ticket holder who believed in his heart he could run things better, the way every fan does at one time or another.
Jay Greenberg peddles respect for Patriots’ receiver corps:
” The Patriots throw so much underneath their receivers are underrated. Or were until the Steelers secondary lost its underwear last Sunday, getting burned for 60 yards and 45 yards on post patterns by Deion Branch.
He also took the first play from scrimmage 14 yards on one reverse, then ran in the put-away score on another. So it isn’t exactly venturing out on a limb to suggest this Branch was more than sturdy, actually sensational. Nor is it fair to accuse Eagles corner Lito Sheppard of pandering when he offers Branch and David Givens, who caught a clutch third quarter 18-yarder on third-and-17, the olive branch before next Sunday’s Super Bowl.
“Whenever someone asks me about the tougher receiver tandems, New England comes to my mind,” Sheppard said. “Counting preseason games, we’ve played them three times in two years, so I know they can throw the ball downfield.
“I think that’s what keeps their whole offense motivated, being underrated.”
Mark Cannizaro has an Oprah-esque piece on old warrior Roman Phifer. It goes on at length about how long it took for Phifer to make the playoffs, but says practically nothing about what he’s done on the field for the Pariots. That’s a strange omission considering that Phifer is a solid backup in the league’s best linebacker group.
