OPINION

By Michael Parker

updated 7:49 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2008

Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan and their defensive linemates looked like the Fearsome Foursome in the Week 17 meeting between New York and Boston — err New England. Giants defenders spent more time in the Patriots’ backfield than Laurence Maroney.

Despite their come-from-ahead loss Dec. 29, the Giants have confidence going into the Super Bowl. After breaking down film of the Patriots’ 38-35 victory in Week 17, though, I’m convinced New England will make the rematch look like a mismatch.

The post-Thanksgiving Giants have proved to be a worthy opponent, but it will take an almost perfect game — and a bevy of Patriots miscues — for the Giants to have any chance at victory in the Super Bowl. There are three key reasons why the Patriots will crush the Giants:

The Dec. 29 game was at Giants Stadium, a fact that cannot be overemphasized. In analyzing game film, Strahan and especially Umenyiora looked as if they were shot out of a cannon on every snap. Because of the crowd noise, New England offensive tackles Matt Light and Ryan O’Callaghan struggled to hear snap counts and were slow out of their stances.

The Patriots were forced to play with a silent count in shotgun formations because of the crowd noise. That won’t be a problem in the Super Bowl.

When teams are in the silent count, the center looks between his legs for the signal from the quarterback, then picks his head up and snaps when he is ready. As he snaps the ball, the center will yell “go!” or something similar, signaling his fellow offensive linemen to move.

Normally, the center and everyone else on offense waits for Tom Brady’s word to start the play and thus respond in unison. With center Dan Koppen determining the snap, Strahan and Umenyiora were able to fly out of their stances at the slightest movement of the ball—a tick ahead of Light and O’Callaghan. Strahan’s and Umenyiora’s upfield quickness killed the Patriots’ outside stretch runs and forced Brady to rush his progressions in the passing game.

Go back to the tape and freeze frame the snaps on sure-fire passing downs. Watch yourself. The Giants’ defenders were taking their second steps before the Patriots’ blockers moved. That will be remedied by both practice and playing on a neutral site in front of 60,000 corporate executives.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s game plan Dec. 29 was to make quarterback Eli Manning win the game. That was a pretty safe bet against The Old Eli. But, as he has proven the past couple months, The New Eli is worthy of the hype he has been burdened with since his Pop Warner days.

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In the first matchup, New England’s defense was geared primarily to take away Brandon Jacobs and the running game. Without tight end Jeremy Shockey to stretch things down the middle, Patriots coaches decided that cornerbacks Asante Samuel and Ellis Hobbs could handle wide receivers Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer man-to-man with occasional safety help.

Manning, however, found the open man time after time. Belichick no doubt will pull out all the stops this time around. Big brother Peyton Manning himself has been flustered routinely by Belichick’s Xs and Os. Now that Eli has proved worthy of the same defensive scheming, you can bet he will get Belichick’s best.

Another thing that made the Dec. 29 game fashionably close was the good strategy by Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. It’s the reason his name has been mentioned for nearly every head coach opening.

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Spagnuolo’s plan that night was to take Patriots wide receiver Randy Moss out of the game and find creative ways to pressure Brady. Essentially, Spagnuolo placed a ton of guys near the line of scrimmage and attacked the Patriots’ blocking schemes while taking away the deep threat.

The Giants also pounded Moss. (Remember the hit he took near the goal line at the end of the first quarter?) Spagnuolo assigned a cornerback, Aaron Ross or Sam Madison, to Moss along with a safety over the top.

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Brady retaliated with dump-off passes and screen passes to neutralize the Giants’ creative blitzes and clever combination coverages.

The Giants’ front seven looked terrific on that night, but it still wasn’t enough. The Patriots still racked up 390 yards of offense even though they had to spend a lot more time dinking-and-dunking their way down the field.

Kudos to Spagnuolo. His plan worked well enough that the Jacksonville Jaguars and San Diego Chargers basically copied it. Brady has been effective enough to win in the playoffs, and that is all that matters. Brady has found a way to win without Moss, and his patience and resourcefulness will be rewarded on Super Sunday.