Super Bowl Predictions and Discussion [Pre-Game Thread]

[Ludahai]

Who wins and by how much?

[Ludahai]

Even though the Pats wil be heavily favored and SHOULD win this by more than 14, they won't because our boys in blue seem to lack a killer instinct. Like today, we should have routed the Colts, but instead they were allowed to linger until it nearly cost us. I fear the same may happen a fortnight hence, but the Pats will pull it out in the end to win 15 straight and 2 Super Bowls in three years. I won't predict a score just yet however.

[Garcia]

Panthers in another close game.
16-9 my guess.

[Ian McCracken]

I'm leaning toward a Patriot win something like 23-13, but I've been very impressed with the Panthers the past two weeks and may change my mind.

[Garcia]

Come on. We need an Iron Ian Lock.

I lost my house, thanks to you! :D

[superdave]

I hate to say it, but I think the Patriots win, something like 27-10. The Pats' short passing game is tailor made to be the Panthers. OTOH, Belichek is known for coming up with game plans to stymie passing teams, and complicated teams. There's no scheme to stop the Panthers' offense, because it's so simple. You just have to make plays. I think the Pats' defense will make plays, and thus win the game. But it'll be the players, not Belichek, who do that.

Mainly what I'm thinking is, two week SBs are almost always blowouts, and I don't see the Panthers blowing out the Patriots. I might pick the Panthers something like 16-13 if this was a one week SB.

It'll be interesting to see how the Pats match up corners to receivers. The logical thing would be to assign Law to Smith, to take Smith out of the game. He's the Panthers' most dangerous receiver. But that would leave teeny tiny Tyrone Poole (ex-Panther) guarding Muhsin Muhammad. Delhomme isn't afraid to lob the ball up to Muhammad and let his size make the play.

[skipshady]

I see New England winning by 7 or 10, more if there's a snowstorm in Houston.

I love the Panthers but the Patriots maybe the one team that can exploit their weakness in the secondary. Carolina is good at shutting down the primary and seconday options, but the middle of the field can be soft.

Tom Brady is adept at spreading the ball around and the 5-receiver sets can be pretty effective. I can see a lot of passes to the tight end bouncing off the block.

When Carolina has the ball, the Patriots will have to stop Stephen Davis/DeShaun Foster on first down. Of course, every team that has played the Panthers knew this going in to the game, so we'll see how the Patriots deal with this.

[billyireland]

The Panthers pull of a 13-10 win... I've been the SOLE BigSoccer poster backign them all the way through the playoffs, so I'm not gonna give up now!

[ElJefe]

The Pats are favored by around seven points, so Dustin the Kraut sez:

Take Carolina and the points.

[Jeff]

Originally posted by superdave


It'll be interesting to see how the Pats match up corners to receivers. The logical thing would be to assign Law to Smith, to take Smith out of the game. He's the Panthers' most dangerous receiver. But that would leave teeny tiny Tyrone Poole (ex-Panther) guarding Muhsin Muhammad. Delhomme isn't afraid to lob the ball up to Muhammad and let his size make the play.

The size thing is why I think that while there will be switching up, Law will be assigned to Muhammad for a lot of the game.

Score: what Garcia said, but with the Pats winning. 16-9.

[CHICO13]

The Patriots are a helluva team, but there's something about Delhomme that intrigues me. That dudes been rolling some hot dice lately. He seems to get it done when it counts. Panthers by 3.....

[Khansingh]

Originally posted by billyireland
The Panthers pull of a 13-10 win... I've been the SOLE BigSoccer poster backign them all the way through the playoffs, so I'm not gonna give up now!

Yeah, you also picked the Colts so...

Speaking of two week layoffs, what is the underdog's record after two weeks? If I remember correctly, the only upsets I can think of are New York in III and New York in XXV. Other than those, the extra week almost unfailingly benefits the favorite, which is incredibly the Patriots.

Patriots 26 - Panthers 14

[superdave]

Originally posted by Khansingh
Yeah, you also picked the Colts so...

Speaking of two week layoffs, what is the underdog's record after two weeks? If I remember correctly, the only upsets I can think of are New York in III and New York in XXV. Other than those, the extra week almost unfailingly benefits the favorite, which is incredibly the Patriots.

Patriots 26 - Panthers 14
I'd be interested to see a breakdown of the scores, and the time off.

I hate that it's gonna be two weeks, as a fan. Two week Super Bowls almost always suck, suck, suck.

As a Panther fan, one more week to bask in the glory... :)

[Jeff]

Originally posted by Khansingh
Yeah, you also picked the Colts so...

Speaking of two week layoffs, what is the underdog's record after two weeks? If I remember correctly, the only upsets I can think of are New York in III and New York in XXV. Other than those, the extra week almost unfailingly benefits the favorite, which is incredibly the Patriots.

Patriots 26 - Panthers 14

You can say that again about the favorite thing. Given the franchise's history I have to admit I never thought I'd ever see the day where the Pats were heavy favorites to win it all going into the playoffs. Super Bowl favorites once they got there, perhaps.

Anyway, my vote was Pats 7 points or less. Not changing my 16-9 prediction right now.

[Ludahai]

Originally posted by CHICO13
The Patriots are a helluva team, but there's something about Delhomme that intrigues me. That dudes been rolling some hot dice lately. He seems to get it done when it counts. Panthers by 3.....

People were saying that about a QB named Peyton a few of days ago. What happened to him? Anyone remember?

[billyireland]

Originally posted by Khansingh
Yeah, you also picked the Colts so...
Yea, but that's only the Colts... this is the Panthers, people!

Seriously, while Delhomme, Davis, Smith, Muhammed, Proehl & Mangum are no Manning, James, Harrisson, Wayne, Stokley & Pollard, they are still very good at working their way down the field, seem to get the first down nearly all the time, and are a physically stronger unit than the Colts.

The Panthers defense is far better than the Colts however, and if they give your recievers the proverbial punch in the mouth that they did with the Eagles on Sunday, your passing game may lose a fair deal of it's fluency.

The Panthers will be playing for their lives in this game, since they know that there is a good possibility that they will never ever get to the big game again... the Pats will be playing very, very hard, but I doubt they'll appreciate being there as much as the Panthers.

And one other thing about the Colts match... it was in Foxboro, in the snow... this is in Houston (doesn't snow much in Texas, an Reliant is a down iirc).

The Panthers are the underdogs for sure, but I'm still gonna go with them - the masters of the close game.

[TruxHalapino]

Panthers are going to win it. No doubt in my mind about it. And I've changed my mind, wont be a close game.... A full walkover. How sweet it'd be to have our first shutout of the season at the super bowl?

So, Cats 24 - Pats 0

[Ian McCracken]

Originally posted by billyireland
The Panthers pull of a 13-10 win... I've been the SOLE BigSoccer poster backign them all the way through the playoffs, so I'm not gonna give up now!

You should've quit while you were ahead.

[skipshady]

Dave Fleming sums up why the Super Bowl appearance is so special for sports fans in Charlotte (and the whole state of North Carolina really, especially if you consider the drunk driving death of Scott Chiasson of the Hurricanes): http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs03/columns/story?id=1713533

[skipshady]

Because there's a good chance the game will suck, here's a tentative list of Super Bowl advertisers: http://ad-rag.com/108417.php