Can Eli Manning defeat the New England Patriots Again? Mandatory Credit: Matthew Emmons

Today is the big game and everyone is throwing out their predictions, even big time celebrities I’m pretty sure do not watch much football. I’ve been doing a prediction segment all year so why stop now.

Much has been made of the Giants and the Patriots history this week. The Giants beat the Patriots in Superbowl 42, a game in which featured very few of the same players for the New England Patriots, while many of the Giants “core” players were all involved in that game: Osi Umeinyora, Justin Tuck, David Diehl, Kareem McKenzie, Chris Snee, Corey Webster, Bradshaw, Jacobs, Bradshaw, Eli Manning, Tom Coughlin to name the lot. (There were others like Kicker Lawerence Tynes and LB Chase Blackburn). While on the Patriots the mainstays were mainly Vince Wilfork, Tom Brady, and Coach Belichick.

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NFL Mocks Makes Their Superbowl Prediction Against the Spread - NFL Mocks - NFL Mocks - Covering the 2012 NFL draft, Mock Draft Database, Scouting Reports, and Fantasy Football

Jacquian Williams is a Big X-Factor in Sunday's Game Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

Everyone everywhere has an opinion on the game this week so I don’t want to go into details about those well publicized issues (like the Giants DL vs the Patriots OL for instance). What I want to do instead is look at three players on each team that people are not really discussing that could play a huge role in this game.

Most people have X-factors as “Mario Manningham”, Victor Cruz, Vince Wilfork. We’re going much deeper here.

Let’s start with New England

RB Danny Woodhead

Although the Giants haven’t had a really difficult time this year covering running backs that has been a problem that has plauged them for a long time. Their DE are so fast and so agressive that they get up the field very fast, Woodhead is the kind of guy who could get into the secondary quick and take off 40 yards down the field or take a screen pass a long ways. The other thing is the Giants have struggled covering kickoffs at times over the past few seasons (with the new rules this year it hasn’t been as much of a problem). I expect there to be a high percentage of touchbacks in this game because kicking conditions are absolutely ideal. Still I think Woodhead could be a player that no one is talking about that makes one or two big plays in this game that could ruin the Giants game.

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New York Giants vs New England Patriots Superbowl 46 X-Factors - NFL Mocks - NFL Mocks - Covering the 2012 NFL draft, Mock Draft Database, Scouting Reports, and Fantasy Football

Hakeem Nicks Missed Week 9, and that's just one difference between then and now. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-US PRESSWIRE

Today is Groundhog day, the most inane holiday of the year! Where I’m living we have not even had winter yet so it does not matter to me whether or not we have 6 more weeks of “winter” (thank you Global Warming). Much has been made this week about the Giants playing the New England Patriots again in the Superbowl. You’ve heard the story before. The Giants ended the Patriots run at an immortal season when they defeated the Patriots in 2008 (the Superbowl in the 2007 season). The talk has also been about how the Patriots and Giants play in pre-season a lot, and then again how the Giants beat the Patriots in New England earlier this year.

But the differences between those games are so drastic  that you almost can not look at the past games to get a picture of how this game will shake out.

Here are some of the major differences in this Superbowl Contest from even when the Giants and Patriots played in week 9 (the last time the Patriots lost).

Giants Linebacker corps

One of the biggest, and completely overlooked reasons the Giants are playing better defense now than they did at the beginning of the season is because the linebacker corps. In week 9 the Giants linebacker corps was largely a group of rookies rotating in and out with the starter being Greg Jones in the middle and Kiwianuka and Michael Boley receiving much of the action.

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Groundhog Day: Giants Play the Patriots Again in Superbowl, Both Much Different Teams - NFL Mocks - NFL Mocks - Covering the 2012 NFL draft, Mock Draft Database, Scouting Reports, and Fantasy Football

Wes Welker is the Key WR in this game, last time he torched the Giants Mandatory Credit: Mark L. Baer-US PRESSWIRE

Everyday leading up to the Superbowl, I’ll take a look at one matchup on the field and pick the favorite. Today’s first matchup will deal with the New England Patriots Wide Receivers against the Giants cornerbacks. I actually think that this is the most important matchup in the entire game. The Giants are going to do whatever they can to take away Groknowski and Aaron Hernandez which will leave a lot of single coverage on the outside. Can the Patriots find a way to take advantage of the single coverage?

Let’s look at the matchups.

Corey Webster should be on Deion Branch or Aaron Ross

Branch is a smaller wide receiver at 5’9 195 pounds who relies on his quickness and his chemisty with Tom Brady. During the season Branch had 702 yards receiving and 5 touchdowns. In two playoff games this year Branch has 103 yards receiving and a touchdown. Webster is a bigger physical cornerback who is average in run support, but has done a good job all season limiting the oppositions number one cornerback. Webster will have a lot of opportunities to press Branch and should be able to handle him. Webster isn’t a lock-down cornerback, but he’s very good, a just a step below lock-down and has the advantage in this matchup.

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Superbowl XLVI New York Giants vs New England Patriots: Pats WR vs Giants Cornerbacks - NFL Mocks - NFL Mocks - Covering the 2012 NFL draft, Mock Draft Database, Scouting Reports, and Fantasy Football

Alex Smith isn't great, but he's Proven clutch this year

Last week was quite exciting as the Giants traveled out to Green Bay to stun the Packers. It was not stunning that the Giants won, they are a very talented team, it was stunning that they beat down the Packers in Green Bay. The Ravens on the other hand didn’t play a great game, but were able to overwhelem T.J. Yates and the Texans, though Arian Foster might now be the number one running back in the league in my mind. The Patriots absolutely walloped the Broncos and the 49ers played smash mouth football to upset the Saints, thanks in part to a large number of turnovers.

What will this week bring? Let’s check it out.

Baltimore +7.5 at New England

+7.5 Whew that seems like an awful lot of points. I’m one of the Joe Flacco “haters” and have never found him that impressive, but still I think 7.5 is way too many points for a team that can play defense. The Ravens also have a lot of talent on offense with good pass catching tight ends, the deep threat that is Torrey Smith and Anquan Boldin. They also have one of the best running backs in the league in Ray Rice. I think the Patriots can win this game, but I”m not willing to lay 7.5 points.

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Jesse’s Giants are red hot right now, facing a Green Bay Packers team that barely skipped a beat when Matt Flynn took over as the quarterback in week 17.

My Broncos are getting ready for their second battle with Tom Brady and the New England Patriots, a team that beat the Broncos earlier this season on Denver’s home field.

There are some other intriguing matchups this weekend, specifically the matchup taking place in San Francisco with arguably the best defense in the conference (SF) and the best offense (NO).

The Houston Texans will also try and beat the Baltimore Ravens on their home field, something that has not been done so far this season, as Baltimore is 8-0 on their home field.

Now, on to the predictions.

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Bill Belichick and Kirk Ferentz were coaching mates in the NFL

In the Kirk Ferentz era(13 years) Iowa has flat out been a pipeline to the NFL. They currently have around 40 guys on an NFL roster and rank in the top ten with the most players in the league. Ohio State and Michigan are also on the list but other than that, most of the schools are from down south. So why Iowa? It’s not like they win the Big Ten title every year and have a top 15 recruiting class on a consistent basis. Well my answer is, Kirk Ferentz and has staff develops talent. They recruit guys who they think have not reached their peak and they recognize athletes who can mold talent.

Ferentz also coached in the NFL and a lot of the coachs and General Managers know Ferentz and his staff. A lot of NFL franchises look towards Iowa City first.

Scott Pioli and Bill Parcells have spoken out publicly about Ferentz several times about the guys he develops into NFL talent. Most recently Bill Belichick, head coach of the New England Patriots did the same.

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Don't Let the Eco Citizen Watch Fool You, in the 2nd Half of the Season, the Giants are Far From Unstoppable

It’s time for my weekly power rankings. I wrote these after he Giants and Eagles game but before the New England Patriots and Chiefs played. I’m assuming the Patriots will win and I can’t really imagine a scenario where they don’t, except for an injury to Tom Brady. There was a lot of movement in the  middle of the pack this week with the Giants terrible performance, Tebow-mania, and the sneaky good Seahawks.

Looking for more to read? We have now updated our scouting report page to include more than 120 scouting reports. Check it out.

32.  Indianapolis Colts (Previously Colts)

The biggest question now should be, does Jim Caldwell get to keep his job when the Colts draft Andrew Luck first overall next year?  Anyone who ever questioned anything about Peyton Manning looks just silly. This team is just awful, Curtis Painter is no good. The defense is only good when they are able to rush the passer and I think it’s more than fair to question whether or not Bill Polian is the mastermind everyone has made him out to be. This team just looks devoid of talent.

31.  Washington Redskins (previously Rams)

I,  think it’s fair to put the Redskins here. In a league that is all about what have you done for me lately the Redskins have lost six straight games each one in worse fashion than the one before it. This team stinks.

That’s what I wrote last week (we’ll I changed five to six). I think the team coming out on fire against the Cowboys is an anomaly that has more to do with their division rivalry than anything so I’m not putting any stock into it.

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NFL Power Rankings Week 12: The Giants Annual Second Half Swoon Has Begun, Patriots Surge Could be Coming - NFL Mocks - NFL Mocks - Covering the 2012 NFL draft, Mock Draft Database, Scouting Reports, and Fantasy Football

NFL Mocks Make their picks vs the spread for all games for Week 10

Week 9 offered us a lot of exciting football games, and I finally got back on track after a dreadful week 7 and week 8 to cling to just above .500. This week will be a little different are there are some less than appealing matchups, but there are still some good games.

And while you’re at it why don’t you Follow us on twitter @NFLmocks and check out our scouting report page which now has 100+ scouting reports for the 2012 NFL Draft. Let us know who else you want to see.

The games and spreads

Pittsburgh (-.3.5) at Cincinnati

Denver (+3) at Kansas City

Jacksonville (-3) at Colts

Buffalo (+5.5) at Dallas

Houston (-3) at Tampa Bay

Tennessee (+3) at Carolina

Washington (+4) at Miami

New Orleans (Pick ‘em) at Atlanta

Detroit (-3) at Chicago

St. Louis (+2.5) at Cleveland

Arizona (+14) at Philadelphia

Baltimore (-6.5) at Seattle

New York Giants (+3.5) at San Fran

New England (+1.5) at New York Jets

Monday Night

Green Bay (-13.5) at Minnesota

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