Super Bowl 46: NY Giants vs NE Patriots

Indianapolis: Eli Manning-Tom Brady Showdown

February 5th welcomes the 46th annual Superbowl! Kickoff in Indianapolis's Lucas Oil Stadium, the underdog New York Giants will battle Superbowl vets New England Patriots and their 13-3 record.

It's going to be a fight to the finish and hopes are high that Eli Manning and his Giants will be able to upset New England's Tom Brady and bring the trophy home to New York.

NY Giants Regular Season Record

With both teams facing hardships in the regular season, the standings don't lie and its obvious the Giants have fought to get their shot at the bowl. They have a record of 9-7 and are coming off two big wins: the first, beating last year's Superbowl champs the Greenbay Packers in a nail-biting 37-20 game in round 2 of the playoffs; and their most recent victory advanced the Giants with a 17-20 overtime win against the San Francisco 49ers.

The Giants show their strength in offense with passing yards and Manning's ability to stay cool under pressure. But let's not forget about the Giants' defense. They have a record 48 sacks and all-star linemen like Jason-Pierre Paul and Osi Umenyiora.

According to the Associated Press, TSN, with these men "stopping the run and forcing the opposition into passing situations will let loose possibly the best group of pass rushers in the NFL. It was the formula the Giants used in 2008 in pounding Tom Brady and stunning the previously unbeaten New England Patriots in the SuperBowl."

Tom Brady and the New England Patriots' Strengths

With a record of 13-3 in regular season, starting in 5 Super Bowls and winning 3 (2001, 2003 and 2004), being named 2-time Super Bowl MVP and holding a number of NFL records including most touchdown passes in a playoff game, it's no wonder Tom Brady is seen as football's golden boy.

With a strong offense including wide receiver Wes Welker, Deion Branch and tight end Rob Gronkowski, the Patriots are strong in their rushing and passing game, but its going to take quick maneuvers and blocking defense to stop the Giants from upsetting Brady's passing yards.

In order to upset the hard-fighting Giants, the Pats are going to need more then a good offense. "Improving running defense will slow the Giants' running game and prevent New York from controlling the tempo of the game" according to The Bleacher Report. The better the Patriots run defense, the less likely the Giants will be able to establish a solid running game in their offense.

With the Giants upsetting the Patriots perfect season in 2008, there is some bad blood between these two teams and if regular season showed us anything, it's that both teams will fight to the end to be named Super Bowl champion.