Defence key to victory as New York Giants face New England Patriots in the Super Bowl XLVI - Super Bowl Special
It all comes down to just one game to decide the football world champion as two of the biggest teams in the National Football League take to the field on Sunday for the Super Bowl XLVI.
The New England Patriots and New York Giants are both teams that are better on the offence while both teams’ defensive performances have shown none of the “wow” factor that defines their offence.
Defence though will most likely decide which team lifts that coveted Lombardi Trophy on Sunday and players from both teams have provided sound bites to lift their defence.
Both teams have provided markedly improved performances in their secondary over the course of the playoff rounds.
Giants’ defensive coordinator Perry Fewell believes that it is all down to experience with the seasons progression that has lifted the team’s defensive performances recently.
“They wanted to get it right. We had a lot of guys playing that really didn’t have the experience that they needed and didn’t really understand the concepts we were trying to teach and what we were trying to get across with our game plans. But they never
shut us out and they kept believing in what we were trying to get done.”
From regular season statistics both teams remain at the bottom on defence with New England Patriots giving away an average of 411.1 yards and 21.4 points per game while their Super Bowl opponents New York Giants gave away 376.4 yards per game and 25 points.
Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo these numbers mean nothing and stats and figures go down the drain on Super Bowl night.
“It’s a one-game season,” Mayo said. “Nothing else matters. None of the stats from the regular season, none of the stats from the postseason, matter. It’s all about Sunday and that’s our focus.”
The Giants have tremendously improved in defence stopping such high powered offences as those of Green Bay Packers on their way to the Super Bowl.
New York gave away just two points in their first game of the playoffs against Atlanta Falcons while stopping a Packers offence in the next game that scored an average of 34 points per game in the regular season.
New York then faced the San Francisco 49ers in the National Football Conference (NFC) Championship match.
New England Patriots themselves faced some high powered offensive opposition, stopping Tim Tebow and Denver Broncos in the divisional rounds of the playoffs while just about managing to hold on against a brilliant Baltimore Ravens.
However, the performance that really matters, is the one both teams will deliver on Sunday.
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You can view live coverage and analysis of the Super Bowl XLVI by Zach Norman and Robert California on Sunday, 11:00pm, GMT
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