Article:Pats All Folks: Pats/Giants Preview

This is it. The Patriots look to start the season the way they ended it, kicking some a** in the Meadowlands. This time its the New York Giants trying to hold down the fort, in the most highly anticipated preseason atmoshpere game ever. If you lived under a rock the past few days not only would you have missed that AGM got a makeover but that CBS, NBC, NFL Network, ESPN, MSNBC, CNN, PBS, and HBO will all be airing the game. The Giants have secured their 5th seed in the NFC, the Patriots have secured their No. 1. So what's at stake, a couple of fantasy championships, a perfect season, and like 6 more NFL records, and you know it's Boston and New York(New England versus New Jersey) so thats a storyline all by itself.

The Patriots have been humble about getting win #16. But now that the time has come the starters are hungry for it. "Like I've said before,"  Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said, "'Put me in coach. I want to play. I want to win.' And if what it means this week is being 16-0, yeah, I want it." "We know we have an opportunity to get to 16," said Brady, recently named the AP's Male Athlete of the Year. "That would be a great accomplishment for this team." As for the Giants, who are looking ahead to a wild card game against Tampa Bay next week, only has the the urge to cockblock the Patriots road to history as motivation. "We want to win every game, and we want our players to be as sharp as they can, but that having been said, I am aware of the fact that all the things you talk about are true," Giants Coach Tom Coughlin said Monday. "We cannot improve our lot, etc. I won't be really painted into the corner on any of those things. I wish I had a more definitive answer."

Brady is 2 TD shy of breaking Peyton Manning's TD record, a feat some thought would've been done. Randy Moss is 2 TD shy of breaking Jerry Rice's record and the Patriots are 1 TD shy of breaking the 1998 Minnesota Vikings regular season scoring record. Brady is also 105 yards shy of passing Drew Bledsoe's franchise record 4,555 yards.

Enough of all the hype, now for the nitty gritty preview. The "blueprint" for beating the Patriots been out for a while, run the ball, frustrate Brady and don't turn the ball over. The don't settle for 3 points rule has been taken off because the Pats been pretty good on stopping 4th down conversions. The Giants have been banged up that the RB position, with Jacobs, Droughns, Ward and some other guy I believe. But what has been great is the G-Men pass rush led by the gap-toothed assassin Michael Strahan. The turnover part will be the fatal flaw in the Giants armor, due heavily to this season's Rex Grossman, Eli "He Got It From His Mother's Side" Manning. Eli has been downright awful and in a game where a mistake might finish you by halftime, I think he might win the game for the Patriots by himself. As for the Patriots stopping the Giants, score the record 2 TDs early and let Matt Cassel and Guitierrez fight for the No. 2 spot for next season. The only thing that can stop the Patriots is Mother Nature and the forecast for the game is 41 degrees, light wind, no precipitation. This will be a yawn fest after halftime, Patriots 27 Giants 10