Oh, and also, that other opinion has changed.
I believe -- I'm convinced -- the Patriots are going to win Super Bowl XLVI.
Tom Brady will match Joe Montana in jewelry and legacy. Bill Belichick will be regarded, even among his detractors, as a coaching equal to the man for whom the championship trophy is named. Kevin Faulk will ride a duckboat into retirement.
The Patriots, in the delirious aftermath, will admit that hell, yeah, revenge was a motive. They will damn well will be aware of this.
It will feel so familiar that you'll forget it's been seven years since the Patriots were last champions. You'll buy the t-shirt the next day, and a couple for the kids, too.
It will not be easy; it will be intense, the most difficult challenge they have faced all season. The Giants have been a force in the second half of the season. They beat the Patriots in Foxborough, without Hakeem Nicks and Ahmad Bradshaw. They beat arguably the best offense (Green Bay) and the best defense (San Francisco) on the road to get here.
The Giants are brash, physical, and formidable, and their strengths match up with the Patriots' perceived weaknesses, or at least their vulnerabilities. Seeing Ty Law and Mike Haynes roaming around the media festivities this week made a Patriots fan wish the current team had someone, anyone, near their equivalent. Maybe Raymond Clayborn is available?
But its sometimes been lost in the perpetual hype this week that the Giants have flaws, too. Real ones. While Bradshaw is a threat, the Giants struggle to run the ball because the offensive line is somewhere between patchwork and porous. Vince Wilfork could punish them the way he did the Ravens during his tour de force in the AFC Championship game.
