The pigskin public seemed to have a vested interest in a Green Bay-New England Super Bowl. The general consensus was that a Brett Favre-Tom Brady battle had more national appeal than Giants-Patriots.

 

Well, we'll never know what a Packers-Patriots Super Bowl might have looked like. The Patriots held serve at home, holding off the Chargers, 21-12 in the AFC title game. But the surprising Giants pulled off one of the more improbable runs in postseason history, closing out an NFC championship Sunday night with a tremendous 23-20 overtime win over the Packers at legendary Lambeau Field.

 

So, while Giants-Patriots may not be the battle most of America was rooting for, it provides more than its share of incredible storylines. We'll have this game broken down like an AMC Pacer before all is said and done.

 

But in the meantime, here's the Cold, Hard Football Facts first reaction to Super Bowl XLII and why it presents a great game that Pigskin America can embrace.

 

Green Bay-New England may have had more national appeal. But don't forget, folks, that the Patriots-Giants battle in Week 17, a mere three weeks ago, was the highest rated regular-season NFL game in 13 years. The Patriots were 15-0 and attempting to become the first team in history to finish the season a perfect 16-0. The Giants could have rested their starters, locked as they were into the No. 5 seed in the NFC.

 

Instead of a boring play-out-the-string effort, we were treated to an instant classic, a 38-35 New England victory that captured for the Patriots the first perfect regular season in the 16-game era. And, perhaps even more importantly, it inspired in the Giants a belief that they could compete with the best the NFL could throw its way. As the Cold, Hard Football Facts noted recently, it may have been the greatest moral victory in pro football history. The 10-6 Giants certainly carried that belief in themselves into the playoffs, winning three straight road games, including victories over the NFC's top-two seeds.

 

Manning vs. Brady is already the biggest QB rivalry in the NFL, perhaps even the biggest QB rivalry in history. But it has meant one thing and one thing only this decade: Peyton vs. Tom. But little brother Eli – long ridiculed as the "other" Manning – has crashed the party with a command performance in the playoffs.

 

He has literally played is best ball of the year when it counted most. He did not blow anyone out of the water (or ice) Sunday against the Packers (21 of 40 for 254 yards, 0 TD). But he did not make a single major mistake, either, as evidenced by his 0 INT at Lambeau and in three playoff games. (In fact, the last team to pick him off was New England back in Week 17). As the Cold, Hard Football Facts have long proven, not throwing INTs is far more important in playoff football than tossing TDs. And Eli's playoff statline represents a championship-caliber performance:

He led his team to three straight road victories to reach the Super Bowl and now will attempt to become the second straight Manning brother to ruin New England's quest for "best ever" status.

 

More impressively, he could also complete a simply incredible feat for the First Family of Football. While daddy Archie famously never reached the playoffs, brothers Peyton and Eli could win back-to-back Super Bowls.

 

Certainly, the Apple-Hub aspect of the game will have only regional appeal. But the two northeastern cities – a mere 40-minute flight from one to the other – have long been bitter rivals in the AFC East. The Patriots-Jets rivalry rose another level in the 2007 season, in wake of the "SpyGate" scandal. And, of course, on the baseball diamond, Red Sox-Yankees is widely considered one of the biggest rivalries in North American sports.

 

But as big as the clashes have been between their baseball brethren, a Red Sox-Yankees Game 7 ALCS clash will pale in comparison to the hype that will surround Giants-Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Quite simply, the Super Bowl is bigger than anything baseball can give us and this first-ever battle between the two cities for a championship in the nation's biggest sport and ultimate game will do nothing but add a hefty chapter to their rich sports rivalry.

 

Naturally, New England's quest to do the impossible is the No. 1 story of the 2007 season. No team had ever gone 18-0 in a single season until Sunday, when the Patriots beat the Chargers to reach that milestone. And, of course, no team has ever completed a perfect 19-0 campaign.

 

The Patriots are the first team to even peek at this summit that the pigskin "pundits" said could not be reached. And the one team standing in the way is the team that probably came closest to ending the march toward legend, a mere three weeks ago.

 

The Giants now are given one thing you rarely ever see in football or in life: a second chance to make history. And we don't care where you're from, that's a compelling storyline.