Super Bowl Preview: Pats v. Iggles in the City of the Midnight Danglers
The plans were pretty much set. I was going to fly into Orlando, which is equidistant from where both of my parents currently are, and rent a car on Thursday. We’d be there through Monday or Tuesday. It would have been great. But a few things had me wary. Jacksonville is huge. It is the second largest city in America in terms of area, there is not the sort of downtown that you expect, and Google searches along the lines of “sports bars Jacksonville Alltel Stadium” did not exactly help. We knew that hotels might be impossible. We knew that the city was a giant sprawl. We saw ourselves spending insane amounts of time and money only to watch the game at a Buffalo Wild Wings ten miles from the stadium. Seemed a bit pricey to me.
I’ve spent a decent amount of time in Jacksonville. Back in college when I was running (well, mostly jumping) track, we’d spend our two-week spring break (yes, you read that right, two weeks!) down South, where we’d train and have some huge meets, and get some sun, and do some of the things that college kids do when you get a coed team of 70 or so athletes on spring break in places like Tampa, Jacksonville, Gainesville, Tallahassee, and Charleston. You know – studying. Lots of studying. Two of the years we spent a week on beach houses in Jacksonville, I believe on what is known as Atlantic Beach. (It was there that the"Delta Vinnie Fun Run” began. There were no frats at Williams, but one year, inevitably besotted with, you know, studying, a group of us guys in one of the houses started"Delta Vinnie." My nickname was Vinnie: I can tell that story some other time. In any case, at the heart of our nightly festivities -- during study breaks, of course – we’d engage in the “Fun Run.” We made up t-shirts and everything. I do not want to get into details, but let’s just put it this way: on the shirts – I still have mine and it may be my most prized possession – we bastardized a line from the Rolling Stones: “Have you heard about the midnight danglers?” and printed it on the back.)
A few years later I was down in Florida and I went up to Jacksonville to see my buddy Ethan (a Williams track teammate as well) play for the Falcons against Jacksonville. That was the game that Morton Anderson missed the field goal and thus got Jacksonville into the playoffs, if I remember correctly. In any case, the night before, E and I went to Pizza Hut and when everyone saw this mammoth of a man, they asked if he played for the Jaguars or Falcons. Ethan said he was a pro wrestler. So my point is, I have good, indeed great, memories of Jacksonville. But knowing its layout, I was wary of attending a Super Bowl there without tickets.
So all of that is my explanation for why I am writing this from Odessa, Texas rather than, say, the beach house that once was Delta Vinnie. I tried to convince HNN Editor Rick Shenkman that he ought to secure me a press pass, since I’ve written articles about the Pats’ place in history (see my article "Super Bowl Patriots: A New Dynasty" after last year’s Super Bowl) and obviously Rebunk has addressed the Pats on more than a few occasions. In his cold, cold heart, he refused to entertain this stroke of brilliance. So here I am.
First off, the Patriots are going to win. They are a better team. They are not just happy to be there. They do not have a third string receiver popping off. They do not have a prima donna wide receiver playing drama queen as to his playing status. No, these Patriots generally shut up and go to work. Yeah, there was some response to Freddie Mitchell’s silliness. But on the whole it was reactive, as opposed to coming from their initiative.
Here is what I expect will happen: Owens will be at about 75%. That might get you through a game against the Dolphins. It will not get you very far against a team with New England’s ability to shut down a team’s strengths. Owens is going to get hit. He will not beat the Pats. End of story. Meanwhile Fred Ex, as Kornheiser and Wilbon have taken to calling him on PTI, is going to have to cross the middle at some point. Welcome to the Super Bowl, son! Expect to see him laid out at some point. If Harrison doesn’t get him, someone like Tedy Bruschi or Willie McGinest or Ted Johnson will. These Patriots look for disrespect and almost always manage to scrape it up, even if that is a ridiculous affectation this week, when everyone has them favored by a touchdown. Why would someone like Mitchell give them the ammo?
One of the questions is how effective Donovan McNabb can be, and if he will add another dimension to the game by his ability to run. The Pats, so the logic goes, have not faced a real running quarterback this year, and therefore they will have trouble. Here is the problem with that – a quarterback is only as serious running threat of his receivers can spread the field, thus opening up space (the Falcons, with their three-headed attack, notwithstanding). Even if theoretically the Pats secondary is a question mark, they limited the almighty Colts’ offense to 3 points. Methinks that they are not quivering about an Eagles team with a gimpy number one receiver and a starting tight end who is out of action. McNabb might gain 50 yards, but it will largely be because he is running for his life. David Akers might be their most productive player on the offensive side of the ball. Akers is the Eagles’ kicker. Enough said.
And that brings us to the Pats on offense. They have two-time Super Bowl MVP Tom Brady. They have Corey Dillon, who might be able to pick apart the Eagles’ relative defensive weakness, their run D. They have innovative play calling. They have no stars in the receiving corps, but they have six or seven guys who can take over a game. The Patriots almost always score early and score first. They will get out to a lead, they will not let up, and they will be ping-ponging poor Freddie Mitchell and company around the field all evening. Oh, and if it is close, we have Adam Vinatieri. The guy has made four of the biggest kicks in postseason history. He has gotten the game winner in two of the last three Super bowls. If the Eagles can keep it close, I’ll take our chances. If Vinatieri is coming out to tie or win, I’d say it is game-set-match.
You do not understand how uncomfortable this makes me. I am a Red Sox fan. Yes, I am also a Pats fan, a Celtics fan, a Bruins fan. But my first sports fan love comes from my almost disturbing passion for the Sox. I am not comfortable rooting for a clear favorite. It is at this point that the sky is supposed to fall. But not this time. Not this team. I know how it works. I am supposed to pick a close game. I am supposed to talk about all of the reasons why the Eagles will keep the score low, will play with more passion and more emotion, why this is a classic upset game. But I cannot. And I cannot tell you that I think the Pats will eke out a close one, 20-17 or something. The Pats have had two of the greatest and closest Super Bowl wins in the four-decade-long history of this cultural landmark. Not this time:
Patriots 35, Eagles 9.
(Postscript: Dillon will have a “better” game, but aware of history, the voters will give the MVP to Brady, who will have his typical workmanlike, nearly flawless outing.)