Tonight, Giants Stadium will be host to the most important football game in recent memory. It will be broadcast on four stations in the New York and New England areas, and three stations throughout the rest of the country. To put that into perspective, the Super Bowl is only broadcast on one channel throughout America. This will be the game of a lifetime, one where ten years from now, people will ask “Where were you when the Patriots went for 16-0?”
It seems only fitting that the Patriots go for perfection in the shadow of the most important city in the world, in front of the biggest media market there is, and in front of the best sports fans in all of America. The records that can be set were previously thought untouchable. Tom Brady can break Peyton Manning’s single-season touchdown passing record of 48 with two more. Randy Moss can pass Jerry Rice as the single-season touchdown receptions leader with two of them tonight, which would surpass the 22 Rice had in 1987, although Rice did that in only 12 games. The Patriots can be the first team to finish the regular season without a loss or tie since the 1972 Dolphins, and the first team ever to finish the regular season 16-0. They can set the single-season points record for a team with their first touchdown. They can set the record for largest point differential in one season as long as they don’t lose by 21. They can break their own record for longest regular-season winning streak, as this would be their 19th consecutive victory.
But wouldn’t we love to see them lose? As much as we love to see history, isn’t there a desire to watch the Patriots, Bill Belichick’s Patriots, and their perfect season go down in flames? These are the hated Patriots. Team Perfect. With their perfect quarterback and their perfect coach. They seemed destined for perfection. But you can bet that Tom Coughlin will be doing everything he can to win this game.
You want to know how badly Coughlin wants to win this game? Plaxico Burress actually practiced this week. The starters are talking like it’s the biggest game of their lives. Coughlin hates losing in preseason, so there is no way he rolls over in this one and throws the backups in until the outcome of the game is decided.
And that’s just the way it should be.
A game of this magnitude shouldn’t be marred with no-name backups taking the snaps and making it an exhibition. No matter what the critics say of Tom Coughlin tomorrow morning, his decision to play his starters will always be fine with me. As football fans we want to see competition; we want to see our favorite players in the game, not sipping Gatorade and chatting about the next week with their fellow starters.
More than anything, we watch for the thrilling finishes; for the excitement a last-minute touchdown can bring; and of course, for history. One way or another, tonight we will witness history. Either the Patriots take another step towards immortality or the Giants do the unthinkable again. Can they call upon the ghosts of 1998? Will Jimmy Hoffa be up to his old tricks at the Meadowlands? As fans of Big Blue, we sure do.
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