Joe Anello's NFL Football Fan Profile

Breaking Down the Bowl: New York Giants posted on 02/03/2012

Following a dreadful loss to the lowly Washington Redskins to fall to 7-7 with only two games left, everyone had counted out the New York Giants.  That is, everyone except the Giants themselves, who kept their quiet confidence as they rolled off two victories to end the season and squeak into the fourth seed in the NFC. Then they mustered up two dominant performances as their defense shut out the Atlanta Falcons and stymied the 15-1 Green Bay Packers and Aaron Rodgers. Now they find themselves in a familiar setting: in the biggest game of the year against the New England Patriots, whom I covered yesterday. Now the Giants are up in the rotation!

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Breaking Down the Bowl: New England Patriots posted on 02/02/2012

Shockingly enough, the supposedly ring-bearing Patriots haven’t won a Super Bowl since the 2004 season. As great as they have seemed in recent years, they’ve flopped when it comes to the postseason. This year has been different. They’re currently on a ten game win streak where they’ve avenged their horrible 2009 loss to the Ravens on their way to a rematch with the Giant team that stole their chance at immortality. In the first of my articles previewing Super Bowl XLVI, I’m breaking down the New England Patriots.

As well all know, the New England offense starts and ends with Tom Brady. The man is a machine. And this year the machine looks pissed off. We saw it in their first playoff game against Denver, when Brady exploited a crappy defense for six passing touchdowns. We certainly saw it during the regular season, where Brady racked up over 5200 yards and 39 TD’s as he led the Pats to the AFC’s number one seed. Against the Ravens he wasn’t as stellar, but still ran two QB sneaks at the goal line, resulting in two scores. After promising his owner he’d play better at the Super Bowl, you can bet he’ll be at his best.

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Bears select Phil Emery to be next General Manager: I'm hardly surprised. posted on 01/29/2012

Alright Bear fans, your long wait is over. After turnover on the coaching staff (which is not yet completed), Ted Philips has finished his search for the fifth GM of the Chicago Bears. His name? Phil Emery. Excited yet?

Does his name sound familiar? It should. Phil Emery worked in the Bears personnel department as an area scout from 1998 to 2004. Notable selections during his tenure were Brian Urlacher, Lance Briggs, Charles Tillman, Marty Booker, Jerry Azumah, Mike Brown, Tommie Harris and Nathan Vasher. Now, that’s not a bad list…of eight players. The question is: who knows how responsible Emery is for drafting those players, if at all? Scouting personnel discussions are intensely private and are probably one of the best kept secrets in the NFL. Plus a team has so many scouts that it would be nearly impossible for anyone outside to determine whose input got a specific player drafted.

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The Final Drive: 2012 Conference Championship Sunday posted on 01/22/2012

How many of you had to get an oxygen tank at some point today? These playoffs are been thrilling down to the wire in almost every game, and Conference Championship Sunday lived up to expectations. Both games went down to the wire and left us with two worthy Super Bowl contestants. Let’s break them down in The Final Drive!

They may have had their issues, but the New England Patriots are back in the Super Bowl after the dramatic finish at the end of regulation. In the first half the Patriots traded scores with their opponents, as Baltimore matched them point for point thanks to early mistakes. Brady led his unit down for a 29 yard Gostkowski field goal so Flacco came back to set up a 20 yarder for Billy Cundiff. BenJarvus Green-Ellis punched it in from seven yards out, so Flacco tosses it six yards to Dennis Pitta. At 10-10, the Patriots broke the pattern by kicking a field goal late in the second and keeping the Ravens off the board before they got the ball to start the second half.

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The Opening Drive: 2012 NFC Championship posted on 01/22/2012

With the AFC spot in the Super Bowl currently being decided, the possible NFC participants are anxiously awaiting their turn in the national spotlight. And by national spotlight, of course I mean The Opening Drive!

Yet again Tom Coughlin’s Giants have heated up late and have ridden that momentum all the way through the playoffs. Now his elite quarterback named Manning must overcome a much better defense than the Packers’ unit he faced the week before. The Niners can rush the passer with Aldon and Justin Smith coming off the edges and their run defense is outstanding. Where they really shone last week was in their secondary. Apparently Donte Whitner is still an absolute ball-hawk and head-hunter in the defensive backfield. Carlos Rogers was a great offseason pick-up but proved his worth last week with some key deflections in coverage against the Saints receivers. This week expect him to be on Hakeem Nicks or Victor Cruz all day. The Niners don’t have enough depth to cover all of Manning’s targets, but maybe they can take one out of the action. Though knowing Tom Coughlin, we’re going to see plenty of hand-offs to Bradshaw and Jacobs, if only to keep the Niners honest. Bradshaw should get the bulk of the carries though, as I’m pretty sure Jacobs can’t knock around the Niners. Patrick Willis and NaVorro Bowman will put him down.

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