Eli Manning said the Giants have about six months to say, “Hey, we are the best. We are the champs.” Then it’s back to work.
And according to the Las Vegas odds-makers, the clock is already running on New York’s hold on the Super Bowl championship. The Giants have been installed as an 8-1 pick to win the title next year, leaving four other teams with better odds.
The Patriots, at 5-1, are the favorites, followed by the Packers, 11-2, and the Steelers and Eagles, both at 6-1.
The Eagles? Weren’t they this year’s “Dream Team?” How did that work out?
The bottom line is that the Giants don’t care what the odds-makers think of their chances next season. Nor should they. For one thing, who knows what anyone’s roster will look like next year.
In this age of the salary cap and free agency, parity is the true champion in the NFL. Some people made a big deal that the Giants were the first 9-7 team to win a Super Bowl. Get used to it.
These days the rules are designed so that most teams are evenly matched. Winning a Super Bowl can actually hurt you the next season when you’re trying to sign your free-agent wide receiver to a new contract. If he’s Mario Manningham and he makes the game-defining catch of Super Bowl XLVI, well, his price just went up. You might not be able to afford him anymore.
This can lead to Super Bowls featuring teams who just barely made it into the playoffs. Former Raiders owner Al Davis was famous for saying, “Just win, baby.” Now it’s, “Just get in, baby.”
Once you’re in the playoffs, anything can happen. Remember when we had football dynasties? Remember when we had Super Bowl blowouts year after year? Parity beat them both.
No one cares that the Giants could have been eliminated in either of the last two regular season games against the Jets and Cowboys. At the end of the day, after dusting the 15-1 Packers and edging the 14-2 49ers on the road, there was little doubt that the Giants were the best team standing on Super Bowl Sunday.
Keep in mind that the odds-makers made New England a three-point favorite in Indianapolis. Why? Some experts said it was because the Patriots were the “national” team, with the well-known Tom Brady and Bill Belichick.
The Giants didn’t care then that they were the underdogs, and they don’t care today about next year’s odds.
The Super Bowl parade through the Canyon of Heroes gets under way in less than a half hour.