Pats, Giants both on a roll ahead of the Big Game

The No Harbaugh Super Bowl XLVI will be a rematch of Super Bowl XLII, although in this one, the oddsmakers say the Patriots will reverse the outcome of their 17-14 loss to the Giants four years ago.

The Patriots opened as 3-point favorites, although that point spread seems to be based more on the general public’s affinity for quarterback Tom Brady and respect for coach Bill Belichick than on New England’s superior talent. Four years ago, the Patriots were favored by 12 points before they were upset by the Giants.

Brady and Belichick will be appearing together in the Big Game for the fifth time, and the first since they were upset by Tom Coughlin’s Giants four years ago. The Patriots won their previous three trips, each time by exactly 3 points, defeating the Eagles 24-21 in Super Bowl XXXIX, the Panthers 32-29 in XXXVII and the Rams 20-17 in XXXVI.

There just seems to be something about the number 3. Each of New England’s last four Super Bowl appearances has been decided by 3 points, which was also the margin of victory in both conference championship games on Sunday.

The Patriots have been on a roll, and they’ll come into the Feb. 5 game at Indianapolis’s Lucas Oil Stadium on a 10-game win streak. But the Patriots came into Super Bowl XLII on an 18-game win streak before they were upended by the Giants.

New England’s last loss was on Nov. 6 against … the Giants, who upset them 24-20 at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium. The Patriots were 9½-point favorites in that game, but that loss seemed to fuel a resurgence in Belichick’s squad. In eight of their next nine games, the Patriots scored more than 30 points, and they hadn’t been held to less than 27 until Sunday’s 23-20 victory over John Harbaugh’s Ravens.

The Pats did not get to the seventh Super Bowl in franchise history by playing great defense. In seven of their last eight games they’ve allowed at least 20 points, though never more than 27. The Giants’ defense, which was considered suspect at best when it allowed 121 points in a three-game stretch late in the regular season, is peaking at the right time.

The Giants seemed to lose steam after their regular-season upset of the Patriots. They lost their next four games and five of their next six, in a grueling stretch that included road games against the 13-3 49ers and the 13-3 Saints, plus a home game vs. the 15-1 Packers. They also lost to the 8-8 Eagles and the 5-11 Redskins during that slump.

But that loss to the Redskins is the only game the Giants have played against a team with a losing record since October. Their 9-7 regular-season record isn’t very impressive unless their strength of schedule is taken into account. Or unless their postseason accomplishments are considered, including a 24-2 rout of the 10-6 Falcons and a 37-20 stunner at Green Bay against the Packers. Their 20-17 overtime victory Sunday at San Francisco against Jim Harbaugh’s team snapped the 49ers’ nine-game win streak at home.

Now the Giants have won five straight.

The Las Vegas wise guys say they won’t make it six, but that’s what they said four years ago, too.

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