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This is the epitome?

Ravens-Giants Super Bowl fails to stir my passions

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TAMPA, Fla. -- On the plane ride down, I was thinking, "This is the Super Bowl. This is everything I grew up with. This is the epitome of what sport is all about." But I have to tell you. I'm having a hard time getting excited about the Ravens and the Giants. I'm sorry.

The thing is, everybody's talking about how great of a game this will be, two great defenses, and I looked at it and I'm thinking, "This is supposed to be the epitome of what it is all about?" We have a Ravens offense -- I mean, Brian Billick was hired because he was a genius in Minnesota, yet they can't do anything on offense.

And on the other side you've got the Giants. I've seen their offense, and they've done absolutely nothing this year. But everyone's got this 41 points that they scored against Minnesota in the back of their mind, when the Vikings' defense is horrible. Do the Giants really have an explosive offense? I don't think so.

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These teams played third-place schedules, the winning percentage for their opponents is under .500. Just wait 'til you see these teams next year. I don't know that they'll even be in the playoffs.

I think it's great that the NFL has gotten parity and new teams are in every year. But are these really the two best teams?

I'm thinking right now, if the Rams, Tampa Bay ... I can probably name three teams that, if they were down here playing against either one of the teams that is here, and you had to bet something that you really cared about, I would almost bet you that a lot of people would bet on the people that aren't here.

I know a lot of other people, a lot of other analysts are saying this is going to be a great game. So maybe I don't know football. I do know all that this league has done to try to make exciting football games -- you can't bump the receivers, you can't hit the quarterback, all that -- and here we are.

I'm all for defense. I was a defensive player. But just because it's going to be low scoring doesn't mean it's going to be a great game.

This is the epitome? Yippee!

Trev Alberts is an NFL analyst for CNN/Sports Illustrated and appears each Sunday on CNN's NFL Preview.

 

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