My guy Forte ended winning the MVP with some tough running. As Mike Mayock would say, “I’m not surprised.”

If not than Colt Brennan should find another line of work. Also, I have a new draft strategy: select guys from USC. Well, there wasn’t much that came out of this game other than Mike Mayock watches a lot of film. Has he ever gone more than a minute without patting himself on the back for something? I’ll see you all from Arizona, it should be a very entertaining week.

As I watch this game I notice something missing: Talent. I’m not saying there aren’t any good players here but when the key to the game is handing the ball off to Peyton Hills, something is wrong. I see now why the USC players dominated all week in practice.

Nice play by Andre Woodson on the touchdown pass. Brad Cottam was his fourth read and he found him. Good patience in the pocket by Woodson on that play.

Keep an eye on this guy. I really like him. Forte is one of my big mid-round sleepers. He doesn’t have blazing speed, so Forte won’t blow people away at the Combine. But what he does have is great vision and excellent patience as a runner. He really follows his blocks well and bursts through the hole. I was really impressed with Forte when I saw him play this year and at 225 pounds, he’s one of the bigger backs in the draft. I think he’ll be able to come in and really help an NFL team right away.  He won’t put up big huge computer numbers but Forte is a heck of a football player.

Two receivers I’m not high on are Purdue’s Dorian Bryant and Indiana’s James Hardy. I’ve seen these guys play a lot and while they put up gaudy numbers, they aren’t very physical. Both guys can be taken out of the game early when corners are physical with them. I think they will struggle at the next level.

Does anyone have a bigger ego than Mike Mayock? We get it Mike, you watch a lot of film on these guys. I like when he said that Delaware QB Joe Flacco had a great week of practice. Of course, Mike wasn’t surprised. Nothing surprises him, just ask him. He’s the LT of draft analysts.

Wow, what an awful throw by Colt Brennan.

Whenever I need a good laugh, Al Davis steps in and provides it. Now, it’s way too early to know if Lane Kiffin is a good coach or not. However, the Raiders did make some positive strides under him this year. So what does Al do? He pushes him to resign. Why? So he can employ Denny Green as his head coach. No one is a bigger Denny Green fan than I am. I think he’s funny and he does know offense. But do we really need to see him on the sidelines coaching another NFL team? While we may not know if Kiffin is a good coach or not, we do know that Green is an average one. What is Davis’ goal? To win seven games? What happened to a Commitment to Excellence? Oakland should change its motto to “A commitment to never winning another Super Bowl because we keep hiring terrible coaches and our 110-year old owner is making all the football decisions.” The bottom line is the Raiders are who we thought they were: a laughingstock.

Just an FYI: I will be blogging some thoughts today during the Senior Bowl for those interested.

So, the last Giants-Patriots game was only a month ago, and it was a close one. That’s leading many to assume we’re headed for a similar scenario in Arizona.

Well, they may be right. But let’s consider some factors that may prove otherwise:

THE GAME PLAN

I’m sure the Patriots were playing their hardest to beat the Giants in the season finale. After all, a historic 16-0 season was at stake. But I’m not convinced they threw the kitchen sink at New York, either, as far as schemes, formations, and play-calling is concerned.

Not that they were anticipating playing the Giants again, but they certainly weren’t going to give anything away to any other potential playoff opponents. Indeed, we’ve already seen the Pats execute some new plays against Jacksonville (Brady’s ‘double pop’ fake) and San Diego (Moss’ end-around).

My guess is, there’s more where those came from, and we’ll see some next Sunday night.

RUN, LAURENCE, RUN!

The stats say Laurence Maroney rushed for only 46 yards against the Giants in Week 17. But don’t assume they’ll bottle him up again in Glendale.

For starters, the Pats were missing some starters in that game (i.e., RG Stephen Neal, RT Nick Kaczur, and TE Kyle Brady). It’s no coincidence that since their return in the playoffs, Maroney has found plenty of big holes to hit at the line of scrimmage and been the recipient of several great downfield blocks.

Back to Week 17 for a moment. True, Maroney averaged only 2.4 yards on 19 carries, but his two touchdown runs were from six and five yards out. Not bad, considering the Pats were playing catch-up the whole game. Maroney ran hard in that game, but New England was forced into more of a throwing offense than a grind-the-clock-down mode as we saw in the final nine minutes of the AFC Championship Game.

The Patriots are once again balanced in both their running and passing games, just as they were in the first five or six weeks of the regular season. At that time, their run-to-pass ratio was hovering around 50-50, and defenses were flat-footed, not knowing whether to stop the run or cover all the receiving options. And as a result, New England was blowing everyone out.

NO BRADY, NO CRY

Ah, yes, the topic everyone’s been obsessed with this off-week: Tom Brady’s ailing ankle. Well, I’m not a doctor, but I’ve always been interested in observing and studying human behavior.  

Clearly, he’s not 100% right now, after what we witnessed this week. But does that mean he’ll be ineffective (or worse, inactive) on Super Sunday? Don’t bet on it.

If he’s not practicing next Thursday and Friday, OK, you might have reason to worry. But there’s no game this weekend and Brady already said it’s nothing serious. I’ll take him at his word.

But perhaps a more telling cue came from WRs Donte’ Stallworth and Wes Welker, both of whom held press conferences on Friday. They were asked if they were concerned about Brady’s health status, and both replied jokingly that they were told by BB that they’d be playing QB in the big game, running an option-style offense.

I doubt they’d be so glib and quick to quip if it were actually that bad an injury.

Oh, and one more thing: Brady has connected with Randy Moss on only two pass completions and no touchdowns during these playoffs. They’re due …

AND WE’RE OFF

Well, there are a few thoughts to mull over as the PFW crew prepares for our cross-country journey tomorrow. We’ll have plenty more serious chalk-talk for you when we touch down in the desert this coming week — and some not-so-serious discussions, too. Hey, it’s what we do. And it’s the Super Bowl … what better time to have some fun!

So, if you can’t make it out to Arizona with us, check out patriots.com, our “PFW in Progress” radio show, and of course, this blog, for your favorite football coverage right through Super Bowl XLII.