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Pats, Cats play blue-collar bowl

Paper Champ

Geronimo Rodriguez

We know everything about one team and nothing about the other.

We know the Carolina Panthers are going to try to pound the stifling New England defensive line from one first down to the next.

We don't know how the New England secondary is going to set up from one moment to the next.

We know Carolina head coach John Fox is going to get revved up when his bruising team finishes an 80-yard drive with a touchdown.

We don't know what Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick will be thinking under that famous gray hood of his.

Aside from Carolina's game plan, the football world should also know that Super Bowl XXXVIII at Houston's Reliant Stadium is about to lay down one the best match-ups in recent memory.

The St. Louis Rams have choked on all that turf, the miracle quarterbacks like Green Bay's Brett Favre have become a dying breed, and there's no Peyton Manning to single-handedly destruct a defense and ruin a good Sunday.

Instead, we'll witness the Panthers' Stephen Davis and DeShaun Foster smack up defenders, hanging the secondary out to dry.

We'll also see the wholesome Tom Brady throw more passes than Carrot Top at a Playboy party. Or will the Pats try their hand at running the ball with former Cougar Antowain Smith, who clawed past the Indianapolis Colts? You never know.

So that hack who whines about there not being an electrifying offense in Sunday's game doesn't know jack about winning football. If you haven't got the big picture by now, you've been spending your Sundays with your eyes wide shut.

This blue-collar showdown will have the league's finest teams  -- this word can't be stressed enough describing these teams -- rolling up their sleeves like a man with a mailbox full of bills to pay and a house full of kids to feed.

Forget about the flashy Dallas Cowboys -- the new America's team will play the way these teams play, smashing their fists on the oppositions' helmets until the clock shows zeroes across the board.

Perhaps the most intriguing thing about the coming game is that neither team has a grip on the Super Bowl trophy, and both will play for four quarters to earn some respect. Don't worry about paper champs walking onto the field -- the playoffs took care of that.

No paper champs? That's all I need to know.

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