Super Bowl is too close to call
By Marv Levy

    With absolute certainty, I can say that New England and Philadelphia are the two teams that definitely belong in Super Bowl XXXIX. They've dominated most of the year, they've played consistent football and they've beaten everyone in their way. The Patriots had to defeat the two teams everyone said were the only ones that had a chance to beat them in the playoffs, and they beat them both. The Eagles were considered the cream of the NFC crop all year, and they lived up to it. It will truly be a "best of the best" meeting in Jacksonville.

    Conventional wisdom suggests that New England is the stronger team going in. They've been through this test before and weathered it successfully. The Eagles franchise hasn't been to the Super Bowl since the 1980 season, but this is a team that has gotten close in each of the previous three years. That said, it's easy to pick who you think will win. Being correct is the hard part.

    Perhaps the biggest quandary surrounding this Super Bowl, and the one the media has embraced the most, is whether or not Terrell Owens is going to play. At this point, Owens has told the press that he is going to play even though his doctors have advised against it. I know I'm not Andy Reid and I'm not the one calling the shots, but if I were Owens' head coach, he would not see the field come Sunday. My take on it is that he should not play. If a doctor says no, then the coach should say no. How effective could he possibly be? Sure, they'd love to have them, but the Eagles have done well without him, so it's not as if they're going to get trounced if he doesn't play. If he goes out there and "tests" his ankle for a quarter, that will detract from the offensive game plan. I think they're better off to say they're going on without him. But that's a decision for the head coach to make, and there's no doubt Reid hasn't made many bad decisions over the last four years.

    This game will feature two of the league's premier decision makers in Reid and Pats head coach Bill Belichick. If there are any aspiring football coaches out there reading this, I'd suggest modeling your teams after what these fellas have done. Both of them have done an excellent job keeping their players levelheaded. Neither team is boastful. And both coaches have built excellent staffs, which to me is priority No. 1 for a coach. Belichick and Reid are part of the reason why both teams are where they are. Does one have a leg-up on their other? Not at all! They're both fine coaches and neither one is better than the other. They better just concentrate on the task at hand.

    The theme I've been hitting on all season long is true with this game. Both of these teams are very much on the plus side of the giveaway-takeaway statistic. During the regular season, the Patriots were plus-9 and the Eagles were plus-6. And during the playoffs, the Eagles are plus-2 while the Patriots are a whopping plus-7! That's just spectacular. How significant is this statistic? We played in 19 playoff games when I was with the Bills. We won 11 of them, and in every one of those wins we were either even or ahead in takeaways. In the eight we lost, we were either even or behind. If that's not a good example, I don't know what is.

    There are some similarities on these teams. Both of them are very well-coached with excellent coaching staffs, both of them are very strong organizations with good people throughout.

    New England is a little bit more of a run-oriented team than the Eagles are, thanks to Corey Dillon, even though Philadelphia does have great balance. But that doesn't mean the Eagles are going to focus on stopping only one facet of their game. Instead, Tom Brady and the Patriots will see a great variety on defense -- I don't think the Eagles will commit to one thing. New England will see an all-out blitz on one play, a zone blitz on the next play, and who knows what after that. Ultimately, this will become a guessing game between the four coordinators -- Charlie Weis and Jim Johnson, and again with Brad Childress and Romeo Crennel.

    New England has better balance in their attack, and they can use that to their advantage. The Eagles may be forced to pass a bit more than usual. I think the injuries to Philadelphia are a little more meaningful -- Owens and Chad Lewis' injuries to be specific. Even if Owens plays, Donovan McNabb will have to work harder to succeed with a depleted corps.

    If New England has a vulnerability, I think it's on special teams. They have not been so hot at covering kicks; they rank 28th in opponents' punt return average and 28th in opponents' kickoff return average. That means if the Eagles are going to win, they're going to have to pull off a big play in the return game. It could even win the Super Bowl for them. After discovering all of this, I was not surprised to hear murmurs that Brian Westbrook may return kicks for Philadelphia.

    I have a feeling that the game will be a little bit closer than what people are saying. Maybe people are so used to seeing New England win that they figure they'll just go and win again. But that assumption isn't right -- they, like every Super Bowl winner before them, must earn their victory.

    It's going to be a closer game than people envision it being -- so close that I can't even make a prediction other than it being one heck of a game.

    Marvels of the Year
    All seasonlong, I had the daunting task of picking the best player and best coach each week. This was easier in previous years when I would choose multiple players and coaches, but this year we opted to pick only one of each, and believe me it was hard. Who do you pick when one running back rushes for 175 yards and a receiver catches for 175 yards in the same week? And how can you not pick Peyton Manning every week?

    Well, my criterion has always been the same -- it's not always about stats, it's about helping your team win. I never picked a player or coach from a losing team, and sometimes I passed on picking the star player and instead honored an unsung hero. After all, when you boil down the NFL, it comes down to winning and teamwork.

    So with all that in mind, here are my 2004 Marvels of the Year.

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