Seth Wickersham of ESPN The Magazine writes on Super Bowl XLVI and comes to this conclusion: "No matter what you hear during the hype of Super Bowl week, the inarguable fact is that the Giants and Patriots are not great teams."

Wickersham notes that the matchup could have been worse, but writes, "The Giants and Pats are seriously flawed. Both seem at once capable of defeating the best teams and losing to the mediocre ones. Opponents outscored the 9-7 Giants 400-394 during the regular season -- the same Giants who beat the 13-3 Patriots, who didn't defeat a team that finished above .500 until the AFC championship game. Together they feature the two most porous defenses ever to play on Super Sunday."

A bit more from Wickersham:

While every team tries to hide weaknesses, the Giants and Patriots are in the Super Bowl because they often turn those weaknesses into strengths. For example, Pats receiver Deion Branch is no longer a deep threat, but he can bust long against the right defender at the right time.

YOUR TURN: Do you agree with this take? Are the Patriots and Giants the best of an overall bad lot of teams? Share your thoughts in the comments section of this blog entry.