Eight Super Bowl Headlines to Follow Next Week

NFL.com's Fantasy Analyst Jason Smith put together the eight storylines he thinks every fan will be forced to follow (whether they like it or not) as we get closer to gameday.

For extended coverage of Smith's list, click here to check out his column. Here are the highlights:

1. WILL 2007 BE ANY FACTOR IN THIS GAME?
Absolutely. You're going to hear every analyst say "These are two entirely different teams, blah blah blah." They're wrong.

2. WHO SHOULD WE EXPECT TO HEAR FROM THE NEXT TWO WEEKS?
In short order, David Tyree, Rodney Harrison, Tedy Bruschi, Junior Seau, Plaxico Burress and anyone else who was involved in the last Giants-Patriots Super Bowl who's not in this one.

3. CAN TOM BRADY BECOME THE BEST QUARTERBACK EVER?
If he wins this game, Brady goes down as the greatest QB in NFL history. Hogwash, you say? Joe Montana won four, and so did Terry Bradshaw. True. But none of them did it in the era of free agency.

4. CAN BILL BELICHICK BECOME THE BEST HEAD COACH EVER?
If he wins, the argument will be made. This would be his fifth Super Bowl overall. Only Don Shula has coached in more. It would be his fourth victory.

5. WHAT DOES A SUPER BOWL WIN DO FOR ELI MANNING?
He goes from Top Five Eli to Top Eli. The order for best QBs in the league right now goes like this: Brady, and then a tie between Eli and Ben Roethlisberger. If Eli wins, it's his second title, still one less than Brady, but he will have outdueled Brady to win the Super Bowl both times.

6. WE'LL KNOW WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO PEYTON MANNING
Look, the guy is still out there publicly (his Papa John's commercial had me slapping my couch -- a guy's gotta make a living). Unless he goes underground, he'll talk about Eli, where he's at with his recovery, and we'll get some hints about where he's going to go -- or stay.

7. TOM COUGHLIN WILL GET HIS DUE.
No one goes from the firing line to sainthood faster than Coughlin. The players hate him. They love him. They don't respect him. They respect him. He's the end of the line of a bygone species: The old-school head coach.

8. NEW YORK JETS STORYLINE TBA.
With two of their biggest rivals playing, it will be impossible for the Jets to keep quiet. Maybe Santonio Holmes will take to Twitter. Perhaps Greg McElroy will decide he likes being interviewed again.