Some general thoughts on Super Bowl 42, the Santana trade, the Gasol trade

Point differential and why this is the biggest upset in NFL History:

Everyone is (correctly) highlighting the fact that it seems incredible that the 16-0 Patriots could lose to a 10-6 Giants team that most people didn't expect to get past the first round of the playoffs. But I like to look at point differential as a true measure of a teams greatness, and doing this makes the Patriots loss even more ridiculous than it does when looking at records alone.

For an example of why point differential is a better measure of dominance than wins and losses alone, take two hypothetical teams: both play the same schedule, one goes 14-2, one goes 16-0. The 16-0 team wins every game by a score of 23-20, the 14-2 team outscores its opponents 56-0 in every win while only losing by a score of 14-13 in its two losses. Its pretty clear that the 16-0 team got lucky in winning all of its game by close margins and probably isn't as good as its record indicates, while the 14-2 team, despite its inferior record, is probably the better team, as it absolutely dominated all season outside of those two close losses. Obviously there are other variables that need to be considered (injuries, style of play, ability to close teams out), but usually teams that win games by a lot are better than teams that squeak out a lot of close wins.

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