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GLENDALE, ARIZ. — No one will ever accuse them of being the greatest team in football history.
Yet somehow this remarkable NFL season ended Sunday night with the New York Giants holding the Vince Lombardi Trophy, while the New England Patriots walked off the field losers for the first time in more than 12 months.
New York's shocking 17-14 win ranks among the greatest upsets in Super Bowl history (the Giants were 12-point underdogs), and included one of the game's more remarkable drives when quarterback Eli Manning brought his team back to score with 35 seconds to play with a 13-yard toss to Plaxico Burress.
Several times during an 86-yard drive that began with less than three minutes remaining in the game, Manning looked overwhelmed, running for his life while throwing passes that were close to being intercepted or well off the mark.
New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning celebrates his game-winning touchdown pass with running back Brandon Jacobs during the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLII against the New England Patriots in Glendale, Ariz., on Sunday. (Mike Blake/Reuters)
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- New England Patriots
- New York Giants
- Tom Brady
- Plaxico Burress
- Ellis Hobbs
- Brandon Jacobs
- Nick Kaczur
- Eli Manning
- Laurence Maroney
- Randy Moss
- Antonio Pierce
- Steve Smith
- Michael Strahan
- Adalius Thomas
- Justin Tuck
- David Tyree
- Corey Webster
Yet he somehow willed his team down the field, escaping a sure sack to throw a miracle 32-yard pass to David Tyree that moved the ball to the Patriots' 25-yard line with less than a minute to play before completing two more passes to finish the drive and spoil New England's run at perfection and the first 19-0 season in NFL history.
"Nobody thought we could do it," veteran Giants receiver Amani Toomer said. "We did it. We are the world champions. It's the best feeling.
"Look at the scoreboard. Look at the scoreboard. It hasn't sunk in yet. I'm stunned right now. Our team played great. We beat them."
On the previous possession, New England quarterback Tom Brady had completed another classic drive, this one 80 yards long that gave his team a 14-10 lead.
Abandoning a conservative game plan, Brady passed his team down the field, often throwing underneath to receivers who turned short throws into big gains before the offence stalled two plays in a row on the Giants' 6-yard line. That was when cornerback Corey Webster, who'd done an outstanding job on star New England receiver Randy Moss all game, slipped and fell, leaving Brady an open target for what many surely felt was the winning score.
A lot of teams might have had trouble coming back from what felt like the Patriots' destiny. But the team that had won a record 10 consecutive games away from home this season going into Sunday night's match, including three in the playoffs, wasn't about to quit.
And a quarterback who, until a few short weeks ago, was better known for inventing ways to lose games than win them, took another large step toward greatness.
"That's the position you want to be in," said Manning, who became the second member of his family in two years to be named most valuable player in the Super Bowl. "You want to have the ball in your hands — go down, you've got to score a touchdown. That's where you want to be, a chance to win the game and so many big plays on that drive.
"David Tyree, man, that's all you've got to say. David Tyree, huge catch. Plaxico Burress on the touchdown. Everybody stepped up and made huge plays. What a great win."
New England head coach Bill Belichick may remain the sport's reigning genius, but he made a decision during the second half that is sure to be debated. Facing fourth-and-13 from the Giants' 31-yard line, Belichick passed on a chance for a potential 48-yard field goal, opting instead to gamble on a play that ended with Brady throwing an incompletion out of the end zone.
New England had trailed four times during the fourth quarter of games during the regular season, but each time mounted comebacks over Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Baltimore and the Giants when they visited New York on Dec. 29.
In a season that seemed so magical, many of the Patriots players were nearly lost for words.
"When you don't finish … that's all we're about, finishing the task at hand," Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi said. "We expect to win. And when you come up short, what you really have to do is tip your hat to the other team. They're world champions. I have to give it up to them."
The Giants' remarkable finish was only possible because of the way they executed in the first three quarters. On offence, New York controlled the time of possession and moved the ball along the ground efficiently, while Manning engineered a mostly cautious passing game.
But it was on defence where the Giants were most effective, getting more pressure on Brady than any opponent this season. An offensive line that has three all-pro players on it was often left spinning as New York defensive ends Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora blasted Brady to the ground even on many of the passes he'd completed.
"You've got a quarterback who likes to throw the ball, we're going to hit him," Strahan said. "There's no quarterback who likes to be on his back every time he throws the ball.
"We tried not to make this another feel-good story for the Patriots. We felt we could do it and we weren't listening to anyone who said we couldn't. We were stopping the best offence in football."
The Giants trailed 7-3 early in the fourth quarter, their only points coming off a 19-play opening drive that ended in a field goal.
That's when Manning engineered the first touchdown drive given up by New England since its Jan. 12 divisional playoff win over the Jacksonville Jaguars, completing it with a five-yard toss to Tyree that gave the Giants a 10-7 lead with slightly more than 11 minutes remaining.
