GLENDALE, Ariz. – The imperfect Giants pulled off the perfect upset on Sunday night.
In what will go down as one of the biggest shockers in the history of the NFL, the surprising Giants ended their wildest season ever by stopping the New England Patriots’ quest for perfection. They stunned the previously undefeated Pats, 17-14, in Super Bowl XLII to win their third Super Bowl championship and first in 17 years.
And they did it in typical heart-stopping fashion, as Eli Manning, the Super Bowl MVP, twice led them back from fourth-quarter deficits. Even after he threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds remaining, the Giants’ defense had to withstand one last assault by the Patriots’ record-setting offense.
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When they did, the Patriots (18-1) had fallen from the ranks of the unbeaten, setting off a celebration that will stretch from Miami, home of the ’72 Dolphins – still the lone unbeaten team in NFL history – right up the Canyon of Heroes tomorrow.
“We were trying not to make this another feel-good story or another Patriots dynasty story,” defensive end Michael Strahan said. “We were trying to start our own dynasty. A New York Giants dynasty.”
“We shocked the world,” added linebacker Antonio Pierce. “But not ourselves.”
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In what co-owner John Mara called “the greatest victory in the history of this franchise, without question,” the Giants (14-6) won their 11th straight game away from Giants Stadium. In doing so, they backed up a week of tough talk and guarantees with a dominating defense that spent much of the night pounding Tom Brady into the turf. They hit him nine times and recorded five sacks, including two by defensive end Justin Tuck.
That pressure on Brady created just enough room for Manning to punctuate his breakout season with his sixth fourth-quarter comeback of the year and the 10th of his career.
The final drive was remarkable, including a play that might just be the Super Bowl highlight of all time as well the signature of Manning’s early career. On third-and-5 from the Giants’ 44 with just 1:15 remaining, he fought his way out of what looked like a sure sack, hands stretching his jersey along the way, and fired a rainbow pass down the field to David Tyree.
Tyree out-jumped Patriots safety Rodney Harrison, pinned the ball against his helmet, and held on for a 32-yard catch he called “supernatural.”
Four plays later, Manning found Burress slipping behind cornerback Ellis Hobbs in the end zone for a 13-yard touchdown pass that put away the Super Bowl.
“Some things just don’t make sense,” Tyree said. “I guess you could put that catch up there with those.”
The whole fourth quarter didn’t make sense to anyone but the Giants. They entered the quarter trailing 7-3 on a night when their defense was holding the best offense in NFL history in check. Manning and the offense, though, couldn’t get anything going – at least not to that point.
But Manning – who was 19-of-34 for 255 yards and joined brother Peyton as the first back-to-back Super Bowl MVPs from the same family – opened the fourth with a 45-yard pass to rookie tight end Kevin Boss. Five plays later, he hit Tyree on a 5-yard pass for a touchdown that gave the Giants an improbable 10-7 lead with 11:05 remaining.
Not surprisingly, Brady (29-for-48, 266 yards, one touchdown) answered back, riding receiver Wes Welker (11 catches, 103 yards) all the way down the field until he hit Randy Moss on a 6-yard touchdown pass with 2:42 remaining. All of a sudden, Brady had worked his magic and the Giants were down to their last chance.
The cool, calm, and always collected Manning said that’s exactly where he wanted to be.
“You like being down four when you know you have to score a touchdown to win the Super Bowl,” he said. “You can’t write a better script. And to do it, it’s just an unbelievable feeling.”
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Unbelievable, perhaps, but the Giants believed Manning would deliver. And to make sure they did, Michael Strahan said that during the final drive he was walking up the sidelines telling his teammates: “The final score will be 17-14.”
“I kept telling them, ‘Repeat it,’ ” Strahan said. “I was walking up the sidelines saying, ‘You say it. Repeat it. You have to believe it.’ “
Manning made believers of everyone, especially when he shocked his teammates by escaping the clutches of defensive end Jarvis Green and getting the ball in the perfect spot for Tyree to make what Tom Coughlin called “one of the all-time great plays in Super Bowl history.”
Then it was up to the defense, which held New England to just 274 total yards, to stop the Patriots one more time.
When the Giants did, red white and blue confetti came shooting from everywhere, putting the final touches on what even Big Blue conceded was an improbable championship run.
“This team, this season, where we started, where we ended,” Strahan said. “It’s unexpected.”
“The guys on this team and the run we’ve made, it’s hard to believe,” added Manning. “It really is.”
And yet it’s real. It happened. The Giants, who were once six inches away from an 0-3 start, are now the world champions. And they got there by beating the perfect – or near-perfect – team.
“Anytime you have a team that’s 18-0 . . . stop and think about that,” Coughlin said. “That’s just an incredible accomplishment for them. But every team is beatable. You never know. The right moment, the right time . . . every team is beatable.”
“We knew that if we played our best we’d have a chance to beat them,” Manning added. “We believed the whole time.”
