It's over, I can breathe deeply, let the heart rate slow, and put some thoughts down on the incredible see-sawing sixty minutes of football the world has just witnessed.
I've not said anything about the game for two weeks here, for fear of jinxing the Giants, whose run to the 2012 edition of the Super Bowl was even more improbable than the run they had to get to Super Bowl XLII four years ago in Arizona. We thought that last time was a journey for the ages. This year, for seven straight weeks, the Giants won virtual elimination games to get from second in the NFC East into the playoffs, and through a home win vs. Atlanta and road triumphs against Green Bay and San Francisco, to the biggest stage of them all, Super Bowl XLVI.
Who were on the opposite sidelines? The New England Patriots, the team whose perfect season was wrecked in Arizona, when they lost Super Bowl XLII 17-14 on an improbable Giant drive to win the game. Well, to set the team up for the win. As we all know, it was the defensive side of the football who had beaten Brady all day and did it again when Brady had a minute and three time-outs to march down the field to win and to record that perfect season.
Honestly, who could have imagined that the sequel would be better than the original? It was similarly low-scoring, and instead of David Tyree making an incredible reception for the Giants, it was Mario Manningham - Manning to Manningham has wonderful synergy - and, once again, a ferocious defense that bottled Brady up, sacked him late and rode an incredible wave of emotion and belief all the way into the record books. Tom Coughlin, the guy who many fans wanted to see fired in the middle of the season, has won two Super Bowls and now his place in the Big Apple should never be questioned. He should have life tenure!! The New York Giants are Super Bowl XLVI champions.
Certainly there was some luck involved, but all the great teams have luck as well as plenty of skill. The Patriots had some, too. The swings in momentum were astounding. This was an instant classic. At the end of the day, though, Eli Manning led a team down the field and in for what turned out to be the winning score and in doing so has pushed himself up into the conversation when elite quarterbacks are mentioned. Never before has the saying "you can't spell elite without first spelling Eli" been true. If not Manningham, I was glad to see Manning win the MVP award. I guess Manningham wouldn't have been in the position to make that circus catch had Manning not engineered the drive - just like he's been engineering drives in the fourth quarter all season, doing it to NFL record-pace.
Speaking of quarterbacks, what do say about New England's signal-caller Tom Brady? There is no doubt about one thing: Brady is one of the all-time greats of the game. But it's been two Super Bowls now where he's been given enough time - and time-outs - to march back down the field and win the game, and he's come up short. In the grand scheme of things, Brady's a long way ahead of Eli Manning, but speaking in the moment and after what's transpired tonight, Eli might just be the better QB in Indianapolis right now. Better than Brady and better than his big brother. Finally, Eli Manning has stepped out of Peyton's shadow. And the kid has ice-cool water running through his veins. He's calm, clutch, and he's a two-time Super Bowl champion AND a two-time Super Bowl MVP.
The defense got rolling eventually, recording key sacks late and doing exactly what every coach wants his defensive football team to do: get off the field. The pressure up front directly contributed to the wild air ball that Brady put up to be intercepted by Chase Blackburn - a guy who was substitute teaching when these two teams last played in November - and the last stand by the defense was eerily similar to the game in Arizona...although the Patriots came a little closer, inches away, to winning the game with an end-zone catch off of Brady's last and desperate Hail Mary pass. Too close for my liking!
Yet it happened, the win happened, and there was a fitting end to an amazingly completed fairytale, a rags-to-riches moment. Thanks to Eli. It's amazing and astounding to say that there's no better quarterback in the fourth quarter in the history of the National Football League than #10 for the Giants. Remember?? This was the little kid who everyone thought pouted too much, threw too many INTs, couldn't lead a team and control his locker room a few years back is now breaking records, winning Super Bowls and proving to people that he's every bit as good as Peyton, and out-duelling Tom Brady in the process. 5 years ago, who'd have thought it?
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