“We are only going to score 17 points?” asked Tom Brady, the starting quarterback for New England, after hearing New York Giant Plaxico Burress’ prediction of the Giants winning the Super Bowl 23 – 17. The New England Patriots came into the game unbeaten, with arguably the best offense in football history averaging over 35 points per game. Burress’ prediction at the time seemed illogical. Yet, the heavily favored New England Patriots seemed to underestimate the drive and will of the New York Giants, who were underdogs throughout the entire playoffs.
Most people watched the game waiting to see history in the making. Football fans around the world were watching the New England Patriots in their pursuit for perfection. However, from the start of the game, the New York Giants physically dominated the Patriots, battering the NFL’s MVP Tom Brady, almost every time he dropped back to pass. The Giants were able to consistently get to Brady by only sending the front four pass rushers, while enabling them to cover the highly productive New England receivers. Justin Tuck (2 Sacks, 1 forced fumble), Michael Strahan (1 sack), Osi Umenyiora (1 fumble recovery), Jay Alford (1 sack) all contributed, keeping the prolific New England Patriots offense at bay. Rattling Tom Brady from the start was the key to the Giants success.
Some may argue that New England played poorly and lost their chance for a perfect season. The truth is they were out coached, out played, and didn’t show as much heart as the New York Giants did. New England didn’t lose the game; the New York Giants won it. The Giants got to Brady multiple times, breaking his rhythm consistently. New York essentially took away the biggest weapon from the best offense in the NFL, and possibly in the history of professional football. Every time Tom Brady stepped back to pass, his mental clock got faster and faster. The truth is, Tom Brady has only a .500 winning percentage in games he is sacked more than three times. The Giants won the game by keeping their offense on the field. In fact, the Giants’ offense spent more time on the field than the Pats’ offense, a feat that no other team during the season could accomplish. In their previous meeting in December, New England possessed the ball for over 60 percent of the game. The result: Patriots win 38-35. This time around, the Giants had a mere advantage (51 percent) in controlling the pace of the game. The result: Giants win their third Super Bowl in franchise history.
The Patriots also seemed to underestimate the New York Giants, starting with the head coach, Bill Belichick. Belichick made a questionable call in the third quarter on forth down with 13 yards to go, he decided to take a risk instead of having Gostkowski kick a 49-yard field goal – which is easily in his range. Belichick also failed to make any adjustments in protecting Tom Brady. After seeing Brady getting hit play after play, Belichick could have put an extra running back or tight-end to help the D-line block. The Patriots almost never used screen passes, a play they used frequently during the season. He failed to do any of this. Belichick underestimated the New York Giants, and was too stubborn to change his game plan as the game progressed with little success.
No matter how well the Giants played, the Patriots were the absolute favors in the last 5 minutes of the game. In fact, New England went up 14-10 with 2:42 seconds remaining. Personally, I think this was another mistake by the Patriots. As we all have seen before, anything more than two minutes gives an offense plenty of time to score. In addition to having a lot of time, the Giants still had all three timeouts and the two-minute warning to stop the clock. The truth is, the Patriots gave the Giants too much time. In their drive to score the game-winning play, New England managed the clock very poorly. In the 12-play drive, the Patriots ran the ball only once, a nine yard run by Maroney which ended with him running out of bounds causing the time to stop. Tom Brady did what he did best: score the go-ahead touchdown with millions of people watching around the world. However, no team should give a professional quarterback the chance of scoring the game-winning TD – even if that QB is a young guy who had been mentally slaughtered by the media.
It was time for the heavily scrutinized Eli Manning to shine. The drive consisted of a huge 4th down conversion by Brandon Jacobs. Also, Steve Smith, a rookie out of USC, contributed by making outstanding catches on key 3rd downs. However, the drive was highlighted by David Tyree’s play of the game, and possibly the best play in Super Bowl history. On 3rd down and five yards to go, it looked as if Eli Manning would be sacked, which would most likely have ended the game. Somehow, Eli escaped the pressure, and heaved a pass downfield to Tyree, primarily a special teams’ player. Tyree caught the ball with intense pressure from safety, Rodney Harrison. Three plays later, Burress swindled cornerback Ellis Hobbs, and secured the game winning catch on an easy pass from Eli Manning. Although it is hard to accept after watching the Patriots come so close to a perfect season, the New York Giants were the best team during the playoffs. The team was well led by quarterback Eli Manning, who deserves an apology and appreciation from all fans and sports reporters across the country. Eli Manning developed immensely, and can now finally be recognized as Eli Manning, a Super Bowl Most Valuable Player.
