Wow. What happened on Super Bowl Sunday is something that rarely happens in sports, but is something no one will ever forget. The New England Patriots (the 18-0 Patriots mind you) were one Super Bowl win away from not only winning their third Super Bowl in five years, but completing the very first 19-0 perfect season in NFL history. Already being deemed "the greatest team the NFL has ever seen", many failed to realize that when a football game is played, there are two teams on the field. The other team on this memorable Sunday were the resilient NY Giants. Led by Eli Manning, the Giants came out of nowhere, winning an NFL record 10 road games in a row, having to go into Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Green Bay to make it to the Super Bowl. But, the media (and sports "geniuses") were already crowing the Patriots as champions. They were, how do you say, wrong... dead wrong. Now, those who know me know how I feel about the Patriots. Actually, here is a little blurb in a blog I wrote wayyyyy back in Week 8 after the Patriots had destroyed the Skins 52-7:
"the crosshairs on the Pats helmets grows bigger and bigger as the weeks go on"
The whole time, I never once believed that the Patriots could complete the undefeated season. I was right. 18-0 quickly became 18-1. The undefeated season quickly became known as a failure. And I loved every minute of it.
I am a Dallas Cowboys fan, and my team went 13-3 and lost to the Giants in the second round of the playoffs. Looks like that loss wasn't as bad as I initially had thought. There was just something about this years Giants. They loved being counted out of every game. They loved being the underdog.
Against the Pats, the Giants defensive line played their hearts out. They got to Brady many times, and even when he threw to his checkdown receiver Wes Welker (who broke the record for most receptions in a Super Bowl), Brady tasted the grass. Soon, Brady was seeing things in his rearview mirror that were not there. He was shook. Majority of the game, the score was 7-3 Pats. But, the Giants were outplaying the Pats, and seemed like they wanted it much more. Then, wonderfully, the Giants finally took the lead 10-7. But, like the Pats had been doing all year long, they were down, but not for long. Brady took the Patriots down the field to take a 14-7 lead late into the fourth quarter. The problem? There was more than enough time left on the clock for Eli and the boys (2:40 something to be exact). And, just like the Giants had been doing all postseason, when the chips were down, they rose to the occasion. In what will go down as one of the most memorable plays in Super Bowl history, Eli (on a third and five) rolled out of what seemed like the entire Pats defense, and threw the ball 32 yards to David Tyree, who made a spectacular circus catch to keep the drive (and the hope) alive. Two plays later, Eli threw the game-winnning TD to Paxico Burress to take a 17-14 lead. The Pats got the ball back, but never even made it to the Giants side of the field. The Giants were champions.
It was very easy to see (and hear) that most of the fans who made the trip out to Arizona for the Super Bowl were rooting for the Giants. I am convinced that most of the people who did root for the Pats resided in the New England/Boston area. They never expected this outcome though. Me? I knew it all along. How does that feel Brady?
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