The Red Zone Report | New York 17, New England 14 - Party at Mercury Morris’ house!

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New York 17, New England 14 - Party at Mercury Morris’ house!

By Eddie Griffin ⋅ February 3, 2008 ⋅ Subscribe to The Red Zone Report

The Giants win the pennant! The Giants win the pennant!

Well, these gridiron Giants actually did the 1951 baseball Giants one better, as Eli Manning and his merry band of G-Men struck down the Patriots’ hopes of a 19-0 season, claiming Super Bowl XLII with a thrilling 17-14 win.

All of the drama was saved for the last 15 minutes, as the only scores of the first three quarters were a 32-yard field goal by Lawrence Tynes in the first quarter and a 1-yard touchdown run by Laurence Maroney early in the second. Thanks to great defense and a failure to convert opportunities for both offenses, we were headed for one of the lowest-scoring and most boring Super Bowls in history.

If you had turned the television off at the end of the third, when it was 7-3 New England, it would have been understandable, given that the game wasn‘t close to living up to its billing.

But, given how the last 15 minutes went, that was a bad, bad decision.

The Giants took a 10-7 lead with 11:05 left when David Tyree caught a five-yard touchdown from Manning, his first of two big catches.

When the chips are down late in the game, you can usually count on Tom Brady to deliver, and he did. After getting stopped on the ensuing drive, the defense quickly put the ball back in his hands. And Brady did what Brady does best, leading the Pats 80 yards down the field in 12 plays, with Randy Moss putting New England ahead 14-10 with his 6-yard TD grab.

Brady won his first Super Bowl by leading the Pats on a last-minute drive against the Rams, and repeated the trick against the Panthers two seasons later.

This time around, however, the shoe was on the other foot, as it was Eli’s turn to etch his name in Super Bowl lore.

He stepped back on the field with 2:39 to go, needing a touchdown, and a touchdown is what he got, thanks in part to the play of the night, and possibly one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history, which came as the clock ticked down towards the minute mark.

On 3rd and 5 from his 44, Manning dropped back to throw and was ambushed by the Pats’ pass rush. It looked like he was going to go down for the sack, but he somehow got away and heaved a pass to Tyree, who out-hustled Rodney Harrison for a terrific catch, a 32-yard gain that put the ball at the Patriots 24 with 59 seconds to go.

On 3rd and 11 from the 25, Manning found rookie Steve Smith, who made a great effort to get to the marker and give the Giants another set of downs to work with.

On the next play, Manning lofted a pass perfectly to Plaxico Burress, who had been slowed down the entire game, but made the catch on the left sideline for six and a Giants lead.

Brady was left with 29 seconds and all three timeouts, but he was unable to repeat his magic of Super Bowls past, and the dreams of 19-0 were dashed.

After Brady’s last desperation pass fell incomplete, it was time for the celebrations to begin (albeit slightly prematurely), and for all those people who pre-ordered this to get their refund.

With only a second left and the outcome already decided, Bill Belichick thought he’d hit the road a little early, heading to the locker room as quickly as he could shake Tom Coughlin’s hand. His team wanted to follow him, but there was still one play to run.

One kneel later, and the Giants’ unlikely run from wild card to champion was complete. Eli (19 of 34, 255 yards, 2 TD, INT) follows up big brother Peyton’s Super Bowl win with one of his own, and also follows his brother as Super Bowl MVP. And better yet, that giant commercial-making shadow that has loomed over him for the longest time is now off of him, or at least it should be.

The victory had to be especially vindicating not only for Manning, who grew by leaps and bounds in the past month, but also for Coughlin, who almost had the fork in him after last season’s collapse and this season’s 0-2 start, but might be staring at a long-term extension now.

Brady (29 of 48, 266 yards, TD) nor his offense were at their best tonight, thanks to a tough defense that did Burress‘ production prediction three points better. But, Tommy Boy already his place in history, and this loss won’t kill him, both because he has three Super Bowl rings and Gisele the streaking gazelle to go home to.

In the end, tonight belonged to Eli Manning and the Giants, who looked history, doubt, and the oddsmakers right in the face and now have a distinction no one can ever take away from them. Yes, as the team who ended the Patriots’ unbeaten season, but more importantly, as Super Bowl XLII champions.

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