Giants upset Patriots 17-14

By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 2/07/2008

   Eli Manning is MVP

 GLENDALE, AZ — Hold the phone. Move over, Joe Namath. Meet Plaxico Buress.

 The New York Giants delivered one of the most stunning upsets in Super Bowl history, shocking the previously unbeaten New England Patriots 17-14 to dramatically win Super Bowl XLII.

 Can you imagine walking from Los Angeles to New York and, once you got to New Jersey, deciding you would not finish the walk? The New England Patriots, after winning 18 straight regular and post-season games, crumbled in the biggest game, the Super Bowl, failing in the end to complete their incredible journey and march to a perfect 19-0 season.

 How tough will history be on the Patriots? Consider this: Only two other teams in NFL history — that’s 88 years — have won 18 games in one year, the 1984 San Francisco 49ers and the 1985 Chicago Bears. Both teams won the Super Bowl. The Patriots (18-1) are the only one of the three to not win the Super Bowl.

 Intense pressure has been known over time to burst pipes; finally, the pressure mounted to a level the Patriots could not overcome. Before the Super Bowl, Minnesota Vikings longtime NFL Scouting Coordinator Jeff Robinson said, “That Giants defensive front of Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Fred Robbins and Justin Tuck are a talented group.”

 They led the NFL in sacks with 53 and put constant pressure on Patriots quarterback NFL MVP Tom Brady. Brady was sacked five times and got knocked down nine times.

 “They are a great team,” said Brady. “They are very good on defense. They have some great pressure schemes. Obviously, they have great pass rushers.

 “Once we kind of got the idea of what we were doing, we handled it much better,” Brady continued. “We just could not get the ball in the end zone enough. You score just 14 points… It’s our lowest total of the year, and it got us beat.

 “This is extremely disappointing — it’s not something that any of us prepare for when you go into a game. Some team has to win, and some team has to lose. I thought they really had a very good game plan and executed it very well.”

 How does it feel to guarantee a win in the Super Bowl and deliver? “We just kept fighting,” said Plaxico Burress, who had only two receptions for 27 yards but caught the game-winning touchdown of 13 yards from Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning with just 35 seconds left. “We have a team with a heart of a champion. Ice water runs through our veins. We just came out and got the job done.”

 “Eli Manning brought us down the field [in 12 plays, 83 yards, trailing 14-10 with just two minutes left],” said Giants Head Coach Tom Coughlin. “He got the ball in the end zone twice. You would have to throw the script away.

 “We’re sitting there, we had three time outs [when the drive started], and then we are sitting there in the green zone with no timeouts. So you know you got to make a play, and you gotta make a play to the end zone.

 “He [Manning] played very well,” Coughlin continued. “He was very cool, very calm. But more than that, it’s the way we went about our work. The road signified for us the coming together of team, when the only people that cared about us were the guys standing there on our sideline. So, we rode that emotion all the way through.”

 The Giants were technically the visiting team in Super Bowl XLII; they have won an NFL-record 11-straight road games. That meant that the Patriots used the Arizona Cardinals’ locker room and training area as the home team.

 Manning was selected the game’s MVP. Engineering the game-winning drive, he completed 19 of 34 passes for 255 yards and two touchdowns.

 “We stayed patient; we moved the ball; at times, we had the turnover, the interception, the fumble, the penalty that got us out of scoring and took away a drive,” said Manning. “But you want to be in that situation in the end with a chance to win the game. If we do our job, we win.”

 The play that will be talked about forever is the 32-yard pass to wide receiver David Tyree. Manning pulled away from being sacked when he was in the grasp of Richard Seymour and threw down the middle. Tyree made an incredible catch leap and pulled the ball down for 32 yards. Patriots safety Rodney Harrison was all over him, but Tyree pulled the ball in after it was hanging on his helmet.

 It was likely the highest rated Super Bowl ever, but the bottom line is that the Giants wanted it more and simply made more plays. The Giants finished 14-6, but they are the champions of the NFL.

 Larry Fitzgerald can be heard weekday mornings on KMOJ Radio 89.9 FM at 8:25 am, and biweekly he commentates on sports 7-8 pm on Almanac (TPT channel 2). He welcomes reader responses to lfitzgerald@spokesman-re corder.com, or visit www.Larry-Fitzgerald.com.