Posted on 02/03/2008 10:54:07 PM PST by Cedar
Eli Manning, David Tyree show why Giants are Super this night
GLENDALE, Ariz. - The best Super Bowl of them all really ended in the left corner of the end zone at University of Phoenix Stadium, one last ball in the hands of Plaxico Burress, who called this one the way Joe Namath called one once. Eli Manning delivered that ball to Burress, delivered it the way great quarterbacks are supposed to deliver the ball at the end of a game like this, delivered it the way Joe Montana did in a Super Bowl in Miami against the Bengals. And now it wasn't just Super Bowl XLII ending this way, even with 35 seconds still left on the clock. This was the ending to one of the great sports stories of all time, any sport, in New York or anywhere else.
"The greatest victory in the history of this franchise," John Mara said on the field when it was over.
And it was. It was. It was 17-14 for the Giants against the Patriots, and the Patriots weren't going to be 19-0 and Tom Brady wasn't going to have enough time to drive his team down the field one last time the way the kid, Eli Manning, just had. Eli and the Giants were underdogs again on Sunday night, the way they have been underdogs for a month. Couldn't stop them because nothing could stop them, not in a month when a sports team carried the city, carried the whole area we think of as New York, as much as any New York team ever has.
The Cowboys couldn't stop them and the Packers couldn't stop them at Lambeau and the Patriots couldn't stop them yesterday. And as much as a money throw that last throw was, as much of a money play it was from Eli, it wasn't the play that will be remembered from this game. The play that will be remembered, a play that goes in with the best Super Bowl plays ever made, is the one you had to see to believe in that last drive, the one Eli made to David Tyree four plays before the winning touchdown to Burress. The one where Eli seemed to disappear underneath the pocket and then break free like a swimmer coming out of the water.
"An amazing play," Tom Coughlin said, "in the middle of an amazing drive."
The Patriots did not sack Manning (19-for-34, 255 yards, two touchdowns, the MVP of course) on third-and-5 from the Giants' 44. They did not bring him down even though everybody in the stadium thought they had. He was still standing, standing up and standing in there the way he had all day long. Then he was running to his right and throwing one down the middle of the field to Tyree, who outjumped an old Patriots safety named Rodney Harrison for the ball and came down with the ball at the Patriots' 24.
Under a minute left in Super Bowl XLII. And now the improbable had become inevitable in the Super Bowl.
Namath shocked the world once for the Jets. Eli did the same yesterday. Only he had a better game against the Patriots than Namath had in Super Bowl III, and against one of the best teams to ever play. Even after Tom Brady hit Randy Moss and got the lead back near the end, it didn't matter. Wasn't his day. It was Eli's day and his time to make history for the Giants, on the best day the Giants have ever had.
There will be other teams in New York, because there always are. There is always another team. This team goes with Namath's Jets now and the '69 Mets and Willis Reed, with anything the city has ever seen or will ever see. Never a bigger day than this, never a better Super Bowl than this.
Now Eli Manning came through the confetti of University of Phoenix Stadium, came into the tunnel through all the Giant fans at the other end of the field from where Eli had hit Burress. And now he put up one finger, the way Namath did when he beat the Colts.
"How did you get away from that sack," he was asked.
"Don't frankly know," he said. "All I was trying to do was escape."
He was asked if he could feel not just the pressure, but a hand on the back of his uniform jersey.
"I knew I was getting grabbed," he said. "And then I saw Tyree."
A few minutes later Tom Coughlin couldn't stop talking about that scramble from his quarterback and that throw, amazing throw in an amazing drive, that Eli made to David Tyree that was like the punch that started to finish the New England Patriots on the day they thought they were going to be 19-0.
"It has to be one of the great plays of all time in the history of the Super Bowl, doesn't it?" Tom Coughlin said.
The last Giant drive, the end of everything that really began with that 38-35 loss to the Patriots on the 29th of December, began with a throw to Amani Toomer for 11. Then he hit Toomer again, out to the 37. Fourth-and-1. One hundred seconds left in the Super Bowl. Brandon Jacobs ran for the first down. Three plays later came the escape, the scramble, the throw, Tyree going up for the ball like it was a basketball rebound that was going to win the Super Bowl for the Giants, Tyree out-wrestling Rodney Harrison and holding on when he hit the ground.
"Some things just don't make sense," Tyree said. "I guess you could put that catch up there with them."
Eli hit Steve Smith at the 13 three plays later. Forty-five seconds left. Then one more dream throw from Eli, to Burress, like Brady had been making to Moss all year, all the way to 18-0, the pass to the guy who said the Giants were going to shock the world.
Last time the Giants won a Super Bowl, they won because Scott Norwood went wide right. This time it was because they were better than 18-0, because it was their day and their time to make history. And because the great Tom Brady could only watch at the end as another Manning won the Super Bowl, and Peyton's kid brother found greatness in himself.
"We believed the whole time," Eli Manning said.
There will be another team someday, another run, another improbable story. It won't be better than this football team, and this run, and this story. There have been other big games in football. Considering the circumstances, never one bigger than this.
The greatest Giant of all time -- LT -- was quoted last week as saying something like if you want to beat Brady, hit him hard and often. They did!
Ditto that. The Giants played a great game, led by their defense. The only way to beat the Pats is to keep them off the board and the way to keep the Pats off the board is to keep Brady in the dirt which they did all day long.
I'm a Pats guy, but the Giants deserve this win big time!
I can’t think of anything that rhymes with tyree. I’ll be curious to see what he calls it. It’s his life changing moment.
I don't think he got rattled. Some of his passes were affected because he was being hit as he released the ball, but when he wasn't being hit he was as good as ever. Look at all the completions he made to Welker and his last TD pass to Moss, not to mention that incredible incomplete pass he made downfield to Moss. That was what, nearly a 70 yd line drive throw after being planted in the turf all night.
I have never been so happy to see a team get beat because I have never liked Bill Belichick and his actions at the end of the game (I know 1 second seems minimal) lacked class. However, given his 4th and 13 decision and the Rams allegation before the game, he was probably trying to make it to the border.
LMAO!
That catch will be seared... SEARED... in the minds of those attending the Patriots Parade tomorrow in Blows-town.
Ole Archie sure is living a dream. Two fine young men who remind us football isn’t all about the thugs. Congrats to the Giants. They had a fantastic plan and executed it well.
Watched Brady all through his career at Michigan, and when he gets a little rattled, he has a tendency to start yelling at his O’line (because he can’t scramble to save his life) and his receivers even on obvious overthrows. Go back and watch the game and you will see all of this. The play that stands out to me is his floater he tossed 20 yards over Welker’s head and then he starts jawing at Welker as if it was his fault. This is the same receiver that digs his passes out of the dirt, makes mid-air adjustments to passes grossly behind him and keeps drives alive with his league high YAC.
I think Brady was a little rattled, still played at a high level but I will offer you this, the Pats O’line is not getting any younger and I think Brady has reached his high water mark and I think you will see a noticable decline from here on out.
Sorry if you are a Pats fan, because I know how I hate people bashing my team, but I can’t understand how Brady gets a pass with his “Baby’s Daddy” antics and I think Bellickick will probably be running one of the levels of hell (either the 8th or 9th) when he dies.
Amen...
And congratulations to Archibald Manning from an obscure Mississippi town of 2,000 who produced sons with character.
Thanks for the link. I did not see any holding by the Giants. I saw Patriots linemen sort of bumping into each other which allowed Eli (who was just determined to not go down) to break free.
What a play! Tyree’s catch - how did he not lose that ball on the way down????
Just a one in a million play. That’s what football is all about. Whew!
It looked like three Giants got their paws on Manning on that circus throw and catch to Tyree, but somehow he magically, and fatefully, managed to escape and the rest was beautiful to watch.
A play for the ages.
I watched an interview of Eli by Tiki this a.m. Subject didn’t come up.
There is an old adage in football "Quarterbacks play badly when lying on their backs staring up at grinning defensive lineman and linebackers."
One of the most impressive things about the Giants run is that their last three playoff games were nail-biters that came down to the wire. Most of the time, a team can survive one game like that in the playoffs, but end up emotionally drained for the next game. They also got the toughest playoff draw across the board.
How cool is it that Archie Manning has TWO sons with Super Bowl rings from different teams......and Super Bowl MVP accolades, to match. Unreal.
If Manning gets sacked, it's 4th-and-10+ and they likely don't convert to stay alive. If Tyree doesn't make the "circus" catch, a more reasonable 4th-and-5 comes up, but the the Giants are focused on getting a first down, rather than building off of the momentum.
Did anyone watching the game not just know, instinctively, that the Giants were going to score the game-winning TD after that play?
Wow. He had Patriot and Giants players trying to sack him. More amazing play than I thought.
From beginning to end, practically everyone put a hand or two on Manning.
AMAZING!
I'm with you. My problem with the Pats is that I consider Brady a "low-life" for his personal life, and Belichek...well there's too much to say about where he's lacking as a person...yet the press never mentions these problems.
Post game interview w/Belichek...compare that to post game interviews w/Dungy when he's lost. Here's a description of Dungy after the Charger's game.
"When the end arrived, Tony Dungy chose to stay a few moments more. Not to reflect on a career, and not to soak up a final memory. With most of his players already running toward the offseason, Dungy remained on the field at the RCA Dome on Sunday afternoon to congratulate the San Diego Chargers."...from a St. Pete Times story.
Belicheck has "no class" and is an arrogant guy...that's why the humbling they took was well deserved.
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