Super Bowl XLII: A Giant Upset

You could feel it. Even if you weren’t around a television. At approximately 9:48 last night, order was restored. The league’s MVP, Tom Brady, finally got enough protection from his offensive line to find Randy Moss wide open in the end-zone. Even after the touchdown, there wasn’t a flamboyant celebration from Moss. He simply caught the ball, made a highly confusing gesture to the crowd, and walked to the sideline.

The New Enlgand Patriots, 13 ½ point favorites and 18-0 on the season, had survived another scare. Only two minutes and forty-two seconds separated Brady, Bilichek, and the rest of the New England Patriots from football immortality. The expected was on course, and the panic in the streets was put to a halt. The world was right again.

For about ten minutes.

Enter Eli Manning. Before we go into one of the greatest game-winning drives in Super Bowl history, let’s summarize Eli’s career accomplishments:

-He’s Payton’s Manning’s brother….that’s all I got. Well, until now. 

Manning took the helm of a Giants offense that struggled to muster 10 points against a staunch Patriots defense. A Patriots defense that had repeatedly snuffed their opponents chance to derail their run at perfection. They looked all but had them snuffed once again. With Manning in their grasps, the Patriots defense looked as though they had forced the Giants into an impossible 4^th and 15.

But out of the scrum popped a determined Eli, who wheeled around, threw a bullet down-field and connected with his fourth option, David Tyree. The same David Tyree who had caught a whopping 4 passes all season, for an incredible 35 yards. And not only did Tyree make a clutch catch on a key third down play, he did so by pinning the ball against the blue of his helmet, then saving the ball inches from hitting the Phoenix, Arizona dirt.

Four plays later, Plaxico Burress easily beat a flat-footed Ellis Hobbs for the game winning touchdown.

So, once again it was time for tabloid-star Tom Brady to try to keep his team’s chances alive for immortality. He was met with a rude awakening when the true reason the Giants won was knocked home again. Defensive tackle Jay Alford, a rookie with one tackle entering the game, buried Brady on a vicous sack for a 10 yard loss. The Giant’s unstoppable pass rush got to the MVP for the 5th time.

Two plays later the Patriots run towards immortality, four and a half months old, ended 86 yards from glory. On a night of unexpecteds, the biggest surprise proved all the experts wrong. From the first snap – a failed attempt at a screen – Tom Brady was visibly frustrated. Yelling at receivers for running wrong routes, Brady misfired to them whenever they did. He was anything but the cool cat who had led the Pats to an 18-0 start. On the other hand, Manning was the cool, calm and collected winner that made the big plays look easy. While many expected him to enter wide-eyed and nervous, Eli proved to the world he’s here to stay.

Because he’s Eli Manning Payton’s Little Brother Super Bowl MVP.

Notes from Super Bowl XLII: 

• You can expect to see an appearance from New England Coach Bill Belichek in this week’s No Class Jerk of the Week Award nominations for insisting on shaking Tom Coughlin’s hand with time remaining on the clock, then exiting the field before time expired.
• You can also expect an appearance from this baby.
• A little toot-my-own-horn moment if you will. If you recall from last week’s How to Pull an Upset: New York’s 3 Keys to VictoryI previewed what the G-men had to do to pull of the biggest upset in Super Bowl history. 1 – Run the football; The Giants doubled New England’s rushing total. 2 – Plaxico Burress; while he only had two catches, one of the sealed the win for the G-men. 3 – Pressure the Golden Boy; After only sacking Brady one time in their first meeting, the Giants got to the MVP quarterback repeatedly, recording 5 sacks on the night.
• Plaxico Burress owes his defense an apology. How dare he say they’d give up 17 points the Patriots!

You can reach Mike Fahmie of MikeOnSports at MikeOnSports@yahoo.com