Giants Shock the World – Win Their Seventh NFL Championship: In what undoubtedly is the greatest victory in the team’s 82-year old history, the New York Football Giants pulled off one of the greatest upsets in the history of all of American sports by defeating the 18-0 New England Patriots 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII.
The Giants are the 2007 NFL Champions.
It is the Giants’ seventh NFL title and their third Super Bowl championship.
QB Eli Manning was named the game’s MVP. He completed 19-of-34 passes for 255 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. Manning led the Giants on the dramatic, come-from-behind, game-winning, 12-play, 83-yard drive that culminated in a 13-yard touchdown pass to WR Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left on the clock.
It is important to place this victory in the proper context. Not only was the game of monumental historic proportions, but so was the Giants’ improbable playoff run. The Giants defeated three NFC division winners on the road, including the #1 and #2 seeds in the conference. The victories against the Cowboys and Packers were two of the most memorable and exciting games in the Giants’ playoff history. The Giants topped that when they vanquished the New England Patriots – a team that many considered to be the best of all of time – in the NFL Championship Game. It was a match-up that most pundits thought the Giants had absolutely no chance of winning. The Giants were supposed to be a speed bump on the Patriots’ “Path to Perfection.” It did not quite work out that way.
The game itself will go down as one of the greatest in Super Bowl history. For three quarters, it was an incredibly exciting defensive struggle. And just when you thought it couldn’t get much better, all hell broke loose in the fourth quarter.
The Giants received the ball first and put together the most time-consuming drive in Super Bowl history by marching 63 yards in 16 plays and taking 9:59 off of the clock. Unfortunately, the Giants were forced to settle for a 32-yard field goal by PK Lawrence Tynes. On this possession, the Giants converted 4-of-5 third-down attempts.
The Patriots returned the ensuing kickoff 43-yards to the New England 44-yard line. 12 plays and 56 yards later, the Patriots took the lead 7-3 as HB Laurence Maroney scored from one yard out.
Despite the fact that both teams had scored on their opening possessions, neither team would score again in the first half.
A promising drive by the Giants on their second possession ended at the New England 14-yard line when WR Steve Smith could not handle a 3rd-and-5 pass intended for him. The deflected ball was intercepted by CB Ellis Hobbs at the 10-yard line and returned 23 yards.
The Patriots went three-and-out on their second possession as DE Michael Strahan and SS James Butler nailed Maroney for a 2-yard loss on 3rd-and-1. Both teams then exchanged three-and-out possessions. On the New England’s third possession, QB Tom Brady was sacked by LB Kawika Mitchell and DE/DT Justin Tuck on back-to-back plays. Brady was harried and harassed all game, with one official stat by the Giants saying he was hit 22 times, including five sacks.
The Giants only managed to accrue 18 yards in eight plays on their fourth drive of the half before punting. On 3rd-and-4, Manning fumbled the ball as he was sacked. The loose ball was batted by HB Ahmad Bradshaw and recovered by WR Steve Smith, averting a near disaster.
In total, after their opening 63-yard drive, New York only accrued 58 yards on their next four possessions of the first half.
New England did drive 38 yards on their final possession of the first half, but that possession was halted when Tuck sacked and stripped Brady of the football. DE Osi Umenyiora recovered.
At halftime, the Patriots led 7-3.
The Patriots received the football to start the second half. They put together a time-consuming drive of their own, taking 8:17 off of the clock in 14 plays. But this long drive only gained 48 yards and ended with an incomplete deep pass into the end zone on 4th-and-13 from the Giants’ 31-yard line. This possession had been kept alive when LB Chase Blackburn could not get off the field fast enough on a 4th-and-2 Patriots’ punt. The Giants were flagged with an illegal substitution penalty and the drive continued.
The Giants only managed 28 yards in seven plays on their first possession of the second half before punting. New England then gained 45 yards in eight plays before punting themselves at the start of the fourth quarter.
This is where the game got the most dramatic.
On 1st-and-10 from their own 20-yard line, Manning found TE Kevin Boss for a huge, 45-yard gain down to the New England 35-yard line. Then on 3rd-and-4, Manning hit Steve Smith for 17 yards down to the Patriots’ 12-yard line. Two plays later, Manning found WR David Tyree in the end zone for the score. The Giants now led 10-7.
With about 11 minutes to go in regulation, the Patriots picked up one first down but then were forced to punt. Unfortunately, the Giants went three-and-out and were forced to punt as well.
With just under eight minutes to play, the Patriots put together what looked to be a dramatic and very Patriot-like game-winning touchdown drive as Tom Brady led New England on a 12-play, 80-yard march. Brady hit WR Randy Moss for a 6-yard score on 3rd-and-goal with less than three minutes to play. Patriots 14-Giants 10.
Eli Manning officially arrived as a New York sports legend on the ensuing possession. As Manning walked onto the field, the Giants were 83 yards away from a game-winning score with only 2:39 on the clock. Manning started the drive with an 11-yard pass to WR Amani Toomer. After two incomplete passes, Manning found Toomer again for nine yards. On 4th-and-1, Brandon Jacobs gained two yards to pick up the first down.
Then came the play of the game – arguably one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history and perhaps the greatest play in Giants’ history. On 3rd-and-5, Manning miraculously stayed alive in the pocket, dancing away from what looked to be a sure sack. He then launched a deep ball down the middle to David Tyree, who made an unbelievable circus catch for 32 yards and the first down. Tyree not only had to out-leap and out-fight Patriots’ SS Rodney Harrison for the football, but he then held it against his helmet as he was bent backwards falling to the ground.
The Giants now had the ball at the Patriots’ 24-yard line with 59 seconds to play. After a sack and an incomplete pass, the Giants faced 3rd-and-11. Manning hit Steve Smith for 12 yards and a first down as the Giants reached the 13-yard line. On the very next snap, the Patriots came with an all-out blitz. Burress, who was singled up against CB Ellis Hobbs, beat him easily for the score with 35 seconds left.
The Patriots’ last desperate drive to tie or win the game started at their own 26-yard line. After one incomplete pass, Brady was sacked by DT Jay Alford for a 10-yard loss. Brady then threw deep to Randy Moss, but the ball was knocked away by CB Corey Webster. On 4th-and-20 with 10 seconds left, Brady went deep again to Moss. The ball fell incomplete and the Giants took over with one second on the clock. Game over.
Offensively, aside from Manning’s aforementioned stats, Bradshaw gained 45 yards on nine carries and Jacobs 42 yards on 14 carries. Toomer had six catches for 84 yards, Smith 5 catches for 50 yards, Tyree 3 catches for 43 yards and a touchdown, Burress 2 catches for 27 yards and a touchdown, and Boss 1 catch for 45 yards.
Defensively, SS James Butler and LB Antonio finished the game with 10 tackles apiece. Tuck had two sacks while Mitchell, Alford, and DE Michael Strahan each had a sack. Most importantly, the Patriots’ high-flying offense, the one that scored the most points in NFL history, was limited to two touchdowns.
“Eighteen-and-one!” yelled several Giant assistant coaches after the game. “We beat the unbeatable!”
“We’re always believing and having faith in each other and having faith in our team,” Manning said. “We believed the whole time…and we made it happen.”
“It’s the greatest feeling in professional sports,” Burress said before bursting into tears.
“We shocked the world,” Pierce said. “But not ourselves.”
Post-Game Notes: According to a Giants’ press release, the team held an “emotional” team meeting Saturday night. It began with a 2½-minute highlight video of the team’s post-season wins against the Buccaneers, Cowboys, and Packers. The music that accompanied the video was “Good Riddance” (“The Time of Your Life”) by Green Day.
Then the team’s emotional inspiration this season, Lt. Colonel Greg Gadson, addressed the team for approximately five minutes. Gadson lost both his legs while serving in Iraq. Gadson spoke about pride, poise, team, and having a belief in each other.
Head Coach Tom Coughlin then told the players that he sincerely hoped that they felt like they were having the time of their lives. And for the first time, he shared his personal feelings about what it meant to him when he was an assistant coach on the Giants’ team that upset the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV. He relayed to the players what it felt like to be world champions and how that feeling is shared with your parents, spouses, grandparents, and children. Coughlin also told them he wanted to win so they and their families could feel what he felt back in January 1991.
Inactive for the Giants were WR Sinorice Moss, HB Danny Ware, TE Jerome Collins, OT Adam Koets, QB Jared Lorenzen (third quarterback), DT Manny Wright, DT Russell Davis, and CB Geoffrey Pope.