The Giants played a great game and executed the game plan I laid out for them to an even greater degree than what I expected them to be able to do against the Patriots.
The Giants sacked Tom Brady 5 times, harrassed him with pressure several more times but the biggest benefit of their pressure was how it disrupted the Patriots' bread and butter, the screen passes.
The Patriots are so good at executing screen passes they can take a lot of chances on first and second down knowing they can convert. Also those conversions buy them three more chances to kill you with a big play.
One time Strahan broke up a screen pass by getting into the backfield and raising his arms. A couple other times the Giants swarmed the ball carrier. The key to the Giants victory was the pressure they got with their front four and the fact that they did it without sacrificing coverage.
That to me was the key to the game, but there were some other big plays (in rough chronological order):
Ahmad Bradshaw stealing that fumbled handoff from Pierre Woods. That probably saved at least 3 points.
Another play by Bradshaw though may have cost the Giants 3 points. His blatant illegal bat cost the Giants ten yards and pushed them out of field goal range. What struck me about that play though was the fact that neither Joe Buck nor Troy Aikman knew the rule. I knew immediately that it was illegal to do that.
The first time I ever saw Bill Belichick make an obvious game management error was the dubious decision to go for it on 4th and 13 from the 31. I believe hubris was at work because his explanation was that he didn't want to try a field goal because he didn't want to give up the field position. 8 yards, really?
Remember the stories from the Patriots first Super Bowl win when Rams assistants were reportedly telling Mike Martz to run but he refused because he wanted to win his way? I think that happened here. Belichick didn't want to win 13-10, he wanted to blow them out. 4th and 13 is a terrible gamble. His choices should have been field goal or punt.
No matter how many words are written about this game none of it will do justice to just how great Eli Manning was. In football the game sometimes comes down to a couple plays, and those couple plays come down to a couple inches, and every pass Manning had to have, he squeezed it in there by a couple inches. I'm talking here about the David Tyree touchdown but also the pass to Kevin Boss which was thrown to allow the run after catch.
What about when the Giants got the ball back after that. Amani Toomer had like 5 seconds to roll over for the first down and he just laid there.
And then there's that last drive. The one where Eli earned his legacy. Unlike some quarterbacks (Dilfer, Roethlisberger) who win their rings by not fucking it up, Manning led his team on perhaps the best 2 minute drill in Super Bowl history. the pass to Tyree was so epic it deserves its own post. But there were many other great passes on that drive, including the last two to Smith and Burress. What an incredible performance by Eli Manning.
Four the past four years conversation in New York has been split on Eli Manning. There were Eli bashers and Eli supporters. Now there are only Giants fans and idiots.
4 comments:
i agree that Bradshaw getting that fumbled handoff back(somehow) was so important. that would have cost them points, momentum, and they might not have recovered
Paul..you are completely OFF BASE on the Bradshaw swap. If he didn't do that, NE would have recovered the fumble and marched.
Whether he knew there was a penalty is not the point, he saved one aspect of a beautiful unbelieveable win.
LET'S GO BIG BLUE!!!!! Even I couln't jinx this victory
Actually Tom, he had no way of knowing that his bat was going to be recovered by the Giants, it could have just as easily been recovered by the Pats. Also, it is a fact that the penalty cost them points. And, I never said it was a bad play on his part, but I do think he should have tried to grab it with his one free hand or knock it out of bounds, less blatantly.
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