The Football Diner Big Top 5
Key Moments That Won NY The World Title
by Jody Jamieson
6/2/2008
 
So the New York Giants are the World Champions.
I still cannot believe I am typing that sentence. Back when they were 0-2 and Tom Coughlin was looking like heading towards the exit, no one would have predicted the turnaround the Giants were about to engineer. But behind a defense, who remember shipped 80 points on route to going 0-2, got better and better as the season wore on. A few defenses gave the New England Patriots offense something to think about, but not one of the Colts, the Eagles or the Ravens flat out dominated Tom Brady's offensive line the way the Giants did. On the night they were worthy winners, and as a look back on the game, the Top Fives list will look at five key moments that won the Giants the World Title.
 
5. Patriots go for it on 4th and 13
 
At the time it seemed crazy, and I couldn't help but think that was a major momentum shift in the Giants favour. For me it said so many things, but mostly it said that Bill Belichick did not trust Stephen Gostkowski to hit from 49 yards, which was major when on their final, desperation drive, they knew they'd need a field goal to take the game to overtime. It did not send the right message.
 
In the middle of the 3rd quarter in a four point game, the Patriots ignored the chance to go 10-3 up and ran perhaps the most badly designed offensive play they have run all season, with Tom Brady throwing almost a hail mary pass to Jabar Gaffney in double coverage, which even without seeing the game, you'll know from the description didn't work. In fact, Brady missed by a mile as he heaved his pass well out of bounds. In their 18 previous games, they would have had a shot, but the way they were playing, the only chance they had of a completion would have been either on a screen to Faulk or Stallworth, or on a Wes Welker shallow cross.
 
That will do for the Patriots. Now onto what the Giants did well.
 
4. The Giants' pass-rush
 
So this wasn't a key moment as such, as this occurred all throughout, but Tom Brady was battered from pillar to post. Justin Tuck was having his way in the first half with 6 tackles, 2 sacks and a forced fumble. In the second half, it was honestly difficult to see how the Patriots would sustain a scoring drive with Brady getting no time in the pocket. The Giants front four really had the game of their lives and it allowed the secondary extra help as they knew they could drop seven and still get a respectable pass rush. I said last week I didn't think that the Giants secondary would win their individual match-ups, and if the Giants had needed to bring six to get any pressure, I still think they wouldn't have. However Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Fred Robbins, Jay Alford and Barry Cofield did a wonderful job up front. But really you've got to look at all levels of defense...
 
3. Team defense
 
On any given play, 12 defensive minded Giants were having the game if their lives. The 11 players on the field and defensive co-ordinator Steve Spagnuolo. Spagnuolo for me was Super Bowl XLII MVP. No disrespect to Eli Manning, but for three quarters he wasn't great. He had his moments, and his fourth quarter performance was excellent, but the Giants' incredible team defense was the one and only thing that gave Manning the chance to win the game in the 4th.
 
Team defense wins Championships. A much used "cliché" but on this night, it would ring true perhaps more than it ever had before. All the attention will go to the front four, but guys like Antonio Pierce and Corey Webster took their excellent post-season form into the big dance.
 
Webster did a great job in coverage all night, and Pierce was great for a couple of third down stops. He absolutely swallowed up a screen pass on third down to Kevin Faulk, which forced the Patriots to punt. The Giants defense was dominant all night, and Plaxico Burress's prediction that the Patriots would score 17 points was actually rather generous looking back.
 
2. David Tyree's version of "The Catch"
 
I love NFL folklore. From "The Catch" to "The Immaculate Reception". From "The Miracle at the Meadowlands" to "Wide Right" there are moments in NFL history that you may not have seen at the time, but will never forget. I'm not old enough to have seen "The Freezer Bowl" for example, but it's something you learn all about when you look back on the history of the game, and it becomes something you will never forget. When we look back at Super Bowl XLII down the years, if one play sticks out in your mind, it will be David Tyree's incredible reception that ultimately set up the game winning touchdown for the Giants.
 
With the Giants facing 3rd and 5 on their own 44-yard line, Manning took the snap and was instantly under pressure. Jarvis Green got a hold of him and looked for all the world he was going to drag him to the ground. Eli somehow slipped out of the back door and launched a heart-stopping pass downfield. David Tyree somehow got up and snagged it, with the help of him helmet, from Rodney Harrison and gave the Giants a 34-yard gain and left them just 24 yards from glory. An 11-yard strike to Steve Smith set up...
 
1. Manning to Burress to make it 17-14
 
Okay, it would be easy to forget among the madness that the Giants didn't clinch the Super Bowl on any of the plays that have been previously mentioned. As much as the Tyree reception will be the one repeated over and over again, it was just the assist to a nicely designed play by the Giants. Just as Tom Brady spotted the mismatch when Moss was left one-on-one for almost the first time in the playoffs to give the Patriots a late lead, the Patriots committed the cardinal sin of leaving 5' 9" Ellis Hobbs on an island with 6' 4" Plaxico Burress. The Giants dialled up a "Slant-go" route which had Burress shape to go over the middle before continuing on his original path. Whether Hobbs had read it or not was irrelevant as Manning lobbed a beautiful pas to the back of the end zone from Burress. As it was Hobbs completely bit on the slant and Burress made the easiest of catches to give the Giants the lead with 35 seconds to go.
 
I'm sure I wasn't the only one who thought the Giants had a real chance, but overall while I thought they had enough to compete and make it interesting, I didn't think they would actually get over the line. Congratulations to the New York Giants on a wonderful performance on the biggest stage of them all.
 
Interesting Superbowl Facts
 
Newsflash! Chris Hanson finally needed a shower after a game! His four punts helped highlight a miserable drive chart for the Patriots. Their 9 drives read - Touchdown, Punt, Punt, Fumble, Turnover on Downs, Punt, Punt, Touchdown, Turnover on Downs. Very un-Patriot like.
 
Wes Welker caught 11 passes to tie a Super Bowl record. The last player to do it was Deion Branch for the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX against the Eagles.
 
And interestingly for me, to continue my woeful predictions for the big game, my "Unsung hero of the game" Jabar Gaffney was kept without a catch.
 
And Finally...
 
There will be more than one fan base that will have been thinking the same as I was as Kevin Cadle said his goodbyes. "That could have been us," was my final thought on the night as I saw the Giants lift the Super Bowl. I thought to myself that in reality, the Eagles are not that far behind the Giants, and their Super Bowl win proves that perhaps teams like mine might not be as far away from glory as I had previously thought. The similarities are there to see as both teams lost their first two games, before putting it right in a big way in Week 3. The difference was that the Giants were able to get back to their best and stay there for the most part, while the Eagles played well at times but just couldn't get any consistency. Cowboys and Packers fans might have been thinking the same: while they were outplayed in their playoff games, they gave the Giants a couple of goings over in the regular season. They'll be thinking they are not very far away at all.
 
My biggest worry this season has been the lack of parity that the NFL prides itself on. The Patriots going undefeated in the regular season, coupled with the Miami Dolphins miserable 1-15 season, made me wonder how much parity there really is in the NFL. The Giants on Sunday reminded us though that the other thing the NFL prides itself on, that on "Any Given Sunday", any team can pick up the victory, was still alive and well.