Giants Beat Patriots Again In Super Bowl

SUPER BOWL XLVI: GIANTS 21, PATRIOTS 17
New York plays giant killer, beats Brady, Patriots in Super Bowl rematch

By Joseph Person
jperson@charlotteobserver.com
Posted: Sunday, Feb. 05, 2012


INDIANAPOLIS - Leading the Super Bowl with a minute remaining, New England let Ahmad Bradshaw score a touchdown to make sure Patriots quarterback Tom Brady would get the ball again.

But the New York Giants' defense wouldn't let Brady add to his legacy or his ring collection.

The Giants survived Brady's last-second, Hail Mary pass into the end zone - which fell incomplete inches from Rob Gronkowski's fingertips - to win Super Bowl XLVI 21-17 after New England coach Bill Belichick decided to let the Giants score rather than run down the clock and attempt a field goal.

The Patriots were leading 17-15 when Bradshaw took a handoff from Eli Manning and bolted through a Patriots' interior that offered no defense.

Bradshaw figured out the Patriots' strategy too late. He tried to stop short of the goal line, but his momentum carried him for a 6-yard touchdown run with 57 seconds left.

After the Giants' two-point conversion failed, Brady took over at his 21 and got the Patriots to midfield with two completions, including a fourth-down pass to Deion Branch. But with five seconds left, Brady had no choice but to heave the ball into the end zone, and it nearly ended up in the hands of Gronkowski.

Instead, the Giants streamed on to the field as confetti fell from the Lucas Oil Stadium roof. The Giants celebrated their second Super Bowl victory over New England in five years, following their 17-14 win in Houston in Super Bowl XLII.

"It's the greatest feeling in the world, man," Bradshaw said. "I'm just hoping we can win another one. It's the greatest feeling in my life."

Giants quarterback Eli Manning won his second Super Bowl MVP after outdueling Brady and completing 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown.

"It was a great game with two great teams. We played to the very end. It was just a great effort on both sides," Manning said.

Brady, who tied John Elway with his fifth Super Bowl appearance, was trying to join boyhood hero Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks with four Super Bowl titles. Brady was 27-of-41 for 276 yards and two touchdowns with one interception, but he not have enough time or magic at the end.

The Giants (13-7) won the fourth Super Bowl in their history, while New England (15-4) fell to 3-4 in the Super Bowl.

The first matchup between Super Bowl MVP-winning quarterbacks did not disappoint.

After Manning set a Super Bowl record by starting the game with nine consecutive completions, Brady broke another Super Bowl record with 16 completions in a row over the second and third quarters.

Brady tied his own postseason mark: He also completed 16 in a row in a playoff game vs. Jacksonville on Jan. 12, 2008.

After a lackluster start that included a bad decision on a safety, Brady led the Patriots back from a 9-0 deficit with two long touchdown drives when he was perfect passing. After a Stephen Gostkowski field goal made it 9-3, Brady was 15-for-15 on the two touchdown drives - which covered 96 and 79 yards - for 152 yards and two scores.

The Giants couldn't immediately answer the scoring drives, which ended the first half and started the second.

Trailing 17-9, the Giants started clawing back with a pair of Lawrence Tynes field goal that made it 17-15 heading into the fourth quarter.

The Giants took advantage of a pair of Patriots' miscues to jump out to a 9-0 lead.

On New England's first offensive play from their 6, Brady overthrew everyone on a long pass as Justin Tuck pressured him in the end zone. Officials ruled it intentional grounding, resulting in a safety and a 2-0 lead.

It was only the second time in Super Bowl history the scoring started with a safety. And Brady's intentional grounding was just the first of two uncharacteristic mistakes by the Patriots.

On the Giants' ensuing possession after a free kick, New England stripped Victor Cruz and recovered his fumble at the 10-yard line. But the Patriots had 12 men on the field, negating the play and allowing the Giants to keep the ball.

Two plays later, Manning fired a ball past linebacker Jerod Mayo into the arms of Cruz, who celebrated with his signature salsa dance after his 2-yard touchdown catch with 3:29 left in the first quarter. At that point, the Giants had run 19 plays to the Patriots' 1 - the Brady grounding/safety.

Stephen Gostkowski's 29-yard field goal with 13:48 left in the second quarter put the Pats on the board, 9-3.

The teams then exchanged three punts, the last one a 51-yarder by Steve Weatherford that pinned the Patriots at their 4.

But Brady dug the Pats out of the hole and methodically led them down the field on a 96-yard touchdown drive that tied for the longest in Super Bowl history.

really really sucked