Manning's Giants Upset the Nearly-Perfect Patriots

I watched these two teams battle it out all season. When Eli led the Giants a victory over Green Bay, I had to reanalyze my thinking on the younger Manning.

Was Eli Manning poised, enough, tough enough, experienced enough, to knock off the (Second) Perfect Team in NFL history?

As far as experience goes, there's little question that Tom Brady, with three rings to his credit, had something of an edge on Eli. But we are talking about Peyton's little brother, one of Archie's boys.

I decided if it could be done, Eli and his Giants would do it.

Either way, I knew this was not going be a blowout game like so many the Patriots played this season.

This was going to be a down and dirty gridiron battle from start to finish.

I was not wrong.

I looked forward to Super Bowl XLII as much as I always have. Eli Manning and Tom Brady are two of my favorite all time quarterbacks.

Eli, with Plaxico Burress on offense and NFL legend Michael Strahan on defense had more than a snowball's chance of planting the Manning flag on two Super Bowls in a row.

With Randy Moss and Wes Welker to dole the ball out to, Brady was not short on weapons.

Things started with New York winning the toss and taking the ball down the field. New England's defense held them to a field goal, and it was early in the second quarter before Brady could muster his troops to answer with a touchdown, taking the score to 7-3, Patriots.

And there, the score remained, for the next two and half quarters.

New York's defense punished Brady over and over again. They rushed him, sacked him, and harassed him every step of the way. It wasn't until the fourth quarter that the Patriots started looking like the team who won 18 straight games this season.

"A perfect season," I told my son, "is bittersweet if you don't win the Super Bowl to cap it off."

New York's defense was brilliant. Time and time again, they double covered Moss, making it impossible for Brady to get the ball into his hands more than a handful of times. On the flip side, the Patriot's offense gave tit for tat, keeping Plaxico Burress well protected, even breaking up at least two catches that would have given the Giants the lead they were fighting so hard for.

It wasn't just a game; it was war. The lead changed four times in the fourth quarter, an NFL record.

It came down to two key plays.

Moss finally broke free of his coverage to gain a touchdown that reclaimed the lead at 14-10, and with 2 minutes and 46 seconds left, the Giants got the ball back.

"If it can be done," I told my son, "Eli can do it. He's got all of his time outs and over two and half minutes, and he's got Plaxico."

With 35 seconds remaining on the game clock, Eli hurled a bomb down the field, into Plaxico Burress's waiting arms, and into NFL history. The score was 17-14 after the kick.

In the sky box, Peyton Manning was on his feet cheering his little brother.

In my living room, I was slack jawed.

After the kickoff, in the announcer booth, 3-time Super Bowl champion Troy Aikman stated, "This is going to be the longest 29 seconds of Eli's life."

He would know. He led the Dallas Cowboys to back-to-back wins against the Buffalo Bills, then a third time against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

In the end, Brady and his weapons failed. The Perfect Season ended 18-1, with 1 second on the clock, a kneel-down by the Giants, and Patriots' coach Bill Belichik in the locker room.

Atta boy, Eli. Maybe next year, Tom.