GLENDALE, Ariz. — How did it happen?
The biggest upset in Super Bowl history, one of the toughest defeats in New England Patriots history, one of the most devastating losses in Boston sports history — but how?
The New York Giants, Super Bowl champions and spoilers in what will now be termed the Patriots near-perfect season thanks to the 17-14 shocker last night, taking it to potentially the "greatest team in NFL history," from just about the opening snap.
In 10 steps, here is how the New Yorkers pulled it off:
1. Michael Strahan, Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora absolutely obliterated a New England Patriots offensive line that featured three Pro Bowlers. The Pats front five was pushed around, missed assignments and absolutely got flustered, including three uncharacteristic false starts.
2. The Patriots lost the physical battle. How many times last night did you see a Patriot limp off, or feel the pain of a collision. Randall Gay, Rodney Harrison, Mike Vrabel and more than a handful of other Patriots had their bells rung, limped off the field or at least got up gingerly. The Giants made the Patriots look like the finesse team that they were.
3. New York played like it belonged from the opening kick. Not once all week did the Giants act like they didn't belong.
4. Not enough playmakers stepped up. Where were Donte Stallworth, Ben Watson, Kyle Brady, Laurence Maroney, Mike Vrabel, Junior Seau, Richard Seymour, Ty Warren, Rodney Harrison and Tedy Bruschi when the big play was needed?
5. Eli Manning delivered again. It's taken four years, but Eli has risen to the greatness status worthy of the No. 1 pick. The "we should have taken Ben Roethlisberger" crowd that's been stalking the New Yorkers for years has been silenced forever.
6. Tom Brady didn't. OK, we say this with the utmost respect for what No. 12 has accomplished and we take into account the pounding he courageously took while being abandoned by his offensive line. That said, Brady missed open guys all over the field and was outplayed. He was the second-best quarterback on the field last night.
7. Neither did Randy Moss. His halfhearted whiffs on blocks are a lot more noticeable when he's not catching the deep ball.
8. The Giants came up with the annual unsung Super Bowl hero. David Tyree's uncanny 32-yard catch on the game-winning drive will be shown over and over on every corner of this planet over the next couple days. It was an amazing feat for a guy with four catches the entire regular season.
9. Tom Coughlin came through. The game plan might have been suspect, trying to hang around, on offense, but defensively, the Giants boss delivered. Somehow, this defense that gave up 38 points in the regular-season finale, was sky high. Also, it's a subtle move, but when it counted, he slid Plaxico Burress to the left side of the formation, which brings us to ...
10. The Ellis Hobbs factor. Burress moved left, meaning he stood across the line of scrimmage from the Pats' defensive liability, Hobbs. Hobbs on Burress screams "mismatch" and it showed on the game-winning TD.
