So many of you might be wondering who I was rooting for in the Super Bowl last night. Quite honestly, I had no dog in that fight. I was rooting for the referees to invoke some obscure rule that nobody has ever heard of to declare both teams losers. The team that I wanted to win the game was eliminated 3 months ago. Nevertheless, a Redskins fan like myself can indulge a little bit in the fact that the winner of the game (The Giants) was vanquished by my team twice in the regular season. Unfortunately, some of my football contemporaries who shall go nameless decided this was not allowed...
"Nick, you are better than that," said one aforementioned contemporary. Another individual chided me for using faulty logic that defeating a team twice is sufficient for declaring themselves champion. In a text message, another individual was "very disappointed."
I had no idea people took that sort of thing seriously. To make a long story short, I deleted that post, not because I wanted to make anybody happy. Clearly not, the individuals mentioned above know exactly who they are. (BRING IT ON!!!!) Facebook posts are supposed to be funny, and it kind of lost its humorous tone when the tightwads came out. So I got rid of it. Yes, I know the Redskins stunk the joint up. Yes, I know that beating the Giants twice does not qualify us to be Super Bowl champs. After all, we beat the Packers last year too, and would have beaten the Saints the year before had it not been for a classic Suisham Shank.
Now that I've cleared that up, the game itself was exciting, albeit somewhat sloppy. However, my fancies of a high scoring game (31-27 Pats was my call, if you recall) were immediately shot to shreds when Brady got nailed for grounding in the endzone on his first play from scrimmage. Anytime the first score of the game is a safety, you know it is going to be a defensive struggle, not to the mention the countless number of squares pools in the USA that got blown to smithereens. It seems from the very beginning that both teams were content to make it a field position game. It paid off for the Giants following the safety as they took the free kick and immediately marched for a touchdown. By the time the Patriots got off their second snap, it was already 9-0. However, the Pats don't go quietly, scoring 10 unanswered points in the 2nd quarter to make it 10-9 at half. This included a classic Patriots field-length, clock-killing drive culminating in a touchdown to Danny Woodhead to close out the half. This was doubly bad news for the Giants since the Pats won the toss, deferred, and were going to get the ball to start the 3rd quarter.
Then Madonna took the stage...moving right along............
When the game resumed, the Patriots took the 2nd half kickoff and did exactly what they did to end the first half: drive the field and score. By the time Eli and Co. were back on the field for a competitive snap, the Patriots had scored 14 consecutive points spanning the two halves. However, the Giants would chip away, chip away, kicking two field goals in the 3rd quarter while continuing to hold the Patriots scoreless. The play of the game came in the 4th quarter. With the Patriots up 17-15, Manning lobbed a pass to Mario Manningham running the corner route. Manningham was blanketed by two Patriots defenders, but the pass dropped right into Manningham's hands on the sidelines. He was able to hold on and complete the tap dance on the sidelines to complete the 38 yard pass. The play was upheld despite the New England challenge. The Giants eventually reached 2nd and goal on the New England 6 with a minute to go. The strategy the Giants were using was to try to eat up as much clock as possible before kicking a game winning field goal. However, Belichick knew this, and on 2nd down, instructed to defense to let Ahmad Bradshaw score the touchdown. The Pats only had 2 timeouts left, and were willing to take a chance with Brady having the ball last instead of letting the Giants kick the chip shot with no time left. Bradshaw didn't realize at first that the Pats were letting him score. He attempted to fall down on the 1 yard line, but he fell into the endzone anyway as he gave himself up. Had his knee touched down inbounds, the clock would have continued to run as he gave himself up and did not need to be touched. In any event, the Pats got the ball back with 57 seconds to go, but were only able to manage a Hail Mary try from midfield. Rob Gronkowski had a chance at it, but it hit the ground before he could get to it.
The Giants become the first team with a 9-7 record in the regular season to win the Super Bowl. They are not the first 9-7 team to make the Super Bowl (The Cardinals did it 3 years ago). The Giants were fair to middlin' all season. Eli and Coughlin were on their way out of town. Hey, the Redskins beat them twice! What this goes to show you is that in any given season, as long as you MAKE the playoffs, any team can catch lightning in a bottle and go all the way. This is the second time the Giants have beaten the Patriots in the Big Game. The first time they did it as a wild card. This year, they did it as a 9-7 division champ. Both times they were steep underdogs, but the moral of the story is this. You play 60 minutes in a football game. On any given Sunday, anyone can win. Predictions are meaningless. You play to win the game. I hope everyone in the league (especially the Redskins!) saw what the Giants did this postseason. It should give fans everywhere hope that despite the result their teams may have had this season, NFL Season 2012 is only 7 short months away!
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