Sports Lesson Number, um, I Lost Count

That's why they play the games. Games aren't won on paper. Anything can happen on any given Sunday. These are common sports clichés we hear thrown about all the time. We hear them so often we despise their mention and yet unknowingly say them almost on a whim. Sometimes, however, these clichés ring true. Such was the case in Glendale for Super Bowl XLII.

For two weeks, I masterfully managed to avoid the painfully overdone pregame shows on all the networks with B list "celebrities" getting face time to talk about the upcoming showdown (though Idid catch Rob Schneider on TV because I was at a restaurant with my fiancée). I found more productive uses of my time than listening to the same analysts make the same points in vaguely different ways. Most of which came in the form of video games. Watching game after game of both teams all season, there was no doubt in my mind the Patriots would win the Super Bowl and complete the 19-0 season, making the 1972 Dolphins a footnote in NFL history.

Yet Sunday came around and a game still had to be played. I even had this thought in the back of my mind that the last time I was so positive of one team winning the Super Bowl was when I bet money that the Rams would defeat the Patriots, and the similarities were so glaringly obvious that I chose to continually ignore them. The Giants were an under talented team that I picked to miss the playoffs altogether while the first Super Bowl Patriots team was one I picked to finish with the worst record in the NFL. The Patriots had the most dynamic playmakers the league had ever seen and were coached by the most innovative man in the league in Bill Belichick (much like those Rams with head coach Mike Martz). Finally, the Giants just found ways to wear a team out down the stretch in close playoff wins, exactly like that Patriots team. Yet I just dismissed it the signs, again.

That was, until the game actually started. The Giants drove the field on the opening possession and chewed up two thirds of the first quarter, settling for a field goal to put them up 3-0. The Patriots took the ball and marched right back to score a touchdown and New England was up and running. History, here we come.

Then, something happened. That something was nothing. The defense for the Giants pressured, hit, sacked, and flustered Tom Brady for the first time in a long time. Brady himself was tentative, missing throws, and making bad decisions. Time and again, the Patriots would have to punt. The escaped a Giants drive into their red zone unscathed when Steve Smith gift wrapped an interception in the 2nd quarter, and then the Giants offense kept stalling. Halftime came, and the Patriots held a tedious 7-3 lead. I knew at that point the Giants had completely outplayed the Patriots but still trailed. The real New England Patriots will come out and blow the Giants out of the water in the second half I thought.

Second half came and again, the Patriots were out of sync. They all but abandoned running the ball with Laurence Maroney and seemed to be searching for answers. The Giants front four continued to thoroughly dominate the Patriots stellar offensive line and New England was feeling the pressure (psychologically speaking). Finally, past the halfway point of the 3rd, I turned to my fiancée and said "New York is going to win this game" as if saying this aloud would ensure the Patriots (who I had absolutely no vested interest in) would make history. She responded with disbelief, though I'll point out exactly how astute she is later.

Giants reclaimed the lead with a well orchestrated drive by Eli Manning capped off by a touchdown to David Tyree. All of a sudden, the upset seemed possible. The Patriots followed up by punting, and the Giants had a chance to drive the nail through the coffin when Plaxico Burress broke free down field and Eli Manning overthrew him. The Pats dodged the bullet and got the ball back. Finally, New England showed themselves as the team that started 18-0. Tom Brady was sharp again, Randy Moss was finally getting the ball, and the Patriots effortlessly drove downfield. After missing Moss badly on a After three fairly uneventful quarters, the fourth became a war as the throw to the end zone, Brady atoned for the misfire by finding him wide open to make the score 14-10 New England with less than 3 minutes to play.

Then came Eli Manning's defining drive as a pro. I have dogged the "other Manning" his entire career (all four years of it). Perhaps partially out of me being a huge Peyton Manning fan, but mostly because I expect more out of him when I watch. So here he is, down four points, 83 yards away from a game winning drive. He was great when he had to be. After nearly throwing a killer interception that Asante Samuel dropped on the sideline, Manning settled down.

The defining moment was the play he made escaping the Patriots defensively line, chucking the ball downfield, and David Tyree making the catch of the decade for 32 yards and a first down on 3rd and five. Those are the types of plays that when you play Madden, you know the computer has made the decision that you are NOT going to win this game. A few plays later, Ellis Hobbs stumbled in coverage and left Plaxico Burress wide open for a 13 yard score and 35 ticks on the clock. My jaw dropped and did not close for the remainder of the game. Two plays into the Patriots possession, Tom Brady was sacked for the 5th time. That followed two incomplete bombs to Moss and the upset was complete. Eli Manning is now a champion the year after his brother exorcised his own demons in Miami. Both siblings winning MVP honors for that game. The Patriots have their own record, the most wins in a season for a team that DIDN'T win the Super Bowl. Some more observations below:

• Speaking of Eli Manning (19/34, 255 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT), how is it that he plays one great quarter of football and wins MVP honors while the Giants defensive line dominated from start to finish and gets overshadowed? Taking nothing away from Eli (trust me, this is not the Peyton fan coming out of me, he shouldn't have won his Super Bowl MVP with the game Dominic Rhodes played against the Bears), but Michael Strahan would have been a logical choice, or Justin Tuck, or Osi Umenyiora. They did what no team has been able to consistently do from start to finish in a game, hit and rattle Tom Brady.
• While Laurence Maroney was ineffective (14 carries, 36 yards, 1 touchdown), you wonder why the Patriots completely abandoned the run in the second half. Maroney was kept in check in the 1st half of the AFC title game against San Diego yet erupted in the 2nd, keying their victory. In a game as close as that one, balance would have been better served and they may not have had to come back twice.
• Which brings me to the coaching, Bill Belichick was thoroughly outclassed by Tom Coughlin. A play that is receiving little attention was when the Patriots faced 4th and 13 from the 32 yard line up 7-3 in the 3rd quarter. They opted to go for it (an extremely low percentage play) as opposed to trying a 49 yard field goal with second year kicker Stephen Gostkowski (career long of 52 yards). Gostkowski is 9/13 in his career regular season and playoffs on field goal tries from 40 yards or further (2/2 from 50+). Indoors with no elements affecting him, the Patriots had a 69% chance of 3 points versus an estimated 10% likelihood of converting the play into a first down followed by a touchdown going for it. The numbers favored OVERWHELMINGLY favored the field goal attempt. Sure, Gostkowski may miss the 49 yarder (by no means a guarantee), but that's three points if he makes it. By the way, the Patriots lost by three points.
• Maybe there actually was something to Tom Brady's ankle injury, I haven't seen him play that poorly in years. Great game plan by the Giants defense, poor preparation and inexplicably poor play from the Patriots and Tom Brady.

Finally, an acknowledgment to my fiancée Rachel. As often as I defended Peyton Manning in the with his Super Bowl XLI victory, she was equally quick to come to Eli's defense when I would constantly berate him. I promised her that if Eli actually won the Super Bowl, I would back off and admit he's not as bad as I make him out to be just because he doesn't put up Peyton's numbers. You win babe. You win.

That is what goes into an upset. This is why we watch sports, to see if something unexpected happens. It happened, and for one night, the Giants were the best football team in the NFL. Now, they are Super Bowl champions. *sigh* Seasons like these are what upset me even more as a Lions fan. So many teams in my lifetime have made unexpected runs into contention and to a championship. Yet the Lions are consistently a laughingstock. Well, Bobby Layne told the Lions that they would not win anything for 50 years when he was traded to Pittsburgh. That was in 1958, maybe now the half century curse has expired. Maybe next year...