Sports: Game of Giant Proportions

By Sean Bentley // Staff Writer

As the clock dwindled down to zero in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLII, all the New England Patriots andtheir fans could do was gaze at the celebrating New York Giants in utter disbelief. Even those who hadn’t joined the Patriots bandwagon on their 18-0 perfect season run were baffled to see them come up just short of reaching the elusive 19-0 when it really counted in NFL’s most prestigious event on Sunday, February 3.

In a matter of two minutes the Giants, led by quarterback Eli Manning, turned the perfect Patriots into the forever imperfect Patriots by steadily driving down the field ending in a touchdown pass to their leading wide receiver, Plexico Burress, leaving New England with only thirty-five seconds left on the clock to attempt a miraculous come back from a 17-14 New York lead. And this time, even the Patriots couldn’t bounce back from this shocking blow to their perfect season dream.

After the regular season had come to a close, no one expected opponents to even come close to winning against New England going into the playoffs, being well favored in every one of their playoff games, including a twelve point favorite in the Super Bowl, based on some solid reasons too. Besides going into the Super Bowl a perfect 18-0, quarterback Tom Brady was announced the Most Valuable Player of the league and had broken the record for most touchdowns in a single season with fifty. Plus, wide receiver Randy Moss caught a record high twenty-three touchdowns for one season. These accomplishments and more didn’t mean anything in the end though, as they didn’t come through in the one game that fans and athletes ultimately look upon in the end to measure a team’s success. Instead of Tom Brady and Randy Moss stealing the show as they were expected to do, Eli Manning and Plexico Burress ended up taking the spotlight away from them by pulling off one of the greatest upsets in NFL history.

Although the Patriots had achieved what no other team has yet to accomplish, a 16-0 perfect regular season, after Super Bowl XLII they will always be remembered as the best team to ever end their season with no Super Bowl trophy to show for their achievements. While on the other hand, the Giants, who flew under the radar during their entire season, ended up settling into a groove in the playoffs when they really needed to, and defied the odds, by narrowly defeating the undefeated.