I’m sitting in Sid’s Sports Bar on Jupiter Street in Makati. It’s 7am, and I just made it in time for the start of the broadcast. It’s not yet kickoff time.
I missed the Superbowl four straight years, usually due to work since the superbowl is on at early hours of the morning, differing a bit depending on what coast it’s being held. I was supposed to have other people with me, but I ended up doing this stag. Doesn’t really matter, I was planning to do this regardless. I thought I owed it to myself after missing it for work so many years. Especially since work for me these days starts late in the morning. Fun thing is I get to blog this, with no one else to keep entertained.
It’s also fun watching it on a big projection screen. I wish they had a big HD LCD, but this’ll do. Sure beats a small screen! And I’m saved the spectacle of seeing Tom Coughlin’s face in HD.
Okay, I hate this preproduction crap. I’ve got the Giants saying all kinds of silly things. This is ridiculous, I don’t know how the players aren’t embarrassed doing this. Resiliency my ass. And Eli looks… unsure.
I still remember how the Pats started this “come onto the field as a team” thing. It used to be that it was like the NBA, with each guy getting an intro. Better this way, I think.
It’s the Pats’ turn for the silly preprod. Brady looks every bit the movie star.
More preprod. No one’s mentioning that Strahan held out the whole offseason to avoid Coughlin’s training camp.
Jordin Sparks’s dad was an NFL player? Probably not a skill player or it would at least ring a bell.
Is Brady the greatest 6th-round draft pick ever?
Jeez, the guy interviewing Brady started several weeks for the 49ers. SF’s a mess.
You know what Jason Taylor wants right now? The Payton Award is nice, but he’d rather get a ticket out of Miami and get a chance to win a ring.
Toin coss. Ronnie Lott cosses, the Giants call tails and get the ball. I agree, they’d better batter Jacobs down the line and make the Pats defense stop him. Let Eli play the role of Trent Dilfer on the Bucs. 35 rushes. The first NTG series is gonna be crucial if they’re gonna pull the upset. They HAVE to score a TD to put pressure on the Golden Boy and his crew.
Hxon doesn’t get much of a return. Rush, Jacobs. Let’s see them keep it up! They do, not much there. 4-receiver set, shotgun. They convert 3rd and 5 to Plax, great start for Eli. Play action to Boss. Back to Jacobs I expect. Yep, but not much there. 3rd and 6 again. They have to do better on 2nd down or they’ll get into trouble soon. Conversion to Smith. Harrison is down. Timeout. Giants look good, so far.
Looks like Randall Gay is out for now. You’ve got a rook ar CB out there, but they go back to Jacobs. Love it. The NY O-line is doing fine. Peyton’s here with the face. Another run! Bradshaw’s just as much a power guy as Jacobs. Boss drops it. Another Jacobs run. Eli avoids the rush and converts again! See what a good running game does?
Miss on the long TD play to Plax. Almost picked. Another miss on Eli’s throw, so out comes Tynes for the short FG. 3 points isn’t going to do it, but it’s better than nothing. Let’s see what The Hoodie has for us on offense.
My batteries aren’t gonna last, so I’ll blog the first Pats series, then sign off until halftime.
NYG allows a 43-yard return. You can’t let them have that.
Trickeration on the first play! Interesting. Maroney picks up 9 and then 1. That’s a great start for the Pats too. Brady misses everything on his first pass, then hits Stallworth on a shallow cross. 4-wide shotgun. Conversion to Welker, first down. Short run by Evans. Screen pass to Faulk to get a fresh set of downs. 4-wide shotgun again, pass to Moss is off. Pass goes right through the hands of Faulk. 3 & 10 into the endzone to Watson, pass interference on Pierce. And the Giants are dead here. 4 tries for Brady tog et 7. Maroney carries to the 1 to end the quarter. This has “7” written all over it.
Yup, TD. NYG had better have another logn drive in them, this time for a TD, or they’re quite dead. I’ll be back at halftime.
With Alicia Keys in the background, I’m back! What a sloppy, uneventful 2nd quarter dominated by the Giants defense. No scores, which is amazing. The Giants held the Pats to the lowest 1st half yardage output they’ve had all season. The Pats O-line is getting massacred, and Brady’s been roughed up a lot.
Let’s see, so it went – Maroney scores on a short run, Manning drives down the field and ends up getting picked on a Smith drop. Brady drives down the field but gets stopped by the G-Men. Punt. Giants take a delay of game penalty (Peyton disapproves) and have a botched handoff. Punt. Brady goes three and out with two sacks. Punt. Giants go three and out. Punt. Brady marches down the field and that ends with a turnover after Brady gets hit. Giants don’t convert a hail mary, and the half is over.
The good news: the Giants are playing well, especially with the running game, and their defense is dominant today. The bad news: they’re still down 3-7 and haven’t come close to sniffing a touchdown. At this point, while the Pats are no longer 12-point favorites, they’re still favorites. One big play will win this game, and the Pats are more likely to come up with something like that than the Giants are.
Despite the struggles of the NE O-Line, and the ball that Brady almost lost after getting hit on the pass, the Pats haven’t made mistakes. The Giants vets have made plays. The defense led by Strahan and Umenyiora has been very good. Toomer and Burress have made nice catches. But their kids, Smith and Boss and Bradshaw have put the ball on the ground several times. Eli’s made a couple of mental mistakes that Brady or his bro wouldn’t make.
And now The Hoodie and The Ernie get to make adjustments.
Regardless, I think Spagnuolo’s gonna get an interview with the Skins (and maybe the Raiders) after this is all over. He’s earned a big payday.
They’ve unearthed Tom Petty’s desiccated corpse to play halftime. I’ll be back in the 4th to wrap up what’s looking like a close game that the Pats are still going to win.
I don’t think the Giants change the game plan. They stay with the run game, but they have to stop making mistakes. They have to hope their defense can make good on the Plaxico prediction to keep the Pats to 17 points. If Brady gets 2 TDs, and that’s one good quarter for him, the Gs are in big trouble.
Belichick will fix Tom’s protection, possibly going max-protect or going to some more screens and maybe some trickeration. Let’s see.
Q3. Brady’s protection hasn’t gotten any better, and the Giants are still struggling to score. The question here is whether the Giants defense makes a mistake first or the Giants offense gives the ball away in bad position (or in the worst case, a pick-6). This is a low-scoring game, but it’s one of the best I’ve watched. Brady looks frustrated. The Giants are stil outgaining the Pats. Looks like the two weeks helped the Giants just as much as the Pats.
In a shocker, Belichick goes for it on 4th down and they don’t convert
It’s 11 minutes to go in the 4th and the Giants just scored on Manning’s pass to David Tyree. The Giants defense is looking even stronger, and the Pats defense is bending too far. If the Giants hold here, it looks very good for them.
Moss catches a pass. The Giants kids got to make some plays in that last series and Boss and Smith came up with big catches. Brady’s not sharp today, which is a huge deal. Is the pressure getting to him? Is the beating getting to him? The Giants defense has been pounding on him all day. Another hurry, another miss. Another punt. Chris Hansen hasn’t been this busy all season!
Eli gets the ball back with a chance to make this a two-possession game. If he converts here, all bets are off.
Great scamper by Manning, but he just lofted that ball high for Plax. Another good Eli throw ends with Toomer short of the first down by a yard or two. Punt. In the punting game, Feagles is keeping pace with Hansen. Never thought that that would be a big deal in Superbowl 42 eh?
So Tom gets the ball back, and it’s still a one-possession game with time running out. Anyone’s game, but will this Pats offense really not get a score in the second half? Strahan’s looking like the Giants MVP so far.
Brady to Welker, then to Moss for the first down. Randy’s going down the middle, which means that they’re desperate. Moss hates contact. Maroney carries for 9. Look for a shot into the endzone here. Long enough, pass to Welker for a big gain. Wes has 10 catches. Pass to Faulk who smartly steps out to stop the clock. Welker catches #11, tying a Superbowl record. If they pull this out, he’s the MVP.
Moss ventures back into the middle to catch a pass for first down. This is amazing. Moss is giving up his body to win. Kevin Faulk catches another pass. They’re in full West Coast Offense mode, with Tom spreading the ball around. This is the first Pats drive of the day that looks anything like what they were during the season.
Red zone time. Again, this smells like a score. The Giants need a big stand or a pick here. Brady’s getting the ball out quick. Wide on a pass to Randy, which should have been a gimme. Brady’s feeling the heat. Incomplete to Welker. 3rd and goal now. Wow, great graphic. The Pats have won all three of their Bowls by 3 points, but never with a score this low. That’s ironic because this team broke the NFL single-season scoring record.
Brady to Moss, TD as Butler falls down on the goal line single coverage. Easy catch. Gostkowski nails the extra point.
So now Eli has to get a TD to win. Completion to Toomer down the middle. Incomplete to Plax. Incomplete to a double-teamed Plax. Two minute warning.
So. If Eli gets this done, he erases any remaining stigma of being Eli of old and becomes another Superbowl-winning clutch Manning. If he doesn’t, he’s Ol’ Eli again.
It was unrealistic to expect the Pats to lay an egg.
The Pats defense is fired up.
Complete to a diving Amani Toomer, spot looks short of the first down. 4th and 1. They have to go for it with 1:40 to go. Jacobs easily powers through for a couple of yards to move the chains.
Eli takes off and almost loses the ball. Timeout NYG. 2nd and 5. Manning throws it away and is almost picked by Asante Samuel.
Play of the game. Manning has three Pats grabbing him, and he escapes to throw a long pass that is barely caught by David Tyree at the peak of his leap, with two Pats draped all over him.
59 seconds on the Pats 25. Manning has nothing and tries to take off. Sack by Adaluis Thomas. Giants burn their last timeout. 2nd and 11 now. Almost picked off again! Tyree almost comes up with it, then drops it. Complete to Smith! First down! 39 ticks.
Manning to Buress TD! Hobbs blows the coverage in a one on one situation, and what the hell is Plax doing with single coverage anyway? He’s got 6 inches on Hobbs! Peyton approves.
So. Can Brady do anything with 29 seconds?
Four long shots down the field. First one misses.
Second one ends in an awesome sack on Brady. The Pats O-line got killed today.
Giants in a Cover 3. Moss almost gets it on a double teamed streak on the third.
Last gasp time. 4th and 20 but it doesn’t matter.
Giants win the Superbowl. This game belonged to the NYG defense. Eli was good, managing the game (ha), making important throws and not making any mistakes (that pick wasn’t his fault). The NE defense also did its job, holding the Giants to 17 points. So it was Brady and the NE offense that didn’t deliver.
Lots of money was made in Vegas by the hardy souls that bet on a NYG outright win. Money was also made on the spread, which was 12 at kickoff. And this cements the Superbowl as the most unpredictable culmination of any sport. The Pats have been on both ends now (see the 2001 SB vs the Rams).
For a 17-14 game, this was one of the best Superbowls ever.
Until next year.
