Having mulled it over the day, I’m sure now. The MVP of the game was Strahan. They just felt compelled to give it to Eli because offensive skill players always get the spotlight. However, Eli’s two TDs would certainly not have been nearly enough without Strahan and company demolishing the New England offensive line and pounding Tom Brady’s good looks into the Arizona Astroturf.
So what exactly did Eli do? He made one great play (that escape from a near sack) followed by hitting that long pass to Tyree. That pass was ill-advised. It could have been picked off. Otherwise, he made a lot of fairly ordinary passes, albeit under pressure. He is the kind of guy who plays online roulette games and keeps winning just by betting on the number 10. Sure, his receivers dropped a lot of balls. What’s new? These are the 2007 New York Giants. Burress has always been a ball-dropper. Luckily, Shockey wasn’t around to add to the pain.
It was the defense that played way above expectations. They even beat Plaxico’s 17-point forecast, holding the Pats offense to two touchdowns. Two touchdowns! That’s way beyond anyone’s expectations. It would probably have been deemed impossible by prognosticators. Five sacks. Huge number of hurries. Kicked the living daylights out of Brady. The only big boo-boo was leaving Hobbs in single coverage in the red zone against Burress. They shut down the running game after Maroney ripped off five straight 100-yard games. The only guys they allowed to roam free were Welker and Faulk, giving up short yardage. None of the trickeration fooled them. They even took away the screen pass.
So give the game ball to defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, who wasn’t afraid to blitz Brady and make him beat them. The Patriots kept getting beat on the edge rush, and when they tried to cover that, straight down the gut. Brady had to hurry his passes, because whenever he’d hold the ball for a long throw, a Giant would come up and nail him as he threw, usually spoiling the pass. The Golden Boy was short, wide, high and generally far less accurate than the guy who went 26-of-28 a few weeks ago.
So sorry Eli, you shouldn’t have been the MVP of this Superbowl. The Giants defense are the ones that put that ring on your finger, so say thank you to them.
