AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2008 > February > 04 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USA Super Bowl beyond compare
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Furman Bisher
Let me first say this, that after all these years of Super Boredom, I have just watched the most memorable Super Bowl of them all. A jewel. A Super Bowl that lived up to and far exceeded all the others beyond all measures. An Everest among Rockies. Not a Brady, but another Manning masterpiece. Not Peyton this time, the kid brother Eli, who grew 10 feet tall in one evening in Arizona.
I’m sorry I wasn’t there. It would have been worth the trip and all the excesses. Even Arlen Specter, the senator-cum-commissioner, couldn’t make a dent in this spectacle. Nothing could let the air out of Tom Coughlin’s balloon. Here’s to the weathered old coach, run out of Jacksonville, having to make a case for himself with the Giants to hold his job one more year, then taking his show on the road and stealing the locals’ thunder. Tampa Bay, Dallas, Green Bay in a blizzard — Barnum and Bailey never had a better run. There was no wiggle room. Win or go home.
This one, No. 42, was different. Coughlin’s crowd didn’t have to win this one. They had already overshot every goal set for them. They were facing the most perfect team in the history of the NFL. Tom Brady was Mr. America, be-dimpled features, excessively handsome and charming as a knight. Bill Belichick, grumpy, usually dressed in the style of the non-extinct Maytag repairman, and a push for the image established by Vince Lombardi. Poor old Tom Coughlin, he had no chance in a Mr. Personality contest. By the time he got to Phoenix, the crystal trophy (named for Lombardi) had virtually been awarded to the Patriot from Boston.
What happened will be dissected, bisected and autopsied until football is played on Mars. Yeah, you have to hand it to Manning, the back-up brother. All the other Giants could do was hold the fort until Eli found his game. And I’ll say this, when Brady connected with Randy Moss for a 14-10 lead, I thought it was over. These were the great Patriots, who might win by three touchdowns. Ha!
Who could ever forget those last few minutes, when Eli squirted out of a threshing mess of Giants and Patriots, tore loose from some guy who had hold of his shirt, then threw a pass that David Tyree didn’t catch, but balanced on his headgear like a circus seal. Then the dagger, Eli’s pass that Plaxico Burress caught for the last touchdown. Brady had a few rockets left in his arsenal, but the Giants’ defense wasn’t losing this one.
In the final summation, with all due respect to Eli and his cast, this one belonged to the defense. To Michael Strahan, to Osi Umenyiora, to Justin Tuck, to Antonio Pierce, to James Butler and Kawika Mitchell and all the trench warriors. They didn’t get to Phoenix to play dead for New England. They smothered Laurence Maroney and the running game. (His net was 36 yards, wasn’t it?) True, they couldn’t keep Wes Welker under control, but his damage was only a sting, not a bite. Moss was constrained, just as he was throughout the postseason.
Only in the latter stages of the season did Coughlin have all his Giants in health. You had to check through the press guide to come up with some of the stars, Steve Smith, Ahmad Bradshaw, Kevin Boss, Brandon Jacobs and Tyree, not to mention that all this was done without Jeremy Shockey. (Some critics said Manning was better off without him.)
Eli didn’t come out blazing. Not until he got the Patriots off on an 83-yard drive to take the lead did he begin to show his authority. That was his launching point. He was in the game. He and his defense were now on the same page, and the rest of the evening would be theirs. I’ve seen 40 of these, a great deal of them a sorrowful conclusion to the draggy, party-laden Super Bowl Week. It will be a long time before you ever see another like this, if ever.
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By Howard
February 4, 2008 7:19 PM | Link to this
Furman…it was indeed the 2nd greatest Super Bowl in history…nothing can top SB III when the Colts were upended by the Jets. That throw and catch by Manning to Tyree has to rate as the greatest play in history, though. Too bad Bellichik had to show his lack of class by running on the field with :02 left and shake hands with Coughlin and then run off the field, trying to postpone the inevitable demise of his “perfect” team. He knew the NFL rules well enough to know he couldn’t pull a boorish stunt like that. I wasn’t a big fan of him anyway after his cheating episode…that cowardly, Randy Moss-type runaway he did last night sealed in concrete my disgust for the man.
By Blue Water
February 4, 2008 7:44 PM | Link to this
Bellichik didn’t show nothing but a broken heart when he ran off the field. As a coach, I hated to lose so bad it made me sick. Great job Giant’s and little Manning. A class family indeed.
By Ross
February 4, 2008 8:09 PM | Link to this
Manning was better than Namath, so this was a bigger win IMO. The Jets won behind Boozer and Snell, not on Namath’s arm. The Giants won by shutting down the best offense ever with the most ferocious pass rush I’ve ever seen in a playoff game, and with the gutty play of Manning, who pulled a real “Archie” on that 3rd and 5 to Tyree - one of the great plays in any game, any time!
I was in St. Louis for their 2001 season. Although not perfect, we annihilated our opponets, both in the regular season and the playoffs, and were 14 point favorites in the Game. Our offense was shut down, some of it our own fault. We rallied to tie the score coming down to the end, but lost on a long FG at the buzzer. Oh that hurt! But it can’t hurt as much as this one did for Patsy nation. The worst thing for them is the abysmal sportsmanship displayed by their skipper - I would find it hard to live with such ignominy, regardless of the outcome on the field. There is more to sports than winning. When it was all said and done, we in St. Louis recovered quickly from our defeat and were raring to go come next season. The Patriots will never live down the allegations of cheating and the miserable behavior of their brain trust.
-drl
By Joe
February 4, 2008 8:24 PM | Link to this
I agree w/ Blue—- Belichick did what was necessary… He’s a coach first & their goal is to win…He lost on the biggest stage. in a game he was favored to win by 12 points…He wanted out & I cant fault him for it… GO GIANTS!!!!!!!!
By dave
February 4, 2008 8:34 PM | Link to this
Good column, Furman. Thanks.
dave
By Charley
February 4, 2008 10:30 PM | Link to this
Furman, you’re wrong on the New England being the most perfect team in the history of the NFL. Only one team was and still is perfect, The 1972 Miami Dolphins. To be perfect you must have no loses and no ties. The 1972 Miami Dolphins, still the Gold Standard. Best Ever!
By Barry Pace
February 4, 2008 11:10 PM | Link to this
Uh what game were you watching? it was not even interesting till 5:00 mins left in the 4th Qtr!
By PM
February 4, 2008 11:18 PM | Link to this
The 73 Dolphins won their first regular season game to give them 18 in a row. They went on to a 15-2 record and another Super Bowl win. Thats 32-2 in two years! Let’s see if the Patriots can go 14-2 or better next year and then win the Super Bowl. Until they do the Dolphins of 71-73 are the greatest team of all time!
By Dr. Warren
February 5, 2008 4:50 AM | Link to this
The complaint that all Super Bowls are boring should have died with the superb Rams-Titans game in Atlanta years ago. Not sure why Furman says “after all these years of boredom” when each of the Patriots’ Super Bowl wins this decade were 3-pointers, also, with the wins over the Rams and Panthers true nail-biters.
By Political Foreskin
February 5, 2008 6:24 AM | Link to this
CNN just reported that New York’s Mayor Bloomberg banned a float planned for today’s ticker tape parade celebrating the Giant’s win over the Patriots. The float depicted mannequins dressed as New England Patriots piled high and a dancer protraying Eli Manning prancing over them.
Bellichek lost the game when he violated the golden rule of football: Take the Points you’re Given. (he declined an easily achieved field goal and turned the ball over on downs. never, ever do that. take the points you’re given. )
I said take the points you’re given!
By Ray
February 5, 2008 8:42 AM | Link to this
Watching Montana beat the Bengals in the last two minutes with a pass to Jerry Rice in the last few seconds has to be right up there with the most memorable. This one, however, was among the top three or four.
By jro
February 5, 2008 9:56 AM | Link to this
The point is, if the Patriots had won the game, it would have been the worst game ever, and the Giants would have been just another overacheiver in over their head with the big boys. But they didn’t.
By SONICMAN2
February 5, 2008 10:07 AM | Link to this
Uhhhh Barry. It was a defensive masterpiece is what we were watching. Youhave your games that are offensive shoot outs and then you have these where your on pins ans needles waiting for the other guy to break loose or can we stop them. Like the times Brady and Co, had 3rd and long and somehow got a 1st down. Was exciting for me and my group that watched it.
Political. I agree with what you are saying, but I THINK tha they were right on the edge of his range for a FG. And they were going by what brought them there. Who would have thought that THEY could be stopped so they played the odds. Plus no guarantee that a punt would work wither. IF it went in the end zone then its only a 11 yrd punt on the 20 from where they were. But thats why they didnt go for it I think.
1 of the best games Iv’e seen. Last 1 was the titans-rams which was very similar.
By floyd battles
February 5, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this
It was a great game, but second to number three and Joe Willie, In my mind it was the greatest.It put the AFC as a force to be dwelt with.
By Birds
February 5, 2008 11:57 AM | Link to this
Interestingly, this is the 2nd time the Giants have ruined a perfect season in the championship game.
They beat the previously undefeated Bears in 1934. The Bears had a perfect season again in 1942, only to have it spoiled by the Redskins in the championship game.
Not comparing the pro football of then to the pro football of now, just saying it’s interesting.
By Gene
February 5, 2008 3:09 PM | Link to this
Strahan was like some giant cat as he vaulted over multiple blockers and slammed Brady to the turf. But, it really was a team effort and appropriate that Belichick fled before the game was over. Perhaps that was a sign of the future. I am thinking that Brady may have incurred “The Curse of the Bimbo.” Boston apparently learned nothing from previous experience.
By Political Foreskin
February 5, 2008 6:53 PM | Link to this
Take the points you’re given.
By David Duke
February 5, 2008 9:04 PM | Link to this
The patriots fans are coming up with plenty of excuses now, aren’t they? They make it sound as if Brady couldn’t even walk. On Monday, he probably couldn’t after the pounding the Giants handed down. Jackass smith, leave your name and address and stand by!
By Mike
February 6, 2008 12:11 AM | Link to this
This game was perhaps the most competitive and exciting in a while, but mostly on the back of Eli, as in “Can you produce?” It’s hard to rate the Bowls. I do think that both I and III were more historically significant, even though neither were very competitive. As in SB I, we all wanted to know, for sure, how the Packers would fare against the upstart AFL. In SB III, the word was Namath, and he was good. IMO that game, for all time, insured all we have been blessed with since, including the great game on Sunday. Hail Joe Willie !!!