Manning leads Giants over Pats in Super Bowl XLVI

Ahmad Bradshaw runs for tough yards against the Patriots
(William Perlman/The Star-Ledger)

The result was a carbon copy of the last time these two teams faced one another in the Super Bowl. At the end of the game it was Giants 21, Patriots 17 and Eli Manning raised both the Lombardi trophy as well as the game MVP award. Manning lead the Giants on a game winning drive, late in the game but this time, the touchdown that provided final separation was on the ground and widely regarded as a gaffe instead of a great effort by receiver and quarter back.

The Giants received the opening kickoff and the offense was clicking early. The Patriot defense seemed to have trouble tackling the the running back tandem of Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs. As the game wore on though, the New England strategy became more apparent. Instead of trying to make the tackle early on they were trying to strip the ball from the ball carriers. They did so with success on several occasions but they were unable to capitalize on the defensive plays all the fumbles being either recovered by the Gaints or negated on a fumble.

Eli and the Giants moved the ball into Patriot territory, using a healthy does of the run game, mixing in passes to keep them honest but the New England defense buckled down in their own territory and forced a loss on three consecutive plays, two of them sacks on Manning. This brought on the punter Steve Weatherford who would be an unsung hero through the game.

After Weatherford's punt was downed on the 6 yard line the Patriots went to work. Brady dropped back to pass and on the first offensive play from scrimmage Justin Tuck got pressure up the middle and forced Brady into an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone which resulted in a safety for the defense. After the ensuing free kick, the New York offense was back on the field.

This time they would take advantage of the New England defense going 78 yards on 9 plays. The Patriots appeared to have taken over on a fumble recovery in the red zone as Sterling Moore stripped the ball from Victor Cruz after a completion but the Pats' recovery was wiped off the board when the defense was penalized for having too many men on the field. Hope sprang eternal and Cruz would make up for his mistake two plays later when he caught Manning's only TD pass on the day from two yards out.

At the end of the first quarter, the Giants were in control. both of the ball and the scoreboard, leading 9-0 after the opening period. The Patriots ended the quarter having only possessed the ball for three and a half minutes, but Brady and company were on the move.

As much as the first quarter belonged to the Giants, the second belonged to the Patriots. Tom Brady lead the Pats down the field into the Giants red zone. The Patriots stalled but got a field goal out of it, finally showing signs of life from the offense. The Patriots would stand tall on defense again, not allowing another point throughout the first half. Weatherford's third punt of the day was downed on the one yard line but Brady would respond with a 14 play 99 yard drive which lead to the end of the first half. Brady was left without much to work with on the scoring play but Woodhead found a hole in the defense and Brady found him, putting the Patriots ahead going into the second half.

To open the game, the Patriots had elected to kick the ball so they would essentially get the ball for two consecutive possessions, having had the last say in the first half. By this time, New England had all the momentum and quickly marched up the field, scoring another touchdown. Brady this time found Aaron Hernandez for a 12 yard touchdown pass to put New England up 17-9. They would not score again.

 The Giants responded with a drive which gave them a field goal, drawing closer to the Pats. Defensively, the Giants dug in and forced a New England 3 and out but again were only able to convert the possession into a field goal. The next possession truly changed the face of the game. Two plays into the fourth quarter, Brady was pressured, nearly fumbled but escaped the pressure. He saw Gronkowski deep and threw it up, but the ankle was clearly bothering Gronk this evening as Carter Blackburn intercepted Brady's pass giving the ball back to the Giants.

New York wouldn't do anything with the possession though and ended up trading punts with the Patriots. The next time the Giants had the ball it became the Eli Manning show. Starting with the ball inside his own 15 Manning went deep to Mario Manningham in what would be the play of the game. Manningham tiptoed the sideline and held onto the ball getting the ball to midfield in one play. After an incompletion, Manning would complete his next four passes and put the Giants in position to win the game. Ahman Bradshaw took a hand off up the middle and Bradshaw's momentum would carry him into the end zone. The Giants failed on the two point conversion, giving them a 4 point lead with just under a minute to go in the game.

Brady would convert on a 4th and 16 deep in his own territory and got the Pats within striking distance with one play to decide it all. Brady threw up a hail mary and the ball fell to the turf after being batted down, falling just out of reach of Rob Gronkowski. Brady broke Joe Montana's record of consecutive completions in the Super Bowl but did manage 276  yards passing without much help from the running game. A couple drops late from normally sure handed receivers did not help his cause but at the end of the game, the Giants came out on top.

MVP Eli Manning turned in a 30-40 passing performance for 296 yards and the touchdown pass to Cruz. In the wake of the game to this point, coach Tom Coughlin has stated he wants to keep coaching and Belicheck has stated that "It's too early to make a decision." It was a tremendous cap to a season that was up in the air from the very beginning. Much like the season, the game wasn't decided until the 11th hour and left fans on the edge of their seats till the final whistle.