I didn't really care who won this Super Bowl. I had picked the New York Giants to win in the newspaper, so I kind of wanted that to turn out correctly, but mostly I just wanted to see a great game.
And that's what we got Sunday night, with the Giants edging New England 21-17 in a game not decided until Tom Brady's Hail Mary bounced to the ground as the clock went to zero.
I thought the commercials were disappointing as a whole, I liked Madonna's halftime show more than I thought I would and I loved the game itself.
Having hall of fame quarterbacks on both sides -- and yes, I think Eli Manning just punched his eventual ticket to Canton -- makes such a difference. It means every play seems to have more weight because each QB can burn the other defense at any time. Here are 5 things I loved about this Super Bowl:
1) The "No-I-Don't-Really-Want-To-Score" Touchdown. Bill Belichick made a good move in the last two minutes. Knowing that the Giants were down 17-15 but inside the 10 with a chip shot field goal coming with only 15-20 seconds left if the Patriots played regular D, Belichick allowed the Giants to score instead.
But Ahmad Bradshaw didn't want to score. He got to the 1, realized he shouldn't go in, and then sort of fell over into the end zone anyway. That gave Brady the final shot, which made the game more dramatic anyway.
2) The way the Giants got to 21. If you looked at the score without knowing anything, you'd assume it was three touchdowns. Instead, it was a safety, two touchdowns, an extra point, a missed two-point try and two field goals. Those sorts of 21s are usually the way the casino beats me in blackjack.
3) Charlotteans playing well. Both the Giants' Hakeem Nicks (Independence High, UNC) and Chris Canty (Charlotte Latin) made key plays, and Nicks was especially effective.
4) Brady's drive just before the half. I'm not a big Brady fan personally, but I appreciate the excellence. He completed a startling 10-for-10 for 98 yards and a TD on that drive, and that was basically without TE Gronkowski, who could barely run and was hardly a factor.
5) Eli's throw to Manningham. On that final Giants' drive, Manningham's gorgeous sideline catch of a perfect Manning throw was the longest -- and best -- play of the game. It turned the momentum entirely and set up a great last two minutes, which is what you hope for anytime the Super Bowl is played.
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9 years ago
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7 comments:
This team will never get there again - They are part of the supporting cast of the big market clubs, and the previous visit was a fluke.
Ahmad Bradshaw wanted to score and get his name in the books. That waspoor acting.
At Anon 7:42 I guess you're talking about the Giants. They've won two recent Superbowls. More than most current teams. That's all anyone needs to know. You sound like a jealous New Englander who's still stinging from the last loss against the GMen.
Peyton Manning is now known as "Eli's older brother"
suck it Peyton!
as a panther fan I enjoyed seeing deon grant play a significant role in the giants win. Pretty cool after starting for us in the super bowl he was finally able to win one toward the end of his career, and even better, to do it while playing against the patriots again. the pats werent the only ones playing for revenge yesterday. Congrats deon, I hope the panthers will be able to join u in that club soon.
I simply HATE all NY teams. All of them. Yanks, Mets, Giants, Jets, Kincks, Nets, Rangers, Islanders, Devils, and the Watkins Glen racetrack. If it's in NY, I hate it. I am so sick of every face ever on TV always screaming about NY being so superior to everywhere else that going to heaven is a step down. I hate NY.
So obviously I was rooting for the Patriots. When they were driving on that next-to-last drive and stalled out at midfield with 4 minutes left, I knew it was over and NY was going to win.
Eli reminds me a lot of John Elway - great QB, ugly as homemade sin, and never, never, never, ever losing a game when he has the ball last. And yes, he is now a Hall of Fame lock. Ugh.
On another subject - the commercials. As a whole, they were underwhelming with a few great ones. Just like last year, the Doritos ads lapped all the others. As one who prefers dogs to cats, I loved that first one where the dog buried the cat and bribed the guy with Doritos. The CareerBuilder monkeys were solid as usual, as was the Clydesdales' appearance. I liked the polar bears flipping, slipping and sliding all over the ice to save the bottle of Coke, but at the end I found myself saying, "You do all that to a soda bottle and when you open it, it is going to spew all over creation!"
Overall, pretty average except those few. At least we didn't have an ad full of fat dudes in tighty whities this year...
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