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Wow.

That was all my overly excited brain could come up with to best describe this game. The Best Game Ever. The Biggest Upset. The imperfect team beats the unbeatable team. Giants fulfill Plaxico's guarantee. Eli Manning's coming of age. The Catch II. "18-1! 18-1! 18-1!"

I'll get into all those things and reflections, but first here is my game breakdown emotions:

6:30-7:00 PM

Church just ended. For some reason I thought the kickoff was past 7 PM. I turned on a radio at church and I'm pleased to hear about the Giants' opening drive, but really displeased that they settled for the field goal. I knew that drive in the red zone was in trouble after the Giants messed up on the 1st down throw from the 17. Damn, why don't you at least run on first down to make 2nd and 3rd down more manegable. But at least they took away positive points on this drive.

Next Hour

I had to run some errands and was listening to the game on the radio while I picked up some food from Papa John's to bring to a friend's house. The dynamic in the car ride was interesting as I had two people who were brothers (not mine), one a big giants fan, and one a big patriots fan. You would hear alternating cheers and groans on each big play.

The second big negative play of the game (Antonio Pierce's Pass Interference was the first) made me groan inwardly. Oh no Eli, don't start turning over the ball and going back to being mistake-prone. After hearing some replays I felt better about it because the ball was catchable and Smith just couldn't hold onto it.

Both teams kept trading defensive blows and held each other out of the endzone as Patriots maintained a slim 7-3 lead. We finally arrived at our friend's house and we ended up missing what went on before the half because they were struggling trying to get the game to work in the basement (a kind elderly couple were letting us use the basement of their house), and we just couldn't get a signal of the game (a person with knowledge of it said it was because everyone was tuned into the game and was stealing away the signal - all the other local channels were working). Fortunately we were able to find an extension to hook to the upstairs cable and after Tom Petty's halftime show, we had the rest of the game in picture perfect quality. So at this point all I knew was that the score was the same (I only found out afterwards that Giants made a great defensive stand).

3rd Quarter

Alright! Now we can all watch the game together with picture perfect quality and great food. And the fact that the Giants are only trailing by four points at halftime made me feel pretty good. They were playing phenomenal defense on this vaunted Patriots' offense, and everyone who said the Giants would be blown out were pretty wrong. This game was going to be close. And this halftime deficit had the exact same feeling as the halftime of the Green Bay Game. If it wasn't for a ton of Giant mistakes (interception, fumble), it should be the Giants that are at least up 9-7 at halftime. I felt good about the Giant chances in the 2nd half.

The Questionable Decision

Those beast of men playmakers: Welker & Faulk were making the Giants' lives miserable. But a huge sack dropped Brady into 4th & 13 on the NYG31. What the heck? Patriots are going for it? Whoa, you're being pretty cocky there Belichick! Still I was kind of worried they would make another backbreaking 1st down, but fortunately the incomplete dud let the Giants take possession. This would be one of the key plays of the game. I think the Patriot's kicker could definitely kick one in from 48 yards, and even if he missed, their defense was playing great. I just couldn't understand why they didn't take the points right there to go up by a TD.

4th Quarter

Yes, big pass to the Bossman! Man the Giants were being so bad on offense all game, that play was huge to move the chains. They were able to turn that momentum into a great play-action throw to Tyree for the score.

Giants up 10-7. Time left when the Patriots took the lead in the 4th Q of the Giants-Pats regular season finale - 11:06. Time that Giants had left when Tyree scored - 11:05. Hmm... It was here that I whispered to my fellow Giant fans: Yo, that field goal that the Patriots didn't kick looks like it's going to be a game changer here. They replied back to me that I'm jumping the gun.

After the two teams traded off unsuccesful possessions, the Patriots finally started getting some rhythm going with their offense. This is where I started to feel the stomach churning. Here was another of those clutch Tom Brady drives that always takes place in the 4th quarter. I was hoping against hope that it would be limited to a field goal, but they were able to punch the touchdown in. With 2 1/2 minutes the pro-Giants crowd at my friend's house was silenced. The SOLE Patriots' fan was cheering and in a good mood.

Patriots up 14-10. Tom Brady, harrassed and hit the whole game, has just done the amazing once again. 

My Patriot friend asked me, "How much do you trust Eli with a game-ending drive?" I answered I wasn't sure. But if there was ever a time for Eli to become a man and prove himself, it was for this. Isn't this what all young QB's dream about with a Superbowl win on the line? Still, 4 points seemed like a mountain to climb.

The Catch II

The Giants kept making small gains and churning out the 1st downs that were needed. It was 3rd and 5 on the NYG44 yardline, when the miraculous happened. I still get shivers watching that replay over and over. I was certain Eli was going to get sacked. But somehow and some way he escaped the pocket, and threw a pass to Tyree that was the most amazing grab I have ever seen. They gained 32 yards, and suddenly they're at the NE24 yardline. We were all going crazy. Can the Giants really pull this off? They keep moving forward, solid 1st down catch by Steve Smith, then a great fade route to Plaxico in the corner of the endzone. Touchdown!

Giants up 17-14. Thirty something seconds left on the clock. This felt exactly like when Peyton led Indy to the lead in the RCA dome a year ago. Brady is great, but he still needs more than a 1 min to lead the Patriots to a game-tying/winning drive. There just wasn't enough time. Of course I was still worried.

Please win Giants, please stop them this one last drive. The 2nd & 10 rush was incredible. Who the HECK are you Alford? Damn I'm glad you are on my team. With two last desperation heaves, the perfect Patriots suddenly became imperfect and we just had the Greatest Giants' Superbowl Win ever.

Wow

My Giants are the Superbowl champions of the world. This same team that kept getting ridiculed and insulted by tons of fans had to take criticism no longer for their play. This team wanted it the most and they won it in the most incredible fashion - against a team that seemed so "evil" and so "perfect". If you are a fan of the Giants, how could you not be moved by this game? This is one of those fairy tale endings you see happening for other people but never for your team.

18-1

So close yet so far. Perhaps no other team in the history of the game will live in such infamy for their loss in the Superbowl. The Best Team to Not Win the Superbowl. The great underdogs slayed their Goliath.

Final Thoughts:

-I felt really good about the Giants heading into this game, but I got kind of nervous when Plaxico made his prediction. Don't wake up sleeping "Giants" Plax, look at what the Patriots do to all the others who guarantee wins! But you know what? The Giants are made of sterner stuff. Just like how the Phillies rallied around Jimmy Rollins' guarantee of them clinching their first division title in a decade, the Giants were loose and confident to back up Plaxico's score. As much as what Plax said was an insult to the Patriots' offense, their reaction was an insult to the G-Men's Pride. You think it's a joke that we can beat you up?

-42 is my number of destiny. It's my birthday and it's been my lucky number all my life. For the Giants to be playing in this Superbowl, I just had a good feeling about it. And then after the Patriots decided not to kick that FG, I just felt that was going to bite them back in the butt at the end. Those kind of plays almost always come back to haunt you.

-Coughlin, Eli, and the entire Giants' squad (especially that defense!) were incredible. They really represented what a team should be all about, and they all had the upmost faith in each other. Even when others counted them out (including me), they believed and kept fighting and kept winning.

-For the rest of my life I don't have to answer about championship losses. I've experienced so many in my short life. Knicks in '94 and '99, Giants in '00, and Mets in '01 (to our crosstown rivals!) With the way everything was set up, it looked like it might be my 5th championship defeat for a team that I root for. Thank you so much NY Giants that I can carry on this championship for the rest of my life with joy and happiness for what an incredible playoff ride this has been.

-My prediction was pretty close, the Giants did win by 3 points like I thought, though I thought it would have to be a higher scoring game for the Giants to win (27-24).

-Interesting Fact: No QB who threw for the most passing yards in the regular season has ever won the Superbowl. Their combined records: 0-42 including the latest failure by the last passiog champion: Brady.

-Thank you NY Giants for such an incredible playoffs and the way you won in such a dramatic fashion.

18-1

I'm never going to forget this for the rest of my life.

-Lastly to the Patriots: you were an incredible team. Brady, Welker, & Faulk: You are the kind of players I would take on my team any day. You gave the Giants all we could handle. I hope you better luck in the future, with Brady you guys are definitely going to win another Superbowl. Just not this year, this is the G-Men's time to shine.

With that, jho out on the '07-'08 NFL Season ^^