just got home in time for the end of the pre-game's show, and i'm PSYCHED. i don't usually get a chance to follow football, but i might've enjoyed playing football just as much as i enjoyed playing basketball as a kid.. and this year's game is biiiiiiiig, i want the Pats to have a 19-0 perfect season but I want Strahan to retire on a high note even more..
anyways, haven't really heard her music before, but Jordin Sparks has PIPES.. she's an attractive girl too, even if she's on the plump side.. doesn't matter, homegirl can SING - not often at all that i'm impressed by vocalists singing live these days.. she was lookin nervous goin into the commercial break too.. must be nuts, 73,000 people in attendance and just about all of America watching..
Manning starts the opening drive off with a couple clean, typically efficient throws.. looks good so far, and after 10 plays, the Giants have three 1st downs on a nice mix of runs and passes.. on the 3rd or 4th blitz from the Patriots, Manning ALMOST gets sacked but still finishes his throw for another 1st down.. 1st end zone pass goes to Burris, incomplete and almost intercepted off a deflection.. next pass goes to Smith, short of the a 1st down though, so the Giants settle for a field goal.. Giants should be happy with a good first drive, while the Pats are probably relieved right about now too.. 16 play, 9:59 drive.
Maroney with a huge punt return back to their 40-yard line.. here come the Tom Brady and the Pats offense starts with great field position, uh oh. two more short runs and the Pats have their first 1st down of the night.. Brady doesn't look hindered by his ankle so far, but hasn't seemed super sharp so far either - the commentators think that though he said he was 100%, there might be the residual aftereffects of his injury to deal with in planting to throw.. 3rd and 10 at the 20-yard line, and a rifle pass to Westbrook down the middle draws a pass interference penalty.. 1st down at the 1-yard line to end the 1st quarter, doesn't look great for the Giants right now. yep, Maroney punches it in on the 1st play of the 2nd quarter, extra point good - 7-3..
Pats' kickoff goes out of bounds, the Giants get to start at their 40-yard line too.. let's see if Manning can strike back, he's looked better than Brady so far in their respective 1st drives of the game.
Burress drops a nice pass up the middle that would've given the Giants a first down.. instead, its 3rd and 7. Patriots blitz comes, Jacobs picks up the rusher, and Manning launches down field to Toomer for a 38-yard completion.. nice play, only to have some of the yardage taken away as Manning misses the play clock and gets called for a delay of game. another sharp pass, and its 3rd and 5. hard pass is a bit low and goes off Smith's hands, instead Hobbs with the interception - taking it back to midfield.. 1st shift in momentum so far this game, and Manning's first INT of the post season.
3rd and 2, ball goes to Maroney and the Giants come up with their first big stop of the night forcing the Patriots to punt it back.. i was jus about to say, it'd be a shame if the Giants go into halftime down even though they've nearly tripled the Patriots in yards gained & time of possession - let's see if the Giants can show their championship-game mettle here.
good coverage forces Manning into scrambling a bit before he's sacked for a loss of 3. next play, loose ball ALMOST turns into another turnover. 3rd and 16, but at least Manning got out of that without additional damage..
two nice pass rushes turn into sacks and its the Giants turn to attack once again, this time just outside of their own 40 after a short return. Bradshaw with a quick outside burst for the first 1st down in a while.. the commentators point out the fact that Randy Moss hasn't had a chance to make a play yet so far. Giants run it again, this time with Jacobs - gain of about 7 for another first down. a short screen pass and a short run leaves the Giants at 3rd and 4. i agree with the announcers that the Giants have moved the ball well so far and that the game's pace is in their favour, but i think they need to put some points on the board before the half or risk losing their momentum without having really made use of their possession dominance so far.
fair catch leaves the Patriots at their own 11-yard line.. Brady gets hit for the 4th or 5th time so far already, and it doesn't look like the Pats will be able to get close to scoring as a short completion is made for a loss of 3 on their following play.. wow, Patriots with a great play and go back on the attack. Brady hit again by Umenyiora as he misses Randy Moss down the field on a laser of a pass.. following a 1st down and a timeout, Brady hits Moss for his first catch of the day for another 1st down before a fumble gives the ball back to the Giants with a final chance at a hail-mary at their own 49-yard line. no go, 7-3 New England.
RANDOM NOTES
there are a LOT of ads. at certain points in the game, there's 30 seconds of game coverage and then a 1-minute TV timeout lol. and the CTV ads with over-dramatic music with no narrative are really aggravating. now its halftime and there's EVEN MORE ads.. jebus.
HALFTIME SHOW
the spectacle they create for Superbowl is AMAZING, is there a bigger stage in America today? not too surprised but the musical performance put on by Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers was awesome.. by "Free Falling" we are all unabashedly singing along at the top of our lungs in my living room ahahha.. oh right, there's still a half of football to play, i almost forgot =)
2nd half starts off with the Patriots looking like they have a bit more pep in their step.. two quick 1st downs before Umenyiora makes another play for a Patriots loss of 2. Welker catches a short pass over the top before ducking down immediately (and perceptively) before he's smoked by two Giants. Brady goes for another medium range conversion, this to to Fault, but he's wrapped up by Pierce short of the 1st down and the Pats are forced to kick.
Belichick makes a good challenge though, and gets the ball back after catching the Giants with 12 men on the field. Pierce with another good play, ranging right to make the hit on Faulk after defending the line. 3rd and 13, Faulk cuts back with a good move, eluding Johnson and just barely getting another 1st down. 3rd and 7 again, but this time Strahan FLIES by his man on the outside and takes Brady down for Strahan's first full sack of the game - Brady is visibly frustrated, Faulk seems ot have suffered a pulled hamstring and all the pieces are in place for an underdog upset - can the Giants pull it off though?
Manning with a perfect pass down field to Toomer in double coverage for a first down.. a run is stopped, and Manning lasers in another pass to Toomer on almost the exactly same throw/route to pick up another first down. again, with 4 mins left in the 3rd quarter, Manning has outperformed his counterpart so far.. getting into Pats territory, Manning goes long to Burris who barely drops the pass in TRIPLE coverage - wow that would've been big. instead, Feagles punts it out at the 10. interesting note, Feagles is officially the oldest player to play in Superbowl history - lol, think that's something he'd be proud of?
after a false start, Brady gets the snap at his own 5-yard line and ALMOST gets sacked again.. the Giants D has been stymieing so far. then Brady hits Welker with a laser up the middle for a huge 1st down. its impressive watching the diminutive (5'9) Welker makes catches. just as i type this, Welker beats his man on another impressive burst up the middle for a gain of 15-20 yards - he just seems a step faster than anyone on the Giants D, makes me wonder how good Allen Iverson would've been as a multi-positional football player at a compact 6'0 with even more speed. a couple of plays go nowhere, and the Pats will begin the 4th quarter punting to the Giants, who til this point still have been unable to really "break through" on offense despite having the advantage in total yards and possession.
right away, it seems as if Manning either read my mind or heard my thoughts - hits Boss down the field for a huge gain of 40+, ends up at the Patriots 35-yard line. a short run leaves them short, then Manning hits Smith again up the middle - 1st down at the 12. play-action with 3 yards to go after a good Bradshaw run and Manning puts it on the money for Tyree, 10-7 with 11 minutes to go, woooo.
Maroney with another biiiig return, but the 10-yard penalty given to the Patriots subtracts from it. first throw goes to Moss for a 1st down, next pass to Welker for a short gain. the announcers note that Moss needs to play a bigger role in the offense - ya think? pass for Welker tipped dangerously, but none of the Giants around could catch it - i held my breath for a good second as the ball floated lazily after the tip.. Pats punt again, wow - Brady must be pissed right now.
Manning under real pressure for the first time since the first minutes of the 1st quarter, scrambles but misses a wide open Burris - 3rd and 9. Blitz, but Manning finds Toomer 1 yard short of the 1st down - the Giants opt to punt, which doesn't seem like a half-bad move considering how solid they've been so far. still makes me nervous with Brady at the Helm and a receiver like Moss in the game to give them the ball back so quickly. Feagles with another great punt, leaving the Patriots once again deep on their own side of the field.
Welker with another 8-yard gain on the quick pass from Brady, seems like thats all that is consistently open for Brady tonight. just as i say that, Moss catches the ball and makes a nice move for the first down. Bradshaw with a nice outside run, and Welker again with a catch he makes seem routine with his ability to get open. Brady hits Faulk, who's forced outside but all of a sudden they are at the Giants' 40-yard line.. seems Brady's finding his rhythm, uh-oh. Welker with another sweeping route up the middle, curls his way to a 1st down after the catch. seems the Giants linebackers are a bit gassed, as various players are subbing in and out to catch their breathe. Faulk with a nice slip/option, makes the catch up the middle for ANOTHER 1st down. all of a sudden I think Brady's above 250 yards and its 1st and goal, wow.
1st goal-line attempt, wide open Moss out left, but pass is overthrown. Blitz, forces Brady to throw the pass behind Welker - 3rd down. Moss's defender falls down, easy touchdown with 2:42 left - oh boy, that drive was masterful, 14-10.
big kick, and an even bigger hit on Hixon after the catch for a gain of only 13. Manning gets the ball at his own 17-yard line for what might be his last drive in Superbowl XLII. composed pass to Toomer, 1st down - 2:17 left with all 3 of their timeouts. Brady misses Burris over the top - pass was too high, could've easily been intercepted. another bad pass, and we're at the 2-minute warning - can the young QB step up in the biggest game of his young career?
pass to Toomer just inches short of the 1st down, 4th and inches - Giants should go for it, and will go for it. Jacobs falls forward, and should be enough. Manning with a 5-yard run after being forced out of the pocket, does a nice job of recovering the ball after having it knocked out.
3rd and 5 with 1:15 - Manning is ALMOST sacked, but stays up somehow before airing it out downfield, only for Tyree to outjump his defender by a mere couple of inches for an amazing grab with the defender ALL over him, wowww - if the Giants score on this drive, this is the play that won them the Superbowl.
Manning gets flushed again, and the Giants are forced to use their final timeout with :51 left just inside of the Patriots' 30. Whoooo - quick swing right to Smith, who catches and makes 1st down before ducking out of bounds, amazing play - :39 left. Manning with the PERFECT lob pass into the left endzone to Burris for only his 2nd catch of the entire game!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YESSSSSS!! 17-14 Giants after the extra point!! YESSSSSSSS!!
return goes nowhere, so Brady has :29 and 3 timeouts left to work his magic. deeeeeep breath time, I'm sure millions of other viewers are going to be holding their breaths through all this as well. first pass incomplete, 2nd play - Brady is SACKED big-time by Alford (pheww, that is a BIG dude coming at you). 3rd and 20 with :19 left - I'm a bit sad thinking about how Brady and the Patriots perfect season is about to come to an end.. 1st hail-mary to Moss is on point but deflected away as Moss had to slow down and the pass was a bit short on a 75-yard throw. final hail-mary, also deflected - game over, the NY Giants win their 3rd Superbowl ever, 17-14, in Superbowl XLII =)
I made $200, Strahan gets the final chapter to his HOF career, and Giants trainer Jack Johnson can retire on a high note after being on the sidelines for 60 - count 'em - years. Yea, a big part of me feels bad about the Patriots' near-perfect season coming to an end.. but it has been an amazing year for football in general, and to me, the Patriots still had a lot to be proud of. I just REALLY wanted the Giants to win this, for the aforementioned reasons haha.. Time to celebrate, hope everyone else enjoyed the big game, til next time.. ;)
