As part of their 100th Anniversary celebration, the NFL has been reliving their greatest moments and honoring their greatest players and teams. This week, they completed their list of the 100 Greatest Teams.
The New York Giants placed six teams on the list.
No. 93 – 2011 New York Giants
“We didn’t mind winning ugly, the tougher the circumstances, the better we were going to be.” – Eli Manning
NFL.com: “The 2011 New York Giants are the only team in NFL history to win a Super Bowl following a 9-7 regular season. QB Eli Manning had a career-high 4,933 pass yards, but the Giants ranked 25th in scoring defense and nearly missed the playoffs. At 7-7 entering Week 16, a 99-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Victor Cruz became the catalyst to a 29-14 win over the Jets. The Giants beat the Cowboys in Week 17. Then in the playoffs, the Giants crushed the Falcons, 24-2, in the NFC Wild Card Game, and won in Green Bay. 37-20 in the NFC Divisional Round. After beating the 49ers in overtime to capture the NFC Championship, the Giants beat the Tom Brady and Bill Belichick-led Patriots. 21-17. in Super Bowl XLVI. Eli Manning led a game-winning drive which included a memorable throw-and-catch to Mario Manningham. Ahmad Bradshaw scored on a 6-yard rushing TD in the final minute, and Manning was named Super Bowl MVP”.
Fennelly: Certainly a more subdued feeling to this team than the one that won four seasons earlier, perhaps because the Super Bowl was won on a touchdown that they weren’t trying to score. When you go back and review this season however, the Giants were actually a pretty resilient team. The NFC Championship Game in San Francisco was one of the great games of this era — a physical , knock-down, drag-out affair in which Manning himself displayed exceptional grit. If you have any doubt about Eli’s Hall of Fame worthiness, I urge you to re-watch that game.