On this date: Giants do it again, upset Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI

On this date in New York Giants history, they upset the New England Patriots for the second time in four years, winning Super Bowl XLVI.

Eight years ago today, the New York Giants upset the New England Patriots, 21-17, in Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. It was the second time in four years that the Giants had beaten the Patriots on the game’s biggest stage.

While these Patriots weren’t chasing perfection as they had in the 2007 postseason, they still held the best record in the AFC, finishing the regular season at 13-3. The Giants won the NFC East, but with a record of just 9-7, many wrote them off.

The Giants set the tone early in the game when they forced an intentional grounding penalty on Tom Brady in the end zone for a safety and a 2-0 lead.

On the very next drive, Eli Manning found Victor Cruz for a two-yard touchdown pass to make it 9-0. But the Patriots fought back, and in the second quarter, a 29-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal made it 9-3.

With his team still down 9-3 and 15 seconds left in the half, Tom Brady threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Danny Woodhead, which gave New England a 10-9 lead going into halftime.

The Patriots came out hot in the second half, scoring on their first possession. Brady threw his second touchdown of the game, this one to tight end Aaron Hernandez, who clearly had other things going on in his world. Hindsight… Yeesh.

Both offenses stalled after that, but the Giants would convert two Lawrence Tynes field goal attempts — one from 38 yards and the other from 33 yards — to bring the score to 17-15 entering the final quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Patriots had their chances to put the game out of reach. Brady attempted to throw deep to Rob Gronkowski but was intercepted by Chase Blackburn.

On a second-down play late in the game, Brady’s pass to a wide-open Wes Welker fell incomplete. Had Welker caught the ball, it would have been a first down and more time would have been chewed up, lessening the Giants’ chances of a comeback. Instead, the Patriots drive stalled and they were forced to punt.

The Giants opened up what would be their final drive with a spectacular 38-yard pass and catch from Eli to Mario Manningham. Manning would construct a very efficient drive, completing five of his six pass attempts for 74 yards.

With 1:04 left to play, the Patriots let running back Ahmad Bradshaw score in hopes that they could construct a drive of their own, but Big Blue held their own, batted down a last-second Hail Mary.

Manning, who went 30-for-40 with 296 yards and a touchdown, was named the Super Bowl MVP for the second time in his career.

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On this date: Giants deny perfection, upset Patriots in Super Bowl XLII

On this date in 2008, the New York Giants did the unthinkable, ending perfection and upsetting the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

On this date in 2008, the New York Giants pulled off what is still widely considered the greatest upset in Super Bowl history when they ruined the New England Patriots’ attempt at perfection in Super Bowl XLII.

On February 3, 2008, the Giants went into the game at University of Phoenix Stadium as 12.5-point underdogs looking to shock the football world. And they did.

The Patriots had enjoyed a perfect season before the Super Bowl. Tom Brady’s 50 touchdown passes in the regular season were the most ever at the time, and many thought the Giants had no chance.

The Giants opened up the scoring in the first quarter when Lawrence Tynes connected on a 32-yard field goal, but the Patriots quickly gained the lead in the early minutes of the second quarter when Laurence Maroney scored a one-yard touchdown.

It became a defensive battle after that, and the Giants were figuring out Brady’s calls at the line of scrimmage. This allowed defensive ends Michael Strahan and Justin Tuck to provide continuous pressure on Brady. The Giants wound up sacking Brady five times and knocked him down numerous other times.

That score would remain 7-3 until the fourth quarter.

The final frame started with a huge 45-yard pass play from Eli Manning to Kevin Boss. Three minutes later, the Giants finally scored their first touchdown of the game as Manning found David Tyree from five yards out. With the score, the Giants were up 10-7 with 11:10 to go.

Brady then led an efficient rebound drive, completing eight of his 11 attempts. It ended in a six-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss. The Giants faced a 14-10 deficit with 2:42 left to go.

Just when the Giants’ season appeared to be over, Manning and Tyree connected on a 32-yard pass on third down that would forever live in Super Bowl lore.

Out of the shotgun, Manning immediately saw pressure from every direction. With three Patriots grabbing his jersey, Manning somehow broke free and threw up a pass to Tyree in the middle of the field.

One-on-one with safety Rodney Harrison, Tyree leaped for the catch and wound up pinning the ball to his helmet, giving the Giants a first down with 59 seconds left.

A fourth-down conversion by Brandon Jacobs earlier on the drive, but another that often goes overlooked was a third-down pass to rookie Steve Smith, who displayed excellent field awareness and tight-walked the sideline for a first down.

“Manning lobs it. Burress alone. Touchdown, New York!”

That was Joe Buck’s infamous call on the 13-yard slant-and-go — a touchdown pass from Manning to Plaxico Burress that gave the Giants the lead and sent the entire University of Phoenix Stadium into a frenzy.

Brady and the Patriots were given a little time for a final series, but a sack and two passes defensed would give the Giants one of the most unlikely victories of all time.

Manning, who went 19-of-34 for 255 yards and two fourth-quarter touchdowns, was named the Super Bowl MVP.

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On this date: Giants upset Bills in Super Bowl XXV

On this date in 1991, the New York Giants upset the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV as Scott Norwood’s kick sailed wide right.

29 years ago today, the phrase “wide right” would forever become part of NFL lore after Buffalo Bills placekicker Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal with :08 remaining in Super Bowl XXV, which would have given them a historic win over the New York Giants.

Just days after the United States of America had entered the Gulf War, there was a very patriotic feel to the night. At Tampa Stadium, Whitney Houston’s emotional rendition of the national anthem is considered one of the greatest ever.

The 13-3 Giants, who had survived the NFC championship game against the two-time defending Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers, 15-13, were up against the heavily favored Bills, who sported the league’s best offense in 1990 and had also gone 13-3 during the regular season.

The Giants were playing the postseason with backup quarterback Jeff Hostetler after Phil Simms had suffered a broken foot in December.

The Giants and the Bills traded field goals in the first quarter. Giants kicker Matt Bahr connected on his first attempt of the day from 28 yards, while Norwood answered with a 23-yarder of his own.

Bills running back Don Smith gave Buffalo a 10-3 lead in the second quarter with a one-yard touchdown run, and they would add to that lead when defensive end Bruce Smith sacked Hostetler for a safety.

Just before the first half ended, the Giants would trim the lead to 12-10 when Hostetler connected with Stephen Baker on a 14-yard touchdown pass. The Giants would take the lead when running back Ottis Anderson scored a one-yard touchdown to put New York up 17-12.

Buffalo would answer in the fourth quarter when running back Thurman Thomas ran 31 yards for a touchdown to put the Bills up 19-17. Bahr then gave the Giants a 20-19 lead on a 21-yard field goal with seven minutes left in the game.

The Bills had 2:16 left at the beginning of their final drive, starting at their own 10-yard line. They eventually got to the Giants’ 29-yard line and decided to attempt the field goal on second down with eight seconds left.

The Giants were out of timeouts, so they weren’t able to ice Norwood, but it wouldn’t matter. Norwood’s kick had plenty of distance but sailed wide right by inches, as ABC play-by-play man Al Michaels told millions watching worldwide.

The Giants did not control their fate in those final seconds of Super Bowl XXV, and no one was happier than Giants fans when they saw Norwood’s attempt go outside of the uprights.

Anderson, who carried the ball 20 times for 102 yards and a touchdown, was named the game’s MVP. Hostetler went 20-for-32 with 222 yards and one touchdown.

The Giants offense kept Kelly and the offense off the field for most of the game, holding the ball for 40:33.

Led by then-defensive coordinator Bill Belichick, the Giants’ defensive game plan is considered one of the best in NFL history. Belichick used that to land his first head coaching job in 1991 with the Cleveland Browns.

Bill Parcells, who had won his second championship with the Giants, stepped down as head coach a few months after the 1990 season.

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2020 Senior Bowl: 7 players Giants should keep an eye on

The 2020 Senior Bowl will be played on Saturday, and here are seven players the New York Giants should keep an eye on.

If we learned anything from the 2019 Senior Bowl, it’s that New York Giants general manager Dave Gettleman certainly puts stock into it.

Big Blue’s first-round pick, Daniel Jones, was the Most Valuable Player in the game last season and his performance might have put Gettleman over the top to take the Duke product at No. 6.

The Giants have several needs to address in what is a rebuilding project at this point. Jones could use help along the offensive line for both now and in the future, and a weapon at wide receiver wouldn’t hurt, also.

On the defensive side of the ball, the Giants were a mess in the secondary, and creating pressure with a consistent pass-rush was once again an issue for Big Blue.

If the Giants are going to successfully rebuild this team, Gettleman has got to make the most of his seven picks in the 2020 NFL Draft, and there’s a good chance some of those picks will be made based on what he sees in this year’s Senior Bowl.

Here are some players to watch on Saturday.

Terrell Lewis, EDGE, Alabama

Getting pressure was once again an issue for the Giants in 2019, as their 36 sacks ranked No. 22 in the NFL. On the bright side, Big Blue improved upon its 30 sacks from the 2018 campaign.

Adding to the Giants’ overall sack woes, the team’s sack leader, Markus Golden, is a free agent this offseason and there’s no guarantee he returns.

With New York in the market for an EDGE once again, Terrell Lewis out of Alabama is a Senior to watch. In 10 games last season, the 6-foot-5, 252-pound linebacker totaled 31 tackles (11.5 for loss) and six sacks.

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Eli Manning retires from NFL: Giants Wire share their Eli stories

Writers at Giants Wire share their personal stories about New York Giants legend Eli Manning, who will officially retire on Friday.

New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has decided the time has come to step away from the NFL, which he will officially announce on Friday morning in East Rutherford.

In Manning’s 16 years, he’s touched many people from all over the country. Some of the stories are known, but many are not. After all, Manning is not someone who craves or even desires the limelight, so hid good deeds and funny ribs often go unnoticed.

Everyone who has crossed with Manning has a story to tell, including two of us here at Giants Wire.

Dan Benton’s story

In 2004, I launched a blog called “Giants 101” at Most Valuable Network, which was one of the first sports blog networks on the internet at the time.

Because we were brand new and because I had no idea what I was doing, credentials were not in the picture. As such, any exclusive coverage of the team would have to be created by attending training camp as a fan and whatever charity events/autograph signings I could.

One year, in either 2005 or 2006, I was attending a training camp practice in Albany and when practice ended, fans flocked to a roped off area where players walked from the field back into the building.

With a football in hand, I stood about midway between the field and the building waiting for the players to come through. As fans filled out the area, I noticed a father and his young son trying to find their way to the front so that he could get an autograph.

I told the father to let his son come up near me so that he could stand on my feet and reach over the rope.

Manning must have seen this because he walked over and signed an autograph for the boy and several other fans in the area. But before continuing on his way, he quietly snatched the ball out of my hand, turned and walked off. He literally said nothing.

I chuckled at first and just assumed he was going to sign the ball and give it to another kid, so I turned around and began to walk away when I heard, “hey!”

I turned back around and there was Manning, about 15-20 yards up the path looking back at me. Again, without saying a word, he reached back and fired the football to me. And yes, I caught it.

I looked down at the football and sure enough, it had his autograph on it.

Manning continued to sign things for other fans and that was that. Another word was not spoken. However, I’ve forever been able to tell anyone who will listen that I once caught a pass from the two-time Super Bowl MVP and future Hall of Famer.

I still have that football.

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4 quarterbacks the Giants could sign to back up Daniel Jones

The New York Giants are in need of a backup to Daniel Jones, so here are four potential options and one extreme long-shot.

The New York Giants will have just one quarterback under contract when the new league year begins in March: Daniel Jones.

Alex Tanney was initially signed through 2020, but after the team released him and later re-signed him in October, it voided his previous deal and was replaced by a one-year deal, according to Spotrac.

As a result, the Giants will need to find a quality backup to help mentor Jones in 2020 and likely beyond. And while the available pool is relatively thin, here’s a look at four possibilities and one extreme long-shot.

Alex Tanney

Let’s start with the obvious…

Fans were furious when the Giants kept Alex Tanney around this past season, arguing that he was a waste of a roster spot and provided little.

The Giants, of course, insisted Tanney did a lot behind the scenes, which rookie quarterback Daniel Jones agreed with, often praising the veteran for working with him in the building and away from it.

“Alex has been a huge help for me. He’s obviously been in the NFL for a while and knows the game really well,” Jones said in October. “He’s a super smart guy, someone I have a great relationship with and have leaned on to prepare and to get ready to play. With him and Eli in there, I think we have a special room, a special group and I really appreciate all the help from those two guys.”

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On This Date: Giants pull off two major conference championship upsets

On this date in New York Giants history, Big Blue won two conference championship games considered to be all-time upsets.

January 20th is famous because every four years we inaugurate the President of the United States. For New York Giant fans it’s a great day because they pulled off two of the greatest upsets in NFL history on this date.

Let’s get right to them with the help of Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar.

January 20, 1991: New York Giants 15, San Francisco 49ers 13

The Giants were the only team standing the way of the 49ers’ ‘three-peat’ after standing up them six weeks before in a 7-3 battle of attrition that was one of the grittiest Monday night games ever played.

In the rematch, the Giants knew what they had to do. They still couldn’t score a touchdown but Matt Bahr’s five field goals stood tall as the defense did the rest, knocking Joe Montana from the playoffs and hospitalizing him for the second time in five years. The team of the 80s were dead again at the hands of Bill Parcells and Bill Belichick’s Giants.

The 1990 49ers were as stacked as any other team in NFL history. They’d beaten the daylights out of the Broncos, 55-10, in Super Bowl XXIV and then matched their 14-2 record from that year. They finished first in points scored and third in points allowed, and it seemed that the 12-4 Giants were just another minor obstacle to be shooed away. Vegas agreed, making San Francisco an eight-point favorite. But the Giants denied the 49ers the opportunity to become the only team to win three straight Super Bowls in a bruising game that perfectly fit the temperament of head coach Bill Parcells. Big Blue kept the ball for nearly 39 minutes, Matt Bahr kicked five field goals, and Joe Montana suffered a broken finger and bruised sternum late in the game that would have prevented him from playing in the Super Bowl had the 49ers made it. As it turned out, Parcells’ Giants handed the Bills their first of four straight Super Bowl losses with a 20-19 heartbreaker when Scott Norwood’s potential game-winning field goal went wide right.

January 20, 2008: New York Giants 23, Green Bay Packers 20 (OT)

The Giants were just the visiting team in this game as the Packers appeared poised to advance to the Super Bowl now that the top-seeded Dallas Cowboys had be eliminated from the postseason. But what everyone forgot was that the Giants were the team that knocked them out. If they could in in Dallas, they could surely win in Green Bay. On a frigid night in Wisconsin, they did just that, stunning the Packers en route to stunning the undefeated Patriots in the Super bowl.

The Giants under Tom Coughlin were able to beat the Patriots in two different Super Bowls despite seemingly overwhelming odds against them, and in both cases, the road to those Super Bowls carried them through conference championship games that went to overtime and were ultimately decided by Lawrence Tynes field goals. Tynes had missed a 36-yarder at the end of regulation, but in the first drive of overtime, Brett Favre threw a crushing interception to Giants cornerback Corey Webster, and Tynes made up for his previous miss with a 47-yard boot. It was Favre’s lass pass for the Packers, while the Giants went on to shock the previously undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl’s biggest upset.

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Giants played in three of the most memorable NFC Championship Game upsets

The New York Giants have played in three of the most memorable NFC Championship Game upsets in NFL history.

The New York Giants have appeared in five NFC Championship Games in their history, winning all five. Three of those games are among the 14 greatest upsets in the history of the game, which officially began in 1970. All three of those wins came on the road.

Here they are courtesy of USA Today’s Touchdown Wire’s Doug Farrar.

January 22, 2012
New York Giants 20, San Francisco 49ers 17 (OT)

Very few people expected the 9-7 Giants to beat the 13-3 49ers in this conference championship game — Tom Coughlin’s team had already lost to Jim Harbaugh’s squad, 27-20, in Week 10 of that season. But the Giants would not go away in this game, and in overtime, San Francisco receiver Kyle Williams’ fumbled punt return set kicker Lawrence Tynes up for a game-winning field goal halfway through overtime. It was Tynes’ second overtime game-winner in a conference championship game, matching his effort in the 2007 season. The Giants’ ultimate result that season was also eerily similar: a Super Bowl win over an allegedly better Patriots team.

The football gods were in the Giants’ corner that season but they earned everything they got. That championship game was one of the hardest-hitting contests in memory. Anyone who has any doubt regarding Eli Manning’s Hall of Fame worthiness, I urge you to re-watch this game. What a courageous and poised performance.

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Several ex-Giants will play in Sunday’s conference championship games

Several former members of the New York Giants will take the field on Sunday in the AFC and NFC Championship Games.

The AFC Championship Game and the NFC Championship Game will be played on Sunday to determine who moves ahead to square off in Super Bowl LIV at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens, Florida.

In the AFC, the Kansas City Chiefs will meet the red hot Tennessee Titans, while the NFC will feature a game between Aaron Rodgers’ Green Bay Packers and the team that passed on him in the 2005 NFL Draft, the San Francisco 49ers.

Both games promise to be physical and entertaining, so no real sidebar is needed as far as rooting interest goes. But in case you were wondering, several former New York Giants will take the field on Sunday.

Here’s a quick look at each.

Danielle Parhizkaran/NorthJersey.com via USA TODAY Sports

Kalif Raymond, WR, Tennessee Titans

Raymond entered the NFL as an undrafted rookie free agent out of Holy Cross, originally signing with the Denver Broncos in 2016.

After a brief cup of coffee with the New York Jets, Raymond would sign with the Giants in 2017 and then re-join the team in 2018. Ironically, he made a brief stop with the Titans between those two stints, again finding his way back to Tennessee in 2019.

Raymond appeared in six games for the Giants, primarily on special teams. He recorded one reception for 12 yards, lost one yard on one carry, while returning 13 punts for 61 yards and 11 kickoffs for 186 yards. He also recorded three special teams tackles.

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Giants to hire Jason Garrett as OC: 9 things to know

The New York Giants are expected to hire Jason Garrett as their offensive coordinator, so here are nine things to know.

The New York Giants are expected to hire former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jason Garrett to be their offensive coordinator under new head coach Joe Judge.

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Here are nine quick things you should know:

He’s a two-time Super Bowl champion

It’s always good to have a few rings on the coaching staff and Garrett, although he was a backup, earned two with the great Cowboys teams of the 1990s.

Playing behind Troy Aikman, Garrett — coming from a coaching background — got an education from Hall of Fame coaches such as Jimmy Johnson, Barry Switzer. He also played under the highly-regarded Chan Gailey.

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