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.
[lawrence-related id=640120,640117,640099]