Superville Review

The New England Patriots were 18 and 0 rolling through the NFL like wild bandits; winning by large margins and winning close games. They had what was considered to be the best regular season in NFL history, no disrespect to the '72 Dolphins. And the way to Super Bowl XLII everybody told the NY Giants that the game was a formality to the coronation of New England as the greatest champions in NFL history. But then that's the great thing about athletics. Every game a teams' greatness has to be proven again. Last night, last week, last month is meaningless during that 60 minutes of right now. The Giants defense led Pro Bowl defensive ends Michael Strahan and Osi Yumenyora were able to get in Tom Brady's face early and often, throwing off his timing and getting the Patriots off the field in many third down situations. But despite the excellent play of New York's defense the Patriots took a 14-10 lead with less than three minutes to play.

Eli Manning, of yes, those Manning's; the young quarterback much maligned in the press of New York as a soon to be "never was" had the chance to live the dream of every young boy across America: two minutes to drive their team to Super Bowl victory. Eli manning passed and scrambled his Giants into winning position, converting third and fourth downs before finally finding Plaxico Burress in the corner of the end zone with thirty-five seconds to play. Yeah, that same Plaxico Burress who predicted a 23-17 Giants win during the hype leading up to Super Sunday. Tom Brady, taking issue with Burress's prediction, thought the Patriots were good for more than seventeen points, but unfortunately for him and the Patriots they were not even good for that many.

Final score, 17-14 New York and the Giants shock the world. The '72 Miami Dolphins, who went through a season undefeated and capped it with a Super Bowl VII victory over the Redskins, now officially return to their post as the most successful team in the annals of modern professional football. And for the Patriots? The Patriots are a good team who missed a dance with greatness. See, 18-0 does not matter when your team loses the one that counts.

Labels: '72 Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New York Giants, Super Bowl