The Super Bowl in Review

          I don't think football fans could have asked for a better Super Bowl. Now the commercials, that's a different story. Between the story lines of Eli Manning playing in the "House that Peyton Built," Eli potentially being a Hall of Fame caliber quarterback if he wins, Brady and Belichick losing back-to-back Super Bowls to the same team, the impact Rob Gronkowski's injured ankle would have on the game, Julian Edelman playing as New England's "shutdown" corner, the list goes on and on.
          On a side note, the NFL finally picked someone who can sing an appropriate National Anthem with Kelly Clarkson. It wasn't too long, it wasn't too dramatic, there were no wardrobe malfunctions, and it wasn't self-centered. Now to the actual game....
           The consensus of most of the talking heads, "know-it-all" fans, and everyone else in the United States with the exception of Boston residents and the direct family members of the New England Patriots seemed to be that the New York Giants were going to win. Some predicted NYG by a field goal, while others thought it would be a blowout in their favor, but the point is the same--that Eli would lead the Giants to victory over Tom Brady and the Pats in their second meeting in the Super Bowl. All things considered, I don't think anyone expected the Giants to start the game as strong as they did. When the first quarter ended at 9-0 in favor of the Giants, I thought the game would be over by halftime because New York would be winning by such a large margin. Seeomg Tom Brady commit an intentional grounding penalty resulting in a safety shocked me. While it may not have been Brady's fault, that's not something we've grown to expect from the Patriots or their franchise player. One of the keys to a New York win was for its front four to put pressure on Brady and to see Justin Tuck force two quick points by forcing him to throw a pass deep downfield to no one seemed ominous for the Pats. At the end of the first, Eli capped off a seventy-eight yard drive with a short touchdown pass to Victor Cruz. I'm not sure if the pass was skill or luck but Eli fit the pass in right behind Brandon Spikes,who was dropping back into coverage and never saw the ball. Cruz bobbled the catch a few times but there were no defenders around to knock it out of his hands.
          The Patriots responded in the second quarter and took the lead 10-9 going into halftime. Brady led New England on two long scoring drives of sixty and ninety-six yards, the second of which resulted in Danny Woodhead scoring on his first receiving touchdown of the season. Brady was lights out on offense in the second quarter and at one point he completed fourteen straight passes. With Gronkowski limited due to his injury, Aaron Hernandez, New England's lesser-known but equally-talented tight end, was Tom Brady's favorite target. Hernandez had eight receptions for sixty-seven yards and one touchdown.
          The halftime show was a huge improvement from the Black Eyed Peas' performance acoustic nightmare last year. I didn't think Madonna was amazing because, frankly, I think it is impossible to have an A+ performance at the Super Bowl, where artists are forced to recreate a multiple-hour concert in twelve minutes inside a dome filled with judgmental fans, half of which probably doesn't like that artist's music. The incorporation of younger, more modern artists made the show much more exciting, with LMFAO, Cee Lo Green, Nicki Minaj, and M.I.A. It's sad that M.I.A. had to flip off the camera, but we've grown to almost expect something scandalous from the halftime show.  While it was incredibly innappropriate, in the scheme of things, it was not nearly as bad as Janet Jackson's infamous "wardrobe malfunction," which is still fresh in our memory.
          The Patriots continued their scoring in the second half, when they received the opening kickoff of the third quarter and drove seventy-nine yards down the field for a touchdown as they extended their lead to 17-9. Lawrence Tynes hit a pair of field goals in the third quarter to bring the Giants' deficit to only two points entering the fourth quarter.
          Both teams exchanged punts before New York started its game-winning drive with 3:46 remaining in the game. Eli Manning had been fantastic in the fourth quarter all season long, and his late-game heroics continued when he connected with Mario Manningham on their first play for thirty-eight yards down the sideline, bringing the Giants to midfield. In the 2008 Super Bowl, the play that is still played over and over again is David Tyree's catch against his helmet over Rodney Harrison that led to New York beating New England at the end of the game. Different wide receiver. Different defensive back. Same team. Same game. Same result. Eli Manning made the pass of his life by fitting the ball in the narrowest of spaces to Manningham's outside shoulder, where he was able to catch the ball in double coverage and drag both feet on the ground before being forced out by Patrick Chung. The Patriots challenged the ruling on the field and lost, which also hurt them because they lost a timeout. With a few more short pass plays and a run by Ahmad Bradshaw, the New York Giants were at the Patriots goal line with roughly one minute left in the game. The Patriots decided to let the Giants score in order to give Brady a chance for a game-winning drive of his own, so Ahmad Bradshaw had a gaping hole to run through and tried to fall on the one-yardline, but ended up stumbling and squatting backwards into the endzone.
          Brady and the rest of the offense hustled onto the field to try to regain the lead, but dropped passes killed the Patriots. Both Wes Welker and Deion Branch dropped passes, but despite their shortcomings, Brady was able to launch the ball into the endzone on the last play of the game but it was batted down and the Giants won.
         
          That win did not guarantee Eli a spot in the Hall of Fame, but as Mike & Mike said on their radio show today, he is on the trajectory of his career to someday be a Hall of Famer. While Eli played very well in the Super Bowl, I don't think he outplayed Brady. Their numbers were very similar and Eli has a much better receiving core. Gronk was out for the Pats, Ochocinco and Branch are old, so Welker and Hernandez were Brady's only two legitimate options. Plus, the game may have had a different ending if the Patriots' receivers were able to hold onto the ball on their final drive. Even though New England lost, the season was by no means a failure. They overachieved if anything. They went 13-3 in the regular season and still made it to the Super Bowl with a sub-par defense, especially in the secondary, and Tom Brady ran the entire offense with virtually one threat alongside him. And don't forget that they only beat one team with a winning record all season long, so it's very impressive that they made it that far by beating teams that were .500 or worse. They shouldn't have drafted Ryan Mallet in the third round of the draft last year when they knew he won't play for at least five or six years. They need to make some major improvements  on defense, the offensive line, and with their wide receivers for next season if they want to capitalize on the Brady-Belichick Era before Brady starts his decline. Their schedule next season lacks any elite quarterbacks on the opposing teams, so the Patriots will most likely host a playoff game again next season.