We didn't know if we'd even have a football season this year as the NFL lockout dominated the offseason a little under a year ago. Today, the lockout is a distant thought as the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI by a final score of 21-17.
This wasn't the best possible showing these two teams could have put on, perhaps because Rob Gronkowski wasn't much of a factor and we did not have more touchdowns scored early on in the game. Both teams played competitive and kept it close in the fourth quarter though, and that always makes it possible for there to be an entertaining finish.
The Patriots had a two-point lead late in the fourth quarter, and the Giants had already burned two timeouts. That is when star receiver Wes Welker had a misconnection with Tom Brady on a play they probably connect on 95 percent of the time. The Giants got the ball back with just under four minutes to go, and that's when the magic started. Nothing can compare to the David Tyree catch, but the connection between Manning and Mario Manningham down the left sideline for 38 yards with two defenders draped on him was simply marvelous. From there, the Giants continued marching into field goal range, and both teams had a tough decision. For the Giants, they didn't want to leave any time for the Patriots. For the Patriots, they knew it'd be a chip shot field goal for the Giants.
When Ahmad Bradshaw got a carry from six yards out, the Patriots were clearly letting him in. Bradshaw clearly hesitated at the one-yard line, looking like he was going to go down. He did...but he rolled his own momentum into the end zone, as if to say, "screw it, I'm not leaving it to chance [the field goal]." That gave Brady another crack with under a minute to go and one timeout. Brady got into range for a Hail Mary attempt, and when I first saw the huge pile and two Patriots in front of it, I thought New England was going to win. The football landed just in front of Gronkowski though, and the Giants came away victorious.
The Giants now have two Super Bowl victories under the reign of Manning and head coach Tom Coughlin, while the Brady legacy has fallen in two consecutive attempts. Congrats Giants fans...but don't get too excited, because next season belongs to the Cleveland Browns.
0 recs | 97 comments
Not much of a game. Not boring, but it was not well played
BuenosAires_Dawg - February 5, 2012
I actually prefer the close games.
Jon @ DBN - February 5, 2012
typical Browns fan. lol
DawgsNHawgs - February 5, 2012
Actually, typical fan of the human emotions behind suspense, excitement, and thrill.
close games>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>blowouts
bross09 - February 5, 2012
It was a joke. You took the funny out of it. Thanks lol
DawgsNHawgs - February 5, 2012
it wasn’t funny…“thanks lol”
bross09 - February 5, 2012
It was to me. Your opinion has no merit here. lol
DawgsNHawgs - February 5, 2012
you are correct. my opinion has no merit over what you find funny.
bross09 - February 5, 2012
You are getting good at completely undestanding me. You ARE good.
DawgsNHawgs - February 5, 2012
Nothing poops on a thread like a bross vs. DawgsNHawgs semantics debate.
Dawg Nuts - February 6, 2012
Indeeb.
Legoman0721 - February 6, 2012 via Android app
At least they got it out of the way at the beginning.
notthatnoise - February 6, 2012
posted this on the game thread, but since that’s about to be scrapped i think it bears mentioning again:
tr1betime - February 5, 2012
Congrats to Brownie’s Year who correctly predicted the winner, MVP, and was the closest to the final score.
Jon @ DBN - February 5, 2012
Again, good job Brownie.
DawgsNHawgs - February 5, 2012
He’s a precog.
Chris Pokorny - February 5, 2012
i thought it was premie.
pwndabear - February 5, 2012
Nice job BY
Bernie19Kosar - February 5, 2012
Thanks guys.
Brownie's Year - February 6, 2012
what do you get? like a prize or something? maybe a gamegear or a ticket to your local rollerskating rink?
pwndabear - February 6, 2012
PIZZA PARTY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
pwndabear - February 6, 2012
1 free year of DBN
Bernie19Kosar - February 6, 2012
I’m honored.
Brownie's Year - February 6, 2012
Sorry, but you better check your calendar...
…the season will be over December 23rd; don’t you know the Mayans predicted the end of the world then?
Of course, being the Browns, your season will be over sometime in November.
PaVaSteeler - February 5, 2012
That’s proof the Browns will own next season. The world will end before they make the Super Bowl.
DawgsNHawgs - February 5, 2012
I love how this is the SB, we are having fun, and you can’t resist coming over here and being obnoxious.
bross09 - February 5, 2012
Steeler fans just jump at the opportunity to make themselves look like belligerent assholes, don’t they?
tr1betime - February 5, 2012
Go have sex with the closest relative in the vicinity of your trailer, you
BuenosAires_Dawg - February 5, 2012
I guess you better use your SSI benefits for december early then and stock up…you cant buy Parliaments and Pabst Blue Ribbon with your Pennsylvania EBT ACCESS Card…but I’m sure you know that by now.
Also with the world ending and all I guess you dont have to worry about replacing the stilts under the trailer or dental plans for the kids to help hide the fetal alcohol syndrome.
jonnyphoenix - February 5, 2012
This is an amazing level of hatefulness. Rec.
Dawg Nuts - February 6, 2012
This made my day.
jonnyphoenix - February 6, 2012
-
The Steelers’ world already ended on January 8, 2012.
Chris Pokorny - February 6, 2012
Wanted the Patriots to win, but believed that the Giants would. So my disappointment is cushioned by the fact that I was right about something.
JamesPowell - February 5, 2012
Not very different from 2007…but this one just seemed to be missing something in the excitement department. Booooring.
jonnyphoenix - February 5, 2012
Man, this is the third time I’ve heard this. I must have watched a different game.
Jon @ DBN - February 5, 2012
There have certainly been better Super Bowls.
Brownsbacker488 - February 5, 2012
True, and there have been much, much worse.
Jon @ DBN - February 5, 2012
I tho
Legoman0721 - February 6, 2012 via Android app
Darn mobile app being a pain…
I thought it was a decent game, but not as awesome as some of the recent Super Bowls have been. I was also totally wrong about the second half offensive explosion of offense. Whoops.
Legoman0721 - February 6, 2012 via Android app
Yeah it seemed like both teams moved the ball, but just couldn’t do much with it.
Good ending, but it seemed like it was just “meh” for the most part.
Bernie19Kosar - February 6, 2012
the recent super bowls have been one of the best stretches of SBs in it’s history when you look back. Lots of close games, very few blowouts, and a solid amount of offense.
bross09 - February 6, 2012
I thought it was great, but since the whole undefeated season thing wasn’t in play it wasn’t as special. The Giants weren’t really an underdog this time, regardless of what Vegas says.
notthatnoise - February 6, 2012
yea it was a boring game until 4th qtr
pwndabear - February 5, 2012
I thought it was a beyootiful game. Not one stinking piss towel in the stands.
JustBob - February 6, 2012
on a side note, in all of the prediction threads, i have to see that I have the best prediction stats of anyone here. I bet on beer primarily. I won.
a lot.
pwndabear - February 5, 2012
Ocho and Big Money didn’t win the big one…
Gotta give it up for the Giants WRs. They made the catches while the Pats WRs didn’t. Just goes to show you the value of guys who can catch the ball, no matter where it’s thrown.
Spidey - February 5, 2012 via mobile
This.
DawgsNHawgs - February 5, 2012
The Giants pass rush was ridiculously good.
BuenosAires_Dawg - February 5, 2012
The coolest thing I saw with this game was when NBC gave props to the 6 Browns Championship wins from the 40s and 50s.
Brownsbacker488 - February 5, 2012
yep, add the aafc and it is 10.
Red-Right-88 - February 6, 2012
8 total championships.
4 AAFC, 4 NFL.
Dawg Nuts - February 6, 2012
I think it was championship games not necessarily wins with the same Coach QB duo. If they counted the AAFC’s it would have been 10.
Red-Right-88 - February 6, 2012
Gotcha. Thought you meant wins.
Dawg Nuts - February 6, 2012
It was really an amazing time that 10 year run, (and no i wasn’t alive then no matter what Bross says). One book i read was that we were the most hated football team in the nation because we were so good year in and year out 10 straight championship games! (kinda like how people hate the Pats, Cowboys etc.) Someone should have made a movie about that or Paul Brown himself.
Lets home this cycle is on its way back here.
Red-Right-88 - February 6, 2012
That was so cool. Good job NBC
HenryDawg - February 6, 2012
I think its 50s/60s though
HenryDawg - February 6, 2012
I’m going to upload a screen cap this week if I remember.
Chris Pokorny - February 6, 2012
Anyone else think Brady gagged? He missed two huge throws late in the game.
If that would have been Manning (either one) the media would be all over him.
Bernie19Kosar - February 5, 2012
manning didn’t win 3 SBs with a historically great D on his side. Obviously, Brady has already proven he is clutch.
bross09 - February 5, 2012
manning has won 2 with good D’s…
Red-Right-88 - February 6, 2012
his Ds have turned it on at the right times, but they have been nowhere near as good as the early-2000s Pats D. There is no question about that one.
bross09 - February 6, 2012
That deep crossing route to Branch on the last drive was thrown way behind the receiver and if it’d been on target it would’ve gone for 50+ yards and maybe a touchdown
tr1betime - February 6, 2012
I thought the throw to Welker was even worse. Welker was wide open and Brady just missed him. Don’t often see Brady with that poor of a throw, let alone back-to-back ones.
Bernie19Kosar - February 6, 2012
I guess there’s some speculation that Brady’s shoulder may have been hurt. I do remember Justin Tuck smashing it pretty good sometime in the 4th quarter.
HenryDawg - February 6, 2012
I thought that that was also on Welker too though because he slowed up for some reason and if he had not, the pass would have hit him in stride.
TheDriveStillHurts - February 6, 2012
I think their bad drafting strategy starts to show when they go up against more evenly matched teams. Wes Welker is awesome but he’s much better with a true #1 receiver and/or Gronk and Hernandez drawing the coverage.
HenryDawg - February 6, 2012
Brady was right on the money with his throws at the end of the game. There were 3 key drops that I remember, and 2 of them were on that last drive.
Legoman0721 - February 6, 2012 via Android app
Wrong — he threw two balls behind Branch at the end. Still think Branch has gotta make those catches, but they were behind him — definitely not on the money.
TheDriveStillHurts - February 6, 2012
Hell, he started with a safety. I was
rootingcheering for the Giants, so I was happy at first. Then I remembered Atlanta’s playoff game and got worried that the cycle of safety-collapse might be about to repeat.JustBob - February 6, 2012
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHs4M64UvMU
BELIEVELAND - February 5, 2012
i now have a greater love for betty white more than i ever thought possible
pwndabear - February 6, 2012
This is so awesome! We should front page this.
Jon @ DBN - February 6, 2012
That is awesome. Is she really a Browns fan or is it just because her show is set in Cleveland?
HenryDawg - February 6, 2012
I think it’s the latter.
emily522 - February 6, 2012
I’ll take it.
HenryDawg - February 6, 2012
Man, that was a good game. I won $85 on a bunch of $5 side bets during play. Fun times.
Brownie's Year - February 6, 2012
Happy Wife = Happy Life and my wife is very happy. (from NY…blah blah etc.)
Red-Right-88 - February 6, 2012
Meh, you could marry worse than a Giants fan.
emily522 - February 6, 2012
Well she is a bit spoiled being a NY fan….but at least she loves football. :)
Red-Right-88 - February 6, 2012
reply fail is fail.
pwndabear - February 6, 2012
its a monday…what can i say.
Red-Right-88 - February 6, 2012
They said it was a mistake for Bradshaw to score that TD but my opinion is that if you’re trailing you get the points. You never know what can go wrong on a FG attempt even if it is a short one. We all know it just takes one extra flinch and you lose the game. If you’re ahead then yes, you definitely run the clock down.
HenryDawg - February 6, 2012
I kept thinking the same thing. Take the damned points and rely on the D to keep the Pats out of the end zone for one minute.
JustBob - February 6, 2012
NFL ODDS to win 2013 Superbowl
Green Bay 5 to 1
New Orleans 6 to 1
New England 6 to 1
Baltimore 12 to 1
Pittsburgh 12 to 1
.
.
Bengals 40 to 1
Cleveland 1000 to 1
Jacksonville 1000 to 1
St. Louis 1000 to 1
Washington 1000 to 1
We are in the bottom 4 again! Crap
champion64 - February 6, 2012
Free money!
Jon @ DBN - February 6, 2012
So you're saying there's a chance?
Dawg Nuts - February 6, 2012
Yes a chance……..
champion64 - February 6, 2012
This isn’t that bad. In the late nineties the Panthers and Jaguars were 1 million and 2 million to 1 odds to win it and both of them went to their championship games.
HenryDawg - February 6, 2012
I dont think we will win it just yet. I do think we are better than that. This year I think we will surprise a bunch of people
champion64 - February 6, 2012
I agree, I think we win a lot more of the close ones and our offense should be much better.
HenryDawg - February 6, 2012
My wife, the Giants fan, is extremely happy today… She was talking tons of smack to co-workers this past week… so glad that her team pulled it out. She couldn’t even watch the last drive…. Grats to the Giants.. Hopefully soon it will be the Browns!
BinkDeBook - February 6, 2012
Would anyone have known that MIA flipped the bird if ESPN wasn’t talking about it all day?
HenryDawg - February 6, 2012
I certainly didn’t notice.
macdowellm03 - February 6, 2012
I forgot she was on stage…
bross09 - February 6, 2012
Who the hell is MIA?
Dawg Nuts - February 6, 2012
Way too many people
Doc's Kid - February 6, 2012
My dad doesn’t watch sports and I had to hear about it from him.
DawgsNHawgs - February 7, 2012
You must Login with your SB Nation account and be a member of Dawgs By Nature to post a comment.