Super Bowl

The 1972 Dolphins are probably celebrating as much as anyone.

Eli Manning's 4th quarter, 32 yard pass to David Tyree has to go down as own of the greatest, and luckiest, in NFL history. It looked like Manning was completely surrounded, but somehow escaped from a sack that would have brought 4th down, stumbled a bit, recovered, and made the pass. Tyree caught the ball between his hand and his helmet, and amazingly held control and avoided letting the ball hit the ground.

The Giants defense, except for the 4th quarter drive that briefly gave New England a lead, did a great job on Tom Brady. To stop him, you need to make him and the ground become friends. Easier said than done, as the Patriot defensive line is one of the best ever. They couldn't protect Brady tonight though, sacking him 5 times.

Belichick got a cheap one against the Giants by winning the 12 men on field challenge. The guy would have absolutely had no impact whatsoever on the play, but the call was technically correct. It could have been huge, if instead of punting New England had scored, they would have won this game. If they were to pull off a perfect season, I'd rather it be because of play on the field than stupid mistakes baltimore*cough*ravens. Not sure why he passed on a 47 yard field goal though, instead he went for it and came up empty.

Eli Manning had as good a game as you could have under the circumstances. Even his one interception was right on the money, and if Smith had just dropped it instead of losing it up into the air, it would have been no worse than an incomplete pass. He was aggressive, making long passes to move the ball instead of safe, short passes, and was usually right on the money. Tonight he was pretty much everything you want your franchise QB to be. In other words, he looked like Tom Brady out there.

Congratulations to the Giants on their fine season, and congratulations to the 1972 Dolphins, the only undefeated team in NFL history.