Sunday, February 3, 2008

Super Upset!

It'll take Eli Manning playing like his big brother Peyton and the Giants defense playing like the Steel Curtain to pull off that upset. If by some miracle they do, it'll be the biggest upset since the New York Jets and Joe Namath guaranteed a win against the Don Shula coached Baltimore Colts.

Hey, didn't I call it?

Eli Manning did play like his big brother, who was watching from a University of Phoenix Stadium skybox. Not only did he complete 19-35 passes for 255 yards and 2 touchdowns, he drove the Giants 83 yards on the game winning fourth quarter touchdown drive.

On that drive, David Tyree made an unbelievable catch after Eli escaped what would have been a sure sack and heaved the ball downfield for a huge gain and a first down. Plaxico Burress then caught the game-winning touchdown on a fade route with 35 seconds left to back up his prediction earlier in the week of a New York Giant win.

Like his brother last year, Eli was named the Super Bowl MVP as the Giants shocked the world (and the TransGriot) by beating the previously unbeaten New England Patriots 17-14 in a monumental upset.

The Giants defense did channel the Steel Curtain. They sacked Tom Brady five times and harrassed him all night. The Giants front four spent as much time in the New England backfield as Brady did.


I was hoping for a good game, and it exceeded my expectations. It was probably the best Super Bowl I've watched since the 2000 St. Louis-Tennessee one.

There's another group of people who think it was a great game as well. Coach Don Shula and the members of the 1972 Miami Dolphins.

In what has become a tradition for them, when the last unbeaten NFL team has lost, they open a bottle of champagne. They had to wait until after the Super Bowl this year, but that champagne cork got popped along with the Patriots dreams of a perfect season.