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Still in a State of Shock

After the final gun had sounded in Super Bowl XLII, Giants’ defensive end Osi Umenyiora walked onto the field to celebrate with his teammates. He turned to an NFL Films’ crew and said, “This is the best day of my life and I’m not sure what happened.”

Most Giants’ fans would concur. We’re still in a state of shock. When the Giants’ regular season ended on December 29, few would dare to suggest that the 10-6 Giants, a team that had finished the second half of the schedule with a 4-4 record, would run the table in the playoffs. But that’s exactly what the Giants did en route to the franchise’s seventh NFL title and third Super Bowl championship.

Most startling of all was that the Giants did it the hard way. Not only would the Giants have to play all three NFC playoff games on the road, but after knocking off the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the opening Wild Card round, they would have to defeat the NFC’s two best teams and then the best team in all of football. The Cowboys, Packers, and Patriots had a combined 45-6 record when the Giants faced them. The Giants’ playoff games against these three opponents were among the most exciting and memorable in the team’s 82-year history. Each ended in dramatic, heart-pounding fashion.

Cornerback R.W. McQuarters spoiled the Cowboys’ last-ditch hopes with an interception in the end zone with only seconds to play. Cornerback Corey Webster intercepted the last pass of future Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre’s career in overtime; place kicker Lawrence Tynes then redeemed himself from two earlier misses with perhaps the most memorable field goal in team history (sorry Pat Summerall and Matt Bahr) to send the Giants to the Super Bowl. Then, of course, came the Super Bowl itself. Most non-Giants’ fans (and probably many Giants’ fans) thought the game was over when quarterback Tom Brady led the Patriots on a 12-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with a touchdown pass to wide receiver Randy Moss with under three minutes to play. “The Patriots and Tom Brady have pulled it off again,” most thought.

Enter quarterback Eli Manning, the much-maligned quarterback of the Giants. Despite being the most consistent of all of the quarterbacks in the entire playoffs, the soft-spoken Manning was still the target of venom spewed by many critics. The 27-year old, fourth-year signal caller shut them up with perhaps the most memorable drive in all of Super Bowl history. In just over two minutes, New York marched 83 yards in 12 plays. Halfback Brandon Jacobs converted on 4th-and-1. Three plays later, on 3-and-5, Manning miraculously escaped the clutches of the New England pass rush and found wide receiver David Tyree deep for an equally miraculous catch for 32 yards. Steve Sabol, the face of NFL Films, has already labeled the play the greatest in Super Bowl history. The drama was not over. Largely forgotten, three plays after “The Play,” Manning and the Giants faced a daunting 3rd-and-11 situation. But Manning found rookie wide receiver Steve Smith for a first down. On the very next snap, the Patriots came with an all out blitz. Plaxico Burress – who had been kept quiet since the Giants’ opening drive of the game – beat single coverage for the game-winning score with 35 seconds to play. Remarkably, in the entire history of the League, Eli Manning is the only quarterback in NFL history to lead a last-minute, championship-winning touchdown drive when his team was down by more than three points. The Patriots never gained a yard on their final possession and the Giants came away with perhaps the greatest victory in team history. It was a game - and playoff run - of superlatives.

The 2007 New York Giants did it the hard way. But they clearly outplayed the best when it mattered the most. And they fully deserve the label of World Champions.