One Week Later

After what you ask – why Super Bowl XLII, of course!!! It has taken that long for me to gain some perspective, to finally congratulate my nephew, a rabid New York Giant fan, and to be able to say that the New England Patriots did not lose – they were beaten. Yes, in every phase of the game the Giants outplayed the Patriots. Our offensive line was consistently being blown off the ball at the point of attack. Our defense, while playing valiantly most of the game, could not make that final stop in the last two minutes. That said, although quarterback Tom Brady did not have a good game overall, we still had a chance to win when we took the lead with two and one-half minutes to go in the fourth quarter. Not taking anything away from Eli Manning, who led his team down the field for the winning score while leaving just thirty seconds or so on the clock, but really just how many Hail Marys can you have answered in one game?

For me the most telling comment came from Randy Moss after the game when he spoke about how the Patriots from the outset failed to match the intensity of the Giants. Is it possible that the strain of being the perfect 18-0 team with all the hard work that went into it had finally caught up with the Pats? I don’t know. I only know that when the Giants kept the ball for the first ten minutes or so on the opening drive of the game I never had a good feeling about the outcome. The win I hoped was inevitable after such a great season, in the end just wasn’t meant to be.