Final Super Thoughts

The Patriots finally lost a close Super Bowl.

That's about it, really. If Eli Manning doesn't escape from a sack in a way that he has probably never done before, and if David Tyree doesn't keep a hold on a ball by pressing it against his freaking helmet, the Giants don't win tonight. If Ahmad Bradshaw doesn't recover a fumble when he is outnumbered 4 to 1 in a pile, the Giants probably don't win this game. They were the best team on the field tonight, but in the NFL, that does not really mean that much; every game turns on a half dozen plays. As much as the Giants held the ball tonight, they only won the time of possession by a minute. As well as the Giants defense played tonight, they outgained the Pats by all of about 60 yards.

I might be alone in this, but I don't think that this win makes Eli Manning a great quarterback, any more than the idea that Bret Favre has been a great quarterback for the past five years, because he won a Super Bowl way back when. His team scored 17 points tonight against a defense that hasn't been that great; he led them to three points in a first half when they more or less controlled the game.

What happened tonight was that the Giants' defensive line controlled the game for most of the first 50 minutes, and when the offense got the ball back with one chance to win the game, they did it. Everything after that is story, and come next September, worth as much as the Patriots first 18 wins.

Oh, and hats off from this Eagles fan to the Giants for taking out the two most annoying teams in the playoffs. The fact that you were the third most annoying team... well, oh well.