The Super Quasi Live Blog, Second Quarter: Giants-Patriots

Maroney starts the second quarter with a touchdown to the right side. I CALLED IT! HE'S THE MVP! MVP! MVP! MVME! Patriots 7, Giants 3.

The first quarter had the fewest possessions in SB history. FTT commenter Dirty Davey wisely points out that the sample size of 42 games is too small to care about most records. I think he's right.

Gostkowski puts it out of bounds, and the Giants will start at the 40. Fox shows Brady's poon is drinking wine in a box. Pats Fan would never drink wine from a box. Dreamboat has to do better.

Bradshaw for 3. No Siragusa in this game -- thank God. Manning makes a man miss and hits Burress, who then backs up his pre-game prediction by dropping it. That would have been a first down, Mouth. Big Pats blitz gets absolutely nowhere, and Manning heaves it 40 yards to Toomer, who smacks the DB away, then uses the sideline and puts them in the red zone. Big push off, great play to get away with it. IT'S A CONSPIRACY! (To keep the game close enough to throw off the scent.)

Jacobs for 4. G-Men pick up their ritual delay call to give them second and 11, and Coughlin is Rassing and Frassing. IT'S A CONSPIRACY! Tyree for 5, and it's third and five. Without the penalty, that's a first down.... and then the game's biggest play, in a tipped ball INT to Steve Smith. Smith has to make the play, he doesn't, and Hobbs is off with it. Huge, huge play -- it's hard to be a ball-control team when you don't get touchdowns in the red zone.

Maroney for 8. HE'S THE MVP! GIVE IT TO HIM! Pats have it at their own 40 now. Maroney again on second, and Blue stops it. This is a big drive right here, in that if the Giants can get off the field, they can stop this from feeling like an avalanche... and on 3rd and 1, the defense smells run and crushes it. Very, very conservative playcalling by the Pats. They'll punt, McQuarters has a good return to the 36. We still have a ballgame, twenty minutes in.

The first sack of the game goes to the Pats, who cover Burress like he made a bad idea prediction. It's a short loss, but troubling nonetheless. 2nd and 13, and it's a very near turnover on an exchange to Bradshaw. How Bradshaw got this back, no idea. 3rd and a furlong is a fake screen to the left and a throwaway to the right, and that might have been the ugliest drive of the playoffs. 3 and out, and after the Feagles punt, the Patriots will start at their own 29.

Will Brady get untracked? Not after a 1 yard gain to Maroney. Remind me again -- do the Patriots have an explosive offense? 2nd and 9, it's a sack to Strahan. That over bet is not looking good. 3rd and 17, and some noise happens as Justin Tuck puts Brady on the ground for the second straight play. Steve Neal, a Patriot OL, limps off, and it's been a long time since the Pats have looked this ordinary on offense. After a punt and a non-call on an out of bounds hit by the Pats - IT'S A CONSPIRACY! - Blue will start at their 40.

The graphic shows no throws to Moss, and yup, that's what he does in the playoffs! Jacobs for a couple. Bradshaw for 13, and you have to think, if Blue's going to win this game, that he's going to make more plays like this. Will they stay with him? No, Jacobs for 4. Another first down puts them in figgie range... and Jacobs gets it with 8 on the left side. Honestly, Blue's been the better team so far tonight.

4:08 left, and the ball on the Pats 31. Bradshaw on a throwback underneath route for 3. 15 runs, 14 passes for Blue so far, and man, are they running clock. Bradshaw again on the ground, and it's 3rd and 4. Manning gets sacked, fumbles, and in a wild scramble, Smith covers it for an apparent first down... but there's a flag on the play, as Bradshaw batted it forward illegally, which costs them 10. Wild sequence. Now it's 3rd and 18 with 2:21 left, and the ball on the Patriots 39. I smell underneath pass to get Tynes closer... and instead, it's a terrible ball that Gay should have picked, but doesn't. The two minute warning sounds, and one expects a Feagles punt here. He doesn't disappoint, and the Pats will start at their 11.

Can the Pats' shake off 28 minutes of ordinary play to make this a 2-score game? They start with Brady getting leveled on a long ball to Moss, the first time they've thrown his way today. Moss wasn't open, anyway. Maroney for a three-yard loss, and it's Blue with the timeout. If you hadn't watched these teams all year, you would have no idea that the Patriots had a good offense. On 3rd and 13, with the crowd into it for Blue, it's an absolutle back-breaker of a play on a fake handoff, then toss to Stallworth, for the first. Brady tries Moss again, and gets nailed again. I haven't seen a team abuse Dreamboat this much all year.

With 1:05 left, it's Faulk for a big run up the middle, but this should come back on a hold, and it does. Fox shows a graphic of how the Pats have the second fewest yards in a Super Bowl, only outperforming... themselves, in the Bears game. 2nd and 12 with 59 seconds left. Brady is 5 for 11 for 49 yards right now -- wow. Another screen, this one to Welker, and it's not a good throw, but the WR redeems it. Clock runs on 3rd and 4, and Faulk converts it, but now there are only 28 seconds left. (It was 25, but the refs put three seconds back on. IT'S A CONSPIRACY!)

Brady steps up, looking good for the first time tonight, and hits Moss (ditto) to get them to Blue 45. Moss was down in bounds, but they call it out because... IT'S A CONSPIRACY! Next play is a sack and fumble, and amazingly, not a Tuck Play. Giants recover, Justin Tuck is owning the world, and with 10 second left, it's Blue Ball with 2 timeouts on the NE 49. Brady has been knocked down 6 times on 17 attempts. Wow.

A blitz doesn't get there, and Smith drops another one. Ouch. Giants send everyone out wide for a Hail Mary, which almost works, but Smith doesn't react... and that's your half. Patriots 7, Giants 3, and you can officially kiss the Over bet goodbye. Classic Patriots. They're leading, but they're not much better than the opponent -- as the 19 to 11 time of possession shows. Anyway, back soon.