Not Again: Giants Beat The Patriots In Another Super Bowl, 21-17

For the second time in four seasons, the New York Giants topped the New England Patriots in a Super Bowl.

New York quarterback Eli Manning (30 of 40, 296 yards, 1 TD) secured his legacy as he picked up his second Super Bowl MVP trophy with a 21-17 Giants victory at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Ironically, the win in Super Bowl 46 gave him more rings (two) than his more overrated choke artist brother Peyton (one), who plays in Indy.

Including the regular season, New York has now beaten New England three straight times and they've scored the winning points in the last minute every instance.

Everyone knew it was a joke that the Patriots (15-4) were favored coming into tonight since the Giants (13-7) not only had their number but they were a more balanced team. The painful part for Pats fans is that despite a shaky defense, not much of a running game and a lack of receivers, this was one they truly let slip away.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady (27 of 41, 276 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT) and the offense were up 17-15 and driving for another score late in the fourth quarter-a touchdown would have ended it-but Wes Welker (7 catches, 60 yards) dropped a pass that he makes 49 times out of 50. That mistake didn't cost New England the game but when you couple it with Giants receiver Mario Manningham's (5 catches, 73 yards) absurd 38-yard grab on the ensuing drive, they were two of the most pivotal plays in such a tight game.

New York seemed to make a mistake as Ahmad Bradshaw (17 carries, 72 yards) fell into the end zone with 57 seconds left, rather than drop at the one and kill the clock before a chip shot field goal. That ended up being a moot point since with less than a minute, one timeout and no deep threats, Brady couldn't get it done. He converted on 4th-and-16 to Deion Branch (3 catches, 45 yards) for a 19-yard gain but it ended with a hail mary into the end zone that was inches away from Rob Gronkowski's (2 catches, 26 yards) hands.

Speaking of Gronk, without him New England's options in the passing game were limited. Aaron Hernandez (8 catches, 67 yards, TD) played well but he also made a key drop, on the last-minute drive. Danny Woodhead (4 catches, 42 yards, TD) was effective but as expected, Chad Johnson (1 catch, 21 yards) had minimal impact. With Gronkowski clearly hobbled, the Patriots couldn't match the weapons of New York.

Hakeem Nicks (10 catches, 109 yards) was the best skill position player in the game while the Patriots contained Victor Cruz (4 catches, 25 yards, TD) but he did catch a touchdown.

New York owned time of possession-37:05-22:55 thanks to more balance (40 passing attempts, 28 rushing attempts vs. 41 passing attempts, 19 rushing attempts for the Patriots). It also helped that they fumbled three times (!) but recovered two and the other was nullified by too many men on the field for New England. Add in a bad interception by Brady and you start to understand why New York won it; they made virtually all the big plays.

New England spotted New York a quick 9-0 lead as Brady was flagged for intentional grounding out of his own end zone on the Patriots' first play. The Giants drove 78 yards on the ensuing punt and Cruz capped it off with a 2-yard catch.

The Patriots finally got on the board early in the second quarter as Stephen Gostkowski cut it to 9-3 with a 29-yard field goal.

Somehow despite sleeping through the first quarter and not converting in the red zone until the end of the second quarter, the Patriots entered halftime with a 10-9 lead thanks to Woodhead's 4-yard touchdown catch with eight seconds left. It was a stunning turnaround for a team that should have been behind by more but was still in it thanks to their defense.

Since they deferred as always to start the game, the Pats got the ball to begin the second half and looked like a different team after the 30-minute halftime. Hernandez made a 12-yard touchdown catch after breaking a tackle and New England was up 17-9 with 11:20 left in the third.

Who would have thought that would be the final points for the Patriots? Once again, the defense kept them in it as they held the Giants to a pair of field goals (38-yard and 33-yard) and New England led 17-15 heading into the fourth.

Brady forced a deep ball to Gronkowski on the second play of the fourth and it was picked off by Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn. If I'm making excuses, it's easy to say a healthy Gronk at least knocks that down but like in the AFC Championship game against the Ravens, an objective Pats fan has to ask, why did Brady put it up for grabs like that?

It didn't end up costing New England since their defense had one last stop in them before Welker's drop and Manningham's catch (challenged unsuccessfully by Bill Belichick) totally swung the momentum of the game.

The Patriots have the core to make another run at a Super Bowl next season and for the near future as long as Brady and Belichick are still around. Jerod Mayo (11 tackles), Brandon Spikes (11 tackles), Patrick Chung (6 tackles) and Vince Wilfork (3 tackles) are the key pieces to a defense that really came together in the postseason. However, there are a few areas that the team needs to address if they want to reach the next level and not lose their third consecutive Super Bowl.

New England needs to spend money in free agency and they also need to hold onto draft picks or trade up rather than trade down as they usually do. They need wide receivers, cornerbacks, running backs and pass rushers and they needed them yesterday. This loss was certainly painful but when you look at the roster, you realize that Belichick squeezed everything that he could out of this group and they still had a great chance to steal a win. Is there anyone you would rather have with the chance to make a play than Brady and Welker?

There's no reason to lament Gronk's injury since it's football and that comes with the territory. It's damn impressive that he played the entire game but he was only a shell of himself.

The clock is ticking on Brady and Belichick but with the right moves this offseason, there is no reason why this team can't reach this point again. They just better hope that they don't have to go through the Giants since until further notice, New York owns them. There is no way to dispute that, the better team won Super Bowl 46.

Tweet


Follow @RichSlate

The Patriots Mystique Is Over, They've Become Just Another Team In The NFL

One of the best parts about sports in the modern era is that there are very few dominant teams, meaning that theoretically (unless it's MLB), your favorite team has a chance every season to do something special.

Gone are the days of John Wooden's UCLA Bruins in the 1960s and 70s or the Boston Celtics of the 1960s. From 2001-2008, the New England Patriots were the closest thing to a dynasty that the NFL had seen since the Dallas Cowboys in the 90s.

Eventually, the star players get older and the championship winning coaches begin to lose their touch. Well how else would you describe the current edition of the Pats? Tom Brady is no longer the best quarterback in the NFL and head coach Bill Belichick cannot simply outsmart everyone from week to week and make up for his roster's many shortcomings.

For those reasons and many others, New England (5-3) fell 24-20 to the New York Giants (6-2) this afternoon at Gillette Stadium. This is the first time since 2009 that the Patriots have lost consecutive games and it also snapped a 20-game home win streak (regular season) that dated back to 2008.

It was a strange one, look no further than the halftime score: 0-0 (the first time that's happened this season in the NFL). The Patriots' defense held up their end of the bargain (for once) throughout much of this contest but predictably crumbled when it mattered most (in the fourth quarter). It's hard to single out a single person or even group for blame since Brady (28 for 49, 342 yards, 2 TDs, 2 INTs, fumble) as much as anyone, made his share of miscues.

If you want to say that Julian Edelman, Tracy White, Sergio Brown, etc. cost New England the game, be my guest. However, keep in mind that they were all backup plans for draft picks (Brandon Tate, Brandon Meriweather, Chad Jackson) that Belichick and Co. have completely bungled in the last few years. Or in White's case, they were forced to play when a thin position (linebacker) was stretched even more due to injuries suffered by Gary Guyton and Brandon Spikes.

Through all the mistakes, Brady and his team looked like they would somehow pull it out when he hit Rob Gronkowski (8 catches, 101 yards) for a 14-yard TD on 4th-and-9 with 1:36. Wes Welker (9 catches, 136 yards) had another outstanding performance but it's clear that him and Gronk are the only two receivers that Brady can really trust. Chad Ochocinco had five targets, each more painful than the last, but he couldn't make one grab. Pathetic.

In a plot that was eerily similar to Super Bowl 42, the Pats left too much time on the clock for Giants quarterback Eli Manning (20 of 39, 250 yards, 2 TDs, 1 INT). Thanks to some big plays and costly penalties-one very shaky pass interference call on Kyle Arrington and also an inexcusable pass interference on Brown placed the ball on the 1-yard line. Two plays later, Manning hit Jake Ballard (4 catches, 67 yards) for the deciding score with only 15 seconds on the clock.

The first quarter was completely devoid of anything notable: three punts for New York, two for New England. Spikes crushed Ballard on a key third-down stop.

Brady began the second quarter with a bad pass that was intended for Deion Branch but ended up in the hands of Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka (12 tackles, 6 solo). The Pats defense stood tall and forced a punt rather than allow any points on the short field.

The teams traded punts twice more before the Pats finally moved the ball on offense. Stephen Gostkowski is one of the NFL's top kickers but for whatever reason, not a bad snap or hold, he pushed a 27-yard kick wide. The Giants took a knee to go into halftime scoreless.

Two plays into the first drive of the second half, Brady topped himself with an even worse interception-this time to Deon Grant. The Giants used that momentum swing to get on the board with a 22-yard kick by Lawrence Tynes.

Three plays later, New York linebacker Michael Boley forced a Brady fumble deep in New England territory. Brandon Jacobs (18 carries, 72 yards) scored on a 10-yard TD run on the following play, 10-0 New York.

The Pats moved the ball on the next drive but had to settle for a 32-yard field goal by Gostkowski. Thankfully, this time he made the chippy.

New England's defense kept the momentum on their side by forcing a three-and-out on the ensuing drive. Obviously, Edelman screwed it up by fumbling the punt. However, Arrington covered for him by making his fifth interception of the season. It was a spectacular play as he baited Eli to throw it to Mario Manningham in the corner of the end zone.

The third quarter ended with the Giants ahead 10-3 but the Patriots were driving. Brady tied it by connecting with Aaron Hernandez for a 5-yard catch and run.

New York couldn't do anything on the next drive and had to punt. The Pats went ahead with a 45-yard field goal by Gostkowski.

When it came to winning time, Eli got it done twice while Brady only got one chance to put it away. New York went eight plays for 85 yards and Manning hit Manningham for a pretty 10-yard TD past Arrington.

With 3:03 left, three timeouts and the two-minute warning, it turned out that the Pats had too much time left on the clock. They got it down to the 15 by the time the two-minute warning took effect. After misfiring twice to Gronk, once was his fault and another one was a tough catch, Brady found him with 1:36 left.

Looking often to UMass product Victor Cruz (6 catches, 91 yards), Manning coolly went 80 yards in eight plays. New England got the ball back with 15 seconds left and no timeouts so it was basically over.

The New York Jets (5-3) pasted the Buffalo Bills (5-3) 27-11 earlier today, meaning that there's a three-way tie atop the AFC East. Wouldn't you know, Patriots at Jets is the Sunday Night game next weekend?

So much can change in the NFL in a few short weeks; the Jets looked dead a few weeks back but as always, they've found themselves and are playing better as the season progresses. Conversely, the Pats started out hot but lately, their offense isn't making nearly as many plays while the defense can't be counted on for anything positive.

I don't know why the Patriots abandoned the run so quickly when the Giants have the worst run defense in the league. BenJarvus Green-Ellis (12 carries, 52 yards) looked good and Danny Woodhead (7 carries, 26 yards) finally showed glimpses of the burst he had last season. Good luck figuring out what's happened to rookie Stevan Ridley (3 carries, 10 yards), who was playing so well at the beginning of the season.

Watching Steelers-Ravens tonight made me think even more about New England's utter lack of a defensive playmaker. Vince Wilfork is great but a defensive tackle will never make plays on the same level as a defensive end, linebacker, safety or cornerback. Who can the Patriots count on to do something defensively that's above average? Jerod Mayo is probably still playing through a knee injury but regardless, he hasn't made the leap we expected. Furthermore, Patrick Chung has shown the ability but never consistently from week to week. Lastly, what has happened to the Devin McCourty that was so damn good last season?

The second-guessing of Belichick and the Pats front office that occurred last week, should only intensify this week since the team is coming off another brutal loss that makes you the fan question everything about this house of cards that we so dearly love.

Follow @RichSlate


Tweet