Heartbreaker

I am a very superstitious person. I chose not to write an article leading up to the Superbowl because I did not want to jinx my Patriots. Turns out it wouldn’t have made a difference.

Everyone knew this was going to be a close game. Anyone who thought it would be a blowout is crazy. The setup was perfect for the Patriots. In 2007, the Patriots were the favorites, beat the Giants in the regular season, and ended up losing. Because the Giants were favored by most analysts and beat the Patriots in the regular season, I thought they might end up losing. The football gods were simply not on New England’s side.

It all started with the very first offensive play by the Patriots. An intentional grounding call in the endzone gave the G-Men a quick 2-0 lead. Really Brady?! You had plenty of time in the pocket and couldn’t find anybody to throw it to, before launching it into no man’s land. The Patriots did a great job of forcing fumbles and with a couple of fortunate bounces, New England could’ve ran away with this game. Hakeem Nicks and Ahmad Bradshaw both fumbled, but the New York Giants recovered both times. The one that hurt the most is when AFC championship game hero Sterling Moore forced a fumble. The Patriots recovered the fumble, but a 12-man on the field penalty negated the turnover. The Patriots had 5 penalties, which combined for more than their previous two playoff games.

The Giants punter Steve Weatherford did a good job of forcing the Patriots bad into field position. Only one of the Patriots nine drives started in front of their 25 yard line and none in front of their own 30. After getting down 9-0, the Patriots rallied for 17 straight points to take a 17-9 lead. In this stretch, Brady led a 96 yard drive and set a Superbowl record with 16 straight completions. The gameplan was certainly different without a full healthy Gronkowski. Gronk had two catches and was targeted three times. Compare that, to Aaron Hernandez’s eight catches on fourteen targets.

Being up by two points from the beginning of the fourth quarter to the final minute was nerve-racking. You just knew the Giants were going to score, but how time would the Patriots have left to put together a final drive. When I saw the David Tyree-esque catch made by Mario Manningham, feelings of 2008 started to set in. It looked like the Giants would run down the clock and kick an easy field goal as time expires to win the Superbowl. But, in one of the strangest plays of NFL history, Ahmad Bradshaw broke through the New England defense, stopped at the goal line, and for some reason, fell into the endzone (momentum?).

New England fans were given some hope. 57 seconds left, 2 timeouts, and 80 yards to go. The Patriots set themselves up for a decent hail mary opportunity and were nearly successful. Imagine if that ball was tipped a foot higher or if Gronkowski was closer to where the ball was deflected. This was a great Superbowl with average commercials, and a mediocre at best halftime show by Madonna. Unfortunately, the Patriots didn’t come out on top, but there is no reason to be bashing Brady and Belicheck. Both the Giants and Patriots have great teams and look out for them to make deep postseason runs again next season.