Super Bowl XLII: Separating Fact from Fiction

By: D.K. Wilson

They choked.

In the end, the Patriots cracked under the constant media scrutiny and pressure of the last 12 weeks; cracked under the weight of perfection.

Wading through all the nonsense of the “Eli came of age” talk, the New England Patriots, from the coaching staff to the players, must take the lion’s share of the blame for their losing Super Bowl XLII.

Why was Ellis Hobbs, the Patriots shortest cornerback, allowed to play one-on-one at the goal line against one of the tallest wideouts in the NFL? In that circumstance, Bill Belichick committed an egregious error in allowing the ball to be snapped - gag.

On fourth and 13 why did Bill Belichick fail to attempt a field goal or execute a pooch punt? Why did offensive coordinator McDaniels fail to pass more often on first down? Even the average NFL fan knows that by game’s end the two strategies that tire a defensive line and by extension the entire front seven most, are a punishing running game or a short pass passing attack where the line is consistently a split-second late getting to the quarterback. New England executed this game plan to perfection against Jacksonville yet did not attempt to duplicate it against New York until the second half of Super Bowl XLII - gack.

How is it possible that, given two weeks, that Belichick and his staff could come up with such a milquetoast game plan on both sides of the ball, but particularly on offense? Belichick’s refusal to consider that he might need to open his playbook more than ever to combat the inevitable adjustments made by Giants defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo was as pompous a move as Pete Carroll’s refusal to do the same against Texas in their national championship matchup.

The fact is, certain players on New England’s team felt the pressure more than others and did not play up to their standards. Until the second half, and then the middle of the third quarter, offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels never consistently took pressure off his offensive line long enough for them to regroup and gain confidence. He failed to frustrate the Giants with a continued dose of intermediate passes.

Josh McDaniels and Bill Belichick flat out failed to put their players in position to win.

However.

The reality of the New York Giants is that their 2007-08 team was 10-6 and a Washington Redskins field goal away from being 9-7 and missing the playoffs altogether. They were a Patrick Crayton and a Terrell Owens dropped pass away from being out of the playoffs in the second round. Even in the end and after a Super Bowl win, they are a six-loss team.

So, the next time someone says you are what your record says you are, or, you are what your stat say you are, remind me to shoot them - figuratively, of course.

Roger Goodell should be embarrassed that a team with that poor a record won the biggest game of the NFL season.

The NFL should be equally embarrassed that the New York Giants players reacted to the victory by trash talking the Patriots. The media should be excoriated for saying nothing about the gross classlessness of Antonio Pierce, Michael Strahan and crew after the game.

And the next time a member of the media blows hard about an athlete’s lack of “class” everyone with an ounce of integrity should remember that writer’s failure to blast the reprehensible postgame behavior of too many New York Giants players; people like Tom Jackson and his hearty laugh on the ESPN Mike and Mike in the Morning show after this comment about Bill Belichick leaving the field with one second left after shaking Tom Coughlin’s hand: “He probably wanted to leave a little bit before that.”

Jackson is absolutely vile.

That no one recognizes Eli Manning’s throwing four ducks in the final drive and having the unprecedented luck to get away with every one is reprehensible because it illustrates the malice with which the New England Patriots are treated. That Eli Manning is said to have outplayed Tom Brady is patently ridiculous. Until the final drive, the Patriots front four was stymied by the Giants offensive line. Brady, on the other hand, was under constant pressure, yet threw no interceptions and had a better completion percentage than Manning.

It is difficult to reconcile the fact that Eli Manning won the MVP award instead of the New York Giants front four. Hell, it’s difficult to reconcile the fact that, after three mediocre seasons as a starter, Manning wasn’t the Giants second-string quarterback to start the 2007-08 season. Last night, just as he has his entire career, within the same game Manning played both well enough to win the game and poorly enough to lose it. And for that - Eli being Eli - he was rewarded.

But after all that is the career pattern with the Mannings. Reward without the performance to match seems to be the way with Peyton, Eli, and their father Archie.

In the end, though, the only classy team on the field was New England. In the end Tom Brady did his best Joe Montana impression, but was let down by his defense.

Perhaps, in an odd way, what foretold the final 83-yard drive for New York’s Super Bowl touchdown was this: moments after Tom Brady surgically dissected the New York defense and drove the Pats offense 80 yards down the field for the go-ahead score Junior Seau and Tedy Bruschi shared a hug on the sidelines as if the game was won.

The Patriots defense then took the field and played as if their mere presence would cause the Giants to fold. Perhaps that few seconds of emotional release by Seau and Bruschi was shared by all the members of the Patriots defense.

And perhaps that minute change in attitude was just enough to cause the New England Patriots to leave the field in historic fashion that is not likely to be repeated: as the only 18-1 NFL team to not win the Super Bowl.

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

D.K. Wilson is a freelance sports writer. He is better known on the internet as "DWil," and writes for Sports On My Mind.

Share This Article

No Comments

No comments yet.

Comment On This Article