For the New England Patriots it was simple — win one more game and complete the greatest season in the history of the NFL. For the N.Y. Giants, the task was gargantuan — beat the undefeated Patriots and shock the world. In arguably one of the greatest Super Bowl upsets of all-time, game MVP Eli Manning and the N.Y. Giants did shock the world, coming from behind to beat the unbeatable New England Patriots 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII. In this SBXLII Review episode, BPR NFL analyst Lloyd Vance and I run through the vitals of the Giants victory.

Shownotes: David Kindervater (host), Lloyd Vance (BPR NFL analyst)

• 0:28 – Reaction to the upset Super Bowl XLII win: Giants 17, Patriots 14
• 1:27 – Giants’ defense should share MVP honors with QB Eli Manning
• 2:27 – Remarkable conclusion to the 2007 season for Giants
• 3:16 – Eli Manning’s top-notch play led the Giants through the playoffs
• 4:45 – Giants learned to play Patriots’ brand of ultimate team football
• 5:47 – For the Patriots, a lot of questions left unanswered in an 18-1 finish

Sponsor: Under Armour Trainer
Links: Patriots.com, Giants.com, NFL.com

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BPR93 Super Bowl XLII Review

The N.Y. Giants did the Super Bowl victory parade thing today with 50 tons of confetti littering the streets of New York. It began at the tip of lower Manhattan in Battery Park and proceeded north on Broadway, going past the financial district and the site of the World Trade Center before the City Hall Park finale where a victory rally was held.

Ticker-tape parades in the “Canyon of Heroes” have celebrated everything from Charles Lindbergh’s Atlantic flight to sports championships. The last parade was in 2000, when the Yankees won the World Series. And according to Kenneth Cobb, assistant commissioner in the city Department of Records, this parade was the first for a football team. Crowds were 20 deep in some places. After the Manhattan festivities, the team took buses back to New Jersey, where they were met by a crowd of more than 20,000 fans at Giants Stadium.

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Giants Celebrate SBXLII Win With Parade

It wasn’t supposed to end this way. The New England Patriots had run off an incredible 18 straight wins against no defeats to find themselves in Super Bowl XLII with a chance to make history and become world champions in the process. Yet in one fell swoop, they lost their undefeated and championship season with a 17-14 loss to the N.Y. Giants.

I sat in stunned silence after this was over. It wasn’t as though I had any emotional investment in the game. I honestly didn’t care who won. On one hand, I wanted to see the upstart Giants overcome the odds (they were nearly two touchdown underdogs) and beat “Goliath.” But on the other hand, I wanted to see history being made by one of the best teams I have ever witnessed. It left me somewhere in the middle just hoping for a good game. And I certainly got just that. (For the record, I picked New England 28-24.)

My satisfaction with the outcome, though, dates back to the first week of the 2007 NFL season. Unbeknown to many within the New England Patriots organization, head coach Bill Belichick broke NFL rules with an illegal videotaping incident (aka “Spygate”) that was certain to mar a perfect or championship season. If, in fact, a perfect or championship season happened. I knew that even if this Patriots team did go 19-0 — winning the Super Bowl in the process — that questions of legitimacy would forever be brought up. I’m on record as saying the rules that were broken had no impact on the outcome of that Kickoff weekend blowout over the Jets. And I still believe that.

The Pats earned their 18-0 record heading into yesterday’s Super Bowl. And I cannot begin to imagine how difficult of a task that was for this team. But in their final game loss, it’s almost as if justice had been served.

Now, in saying that, I want to be very careful that people understand I am not trying to take anything away from the incredible achievement for New England this season. That wouldn’t be fair to those players and coaches who put in so much time and effort. In fact, I doubt 18-0 will ever be achieved again. But when you knowingly break NFL rules — even if it’s the old “one bad apple spoils the whole bunch” adage — you must pay the price as a team. Of course, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell handed down a severe punishment months ago, but it was as if the ultimate punishment was handed down yesterday by the N.Y. Giants. New England won’t have to answer questions about the legitimacy of their undefeated championship season because they didn’t have one.

As an NFL scribe, the New England Patriots gave me a lot to write about this season. Week after week, they were something special to watch. I got to work with them up-close-and-personal in their November 18 game against the Buffalo Bills and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. They were an offensive machine. Because of this Super Bowl loss, I know they didn’t achieve their ultimate goal, but they have plenty to be proud of. After the game, players like Tom Brady, Junior Seau and Richard Seymour couldn’t have had more class and respect for the difficult situation and their opponent (too bad I can’t say the same for some of the Giants players). So, my congratulations to the New England Patriots on what was an incredible 18-1 season.

Inset Photo by Streeter Lecka/Getty Images

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New England Patriots Suffer ‘Giant’ Loss, Super Bowl Setback Ruins Perfect Season

Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL

As a follow-up to my post on Under Armour’s Super Bowl XLII commercial, here’s the finished product. For all the details, check out the original post. NFL players in the commercial are Eric Ogbogu, Vernon Davis, Ray Lewis, Bob Sanders, Patrick Kerney, Eric Weddle and Brandon Jacobs. Plus NFL player-to-be Tom Zbikowski.

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Under Armour Super Bowl XLII Commercial

According to Nielsen Media Research, the New York Giants’ upset win over the New England Patriots yesterday was the most-watched Super Bowl ever, with 97.5 million viewers. The game topped the previous Super Bowl record of 94.08 million when Dallas beat Pittsburgh in 1996. More people watched yesterday’s game than all but one American television broadcast ever, the M*A*S*H* finale in 1983, which was seen by an incredible 106 million viewers. Super Bowl XLII had almost all the ingredients Fox could have hoped for: a tight contest with an exciting finish involving a team that was attempting to make history as the NFL’s first unbeaten team since 1972.

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SBXLII Most-Watched Super Bowl Ever

Ok, let’s get this out of the way. Here are my Top Five Super Bowl XLII commercials from yesterday’s Giants/Patriots game:

1. Gatorade man’s best friend
2. Bud Light Jackie Moon TV commercial
3. Bridgestone “Scream”
4. Under Armour “The New Prototype”
5. Wanted movie

And there were honorable mentions from Tide to Go “Interview” – FedEx “Carrier Pigeons” and Wall-E movie. The CareerBuilder.com commercials were just wrong. But overall, I’d say a pretty good year for commercials. Check out YouTube’s Super Bowl AdBlitz to see them all. Alternatively, they’re on myspace.com/superbowlads.

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Top Five Super Bowl XLII Commercials

I’m stunned. I gave the N.Y. Giants a chance. I knew they would be in this ball game. But I didn’t think they would pull off one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history. No way. Somehow, though, the N.Y. Giants shocked the world tonight by beating the previously undefeated New England Patriots 17-14 in Super Bowl XLII. That’s right, no need to rub your eyes or blink hard. The N.Y. Giants held the highest-scoring team in NFL history to 14 points en route to the shocking upset Super Bowl win.

Giants QB Eli Manning won the MVP award. (Yeah, Peyton’s little brother. Or is Peyton now Eli’s big brother? Let’s go with that.) And deservingly so. Eli engineered what I viewed as controlled chaos in a shocking 12-play, 83-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard TD pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left. That is how you win a Super Bowl. You’ve heard the cliche phrase “big-time players make big plays in big games.” Well, the stage doesn’t get any bigger than this and the big-time players made big plays on this final drive — Eli, David Tyree, Steve Smith, Plaxico. In the end, the Giants made more plays than the Patriots.

Yes, Eli deserved top honors with his 255-yard, two-TD performance. And I’m happy for him because he silenced his critics. He has put up with a lot of crap from not only the NYC media, but the national press (aka Tiki Barber) as well. But I felt the entire defense (including defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo) should have been rewarded with the MVP trophy as well. When you hold Tom Brady and this high-powered New England offense to a mere 274 total yards, you deserve some extra special recognition. Throw in five sacks and countless quarterback hurries and hits and you’ve found a recipe for success against the Pats that’s certainly worthy of MVP status.

Here’s an MVP problem. It’s just not as neat and tidy with all the politics of the award to hand it out to more than one person. And that stinks. This defense played their hearts out. So they give the MVP award to Eli. And like I said, that works. He deserved it. But this ultimate team effort won the Super Bowl champions’ Lombardi Trophy tonight and that will, of course, be shared by the entire team.

The play of the Giants offensive line should also be commended. They paved the way for enough rushing yards (91) to make a difference, but what a tremendous job they did in protecting Eli, especially late when the pocket was collapsing under heavy pressure from a determined Patriots pass rush.

I simply can’t believe the N.Y. Giants won the Super Bowl. When I saw them back on December 23 in Buffalo, I certainly didn’t think I was looking at the future Super Bowl XXLI champs. I thought they were a pretty good football team, but not a great one. To me, they were just another wild card team who would probably make an early postseason exit. It just goes to show how quickly a good team can become a great team when they begin to win games and believe in themselves. And I credit the Giants for sticking together — really banding together against the world and the odds — to becoming the championship team they knew they could be.

Inset Photo by Harry How/Getty Images

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Giants Upset Patriots 17-14 in SBXLII, Quarterback Eli Manning Named MVP

Blogging the National Football League, Blogging the NFL

The New England Patriots are one win away from a perfect 19-0 season and a Super Bowl Championship. It would be an historical accomplishment of gargantuan proportions. The only thing standing in their way? The N.Y. Giants who have a newfound confidence with three straight road playoff wins. In this special Super Bowl XLII edition, I am joined by BPR NFL analysts Lloyd Vance and John Huber to examine the game and make our predictions. Click here for the audio and shownotes.

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Super Bowl XLII Preview

The New England Patriots are one win away from a perfect 19-0 season and a Super Bowl Championship. It would be an historical accomplishment of gargantuan proportions. The only thing standing in their way? The N.Y. Giants who have a newfound confidence with three straight road playoff wins. In this special Super Bowl XLII edition, I am joined by BPR NFL analysts Lloyd Vance and John Huber to examine the game and make our predictions.

Shownotes: David Kindervater (host), Lloyd Vance (BPR NFL analyst), John Huber (BPR NFL analyst)

• 0:39 – Patriots’ offense vs. Giants’ defense
• 4:17 – Eliminating Randy Moss is difficult but can be done
• 6:08 – Giants’ offense vs. Patriots’ defense
• 10:19 – Plaxico Burress doesn’t practice with injuries
• 11:36 – Rating the kickers, Steven Gostkowski and Lawrence Tynes
• 12:39 – Special teams, kickoff and punt return importance
• 13:56 – The head coaches, Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin
• 15:43 – The Patriots have more Super Bowl experience
• 18:41 – BPR predictions, a clean sweep for the Patriots

Sponsor: Under Armour Trainer
Links: Patriots.com, Giants.com, NFL.com

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BPR92 Super Bowl XLII Preview

The atmosphere was more family picnic than Super Bowl preparation for the New England Patriots on today as the team enjoyed a brief stop at the University of Phoenix Stadium. The Pats did not have a walk-through, as promised. Instead, they spent a fun hour with their families, interrupted only by a brief team photograph session — this according to my final Patriots SBXLII pool report from fellow PFWA member Dan Pompei. Head coach Bill Belichick said:

“This is what we usually do. The first year was a little different because of the short week. It was just a one-week Super Bowl. The last three, it’s been good. It gives the families a fun day.”

I love it. Coach Belichick said “This is what we usually do,” as though it were a regular occurrence for him. Then again, with four trips to the Super Bowl in the past seven years, I guess it is.

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New England Patriots Ready to Play SBXLII