Official Super Bowl XXLII Thread

[Pidge]

What a game. The Giants D was superb. Just astonishing. Buhbye Seau.

Always nice to see a guy with gap teeth overcoming his disability as well.

Their defense looked old at times. Say-ow looked like he was sucking wind quite a bit.

I am sure they will re-tool and exact a vengence on the world next year but maybe this was the ultimate punishment as part of the Spygate saga. Losing the last game with a chance to be perfect....priceless.

Also where does this put them in the ranks of the all-time teams? I am not sure how they can be considered now since they didn't win the ultimate prize.

IMO Makes them a very good team but that's it. Ultimately a bunch of very talented skidmarks in the eyes of the football Gods. Like the Vikings of a few years ago.

I also have to give props to Eli. Even if he tanks from here on out, he's won the big one. Something I never thought he'd achieve.

The Pats have a few gaping holes on D next year. Seau (or however it's spelled) - hard to think he'll come back at 40, or that the Pats will want him back for that matter. Merriweather is a little bit s**t, Brushci will be getting his bus pass soon, so will Rodney. Asante will be gone. I'm not so sure they will be automatics for a Superbowl spot again next year.

The bastards will be sniffing around it though no doubt. Maybe the Chargers will have a real run at it?

[Pidge]

Why did the commentators never harrass the Bellicheck for 4 and 13? That was such a ludicrous call; thank you Giants! If I had been calling that game I would not have shut-up about that call--I would have been as flabergated as Nuxhall and as snub as Thom Brennamen. (Sorry for crossing my sports references.) The media loves the Pats.

How about harassing him for leaving the field before the final play. WHat a weasel!

Yeah, a bit of a douchebag move. Maybe he had some humble pie to eat for once, didn't want it to get cold?

[Pidge]

[HoosierCat]

[Spor_tees]

yeah if the Pats had kicked the FG and made it instead of going on 4th and 13 and not getting it, then the game would have been tied at the end. Also did anyone else notice that Vrabel was pretty much invisible during the game? Bellichik did pull a douchebag move by leaving the field before the final play...

[Horsemen]

Billy is a classless punk, no suprise he b1tched out and left before the game ended. WAY TO GO GIANTS!! I'd take the Giants determination and drive in Cincy with the talent we got. Just goes to show what it CAN accomplish.

[HoosierCat]

yeah if the Pats had kicked the FG and made it instead of going on 4th and 13 and not getting it, then the game would have been tied at the end.

It would have been a 49 yard attempt...can't really blame the Pats for passing, that's hardly a gimme.

[mgi]

yeah if the Pats had kicked the FG and made it instead of going on 4th and 13 and not getting it, then the game would have been tied at the end.

It would have been a 49 yard attempt...can't really blame the Pats for passing, that's hardly a gimme.

Hardly a gimme, but they were playing in a freakin' dome.

[HoosierCat]

Classic...

[BengalszoneBilly]

I hope Marvin, MB, and the core players are watching this to see how the game should be played.

You must mean by "core players" to be linemen, because THAT is what won this game for New York.

Mike Brown and Marvin Lewis...stop all this draft day non-sense of going for the BPA available at a skills position, and DRAFT LINEMEN, LINEMEN, and more LINEMEN!!!

[agreen_112]

Sucks for the Bengals and the rest of the AFC next year. The Pats will be back there next year. I say they retool and spend hella dough to get a secondary and probably Briggs and Suggs.

[Dan2330]

Great game, some of my observations from the game:

1- Was it me or was Tiki just choking to death having to interview the Super Bowl MVP Eli? Especially after Tiki's comments about Eli just a year ago.

2- Hey Shockey, come on down out of the suite and join your team on the sideline (whatever he was drinking looked good though)

3- Next season every commerical on during football games will be a Manning one

4- Best superbowl commercial: Bud Light fire breather (first one during the game)

5- Hey Bill, 3rd and long in field goal range in a domed stadium go ahead and kick the field goal

6- Probably about as close as Chad will ever get to the Super Bowl during his commercial

[HoosierCat]

* Props to the refs. I thought they missed a few calls, but they appeared to be operating on the principle of "let 'em play."

* Masterfully-called game by Giants DC Spagnuolo. And simply incredible execution by the players.

* On Saturday, I think that if you would have asked 100 people the question: When Peyton's and Eli's careers are both in the record books, which will have turned out to have been he better NFL QB? 100 out of 100 would have laughed in your face and told you you were crazy to think there was any chance Eli could be better than Peyton. Today...well, that's now a question to which the answer can only be, we will have to wait and see.

* Speaking of Eli, when the Giants capped off an 80-yard drive with the winning TD with :39 left on the clock...after Samuel just misses a game-ending pick a few plays before...well, we've seen that script before, haven't we? (And yes, Montana, after all these years, I still hate you and your team.)

* Props to former Giants GM Ernie Accorsi. This is by and large the team that he built, coached by the HC he hired. Ernie, go run up the tab at the nicest steakhouse in town and send the bill to the Meadowlands. They'll pay it.

* Plexiglass played like he was made of steel: back effed up, high ankle sprain, torn MCL -- and the guy who caught the winning TD. When Pitt let him go, I said then they were stupid, and I'll say it again today: they were stupid.

* No, I don't know how Eli doesn't go down on that play, nor how Tyree hangs on to that ball, either. But if I died five minutes from now and found out God was a Giants fan, I wouldn't be surprised.

* I wish we had a TE as good as Kevin Boss.

EDIT: * Oh, one more thing: everyone who thought that Jared Lorenzen would have a Super Bowl ring before Carson Palmer, please raise you hand...

[mgi]

* Props to the refs. I thought they missed a few calls, but they appeared to be operating on the principle of "let 'em play."

Agreed; they were no horrendous calls this year (remember the call on Hasselback for tackling a Steeler three years ago?) Sure, they missed Burress's hands to the face on his first reception, but that is just people playing football. Good job officators.

[Spor_tees]

Sorry but I still don't see Eli as being all that good. The entire last drive he had HORRIBLE mechanics and was throwing off his back foot. He should have probably had at least 2 more picks in the game and was saved a few times by great catches by Toomer and Tyree. Someone on the defense should have been the MVP not Manning, but how marketable would that have been?

[BengalszoneBilly]

The Boston Herald mourns the Patriots Loss.

I real feel good (for me) story!

[HoosierCat]

Sorry but I still don't see Eli as being all that good. The entire last drive he had HORRIBLE mechanics and was throwing off his back foot. He should have probably had at least 2 more picks in the game and was saved a few times by great catches by Toomer and Tyree.

For me, the bottom line is results, and since his 1-6 performance in 7 starts in 2004, the Giants have gone a combined 29-19 in the regular season, and made the playoffs in each of those three years. Eli now has a 4-2 record as a starting QB in the playoffs. Compare that to Peyton, who is actually .500 as a playoff QB at 7-7. And it took 9 years for the elder Manning to win a Super Bowl, versus four for the kid. I don't know who will eventually come out as the better of the two, but that wasn't even a question two days ago

[ArmyBengal]

Say what you will about Eli, (Luck, poor this or that) but he got it done when it mattered the most and became a leader most thought he never would be... Being neither a Giants or Patriots fan, I felt good seeing Eli win a Super Bowl. Anyone think the Chargers are rethinking the trade ?? I don't actually think they are, but it's fun to toss around...

WHODEY !!!

[BengalszoneBilly]

Super Bowl the second most-watched TV show ever

By DAVID BAUDER, AP Television Writer

February 4, 2008

NEW YORK (AP) -- The New York Giants' thrilling win over the New England Patriots was the most-watched Super Bowl ever, with 97.5 million viewers, Nielsen Media Research said Monday.

The game eclipsed the previous Super Bowl record of 94.08 million, set when Dallas defeated Pittsburgh in 1996. Only one other show in American broadcast history was watched by more people, the "M-A-S-H" finale in 1983, which drew 106 million viewers.

Sunday's game 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.

But the Giants ended New England's bid for perfection, 17-14. Throughout the game, the teams were never separated by more than a touchdown.

Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who was to appear on David Letterman's "Late Show" on Monday, also won bragging rights over his brother: Last year's win by Peyton Manning's Indianapolis Colts was seen by 93.2 million people, now the third most popular Super Bowl.

Fox, a division of News Corp., charged $2.7 million for 30 seconds of advertising time on the game.

An eye-popping 81 percent of all TV sets on in the Boston area Sunday were tuned in to the game. In New York, the audience share was 67 percent.

The audience peaked between 9:30 and 10 p.m. ET -- the fourth quarter -- with 105.7 million people watching, Nielsen said.

There were signs even before gametime that Fox could be headed for a record. The opportunity for a team to make history with football's first 19-0 record was a powerful draw. The Giants and Patriots also had a tight contest in late December that drew strong ratings.

The Giants' underdog run had also captivated the nation's largest media market, making up for the only potential weakness in the event as a drawing card: the lack of geographical diversity in the competing teams.

There were past Super Bowl games with higher ratings, topped by the 1982 game between San Francisco and Cincinnati (49.1 rating, 73 share). That indicates that a larger percentage of homes with televisions were watching the game. But since the American population has increased, along with the number of people with TVs, the actual number of people watching this year was higher.

The Giants-Patriots game's actual rating (43.3 rating, 65 share) was the highest for any Super Bowl since 1997. That means 43 percent of the nation's TV sets were tuned in to the game, and 65 percent of the TV sets that were turned on were watching football.