Deja blue all over again
Posted: February 23, 2012 Filed under: football, NFL, Super Bowl | Tags: Brady-Manning, Coughlin-Belichick, Giants playoff similarities, Giants-Patriots, Super Bowl, Super Bowl XLII, Super Bowl XLVI Leave a comment »
Quarterbacks Tom Brady, left,and Eli Manning of the Giants have been there, done that.
Here are 10 similarities between the two New York Giants Super Bowl runs, in 2007 and 2011:
1. In 2007 the Giants lost to the undefeated Patriots in the regular season. In 2011, the Giants lost to the undefeated Packers in the regular season. The final score of each game was 38-35.
2. In the 14th game of the 2007 season, the Giants lost to the Redskins 22-10. In the 14th game of the 2011 season, the Giants lost to the Redskins 23-10.
3. The Giants won playoff games on the frozen turf of Green Bay’s Lambeau field in 2007 and 2011.
4. The Giants won both the 2007 and 2011 NFC Championships games on field goals by Lawrence Tynes in overtime; beating the Packers and the 49ers respectively.
5. Without a first-round bye, the Giants won four consecutive playoff games in each Super Bowl run.
6. Eli Manning was the MVP in both Super Bowl wins (XLII and XLVI) against the Patriots.
7. Justin Tuck had two sacks of Tom Brady in each game.
8. Each game-winning, late fourth quarter Giant drive was sparked by an outstanding passing play,Manning to David Tyree in 2007 and then Manning to Mario Manningham in 2011.
9. In each Super Bowl, Manning vs. Brady was the quarterback matchup. In fact, Super Bowl XLVI marked only the third time in history that quarterbacks who had won previous Super Bowls faced off. Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw and Dallas’ Roger Staubach met in 1976 and again in 1979.
10. Tom Coughlin of the Giants and Bill Belichick, each of whom served as assistants to Bill Parcells when the Giants won Super Bowl XXV, matched wits in both games. Super Bowl XLVI marked only the fourth time in history that coaches who had won previous Super Bowls met, joining Bill Walsh (49ers) and Don Shula (Dolphins), 1985, and Chuck Noll (Steelers) and Tom Landy (Cowboys), 1976 and 1979.
Read this blog before Super Bowl XLVI
Posted: February 2, 2012 Filed under: football, NFL, Super Bowl | Tags: Bill Belichick, Eli Manning, Giants-Patriots, Super Bowl factoids, Super Bowl XLVI, Tom Brady, Tom Coughlin Leave a comment »
It won’t get you a ticket to Super Bowl XLVI, but you’ll amaze your friends and relatives with these football factoids. And may you roll winners in all your pools.
Quarter Century Club: Some 25 years ago last week, the Giants won their first Super Bowl. Over the past quarter century, four teams — the Giants, Patriots, 49ers and Cowboys — have won three Super Bowls apiece. Four others — the Redskins, Packers, Broncos and Steelers — have won two apiece. No team has won more than three. The Pats have played in six Super Bowls in the past 25 years and the Giants five. So the winner of this year’s Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots will be considered the best NFL team of the past quarter century.
Been There, Done That: For just the fourth time in history, the Super Bowl matches coaches who have won previous Super Bowls. Tom Coughlin and Bill Belichick join Bill Walsh (49ers) and Don Shula (Dolphins), 1985, and Chuck Noll (Steelers) and Tom Landy (Cowboys), who matched wits in 1976 and 1979.
Parcell Roots: Coughlin and Belichick were both assistants to Bill Parcells when the Giants won Super Bowl XXV in 1991. Coughlin was the receivers coach, and Belichick as d
efensive coordinator designed the scheme that beat the heavily-favored Bills.
Roger Terry, It’s Eli and Tom: For only the third time in history, quarterbacks who have won Super Bowls — Tom Brady (3) and Eli Manning (1) — are facing off again. Pittsburgh’s Terry Bradshaw and Dallas’ Roger Staubach met in 1976 and again in 1979. The Steelers won both encounters.
Been There, Done That, Redux: Giants-Patriots is just the sixth rematch in Super Bowl history. Steelers-Cowboys three times, 49ers-Bengals twice. Dolphins-Redskins twice and Cowboys-Bills twice are the others.
Lucky Seven: If the Giants win Sunday, they will be the first seven-loss champion in NFL history.
Coaching Icons: Bill Belichick will be coaching in his fifth Super Bowl, same as Tom Landry and one behind the all-time leader, Don Shula.
Starting QBs: Tom Brady will join the Broncos John Elway as the only quarterbacks history to start five Super Bowls
If I Were A Betting Man: How long with the National Anthem last (over/under 1:36)? How many times will they show Peyton Manning on TV (over/under 5 1./2 times)?; How many viewers will watch the game (over/under 115 million?. And my favorite — where will the coin toss land __ heads $110 vs tails $110. Point spread 3; over/under 55)
Only the Lonely: Four current teams — Lions, Browns, Jaguars and Texans — have never reached the 
Super Bowl. The Lions and Browns did win NFL championships four times apiece.
Longest Drought: The Jets last appeared in Super Bowl III in 1969 and the Chiefs the following year.
Glass Half Full: The Giants trailed at halftime of all four Super Bowls in which they played, yet managed to win three of them.
Giants-Pats at Harvard: Not counting Super Bowl XLII, the Giants and Patriots have met nine times in the regular season, with the Pats holding a 5-4 edge. In their first meeting in 1970, the Giants beat the Boston Patriots 16-0 at Harvard Stadium. Pete Gogolak kicked three field goals that day, and Fran Tarkenton threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Clifton McNeil. Joe Kapp was the Patriots quarterback.
Three-peat: The Patriots have been to the Super Bowl five times in the past 10 years; the previous four games were all decided by three points.
Streaking: The Pats have won 10 game in a row. The Giants are riding a five-game win streak.
Almost, But Not Quite: The Giants and Patriots came close to meeting in several other Super Bowls. A year after the Pats lost to the Bears in 1986, the Giants won their first Super Bowl, beating the Broncos. And the Patriots beat the Rams to win their first Super Bowl in 2002 — a year after the Giants lost to the Ravens.
G-Men Have Been Giant Killers Before
Posted: December 2, 2011 Filed under: football, NFL | Tags: Amani Toomer, Giants-Bears, Giants-Broncos, Giants-Patriots, Kent Graham, New York Giants, NFL unbeatens, Plaxico Burress, Sneakers Game, Super Bowl XLII 2 Comments »
Plaxico Burress and the Giants ruined the Patriots’ unbeaten season in Super Bowl XLII.
Been there, done that. Just ask the New York Giants.
As they get ready for the unbeaten Packers on Sunday, the struggling G-Men can take solace in their Giant killer pedigree.
At least three times in their long and glorious history the Giants have taken out unbeaten opponents — twice in championship games.
As recently as four seasons ago, the Giants spoiled the undefeated dreams of the New England Patriots in one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history.
The Giants, a number five seed and 12-point underdog, rallied in the final minutes to upend previously unbeaten (18-0) New England and alter the course of NFL history. Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with just 35 seconds remaining to give New York the monumental 17-14 win.
The Giants, who lost six games during the regular season, avenged a 38-35 loss to the Patriots in the final game of the regular season.
Sneakers Game
Nearly 75 years earlier, in December of 1934, the Chicago Bears waltzed into Manhattan with a 13-0 record, a record-setting offense, and high hopes for an unbeaten season and an NFL championship.
The Bears took an early lead over the 8-5 Giants in the second NFL Champions
hip game ever played. But the Giants then made a surprise move as reported by the New York Times, coming out in the second half “with basketball shoes replacing the cleated football shoes. The solidly frozen ground made cleats useless, and the basketball shoes made all the difference.”
Trailing 13-3, the Giants rallied for four touchdowns in the fourth quarter and an improbable 30-13 win in a contest, shown at right, that became known in NFL lore as the “Sneakers Game.”
In December of 1998, the defending Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos, led by John Elway, took a 13-0 record into a December game against the Giants at the Meadowlands.
Denver went up 16-13 in the fourth quarter on a 27-yard touchdown run by Terrell Davis. But the Giants, then 5-8, put together a finishing drive. With just 48 seconds left in the game, New York scored on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Kent Graham to Amani Toomer for a shocking 20-16 win.
Can history repeat itself?
Extra Points: The Giants also had a chance to knock off the only undefeated team in NFL history, the 1972 Miami Dolphins. With just two games remaining in the regular season, the Dolphins (12-0) came into Yankee Stadium and beat the Giants 23-13 on the strength of three Gary Yepremian field goals. Miami went on to defeat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII and finish a perfect 17-0.
