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More than a few people tuned in to watch the 42nd Super Bowl on Sunday to see a new record being set. The New England Patriots, seemingly invincible for most of the season, had successfully beaten all 16 opponents that they had faced during the regular season as well as the two further opponents in the post-season. A win here in Arizona would have given them 19 wins as well as a perfect season, a success only ever managed once, by the Miami Dolphins of 1972 who played in a shorter, 17-game total season.
The dream was to be shattered, however, by the New York Giants, clear underdogs of the night (bookmakers expected them to lose by 12 points). Eli Manning, Giants Quarterback and younger brother of last year's winning Quarterback for the Indiannapolis Colts, Peyton, was named MVP of the match, overshadowing the supposed star of the game, his opposite number Tom Brady.
The two teams played each other in the last game of the regular season, and at the time many were holding their breaths for the Giants to prevent the Patriots from winning all of their regular-season games, but the record was completed. In that game, the Patriots won by only three points, a difference that they would be on the wrong end of a month later.
The big difference for the Giants was their ability to close down Tom Brady. Without the record-breaking Quarterback being able to perform with freedom, the Patriots were significantly less successful. In fact, the first three quarters were a very strong display of defence on both sides, and few scores were made. The Giants opened the scoring with a field goal in the first quarter and the Patriots scored the game's first touchdown in the second quarter. The half-time score was 7-3.
It was in the final quarter that both teams started playing for a win, and the Giants took a 10-7 lead with a touchdown a few minutes into the quarter. Later, with a little under 8 minutes of game time left, the Patriots started a drive that would march efficiently down the field and take the lead at 14-10, leaving the Giants with only two minutes and forty seconds to respond.
But respond they did, with a drive that ran the field very well, and a key play by Eli Manning as he managed to squirm out of a certain sack and propel the ball towards David Tyree, who made an incredible reception for 33 yards. A touchdown followed shortly after. 17-14.
Only 30 seconds remained when Tom Brady was given the ball to respond, and three wayward attempts for massive yards later, and after a sack by the impressive Giants defense, the dream had been shattered. Players from both sides ran onto the pitch at the end, thinking the game had finished, only to be ushered off so that Manning could take a kneel and the final second be counted for a memorable game.
The build-up to this Super Bowl had focussed so much on New England, that we might be forgiven for forgetting that two teams were taking part, but it was to be New York instead who would steal the spotlight, and prevent New England from claiming the first 19-win season.
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