One Last Look at Super Bowl XLVI

The Metro Area Giants
The Giants got their ticker tape parade through the "Canyon of Heroes" and rally in the Meadowlands Tuesday.  It's a far cry from 1987 when Mayor Ed Koch refused to allow a parade in New York because they're a "New Jersey" team.  My friends from Jersey agree, by the way, and like to tease me about it.  But I always think of what Giant great Harry Carson used to say: Giants colors are red white and blue, which represent New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.  Since Big Blue played in all three states at one point or anther they belong to the entire Tri-State Area.

How Quick Some Forget
What amazes me are some people in New England who have turned on Belichick and Brady after Sunday's loss.  The Boston Globe had some on the street reactions after the loss, and one guy actually said that their coach and QB had "let us down again."  Let's get this straight; nine division titles in the last ten years, five Super Bowl appearances during that run, winning three of them...there isn't a fan in the NFL who wouldn't want to be let down like that. 

To Score or Not to Score
I had a big argument with my mother (yes, my mother) over whether Ahmad Bradshaw should have knelt at the six inch line, like Eli Manning wanted, with about as minute to go and the Pats conceding the go ahead TD.  From the Giants stand point you want to milk the clock, not giving the ball back to Tom Brady with too much time left.  The Patriot's line of thinking is that once you're inside the 10 the odds of scoring at least a field goal is over 90 percent (93% was what I heard Bill "The Mad Scientist" Belichick say after the game).  Better to let the inevitable happen and get the ball back with time to work with.  Bradshaw couldn't help himself, rolling into the end zone after a half hearted attempt to stop before crossing the goal line.

I thought he should have sat on it, and that the Pats did the right thing to let him in (some commentators thought they should have let the Giants score even earlier in the drive).  Mom does not agree.  It just seems against the spirit of the game, and risky at that.  All I can say is, yes fumbles, bad snaps, blocked kicks and any number of other mishaps can happen on the way to a field goal, especially in a big pressure situation like that.  But let me tell you, if the Patriots had had one more time out things could have turned out much differently.  You can't leave too much time, and 57 seconds is too much time, for Tom Brady.  Lucky for us Giant fans the issue is moot.  But it does bring me to my next point...

Brady's Legacy
There is a lot of talk about what this loss means for Tom Brady's long term legacy.  I stand by my claim that people have been way too harsh in criticizing Brady and the Pats, but it's hard not to admit that their rep has taken a bit of hit.  I still think he's the best QB of his generation, not that anyone asked, and the Pats are still the team of the '00s. But...ooooooh...I feel like such a grouchy old man writing this...Joe Montana would have won that game.  And on another note, while leaving 900 pounds of Butterfinger bars in Copley Square for Wes Welker was uncalled for, John Stallworth or Lynn Swann, John Taylor or Jerry Rice would have caught those passes.  Gisele may have been out of line, as well as unladylike, in her public and crude assessment of the Pat wide-outs, but I can't say she was wrong.

Brady is an all time great and first ballot Hall of Famer, but I can't quite put him in that conversation with Joe Cool or Terry Bradshaw, and the Patriots are no longer in the mix with San Francisco or Pittsburgh as all time dynasties, at least not for now. Brady still has some football left in him, and if John Elway can erase the memory of three horrible Super Bowls, he and New England can certainly reverse the curse, if you will.  But the window is closing on them, and they're going to have to do it soon.

The Giants' Legacy
When I was a kid the Giants were simply not very good, and that's being nice about it.  They failed to make the playoffs between 1964 and 1981. They were a dysfunctional organization; co-owners Wellington Mara and his nephew Tim hardly spoke to each other.  While fans still came out in droves, some organized ticket burnings and, in 1979, another rented a plane to fly over the stadium during a game trailing a sign reading "15 Years of Lousy Football...We've Had Enough." The consensus among fans was that the Giants would never get to a Super Bowl as long as the Mara family owned the team; New York lost and still sold out every game, so there was no incentive to win for ownership, or so the reasoning went.  Wellington Mara (always respected around the league as an innovator who helped shape the modern NFL) would say later that the accusation that he really didn't care about winning hurt him deeply. 

Without going into a long history lesson, the Giants did turn it around, with the help of GM George Young, who acted as a buffer between the owners as he built the team up.  It took a while, but in January 1987 they made it to Pasadena, California and Super Bowl XXI.  When they beat the 'Skins in the NFC Championship Game I can remember announcer Jim Gordon saying something to the effect of "No, fans your not dreaming, The Giants are going to the Super Bowl."  The sentiment was echoed by many in the press and in the stands: the Giants had done what no one thought was possible.

Well, we've come a long way since then baby.  With Sunday's victory The Giants are one of only five teams with four or more Super Bowl wins.  The organization is now considered one of the best in the league, and John Mara has carried on his father's legacy as a respected and influential owner (he and the Patriots' Robert Craft were key players in getting the labor troubles of last summer resolved).  At this point though we really can't fully assess how this team and organization stack up.  If they can keep the core together, continue to draft wisely and stay healthy (a constant problem it seems) they could be something special.  The next three or four seasons will tell the tale.  So for now, five appearances in the big show over the last quarter century puts them toward the top as a premiere franchise in the league, which is pretty good for team that at one time was held as a perennial basket case.