Super Bowl XLII, 2008: New York Giants 17 New England 14

Super Bowl XLII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion underdog New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2007 season. The game was played on February 3, 2008, at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Despite New England being heavily favored heading into the game, the Giants defeated the Patriots by the score of 17–14. The game is regarded as one of the biggest upsets in the history of professional sports, as well as one of the greatest Super Bowl games ever.

The Patriots entered the game as 12-point favorites after becoming the first team to complete a perfect regular season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and the only one since the league expanded to a 16-game regular season schedule in 1978. The Giants, who finished the regular season with a 10–6 record, were seeking to become the first NFC wild card team to win a Super Bowl, and were also looking for their third Super Bowl victory and first since they won Super Bowl XXV seventeen years earlier. This Super Bowl was also a rematch of the final game of the regular season, in which New England won, 38–35.

In the fourth quarter, down 14–10, the Giants started their game-winning drive on their own 17-yard line with 2:39 left. In the drive's most memorable play, David Tyree made the "Helmet Catch" on 3rd down, a leaping one-handed catch pinning the football with his right hand to the crown of his helmet for a 32-yard first down conversion. After a second first-down conversion by Steve Smith on 3rd and 11, wide receiver Plaxico Burress scored the winning touchdown on a 13-yard reception with 35 seconds remaining. The Giants' game winning-drive is often regarded as the greatest in NFL history.

The game was tight throughout, with both teams' defense dominating the competition until near the end of the game. The game featured five lead changes (New York took it three times and New England twice). Only 10 total points were scored in the first three quarters. The Giants consumed a Super Bowl-record 9 minutes and 59 seconds on their opening drive, but could only manage a field goal. The Patriots then responded with running back Laurence Maroney's 1-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter. After a scoreless third quarter, the fourth quarter saw a Super Bowl-record three lead changes. After Tyree's 3-yard touchdown reception at the beginning of the quarter, New England wide receiver Randy Moss made a 6-yard touchdown reception with 2:42 left to play before New York's game-winning drive. Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who completed 19 of 34 passes for 255 yards with two touchdowns and one interception, was named Super Bowl MVP. Giants defensive end Michael Strahan, who retired following the victory, had two tackles and one sack. This game was the first since Super Bowl IX in 1975 (in which the Pittsburgh Steelers defeated the Minnesota Vikings 16–6) that neither team scored at least 20 points. This game was also the first Super Bowl game with three fourth-quarter lead changes, and the only one to date.

Super Bowl XLII was ranked fifth on NFL.com's 100 Greatest Games, the highest ranked Super Bowl game, while Tyree's catch was ranked third on NFL.com's 100 Greatest Plays. Many other media outlets rank Super Bowl XLII as the greatest Super Bowl ever. Many sports websites consider it not only as one of the most iconic moments of the 2000s in regards to sports, but as one of the most iconic sports moments.

The telecast of the game on Fox broke the then-record for the most watched Super Bowl in history with an average of 97.5 million viewers in the United States.

Game summary
After scoring a combined 73 points in their regular season meeting, the teams scored a mere 10 points by the end of the third quarter, with the Patriots leading 7–3. The Patriots' record-setting offense gave up five sacks and one lost fumble, while the Giants' offense managed only five first downs in the second and third quarters. Yet in the fourth quarter, quarterback Eli Manning threw two touchdown passes, including the winning drive that culminated with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds remaining.

First quarter
After calling tails to win the coin toss, the Giants started the game with the longest drive in Super Bowl history, a 16-play, 63-yard march that consumed 9 minutes, 59 seconds, breaking the previous record of 9 minutes, 29 seconds also set by the Giants in Super Bowl XXV, and featured four third-down conversions, the most ever on a Super Bowl opening drive. But New England halted the drive at their own 14-yard line, forcing the Giants to settle for a 32-yard field goal from Lawrence Tynes that gave New York a 3–0 lead.

New England then responded with its own scoring drive, as Laurence Maroney returned the kickoff 43 yards to the Patriots' 44-yard line, after which he rushed twice for 15 yards. Quarterback Tom Brady then completed three passes for 23 yards, but after two incomplete passes, New England was faced with 3rd-and-10 on the Giants' 17-yard line. However, on that play, New York linebacker Antonio Pierce committed pass interference by striking the helmet of tight end Benjamin Watson in the end zone, giving New England 1st-and-goal at the 1.

Second quarter
This set up a Maroney 1-yard touchdown run two plays later, the first play of the second quarter, giving the Patriots a 7–3 lead. The two teams each only had one drive in the entire opening quarter, a Super Bowl record. It was the first Super Bowl since Super Bowl XXXIII in which both teams scored on their initial possession of the game. On the Giants' first drive of the second quarter, on 3rd-and-7, wide receiver Amani Toomer caught in a deep pass from Manning along the left sideline while dragging his feet in-bounds for a 38-yard gain, moving the ball to the Patriots' 19-yard line. But three plays later, Manning threw a pass that bounced out of the arms of rookie wide receiver Steve Smith and into the hands of cornerback Ellis Hobbs for an interception.

The Patriots' ensuing drive resulted in a three-and-out as on 3rd-and-1 James Butler and Michael Strahan (who was playing in his final game) tackled Maroney for a two-yard loss and New England was forced to punt.

Then on the Giants' next drive, rookie running back Ahmad Bradshaw fumbled a hand-off from Manning and it looked as though Patriots' linebacker Pierre Woods had recovered the ball at the Giants' 30. But after the officials picked through the pile, it was determined that Bradshaw had made the recovery. The Giants maintained possession and wound up punting. New England's next drive ended with consecutive Giants' sacks, the first by linebacker Kawika Mitchell, the second by end Justin Tuck.

On the Giants' following drive, New York moved the ball to the New England 25, but linebacker Adalius Thomas sacked Manning and forced a fumble. Smith recovered the ball; however, Bradshaw was penalized for illegally batting the ball forward before the recovery. The penalty pushed the Giants out of field goal range, and following an incompletion, they were forced to punt.

After the punt, two 18-yard receptions by Moss and Donté Stallworth moved the ball to the Giants' 44. But with 22 seconds left before halftime, Brady fumbled while being sacked by Tuck and defensive end Osi Umenyiora recovered the ball. The game then went to halftime with the Patriots leading 7–3.

Third quarter
On the first drive of the second half, New England had a 4th-and-2 and chose to punt. However, after the play had been run, Patriots' head coach Bill Belichick challenged that New York had too many players on the field and replay confirmed that was the case as Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn was unable to get to the sidelines as the ball was being snapped. Therefore, referee Mike Carey reversed the play, and the Giants were penalized 5 yards for having too many players on the field, giving the Patriots a first down. The Patriots then drove to the Giants' 25, but Strahan sacked Brady for a 6-yard loss on third down. Then on 4th-and-13, with the ball on the Giants' 31, Belichick decided against a long field goal attempt by Stephen Gostkowski (which would have been a 49-yard attempt, near Gostkowski's season long of 50 yards) and tried to pick up a first down instead. Brady's pass to Jabar Gaffney was incomplete as it went out of the back of the end zone and the Giants took over on downs.

Fourth quarter
On the Giants' first drive of the fourth quarter, Manning completed a 45-yard pass to rookie tight end Kevin Boss. Following three runs by Bradshaw and a 17-yard reception by Smith on third down, Manning finished the 7-play, 80-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to usually unheralded wide receiver David Tyree, giving New York a 10–7 lead with 11:05 left in the game.

After consecutive three-and-outs by the Patriots and Giants, New England got the ball at its own 20 with 7:54 to play. Brady then completed a 5-yard pass to Wes Welker and a 10-yard pass to Moss, followed by a 9-yard run by Maroney to give the Patriots a first down at their own 44. Brady followed with a 13-yard pass to Welker, a four-yard completion to Kevin Faulk, and then a 10-yard pass to Welker for a first down at the Giants' 29. After that, Brady found Moss for an 11-yard completion and Faulk for a 12-yard completion and New England now had 1st-and-goal from the Giants' 6. Following two incomplete passes, New York cornerback Corey Webster slipped while backing into coverage, leaving Moss wide open in the end zone where Brady found him for a touchdown to give New England a 14–10 lead with 2:42 left in the game.

On the ensuing kickoff, Raymond Ventrone leveled Domenik Hixon after a 14-yard return, giving New York the ball on their own 17 with 2:39 left and all three timeouts remaining. Following two receptions by Toomer for 20 yards, Brandon Jacobs kept the drive going with a crucial 2-yard run off guard on 4th-and-1. Manning picked up 5 yards with a scramble on the next play. Then on 2nd-and-5, Manning’s pass was high and behind intended wide receiver David Tyree, but fell harmlessly out of bounds as New England cornerback Asante Samuel could not corral the pass for the potential game-winning interception. Play-by-play announcer Joe Buck was quick to note Manning’s visible frustration at the apparent miscommunication with Tyree on the play, which stopped the clock with 1:15 remaining. On the next play, 3rd-and-5 from the New York 44-yard line, Manning found himself in trouble as the Patriots' pass rush got to him quickly after the snap. He eluded Adalius Thomas, who missed Manning despite having the clearest shot at him, and then broke free from the grasp of Jarvis Green and Richard Seymour, both of whom had the quarterback by the jersey but failed to hold him in the grasp. In what is considered to be among the greatest Super Bowl plays of all time, Manning then re-oriented himself and launched the ball deep down the middle of the field, where both Tyree and Patriots safety Rodney Harrison were in position to make a play on the ball. Tyree outjumped multiple-time Pro Bowler Harrison to secure the ball, and maintained possession by pinning the ball against his helmet as he fell to the ground, clearly maintaining control for a gain of 32 yards and keeping the drive alive. Three plays later, on 3rd-and-11, Manning found a wide-open Steve Smith for a 12-yard gain to the New England 13, and Smith stepped out of bounds to stop the clock. On the next play, Patriots' cornerback Ellis Hobbs was beaten badly to the outside by the 6’6” Giants’ wide receiver Plaxico Burress on a "slant-and-go" route, allowing Manning more than enough room to find his big-bodied target for the touchdown. The score capped a 12-play, 83-yard drive to take the lead and prompted a roar from the fans in Glendale, then a mere 35 seconds from potentially witnessing the first 19–0 perfect season. Tynes’s extra point gave the Giants a 17–14 lead.

New England began its final possession on its own 26 with 29 seconds remaining and three timeouts, but the Giants defense did not allow a single yard. Following an errant pass attempt by Brady, Giants' rookie defensive tackle Jay Alford sacked Brady for a 10-yard loss. The following play, a deep pass to Moss, was knocked away by cornerback Corey Webster, and Brady's 4th-and-20 Hail Mary pass in Moss's direction was batted down by safety Gibril Wilson, sealing the upset victory for New York. After the incompletion, it appeared that the officials would run out the clock, as it briefly read zero, before one second was re-added. Coaches, players, reporters, and fans crowded the field as if the game had ended. Belichick hugged Giants' head coach Tom Coughlin at midfield, then left for the locker room. This early departure was later criticized by some sportswriters, but other reporters defended Belichick by noting that he did not snub Coughlin (which would have been surprising anyway because the two coaches were friends from their days working together for Bill Parcells in the 1980s) and that the outcome of the game had been decided. The delay lasted 2 minutes 27 seconds before Manning kneeled out the final second and the Giants were officially crowned champions.

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