Friend or foe and fan or rival, we are all alike in this. No one will ever forget where they were when a stubborn New York Giants team halted the New England Patriots dream of an undefeated season.
FOX had pulled out all of the stops. There was a clip about ‘perfection’ that was narrated by Russell Crowe. There was the constant Tom Brady and Bill Belichick chatter as we were constantly force-fed one reminder after another about what the Miami Dolphins had done in 1972.
Big Blue took the lead for good on a mini-fade from Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress that put the G-Men ahead by a 17-14 margin, but the groundwork for one of the greatest upsets in NFL history came weeks earlier and at a practice just days before the game.
New York was prepared for the Pats’ best shot. If you remember, they had a shot to end New England’s quest for an unblemished finish to the regular season in the finale for both teams.
The G-Men were banged up. There was the usual chatter about ‘whether to rest the starters or not’, but they good guys weren’t going to lay down and hand those cocky Patriots a 16-0 record. NY lost, but they had learned something.
They were good enough to beat the AFC’s top seed if they crossed paths again on football’s grandest stage.
One of the Greatest Giants Highlights Ever Lands Atop a Ranking of Iconic NFL Moments
Heading into Super Bowl 42, we had heard stories that David Tyree couldn’t catch anything and was dropping passes thrown at him in practice. How fitting is it that, when Eli Manning broke free of his grasp and retreated to an open area to toss one deep, he launched the ball in Tyree’s direction.
His target made the most of his opportunity. He battled vs. Rodney Harrison’s tight coverage, snagged the rock, and eventually had to pin it against his helmet to ensure a first down and New York’s opportunity at a go-ahead score.
CBS Sports’ Cody Benjamin recently penned the top 25 NFL moments of first 25 years of the 2000s. New York wound up on the wrong side of the 20th entry, the Miracle at the New Meadowlands, but Benjamin made up for it as Odell Beckham Jr’s one-handed catch made the cut.
That one is still as pretty now as it was when we first saw it, but Tyree is the king of this list is Tyree’s helmet catch, as it should be.
What more needs to be said? On second thought, here’s an attempt to do this one justice.
What’s it going to take to get a statue built? People make statues for everything else. Why not this?
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