Frankly, there probably couldn’t have been two teams I cared less about playing each other - I dislike them equally and with a passion that burns brighter than a bajillion suns…BUT - since my lame-ass team never EVER makes the Super Bowl EVER, I had to root for the underdogs. I usually do. So, yay, I guess.
waves Giants flag half-heartedly
Wow - I don’t think I’ve ever been so neutral about a Super Bowl. What I do know is that Mr. Brady is hurtin’ something fierce this morning, and I am sure he is trying to keep Gisele Bundchen from walking out on him - if she didn’t already head for the parking lot at 11:05 into the 4th quarter.
So to all the Pats fans, I’m sorry. Seriously. No smart-ass native NYer comments from me, I promise. I feel your pain, I do.
To the Giants fans, congrats! But keep the provocation of the Pats fans to a minimum, will ya? There’s really nothing worse than sore-winners. Really. It’s obnoxious. Cut it out.
Hey, believe it or not, I know he is clearly not as good as Tom Brady right now and is unlikely to ever be as good. But if you take all the QBs in the league, Eli, Ben & Rivers are all above average and all are well ahead of where fourth year QBs usually are. Eli & Rivers hopefully both turn the corner this year. They both had great post season runs. I expect both to continue improving over the next 2-4 years.
Couple of things. Great Game!
I lost $75 in a confidence pool but the outcome was worth it.
The Giants D seemed like they were playing with an extra 3 men on every play for most of the game. Belichek got out-coached and didn’t make the necessary changes at half-time. They also went away from the run like the Pack did two weeks earlier.
In close games you have to keep running the ball, eventually good teams will get the run going even if it’s later in the game.
Randy Moss didn’t make exceptional attempts at the two balls thrown to him on the last drive of the game. He could have went up to get one or the other and on both throws he played the ball like the shorter defenders did. He waited for the ball to come to him and he was covered.
I don’t know why people are calling this “One of the greatest upsets in sports”.
The Giants had a superior D line. They had a better running game. Their receivers are on par with any others in the league. And Manning has some talent. It wasn’t like the Pats were playing the '08 Dolphins, fer chrissakes.
Was the guy running the clock at the end of the game drunk?
A quick congrats to the Giants fans here on the board… I always enjoy your contributions to the football threads I occassionally lurk in. And while I had to hold my nose to root for your boys (Eagles fan here), it was good to see you knock off the Pats and especially the Cowboys earlier on. And what a great game.
The rule is that the clock stops on an out of bounds until the ready-to-play (that is, until the refs place the ball on the line of scrimmage, ready to be snapped). The exceptions are within the final two minutes of the first half and the final five minutes of the second half, when the clock is stopped until the snap. I assume what you were noticing occurred before the 5-minute mark of the 4th Quarter.
You must have missed a rule change, presuming that your observations were at the beginning of the drive.
The clock does not stop for out of bounds plays until the last five minutes of the second half (or last two minutes of the first half). If you saw this happen after the five minute mark, then an error was made. I don’t recall seeing it happen, and I didn’t hear anyone else commenting on it.
Who do you root for that you hate both teams equally, that sounds unusual except for a smallish number of Jet fans? It looks like you might be a Jets fan.
I think it is less Giants fans pushing Pats fans than just generic Pats haters from around the league.
After the Cowboys and my Packers were left scratching their heads in a “What just happened to us?” fashion I had a feeling the Giants were going to be the best chance the NFC had of upsetting the Patriots.
I think either the Cowboys or the Packers would have been clobbered by the Pats.
The Cowboys, Packers, and Patriots had these highly touted pass offenses that won them a lot of games all year. Nobody could frazzle their QBs. The Giants D found a way and took them all down one at a time. Meanwhile Eli just kept a cool head and ran time off the clock while patiently putting points on the board.
Somebody on some network called it before the game “The best team against the hottest team”. The Pats were the best all year but the Giants were just on this amazing hot streak.
(And did anyone see Eli and Brady on the field before the game? Talk about karma. Eli jogs past Brady, smiles, and says something to him, probably like ‘good luck’ or ‘how’s it goin’, and Brady just scowls and frowns and nods his head.)
Yikes.
They weren’t nearly as good towards the end of the season when they weren’t covering and needing last minute heroics to pull out wins. The Giants were very good down the stretch. They won 10 straight road games, marched through the playoffs with defensive authority, and were led by a confident and consistent quarterback. The Giants peaked late and the Pats tailed off towards the end of the season. Anyone who didn’t see this as a close game was being misled by emotion.
I swear I noticed some plays with ball carriers being dragged down in bounds, and the clock stopping for a while.
I like the college rule for stopping the clock to move the chains, but I was thinking “No, keep running the clock man - you’re at University of Phoenix (Online) Stadium, but it’s still not a college game.”
The clock will stop momentarily until the ball is signaled ready for play, until the last two minutes of the first half and last five minutes of the second half.
I dunno. There doesn’t seem like any good reason, with all the kids that throw a football or get the chance to play the quarterback position some time in life for the league to only have a half dozen (maybe) good-to-elite quarterbacks. I really do hope that Eli and Rivers make The Jump and I was hoping to see it from Eli starting last night (he was building up to it with the good postseason he was having) but I still wasn’t impressed. I dunno, maybe he’ll mature, knowing that he beat “the best” in the Super Bowl, maybe that’ll do something for his confidence. Eli and Rivers also have a good running game (Ahmad Bradshaw was my choice for MVP until that defensive line rose to the occasion) to fall back on, a solid offensive line, and weapons to throw to. Being in those situations REALLY help.
If Belichick wasn’t gaining an advantage by videotaping the other team, in clear opposition of the rules and punishable by a fine and a loss of draft pick, he wouldn’t risk doing it. Otherwise we could add “stupid” to his list of failings and I don’t believe he’s stupid.
Pete Rose cheated. I used to feel sorry for him because I didn’t really see why it mattered because he was betting on the Reds to win. I’ve been since set straight. Aside from dirtying up the game, he knew there was a rule against it and did it anyway. He got caught and now has to live with the consequences and the label he cast upon himself.
Belicheck is a great coach. He’s also a jerk and, yes, a cheat. Part of the reason people feel such hostility towards the Patriots lies at his feet.
As far as the game goes, it was a great one. Because I was the hostess with the mostest, I didn’t get to see a lot of it, but I did finally sit down in the middle of the third quarter. That over the helmet catch was amazing.
I also thought it was nice to see Peyton Manning rooting so enthusiastically for his brother. Awww.
I’ve been hosting SuperBowl parties for over 20 years. It was nice to get a nail biter for a change.
I noticed the same thing, then would notice that the clock was shortly thereafter “corrected”. In other words, I don’t think the problem was with the game clock, but with the Fox timekeeper.
Just because something is against the rules doesn’t mean it’s “Cheating.” I appear to be the only person on this board who knows anything about the game. It’s against the rules to wear black knee-socks on the field too, that doesn’t mean wearing black knee-socks is “cheating.”
It’s a childish, uneducated, sour grapes accusation.
