INDIANAPOLIS — Eli Manning’s status as a legendary clutch quarterback continues to grow, as does the number of Super Bowl rings in his collection.
Manning led the Giants to their second Super Bowl in four years by engineering a nine-play, 88-yard touchdown drive in the final minutes of Super Bowl XLVI for a 21-17 win over the Patriots.
“I’m just happy for the guys. I’m happy for everyone in this organization, Coach Coughlin, all of my coaches, all of the players getting a chance to win the Super Bowl. Some of these guys are getting the first one. I feel great for them. I feel great for everybody,” Manning said during the postgame trophy ceremony. He was named the game’s MVP.
The Giants did not give the ball back to the Patriots until there was 57 seconds remaining, not enough time for Tom Brady to lead a scoring drive of his own.
Brady would advance the ball to the Patriots 49, but a Hail Mary attempt was knocked away and the Giants were Super Bowl champions for the fourth time in team history. It was their second straight Super Bowl win over the Patriots.
Each quarterback was near the top of his game. Manning finished 30 of 40 for 296 yards with a touchdown. And, as his become his custom, he saved his best for the final minutes.
Ahmad Bradshaw capped the winning drive with a 6-yard run. The running back tried to put the brakes on before the goal line to leave the Patriots even less time, but he tumbled into the end zone.
Manning started the drive with a masterful 38-yard throw to Mario Manningham, who tiptoed the sideline for an equally impressive catch. Manning would hit four more passes on the drive, dinking-and-dunking his way down the field before Bradshaw punched it in.
“Great game plan, Mario Manningham had a couple of plays on the go route,” Manning said. “It was great job by everybody on the team.”
The score gave the Giants their first lead since right before halftime when the Patriots scored a touchdown to go up 10-9. And, after receiving the second half kick, the Patriots again marched down the field to go up 17-9.
“We got to halftime, I said we can play better than this, everyone agreed, the rest is history,” Tom Coughlin said.
On the consecutive scoring drives, Brady would connect on 15 straight passes, and 16 in a row overall, to break Joe Montana’s Super Bowl XXIV of 13 in a row. But Brady (27 of 41, 276 yards) will have to settle for a record and not a championship, outdueled again by Manning.
“It just feels great,” Manning said. “It was a great game with two great teams. We played to the very end. it was just a great effort on both sides. There were some big plays being made.”
The Patriots took the momentum into halftime when they capped a 14-play, 96-yard drive with a 4-yard pass from Brady to Danny Woodhead. Brady completed all 10 of his passes on the drive with injured tight end Rob Gronkowski making his first catch of the day on a 20-yard seam route that helped get the Patriots out of the shadow of their end zone.
But it was the Patriots other tight end, Aaron Hernandez, who helped keep the drive moving with four catches. Woodhead had three as Brady used short passes to pick apart the Giants defense for the first time all evening.
It was in stark contrast to the Patriots’ first offensive drive of the game, which ended after one play when Brady was pressured by Giants defensive end Justin Tuck and forced to throw the ball away from his own end zone. The referees conferred briefly before agreeing it was intentional grounding, calling a safety to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.
After the ensuing free kick, the Giants took advantage with a nine-play, 78-yard touchdown drive that put them up 9-0 and gave them early control of the game. The drive was highlighted by a 33-yard run by Bradshaw up the sideline. Manning completed five short passes on the drive, as the Patriots emphasized preventing the Giants from hitting deep passes.
But Manning hit five different receivers, Henry Hynoski, D.J. Ware, Bear Pascoe, Hakeem Nicks and finally Victor Cruz on a 3-yard slant pass for the score.