what a crazy month and a half.
i mean really... wow. unnnnbelievable.
going into the season the hope for this team was that we could finally figure out what eli was, wether or not he could be the QB to lead this team in the future... wether or not tom coughlin could survive the year... how they could possibly replace tiki barber... would strahan report, retire or what?... and ultimately, how high a draft pick will they get when the giants inevitably miss the playoffs.
i've been an eli supporter for the past 4 years, but even i was begining to think that he simply wasnt the guy, that he didn't have "it."
and then there were the patriots... a 2nd half choke from the super bowl last year, replacing every major hole from last year's team with a pro bowler... steamrolling through their opponents. heck, i even made a 50 dollar bet with a coworker in which i took the pats and he took the field, straight up, no odds, pats win the super bowl. they just looked that damn good. forget that... they ARE that damn good.
frankly, i would like to thank eric mangini for this super bowl victory. if he hadn't exposed the entire "spygate" bullshit, i honestly don't think the patriots would have gone through the regular season undefeated. and if the patriots weren't undefeated on that week 17 saturday night, the giants probably wouldn't have found that "it" factor to rally around. they found their confidence that night, even in defeat.
first round vs. the giant killer jeff garcia? i knew they'd win that game... tampa sucks. then came dallas... that drive by eli at the end of the 1st half, changing the game, stunning dallas and killing their momentum into the half. then green bay... in the terrible climate against the great brett favre, to come away with that win... unbelievable.
and then the rematch against the undefeated, unstoppable patriots. the great tom brady, the great bill belichick. they play great in the first half and they're still losing... ya just get that feel that the pats will get it done, but the giants just keep hanging around, and the defensive line stymies brady throughout. but even still, brady does what brady does and drives the length of the field to punch it in and give the patriots the lead.
so here we are... 2 1/2 minutes to go, the ball in eli's hands, needing a touchdown... and eli manning... the guy who's been the butt of jokes all year long... leads a montana like drive down the field. he out brady's brady, including a play that will go down as one of the greatest in super bowl history on the escape from the sack 40 yard pass to tyree, who makes an equally amazing catch. and then plaxico more or less walks into the endzone on a great route, and the amazing has happened.
no matter what eli manning does from this point on, it doesn't matter. he can go back to being old eli next year, i do not care. for 2 minutes in february he was legendary.