Top Ten Super Bowls of All Time – Part III

#5

Giant End to the Pursuit of Perfection

Perfect.  The distinction has been bestowed upon only one NFL team in the history of the league, the 1972 Miami Dolphins.  Teams have been striving for perfection ever since, with only a handful coming anywhere close to achieving it.  Such was the case that in 2007 New England Patriots were on the cusp of history, having won all of their previous 18 games during the regular and post season.  All that remained was the “ho-hum” task of dispatching one final opponent, the lowly New York Giants, who the Patriots had beaten earlier in the regular season.  History, however, has a way of coming up and biting you in the butt when you least expect it.  If the Super Bowl was to be the coronation of the Patriots as the “greatest team ever”, nobody thought to tell the Giants, as they went toe-to-toe with the record-setting AFC Champions from the opening whistle.  Keeping the score low would help the Giants in their quest to defeat the unbeaten New Englanders and claim their own championship, and so they went out to do just that.  With a hard-hitting defense featuring a menacing pass rush the NFC Champions were able to blunt the explosive Patriots offense for the entire game.  In the fourth quarter, the Patriots were able to score what looked to be the deciding touchdown on a Tom Brady to Randy Moss pass.  This only added to the drama, however, as game MVP Eli Manning took over, directing his team down field in the final minutes to score their own touchdown.  The drive featured one of the single greatest plays in post-season history as Manning escaped from three Patriot defenders to launch a pass to wide receiver David Tyree, whose “helmet catch” was both impossible and breathtaking all at once.  The late Giants touchdown ended the Patriots quest for perfection, and in doing so unfortunately placed them with other teams on the list of “best teams to never win the Super Bowl”.

New York Giants 17 – New England Patriots 14

Who else will make the cut in our Top 10 List?  Have you seen YOUR favorite yet?  Stay tuned…next time, Super Bowls #4 and #3 on the list.