What a great Super Bowl XLII turned out to be! After many years of lopsided Super Bowls, football fans were finally treated to a great game with a great ending. The undefeated New England Patriots, were finally defeated by the underdog New York Giants. The Patriots were one game away from making NFL history and cementing their place in football immortality, but in the end the Giants proved to be the much better team. The arrogance and swagger of a team that broke records and dominated opponents in the regular season seemed to fade in the biggest stage of professional athletics. I guess we should have seen this coming. New England seemed to struggle toward the end of the season, Brady had one of his worse performances of the season in the AFC championship game, and in the Super Bowl the offense seemed to look dazed and confused by the Giant's defensive schemes.
Much will be written over the next few days about the game and how the Giants played a tough well executed game and how the Patriots did not live up to the hype of a team that was destined to make history. However, a few things that might not be written about this Super Bowl and the season leading up to it, is how this Super Bowl was a fitting end for a team that has garnered so much disdain from non-Patriots fans. Why a fitting end you ask? This Patriots team lacked sportsmanship, starting with the coach. Let us remember that this was the team that was caught cheating in the first game of the season. This was also the team that poured on the points in week seven of the season against the Redskins when the game was well in hand. This team is also coached by a man that refuses to meet at center field with opposing coaches when his team loses. Last night was the ultimate display of unsportsmanship. With 1 second left on the clock, Bill Belichick, walks across the field to congratulate Tom Coughlin, and then leaves! Belichick left his team on the field to suffer the pain of this loss by themselves. And then, like a sore loser, at the post-game conference Belichick was short and mumbled through all the questions. Now, I'm sure that next season the Patriots will again be in the hunt for another championship and will probably brake some more records along the way; but in the end, it is much more important how you win, than just winning.
Now the question becomes, were the 2007 Patriots one of the best 18-1 teams in history. I believe that the answer is no. Not because of the cheating or the lack of sportsmanship, but because they did not dominate down the stretch. When you look at the 1984 San Fransisco 49ers and the 1985 Chicago Bears, you see dominance down the stretch. The 49ers and the Bears dominated in the playoffs and won the Super Bowl. The Patriots simply did not look dominate in the second half of the season and played lackadaisical in the playoffs, just barely good enough to win. Only history will tell where the 2007 Patriots will place on the list of best teams, but one thing is certain, losing the Super Bowl and lackluster playoffs does not make a convincing case for being one of the best teams in NFL history,
I don't mean to take anything away from the Giants, because in the end this Super Bowl was more about them than it was about the Patriots. We had the opportunity to see a young QB come of age as he drove his team down the filed for a game winning touchdown. We saw a team that played with great heart and physical dominance. This is a team worthy of being crowned world champions. Congratulations Giants, you earned this well deserved championship.
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