Congratulations to the New York Giants for their Victory in Super Bowl XLII. It was a classic. It was much closer than anyone expected.
The thing that sticks out at me as the epitome of the 2007 New England Patriots is the arrogance. With a 7-3 lead in the third quarter and faced with a 4th and 13 at the NYG 31 yard line, you’d expect the Pats to kick the 48 yard field goal. There was no pressing reason to do any differently. If the range was in question, it would not be unheard of to call for a short punt that would pin the Giants inside their 10 yard line.
Yeah, no.
Instead, the Patriots decided a pass play was in order and, quite naturally, the play failed to deliver the first down. This odd choice was fairly typical through the Patriots 2007 season where they were often accused of running up the score on opponents. Worse, the Patriots turned the ball over having not added 3 points to their total.
The final score had a spread of 3 points. Ironic, isn’t it?