One Expensive Field Goal

When Lawrence Tynes finally knocked that game-winner through on the frozen turf at Lambeau, it allowed him to show his face around the Giants for the rest of the year.

Who knew it meant he would be around for the next five years?

That appears to be the case as the Giants are close to a five-year, $7 million deal with Tynes as their first roster move of the offseason, according to our beat writer Ernie Palladino.

Now obviously Giants fans have to be grateful to Tynes for making that kick and sending the Giants to Arizona for the Super Bowl, but Tynes was awful erratic throughout the season — not just in the NFC Championship Game. I’m not sure I understand the five-year aspect of the deal, but this just goes to show how thin the kicking depth pool is in the NFL right now.

Actually the best sign of that was when Tynes wasn’t cut midseason. Now he gets a new long-term contract. Crazy.

Spagnuolo Stays

Man, nothing can rain on Giants fans’ parade this week… except for the actual rain during the parade.

Steve Spagnuolo, the defensive coordinator who devised schemes to shut down the greatest offense in the history of the game and hold it to 14 points, will be staying with the Giants. Despite meeting over two days with Daniel Snyder over the Washington Redskins head coaching vacancy, Spagnuolo withdrew his name from contention today and accepted a new three-year contract, at more than $2 million per year, according to ESPN’s Chris Mortenson.

Now $2 million a year is not head coaching money and certainly not Daniel Snyder head coaching money, but it will make him the highest-paid defensive coordinator in the league, so this is a good move by the traditionally fiscally conservative Giants. With him under this type of contract, it will be more difficult to pry him away next season, not that many teams won’t try. His performance this year will make him a hot name next offseason, no matter what happens in between.

And it’s always posssible that this new deal comes with a hand-shake agreement that Spagnuolo will assume the Giants head coaching role once Tom Coughlin decides to step down. (After Sunday, Coughlin will not be fired.) That might be a year or two longer than Spagnuolo wants to wait, but at the same time, he might not want to leave a franchise with an impressive, young defensive front that should be terrorizing quarterbacks for years to come.

But at the very least, the Giants now know they have their inventive coordinator for at least one more year. And that’s more good news for Giants fans.

Eli Sits With Letterman

For the second day in a row, I’m pimping out David Letterman’s show. It’s almost like I think Jay Leno is the most unfunny man on network television.

But there’s good reason to watch “The Late Show” this evening. Eli Manning will be the lead guest. You can get a preview of his appearance here.

I particularly enjoyed listening to Eli and Dave offer play-by-play on the still nameless play. “E.T.” isn’t bad, but it could be catchier. The only other one I’ve liked is “The Shock and Awe” though that will inevitably lead people years from now to mistakenly believe Jeremy Shockey made the catch. I’m open to better ideas. I just think “The Catch” is starting to get a bit confusing.

I never got a chance to offer a shameless plug for my feature-length column in our Super Bowl preview section. Considering the Giants actually won, it takes on new relevance. You can read it in its entirety below.

Giants hope to script Hollywood ending
By STEVE FEITL
Published Feb. 3, 2008

The path the Giants took to Super Bowl XLII was many things.

Unexpected? Certainly. Very few people before the season thought this was a playoff team, much less one that would be playing for a championship later today.

Unprecedented? Definitely. No team has ever won the 10 straight road games that it took for this Big Blue squad to get here.

Magical? Perhaps. It sure seemed like Lawrence Tynes needed a little help two weeks ago when trying to kick that game-winner.

Theatrical? Absolutely.

Yes, the Giants’ run to Glendale, Ariz. — which began with two straight losses to open the season and concluded with a pair of revenge wins over those same teams in the playoffs — took on many conventional Hollywood dramatic techniques.

Let’s take a look at a few of the movie traditions mirrored by the 2007 Giants.

The Coming of Age

From “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” to “American Pie” to most recently, “Superbad,” we love to watch kids become men before our very eyes. In the motion picture versions, the protagonists are usually young and awkward. They’re picked on endlessly and overshadowed by the cooler kids.

And that just as easily could describe Eli Manning’s fourth season in the NFL. He looked as uncomfortable in the pocket as a teen at a middle school dance. And when he wasn’t getting picked on by the armchair callers on sports talk radio, he was getting shown up by his own receivers. (Yes, Jeremy Shockey could easily play a jock in a high school comedy.)

But in these coming-of-age films, the hero eventually becomes comfortable in his own skin and suddenly life becomes a lot easier. Such is the case for Manning, who turned the corner in Week 17 and watched his confidence soar. His quarterback rating in the playoffs trailed only the one belonging to his opposition today. And for the first time, he looked like the leader that his last name suggests he should be.

In the movies, it’s usually a journey to manhood. In Eli’s case, it was a journey to Manning-hood.

The Unwanted Coach

Another Hollywood convention is the coach that no one wants to see succeed. Either they’re too old, too independent or sometimes too female, as was the case in Goldie Hawn’s “Wildcats.” But sometimes the coach is actually set up to fail. Just ask Lou Brown, the fictional manager of the Cleveland Indians in “Major League.” He was given a team of over-the-hill veterans and misfits just so the team could run off the Cleveland fan base and move to Miami, where a new state-of-the-art stadium awaited. (See, that’s how you know it’s fictional.)

Tom Coughlin didn’t have it much better in real life. He was given one year on his extension and not much improvement to his 8-8 roster of a year prior. In fact, he was asked to succeed without the help of his biggest weapon (and critic) Tiki Barber. There were even rumblings among fans that perhaps the Giants wouldn’t be upset to see Coughlin fail, so they could fire him and hire Bill Cowher.

But just as Lou Brown rallied his rag-tag Indians team with an “us-versus-them” mentality, Coughlin made believers out of his Giants team of resurgent veterans and hustling rookies. He found a way to relate to his players, earned their trust and received their inspired effort.

And because of that, the Giants front office will want the unwanted coach at the helm of its team for years to come.

The Dastardly Villain

Yes, there’s even a villain in this theatrical look at the Giants. Of course, it’s the undefeated 18-0 New England Patriots. There are so many iconic antagonists to choose from but there’s no sense overthinking this. The Pats may wear red, white and blue, but they’re quite reminiscent of a man wearing Raider colors — Darth Vader.

Because one thing that always infuriates audiences is someone who is talented enough to win, yet still chooses to cheat. Remember that first lightsaber showdown between Vader and son Luke Skywalker in “The Empire Strikes Back?” At that point, Luke was as little a match for Vader as Rudy Guiliani apparently was for any Republican candidate. But Vader doesn’t just beat him clean in a duel. No, he starts launching boxes and beams Luke’s way, knocking him out a fancy-looking Cloud City window in the process. Totally unnecessary.

It’s the same thing with the Patriots. With their high-powered offense, championship pedigree and mad scientist head coach, they had all the makings of a Super Bowl contender. But they still got caught in Week 1 spying on the Jets’ sideline. No one truly believes the Pats needed that edge, which makes it all the more more dastardly.

And if you thought Vader’s beatdown on Luke was unnecessary, check out these wanton debacles: 49-28 over Miami, 52-7 over Washington, 56-10 over Buffalo.

Running up the score came as naturally to the Patriots as million-dollar demands came to Dr. Evil.

The Miracle

Of course, not every Hollywood motion picture is based on a fictional work. Sometimes, real-life events are dramatic enough to warrant the big screen treatment. No event fits that bill better than the U.S. Olympic hockey team’s triumph over the U.S.S.R. in 1980, as retold in “Miracle.” And while national pride is not at stake in Arizona tonight, there are still plenty of parallels between that U.S. team and the present-day Giants.

Much like the Giants played their nemesis once before the big game, the U.S. team hosted the Soviet squad at Madison Square Garden weeks before the Olympics and were embarrassed 10-3. Now embarrassments for MSG home teams are no big surprise today, but in 1980 this was a humbling experience for the Americans. The Giants weren’t humbled in their first meeting with the Patriots, but they did allow 22 straight points and let New England make history on their home turf.

But for the U.S. team, it was a turning point that powered the Americans through their history-making Olympic run. Likewise, the Giants’ effort against the Pats catapulted them through three road playoff victories, setting up tonight’s climactic showdown.

The only thing missing will be Al Michaels.

A Potential Blockbuster

So all these elements are converging on University of Phoenix Stadium today as the Giants and Patriots prepare to write their own ending. If the regular season was Act I and the playoffs were Act II, that makes this Act III — the part of the story where the final twists and turns play out and all dangling issues are resolved.

And if a young quarterback continues to grow, an unwanted coach proves his worth once again, good thwarts evil and a miracle occurs, this story will have quite a happy ending for Giants fans across the nation.

Hell, they might just make a movie out of it.

Super Bowl XLII — Odds & Ends

David Letterman had a interesting question last night on “The Late Show”: Is it too early to start hitting on Gisele Bundchen?

That’s just one of the many places you’ll find Super Bowl talk these days. Let’s take a look at some of the highlights from the endless coverage.

*****

Staying with “The Late Show” Letterman offered the Top Ten Excuses for the New England Patriots. I’m partial to No. 5: Should’ve campaigned harder in Florida, but you can choose your own favorite at this link.

*****

The Super Bowl cover of Sports Illustrated is out and you can see it on the right. It’s pretty sweet. Of course I’d rather see you frame a copy of our Monday morning sports cover with the “Big Blue Heaven” headline, but if you have the budget for both the Home News Tribune and SI, go ahead.

*****

Interesting stuff in Ralph Vacchiano’s blog for the New York Daily News. If you thought you missed Plaxico Burress’ mysterious swollen knee injury in the Packers game, that’s because it didn’t actually happen there. Plax fell in his hotel room shower, causing the injury that nearly made him miss the biggest game — and the biggest touchdown catch — of his career.

Also Amani Toomer broke his hand on that third-down catch where he ended up a yard short of that crucial first down. Now I almost feel bad for yelling at him to get that extra yard.

Finally, Vacchiano offers this neat anecdote:

“Michael Strahan … gave each of his teammates and all of his coaches an engraved bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue Label as a gift to remember their Super Bowl win. Each bottle was etched with the player’s name and a message of congratulations. Strahan delivered the bottles this morning.”

*****

The logo for next year’s Super Bowl — the XLIII one — has been revealed and let’s just say it doesn’t quite live up to this year’s stellar logo.

Here it is, courtesy of Neil Best’s Watchdog blog at Newday:

While we’re talking logos, I have a pennant from the game hanging vertically over my desk in the newsroom. Because of this, the Super Bowl XLII logo is turned clockwise 90 degrees. Looking at it from this angle made me realize something.

The Super Bowl XLII logo that now adorns all sorts of Giants merchandise looks an awful lot like the Star Wars snowspeeder from “Empire Strikes Back.”

Compare:

versus

*****

As devastating of a loss as it was for the Patriots, the sportsbooks in Las Vegas got hit even harder. For the first time since 1995, when the Niners crushed the Chargers, Sin City lost money on the Super Bowl.

And not just a little either.

Vegas lost $2.6 million on the game, predominantly because many casinos were offering 4-to-1 on the Giants winning outright, which is enormous for a one-game bet.

I also was surprised that the line never trickled down another point from the 12 that it settled into. But ultimately, it never mattered how many points the Giants were getting. They didn’t need any of them.

*****

We were pretty hard on the Super Bowl commercials, both in my live diary and our postgame audio show, but upon rewatching the game late Sunday night/early Monday morning I did find one more that I enjoyed. It was the Cars.com commercial featuring Glondoor and the stone circle death match.

You can check it out below.

Time For A Parade

You know you’ve done something good when a city invites its population to litter in your honor.

So if the Giants weren’t sure, now they know. They’ve done something awful good.

The Super Bowl Champions — has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it Giants fans? — were honored with a parade down the Canyon of Heroes in lower Manhattan today, followed by a celebration at Giants Stadium.

Not surprisingly Michael Strahan was most boastful, talking about stomping the Patriots out, but was also met by a chant often reserved for politicians considering another run for office. “One more year.” As fitting as that might be on Super Tuesday, I’d be surprised if Strahan came back. He’s got nothing left to accomplish. He silenced all critics with a brilliant season and a tremendous Super Bowl. He looks like a player completely content with where he’s at. It would be a wonderful story to step away now. But whether it’s Michael Jordan or Jerry Rice, there’s one thing we should realize. We don’t get to choose how our heroes go out.

The line of the day did not come from one of the Giants or even a clearly appreciative Tom Coughlin. It came from N.J.’s State Senate President Richard J. Codey, who spoke at the ceremony in East Rutherford.

“If the Patriots were here today, they could film all they want.”

Brilliant.

Super Bowl XLII — The Day After

Greetings from Panera — a great place to eat and a great place to people-watch. As you might expect, there’s a buzz in the air among the lunchtime crowd. A lot of Super Bowl talk and a lot of blue and red. It’s been 7-plus years for New York fans… It’s been 14 years for New York fans that aren’t Yankee fans… It’s been 17 years for Giants fans… A world championship feels pretty good.

This was also an amazing team to watch all season. It grew as the season wore on, but still had enough hiccups down the stretch to cause some major agita. But this team’s greatest strength was its resiliency… it didn’t always do things easily, but it did accomplish things nonetheless. Securing a playoff team took longer than it should have, but they did it. Beating the Bucs took longer than it should have, but they did it. Beating the Cowboys took longer than it should have, but they did it. Hell, they didn’t even beat the Packers in regulation, but they beat them. And despite dominating the first half Sunday, it still took two fourth-quarter comebacks to knock off the Patriots. And even then, they gave Tom Brady four shots at getting the Pats into field-goal range.

It was never easy. But that’s also why it’s so rewarding.

When I got home last night, I rewatched the game. We were able to pretty much concentrate on the game in the office last night, but while blogging and moving photos as they came in, we inevitably missed a few things. One thing that clearly stood out on second viewing is how it was a crime that the Giants trailed at halftime. They dominated the first quarter and then giftwrapped the Pats’ first TD with poor special teams and terrible pass interference in the end zone. After that, the defense stiffened and the Giants were in Patriots territory too often to not get any points. It’s amazing that the Giants inability to capitalize on New England’s flat start didn’t come back to bite them. With that said, I thought it was incredibly important to have that near-10 minute drive to start the game. The way the Pats offense was playing, they weren’t blowing out the Giants anyway, but by taking away the first quarter the Giants eliminated the possibility of an insurmountable halftime deficit on their own.

It was also clear that the Giants defense simply ran out of gas on that second Pats TD drive. They had just held the Pats down and needed to get some rest. Instead the Giants went three-and-out as Eli Manning made his only really bad play of the game, missing a wide-open Plaxico Burress on his second-down scramble and Amani Toomer somehow didn’t realize he needed another yard for the first down on third. If either play gets made, the Giants still may not run out the clock, but they certainly give the defense more time to rest and the Pats have a much harder time scoring the go-ahead TD. Instead, the Giants had key defensive players on the sideline seemingly every play of that drive.

It’s also unbelievable how Bill Belichick made some really questionable decisions by not giving Stephen Gostkowski a chance to kick a 48- and 49-yard field goal. In our audio pregame show, I mentioned how Gostkowski’s inexperience in the big game could come back to bite the Pats. It never had a chance to do so on the field, but I think clearly his inexperience hurt Belichick’s decision-making ability. He simply didn’t trust Gostkowski to make the big kick. Still, those were bad decisions by Belichick. And let’s be honest, Sunday may just be the beginning of a very painful couple months for him if there’s any truth to the latest SpyGate rumors.

Regardless, today is not a day to dissect the Pats, but rather a day to celebrate the Giants. As we discussed in our postgame show, the win is probably the greatest upset in Super Bowl history and the Giants’ biggest ever. The moment immediately jumps into the Top 5 for New York sports. And the still-nameless play where Eli played Houdini and David Tyree played circus performer will go down as one of the iconic plays in Super Bowl history.

We all suspected history would be made Sunday night. It just worked out a little differently than expected.

Super Bowl XLII Postgame Show

It was an amazing Sunday night for Giants fans everywhere.

The Giants are world champions.

And despite trademarking “19-0″ the New England Patriots will have to wait until at least next year to use it. Chances are they never will.

And that’s all because the Giants completed an improbable journey to the Super Bowl with an amazing upset in Super Bowl XLII. Just hours after the unbelievable evening, HNT staffers T.J. Furman, Jim Green and myself sat down to talk about one of the greatest evenings in New York sports history.

Click here for the Super Bowl XLII Postgame Podcast

Super Bowl XLII — Live Coverage

Welcome to my second-annual live diary of the Super Bowl. Anything and everything is fair game from the game to the commercials to the unsufferable Joe Buck. Hope you enjoy following along from your Super Bowl party. We’ve got wings and subs… not bad for a bunch of guys and girls depressed that they’re watching the big game from the office.

Let’s get to it.

6 p.m. — There are some positive and negative signs going into this game. Woke up this morning to a bright and sunny day. That’s cheerful. Also heard Spoon’s great song, “The Underdog” on the XM Radio this afternoon. For those unfamiliar with this hipster classic, the chorus is: “You’ve got no fear of the underdog. That’s why you will not survive.” That’s got to be a good sign for Big Blue. Of course, when I stopped at a convenience store to pick up plates and drinks for our Super Bowl spread, the total came to $6.66. 6-6-6. That’s ominous.

6:06 p.m. — It’s a little thing, but it’s a nice break that the Giants are wearing their white and red road jerseys. I know a lot of people don’t think a team called “Big Blue” should wear such predominantly red unis, but I’ve always been fond of them. And more to the point, for a team that has embraced its “Road Warrior” status as much as the Giants, they should feel completely at home in their road jerseys.

6:08 p.m. — Jim Green just pointed out a great drinking game would be “Take one drink every time FOX plugs American Idol.” Other contenders would be the Joe Cocker beer commercial or of course, the John Mellencamp Chevy commercial.

6:14 p.m. — Actually enjoyed the press conference intro packages FOX produced for the game. Well done.

6:18 p.m. — As you can clearly see from the overhead shots, the roof is closed. Advantage Patriots.

6:20 p.m. — Jordin Sparks does a nice job with the anthem. Certainly better than Billy Joel’s cringe-worthy version last year. At least someone from Idol contributed something. Paula Abdul’s rendition of her new single during the pregame show was a bigger waste of time than those Frank Caliendo segments. If she’s not bringing back MC Skat Kat, I have no time for her.

6:23 p.m. — The Prison Break commercial where they break into the Super Bowl was not only lame, but they even got the jerseys wrong. The Pats were wearing their whites, while the Giants were wearing their home blues. Poor show.

6:24 p.m. — We needed the giant animatronic Jason Taylor to receive his man of the year award. That would have been a Super Bowl-worthy sight.

6:26 p.m. — Win the coin flip. Win the game.

6:34 p.m. — Huge first down for Eli and the Giants. A three-and-out would have hurt the confidence.

6:35 p.m. — See above.

6:39 p.m. — Great to see Brandon Jacobs lower the shoulder and run hard. If he holds on to the ball, he’s a weapon.

6:40 p.m. — Not to be outdone, Ahmad Bradshaw punks out Ty Warren by carrying him for three yards. So far, so good.

6:42 p.m. — Great presence by Manning on third down.

6:45 p.m. — The FOX clock is not working for some reason.

6:46 p.m. — Great job by the Giants taking 10 minutes off the clock. I previously wrote that the Giants needed to take the first quarter away from the Pats and they did just that. A touchdown would have been great, but at least they put up 3 on the board.

6:48 p.m. — Great starting position for the Pats off the Maroney return. The Giants can’t afford to give Brady a short field.

6:51 p.m. — I’ll take flattening Brady on the first play, but the Giants can’t let Maroney beat them.

6:58 p.m. — Costly penalty by Antonio Pierce in the end zone. No-brainer, however. He wasn’t playing the ball at all. If the Giants can take any solace out of this first drive, it’s that Brady does look a little shaky. He’s been high and low with a couple throws. The ankle looks like maybe it wasn’t overblown after all. I’m surprised and the Giants have to be pleasantly so.

7 p.m. — End of First Quarter. Giants 3, Patiots 0.

7 p.m. — I’m so proud of that Terminator robot. I’ve been waiting for someone to beat up the FOX robot for years.

7:01 p.m. — The Associated Press is reporting that Giants defensive coordinator will meet with the Washington Redskins about their head coaching vacancy on Tuesday. Bad news for Giants fans.

7:02 p.m. — More bad news. Maroney sneaks into the end zone for the touchdown. Still, I think the Giants have to take some confidence out of the fact that without bad coverage on the kick return and the pass interference, the Pats might not have scored on that drive. They don’t look like the unstoppable juggernaut. At least not yet.

7:06 p.m. — The Giants benefit from nice field position courtsy of Stephen Gostkowski kicking the ball out of bounds. Those who listened to our pregame show heard me mention Gostkowski as a possible factor. He’s not Adam Vinatieri. He’s never been here before.

7:10 p.m. — The stars of 1996 have come to the Super Bowl. Jim Carrey, Pam Anderson and Jenny McCarthy. I suppose Hootie & The Blowfish wasn’t avaiable for the halftime show.

7:11 p.m. — A great catch by Amani Toomer on the sideline. Great job by Brandon Jacobs picking up the blitz there.

7:13 p.m. — First turnover of the game is an Eli interception, but not at all his fault. Steve Smith should have made the catch and definitely shouldn’t have left it hanging in the air for Hobbs.

7:16 p.m. — The Giants defensive line just ate up the Pats to make that third-down stop. Nice return by R.W. McQuarters too. Doesn’t make up for the INT, but it’s not bad.

7:20 p.m. — This year’s Garmin war re-enactor commercial doesn’t come close to last year’s Mapasaurus Godzilla homage.

7:21 p.m. — Line of the night so far and it comes from Joe Buck: “We may not be the best announcers in the world.” True.

7:23 p.m. — I don’t think I could print what Ahmad Bradshaw had to do to get that botched handoff back. Start at eye-gouging and think worse.

7:24 p.m. — Then again, it was probably no more graphic than a commerical featuring a heart jumping out of a woman’s chest.

7:28 p.m. — Is it just me or did Justin Tuck look like he was worth every penny of his extension right there. Huge back-to-back sacks, resulting in back-to-back three-and-outs. Giants need to capitalize as the Pats continue to sputter. This probably won’t last.

7:51 p.m. — Huge strip by Tuck to prevent the Pats from tacking on at the end of the half.

7:54 p.m. — You can never count on catching a Hail Mary, but that one looked getable.

7:55 p.m. — End of Second Quarter. Patriots 7, Giants 3.

7:56 p.m. — The Giants have to be thrilled to be only trailing by four at the half, but even more by the way the defense has shut down the Pats offense. Whether it’s Brady’s ankle or the Giants defensive front, the defense is winning that battle. The offense however needs to stop short-circuiting drives into Patriots’ territory. They needed to at least put a few more points on the board. But keep this in mind, the longer the Giants hang around, the more the pressure builds for New England.

8:06 p.m. — Vegas was offering 25-to-1 odds on whether Tom Petty would light up on stage. The better question is whether it would make air if he did. In the post-Janet Jackson world, this thing has got to be on a 30-second delay. Actually the Giants have probably already kicked off to open the second half.

8:10 p.m. — The stage of the heart and arrow is cool, but the Super Bowl is getting pigeonholed into choosing artists with symbols that double as stages. First the Stones, then Prince who spent a decade as a symbol, now Petty and the Heartbreakers. I guess Led Zeppelen won’t be playing next year because making a stage out of that ZOSO thing would just be too difficult.

8:18 p.m. — Our buddy John just texted in to proclaim that “Petty is the only Tom putting on a show tonight.” Perhaps a bit too early to taunt Brady, but a great line nonetheless.

8:26 p.m. — Brady hits a short cross to Wes Welker to start the second half. The Giants can expect to see plenty of that as those short dumpoffs have been the only thing the Pats’ offense has done successfully all night.

8:31 p.m. — It says a lot that the Pats didn’t go for it on fourth-and-2 inside Giants territory. Either they don’t have a lot of faith against the Giants defensive front or they’re starting to feel the pressure.

8:37 p.m. — The Patriots get the break of a lifetime when they are able to successfully challenge that the Giants had 12 men on the field. This is what happens when you have people videotaping every aspect of the game.

8:43 p.m. — The Giants then get the break of a lifetime when the Pats outsmart themselves and go for it on fourth-and-13, rather than go for a long, but makeable field goal. Again, you have to wonder if Belichick has as much faith in Gostkowski as he did with Vinatieri.

8:53 p.m. — Talking babies are bad enough. Talking babies that vomit… just disgusting.

9:01 p.m. — End of Third Quarter. Patriots 7, Giants 3.

9:02 p.m. — If Maroney had scored on that last play of the first quarter, the same person would have won the first three cash prizes in your box pool.

9:04 p.m. — Terrible job by FOX not posting the down and yards to go when coming out of commercial on that fourth-down punt by the Pats. Given the field position, it seemed like a strong candidate for a gimmick play, but without knowing the yardage they needed, you’d never know it.

9:06 p.m. — Finally a cool commercial. The Coca-Cola Thanksgiving parade balloons commercial was fun and inventive. And who doesn’t love Charlie Brown?

9:11 p.m. — Eli Manning just grew up some more. What a drive. What a catch by Boss. What a playfake by Manning. What a catch by David Tyree (David Tyree~!). 10-7 Giants.

9:12 p.m. — Human wet blanket Troy Aikman makes sure to note Asante Samuel could’ve intercepted the touchdown pass. Where’s the NFC pride Troy?

9:22 p.m. — The Giants take the ball with 9:20 left in the game. The Giants must must must chew up clock here.

9:25 p.m. — Horrible possession by the Giants. Eli had to either run with the ball on second down or be sure that Plax wasn’t going to stop running. That cost them a lot of time. The Pats get the ball back with a little over eight to play.

9:27 p.m. — Will Ferrell making inappropriate beer commercials… funny.

9:28 p.m. — I’m officially out of Gatorade. If I pretend to like their commercial earlier, do you think they’ll send me some?

9:31 p.m. — How are the Giants still playing five yards off Wes Welker?

9:40 p.m. — Corey Webster falls down on third-and-goal to allow Randy Moss to stand wide open in the end zone for the go-ahead touchdown. Patriots 14, Giants 10. The Giants’ inability to adjust to the underneath stuff could end up spelling their doom.

9:44 p.m. — Two-minute warning and Eli Manning needs a breather. His last two throws have been terrible. There’s plenty of time, but he has to come through with some good throws or this one’s over.

9:52 p.m. — Manning plays Houdini. Tyree makes a circus catch. 24 yards away.

9:55 p.m. — TOUCHDOWN!!!!!! PLAX!!!!! 17-14 GIANTS!!!!! HISTORY MAY BE MADE AS HISTORY IS THWARTED!!!!

10:04 p.m. — With the game on the line, Tom Brady can’t make a first down and the Giants are champions of the world! There will be no undefeated season. Trademark this.

10:08 p.m. — For that fourth quarter, Eli Manning should be MVP.

10:25 p.m. — And he is the MVP. Suddenly that draft day trade doesn’t look so bad. (By the way, the trademark comment 21 minutes ago was in reference to the Pats trademarking 19-0 two weeks ago. Guess they won’t have much use for that one now.)

Super Bowl XLII Preview Podcast

I’ve got your entire day planned out for you.

Go get a bagel, pour a glass of orange juice and spend some solid breakfast time reading our Super Bowl XLII preview section as it appears in your Sunday edition of the Home News Tribune and Courier News.

Then come back here and read my official prediction for the game in the post directly below this.

Then over lunch, fire up our brand-new podcast previewing the game. Colleagues T.J. Furman, Jim Green and Mark Spivey sat down and discussed the surprise Super Bowl appearance by the Giants, their carefree attitude over the two-week break, some overlooked potential factors for the game and yes, our predictions on a final score — packed into a neat 17-minute audio package. It certainly beats five hours of pregame on FOX.

Click here for the Super Bowl XLII Preview Podcast.

Don’t forget to come back during the game for my running diary and check back early Monday morning for an audio roundtable on the game.

Super Bowl XLII — The Prediction

So we had Brady and his boot. Then we had Plax and his prediction. Now we have the rehash of SpyGate? We regressing people. Thank god the game starts in 15 hours or pretty soon we’d be rehashing the Tiki Barber stuff from the beginning of the season.

The bottom line is now is not the time to worry about whether the Pats videotaped the Rams before the Super Bowl six years ago. Any distraction it might cause the Pats will surely be cancelled out by the inevitable anger that the Pats’ legacy is once again being questioned. It’s an interesting story for next week, next month or next season. But now it’s time to concentrate on the game.

All season long, I’ve done well with predictions, but now it’s time for the big one. Let’s get to it.

Giants (+12) vs. Patriots — We’ve talked about injuries to Brady, Plax and Osi. We’ve talked about the ill-fated prediction by Burress. And now we’ve talked about SpyGate Part Deux. None of that will be a factor Sunday evening.

What I do expect to be a factor is the two-headed monster of the second meeting in five weeks and the two-week break. And I think both factors work against the Giants in this game. I think it’s always dangerous to show Bill Belichick what you can do beacause that gives him time to take it away. I know everyone has pointed out that Belichick hasn’t been the mad defensive scheme scientist in a long time, but he hasn’t had to be thanks to the Pats’ dominance. But the Pats haven’t been as dominant the last two months. In fact, they’ve looked beatable. So with two weeks to think about it, I’m sure Belichick will have some new wrinkles for Eli & Company this evening.

The two-week break also hurts the Giants in that it takes away a lot of the momentum that they had actually gained starting with that first meeting. The two weeks is great for exposure for the league, copy for the media and rest for the players. But much like the six-week layoff for BCS teams, I think this break ruins a good thing for teams on a roll. And the Giants have been on a roll.

In fact, I don’t expect the Giants to lose all their mojo, just a little of their edge. I think they will still be able to move the ball on the aging Pats defense, but when they need to make the crucial play in the red zone, that’s where a Belichick wrinkle could hurt them. But I think the Giants can keep it close if they can get a good first quarter. A nice eight-minute scoring drive in the first quarter would go a long, long way to ensuring this remains a close game. If the Giants can end the first quarter within a score of the Pats, I think they’ll hang around all game. If not, it could be a long evening.

Because I worry about the Giants’ ability to stop Wes Welker and Kevin Faulk. You know the Pats are going to try to test the Giants secondary by spreading them out. While they wait for that home run though, they will probably be able to feast on the underneath stuff from Welker and the out-in-the-flat stuff from Faulk. That kind of stuff keeps drives alive and ensures that the Pats will get their points.

But I think the Giants will get some too. It might just come down to how many times the Giants settle for the field goal. I think they’ll be within the spread, but I do think they’ll come up a little short. PICK: Giants (+12).