A Team to Believe In: Our Journey to the Super Bowl Championship

One

The difficulty lies, not in the new ideas, but in escaping from old ones.

--John Maynard Keynes

It is January 7, 2007. we have a 1st and 10 on Philadelphia's 44- yard line with just over six minutes to play in the first half of the NFC Wild Card Play-off Game. Eli takes the snap, turns to his right, and hands the ball off to Tiki Barber, who explodes around the left end and scampers down to the Eagles' 3, where he is forced out of bounds by Lito Sheppard, giving us a 1st and Goal from the 3. I immediately call time out to give our big linemen a chance to run to the new line of scrimmage, but also to give our coaches a chance to figure out exactly what we want to call. It may seem like seven points is a given, but all one has to do is look at the first twenty minutes of the game to realize nothing is a given with this New York Giants team.

After starting off the game with a penalty on the first snap from scrimmage, Eli drove our offense from our own 33 to the Philadelphia 17, when he connected with Plaxico Burress on a well-executed touchdown pass and catch to give us the early lead. During the regular season, we scored first in thirteen of our games, so playing with a lead is nothing new for us. But neither are frustrations. On our next four possessions, we manage zero points, and that is with starting field positions that included our own 48 and the Eagles' 49 and 46 yard lines. How bad was our offense After the opening touchdown, we moved the ball 12 yards on four possessions. Putting points on the board when we had the ball in plus territory has been an issue all year. And just because this is a play-off game does not mean our tendencies--both the good and the bad--fade away.

So though we are confident we can score with a 1st and Goal from the 3, nothing is guaranteed. On first down, Eli's short pass to Tiki falls incomplete. On second down, Tiki gains just 1 yard on a carry, stuffed by Mike Patterson and Darren Howard. On third down, Eli's attempt to loft the ball to our big tight end Jeremy Shockey is not a good one. With fourth and 2, trailing by three, I elect to kick a field goal, which Jay Feely converts to tie the game. We give up a late touchdown pass, and at halftime we trail 17-10.

During the regular season, we split road wins with the Eagles, and the loss to Philadelphia at home in December was especially devastating, another low moment in a difficult season. Just getting to the play-offs was a relief to some in our organization, and probably to Giants fans as well. But there is no relief for me. Just getting there isn't part of my philosophy, and after a year of injuries and team turmoil, I want to finally prove what we're capable of. Trailing by just seven on the road in the play-offs, considering how poorly our offense played for most of the first half, is certainly not a death sentence. We can do this. The 2006 season has gone south for a lot of reasons, but I'm hopeful that today is our chance to erase the bad memories.

On the opening series of the second half, we force the Eagles to go 3 and out, despite a face mask penalty on the first snap, but again we cannot find our rhythm on offense and actually move backward. The teams trade punts, and the only scoring in the third quarter comes when our defense holds Philly to a field goal with under three minutes to play in the quarter.

Eli Manning has showed brilliance at times in his career, but whether he is having a great game or a not-so-great game he always maintains his poise. Starting from our own 29, after Tiki runs on first and second downs, Eli scrambles for 2 yards and picks up a first down. We take a shot downfield. Eli's pass, intended for Plaxico, is short, but Eagle corner Sheldon Brown is called for interference and the ball is moved from our 39 to Philadelphia's 14. A pass to Jim Finn picks up 8 yards; a run by Tiki gains nothing. As the game moves into the fourth quarter, we face a 3rd and 2 from the 6. After Eli's pass to Sinorice Moss is incomplete, we settle for another field goal to cut the lead to 20-13.
There's 12:13 remaining in the game, and our season rests on the outcome of our drive. The foolish penalties, the inopportune turnovers, the failures in the green zone--these mean nothing as Eli and the offense jog onto the field. Starting from our own 20, we quickly run the ball into Eagles territory, aided by a holding call on Mike Patterson. After we pick up 6 yards on a reception, I call our first time-out with 7:48 to play in the game. The very next play, Tiki is ruled to have gained no yardage on 3rd and 1 at the Eagles' 25, but our coaches who are watching replays in the box insist he picked up the first down, so I challenge the ruling on the field. The call is overruled, and we do indeed get a fresh set of downs. First down from the 23: false start. The next snap: false start. The next snap: offensive holding. That quick, we go from 1st and 10 from the 23 to 1st and 30 from the 43.