Brady blows chance to stake claim as NFL’s best QB ever
Comments (...)INDIANAPOLIS (MCT) — We will remember the dramatic final play of the New York Giants’ 21-17 victory Sunday in Super Bowl XLVI, the way a diving Rob Gronkowski came within a foot of catching Tom Brady’s desperation heave that would have won the game for the New England Patriots. Like a prayer indeed.
We will remember the confetti flying around Lucas Oil Stadium, all the Mannings hugging, and Giants coach Tom Coughlin getting doused with Gatorade after his second Super Bowl win in four years over Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
We will remember so many late, lasting impressions of another classic Super Bowl deliciously not decided until the last snap of the season.
But nobody should forget what happened on the first Patriots play to make it all matter.
That’s when Brady essentially blew it. Blew a chance to stake his claim to the NFL’s best quarterback ever. Blew a chance to do what Brady historically does in the clutch — be the biggest reason the Patriots win.
Not a big reason they lose.
If Brady had played every snap with poise the way Super Bowl MVP Eli Manning did, we would be comparing his legacy to Joe Montana’s instead of Manning’s to his brother Peyton’s. Instead, Eli out-Brady’d Brady as the quarterback who dared to put himself in Brady’s elite company at the beginning of the season left no doubt as it ended.
In some ways Brady is a victim of his own greatness. We expect more from living legends. Brady set a Super Bowl record with 16 straight completions and put the Patriots in position to win on a fourth-and-16 completion on the final drive. Yet his most impactful play came in the beginning.
Pinned at his own 6-yard line by a Steve Weatherford punt, Brady dropped back. Giants defensive end Justin Tuck applied pressure and the usually cool Brady overthrew everybody as if he was trying to hit a receiver in Zionsville. The Patriots protested but officials correctly called intentional grounding and awarded the Giants a safety because Brady was in the end zone.
“It is a referee’s judgment call,” Brady said. “Tuck was looking to come get me and I tried to get rid of it.”
In this city of hoops, two points never have meant more in a huge game. Taking advantage of Brady’s mental lapse allowed the Giants to make it 9-0 and keep the Patriots feared offense off the field for most of the first quarter.
As much as Brady let his fourth Super Bowl ring slip away, Manning seized his second by avoiding mistakes Brady didn’t and making memorable fourth-quarter plays. On the game-winning drive, it was Manning whose precise 38-yard pass landed in the arms of David Tyree ... I mean, Mario Manningham for the biggest Giants’ catch since Tyree’s four years ago in the Super Bowl.
That set up Ahmad Bradshaw’s accidental 6-yard TD run that should have ended at 5 ½. Sustaining a brain cramp, Bradshaw fell backward into the end zone as the Patriots let him go untouched. Never has a player been so disappointed to score a touchdown in the Super Bowl.
The ploy by Belichick to allow the Giants to score gave the ball back to Brady with 57 seconds left with a chance to enhance his legend. But we didn’t see the unflappable Brady we are used to seeing. We saw the flappable version.
Besides the safety, Brady committed the game’s only turnover when he tried forcing the ball early in the fourth quarter — usually his time. Brady escaped the grasp of Giants defensive tackle Linval Joseph before heaving a deep pass to his gimpy tight end Gronkowski.
It’s not a good idea to throw the ball up for grabs to a receiver whose sprained ankle prevents him from going up to get it. Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn, a substitute math teacher two months ago, made the leaping interception on a day that goes down as a minus for Brady.
Later, with four minutes left and the Patriots in need of points to pad a 17-15 lead, Brady missed on two throws he usually makes. A typical, in-rhythm Brady throw to Wes Welker on second down would have made it easier to catch. Then Brady threw behind Deion Branch to force a punt.
The misses returned the ball to the Giants and gave Manning a chance to alter his new legacy. Forever, he has.
In the House That Peyton Built, Manning’s little brother left an indelible handprint on its foundation.
“It just feels good to win a Super Bowl,” Eli Manning said. “It doesn’t matter where you are.”
Where Manning stood Sunday night made it irrelevant debating whether he was the best quarterback in his family. It only mattered he was the best one in the building.
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