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After being given no chance of winning by pundits and oddsmakers, the New York Giants stunned the sports world at Super Bowl XLII, knocking off the New England Patriots 17-14, and rewarding faithful bettors by covering as 12.5-point underdogs.
It was a particularly bitter loss for the Patriots, who took the field poised to become the first NFL team to record a perfect season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins.
Instead, it was the Giants who would make history, becoming the first NFC Wild Card team to emerge as Super Bowl champions.
The G-Men opened their season with a pair of losses before stringing together six straight wins. Plagued by inconsistency, the Giants limped to a 10-6 record, SU and ATS, to claim the top Wild Card in the weak NFC.
But New York peaked just in time, outclassing the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a 24-14 Wild Card Weekend win before shocking the top-seeded Dallas Cowboys in the Divisional Playoffs, coming from behind to beat their hated division rivals 21-17.
The Giants looked to be a team of destiny when they handed the Green Bay Packers their first ever Championship Game defeat at Lambeau Field, defeating the Pack 23-20 as 7-point road underdogs.
The Pats cruised to a Super Bowl berth, pounding the Jacksonville Jaguars 31-20 in the AFC Divisional Playoffs before topping the San Diego Chargers 21-12 in the AFC Championship Game.
Super Bowl XLII was the third meeting of the 2007 season between the Giants and Patriots, with the two teams combining to score 120 points in a pair of New England victories.
But the big game was a low scoring affair, with the Patriots taking a 7-3 lead to halftime. The teams would exchange major scores in the fourth quarter before the Giants wrote the end to their Cinderella story on their final drive of the game.
Trailing 17-10 with just 2:39 remaining, New York started from their own 17-yard line, marching the ball 83 yards down field, and capping the drive with Manning’s 13-yard TD pass to Plaxico Burress with just 35 seconds remaining.
Manning finished with 255 yards on 19 completions and two TDs to earn Super Bowl MVP honors, joining his brother Peyton who earned the honors in Super Bowl XLI.
The point total, pegged at 55 at the nation’s sportsbooks, finished UNDER for a fourth year in a row.
