AM850.com

The New York Giants pulled off one of the biggest Super Bowl upsets ever when they knocked off the previously unbeaten New England Patriots 17-14 to win Super Bowl 42.

I don't want to hear anyone tell me that New England didn't do this or didn't do that; the Giants did the doing and they deserved to win this game.

On this night, they were the better team.

The key was the New York defense that continuously hounded and hurried Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. When he wasn't being knocked down and pushed around by a hard charging front four, Brady was forced to throw mostly short passes because he had little time to throw.

But late in the game, New England mounted a touchdown drive that gave the Patriots a short lived 14-10 lead. You could see the Giants defenders getting tired, cramping up, perhaps exhausted after delivering such a furious and spirited defensive effort.

If the Patriots thought they had this game won, they thought wrong. Eli Manning, the much maligned Giants quarterback, had to come up with type of winning drive his brother Peyton is so famous for, and that's exactly what he did.

In the game's last two minutes, Manning led his team down the field, at one point somehow escaping pressure from several New England defenders to launch a completion to a leaping David Tyree to keep the drive alive.

Then, with 35 seconds left, Manning threw a slant and go route to wide receiver Plaxico Burress for the winning touchdown and the Giants had themselves an improbable Super Bowl win.

What a difference a few weeks makes; the Giants started the year 0-2, coach Tom Coughlin was going to be run out of town and Manning was as inconsistent as ever. But then, the Giants came back to win against Washington and they ripped off six wins in a row. The Giants became road warriors, winning 10 straight on the road, and they became the lowest seeded NFC team to ever win a Super Bowl.

I also feel good for Eli Manning, who has always been in the shadow of his big brother and the subject of much scorn and ridicule by New York fans and media. With all of his hype, Manning truthfully did not play well at times in his career and many wondered if he would ever win big. But in the playoffs, Manning matured right before our eyes, and the Giants rode momentum to the Super Bowl. In the biggest game of his life, Eli Manning came up huge, leading his team on a game winning fourth quarter drive that will be talked about for years to come.

As happy as one might be for New York and Manning, you know this has to be a bitter loss for New England and its fans. After going 18-0, some people, although misguided, will see this season now as a failure after this loss but how can anyone view a year as a lost when you go 18-1? Still, this loss may sting for a long time with the Patriots and their proud players and it may also give other teams a blueprint for how to attack the vaunted New England offense.

The better team won the Super Bowl on Sunday. The New York Giants deserve every accolade they will receive today; they believed they could win when very few of us even gave them a chance of winning that game.

That has always been the beauty of competitive sport; you have to go out and win the game on the field, not on paper, and the Giants with their tough guy coach and plucky attitude pulled off the upset.

Congratulations to the Giants...Super Bowl champions.