Manning named game MVP
Eli Manning is elite, for sure. A king of comebacks, too. And far, far more than Peyton’s little brother now.
Spot-on from beginning to end Sunday night, Eli Manning won his second NFL championship in a fouryear span — and second Super Bowl MVP award — for leading the New York Giants to a 21-17 victory over the New England Patriots.
Manning went 30 for 40 for 296 yards, with one touchdown pass and zero interceptions. He opened the game by becoming the first quarterback to complete his first nine attempts in a Super Bowl. And he finished the job by directing the nineplay, 88-yard TD drive that put New York ahead with 57 seconds left.
“That was quite a drive that he was able to put together,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “He deserves all the credit in the world, because he really has put his team on his shoulders all year.”
This late drive, so reminiscent of the way New York beat New England in the 2008 Super Bowl, started on the Giants’ 12, with a little more than 3-1/2 minutes left and the Patriots ahead 17-15. It closed with running back Ahmad Bradshaw easing into the end zone from six yards out. The Patriots decided not to contest the run, trying to save some time on the clock for a final drive — an audacious decision by Patriots coach Bill Belichick.
But New England couldn’t get the ball back in the end zone, with Tom Brady’s final heave from his 49 falling barely beyond the grasp of tight end Rob Gronkowski.
“We had this goal to finish, finish, finish, and win the fourth quarter,” Coughlin said.
Manning was also the MVP in 2008, when his scoring pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left allowed New York to upset Brady and New England, ruining the Patriots’ bid for a perfect season.
Manning now is one of only five players in NFL history with multiple Super Bowl MVP awards. He joined the guy he got the better of in the big game yet again, Brady, along with Terry Bradshaw, Bart Starr and Joe Montana (the only player with three). And Manning did it in the House that Peyton Built, the stadium where his Big Bro — a fourtime regular-season MVP but owner of only one Super Bowl title — plays for the Indianapolis Colts.
“It just feels good to win a Super Bowl. Doesn’t matter where you are,” Manning said, clutching the silver Vince Lombardi Trophy. “It’s been a wild season. We had a great, tough bunch of guys who never quit, and had faith in each other. I’m proud of these guys sticking together.”