We are counting down the 7 most epic moments in Giants history as captured and ranked by Sports Illustrated. We now turn to a more recent history for what is ranked as #4.
February 5th 2012: In Super Bowl XLVI, a repeat title game matchup from just four seasons prior, the Giants were again trailing late in the fourth quarter. With less than four minutes on the clock from New York’s own 12-yard line, Eli Manning hit Mario Manningham for an acrobatic 38-yard catch — just his third grab of the game. The Giants marched down the rest of the field for an Ahmad Bradshaw touchdown with under a minute to go to beat the favored Patriots for the championship once more, 21-17.
While this Super Bowl run and re-match with the Patriots was extremely exciting and certainly a great moment in Giants history, I’m not sure that Mario Manningham should get all the credit. While NBC was looking for the “David Tyree Moment” all game, this was a game that had lots of smaller moments, and not one game-saving play. The Intentional Grounding call, the 12 men on the field to negate Cruz’ fumble, and Chase Blackburn’s interception all come to mind. What I do agree with is that Eli engineered another magnificent game winning drive in the biggest game of the year, while utilizing all his weapons and finding a way to move the Giants the length of the field.
