Tee it up, Super Sunday is finally here

A team stands on the brink of football history

February 03, 2008|Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Staff

GLENDALE, Ariz. - Running hand in hand with history, the New England Patriots take the field tonight with a chance to go where no men in shoulder pads have gone.

Already the NFL's first 18-0 team, the Patriots will attempt to win their fourth Super Bowl in seven seasons when they kick off against the New York Giants at University of Phoenix Stadium.

On the heels of the Red Sox' World Series sweep in Colorado in October, Super Bowl XLII stands to endure as a signature event in the Boston sports renaissance of the 21st century. Humble pies and football-shaped cakes have been ordered and set in front of game-ready flat-screen televisions back in New England, while here in the desert, thousands of pigskin pilgrims - many wearing Brady and Bruschi jerseys - are on hand to witness the Patriots' final step toward pro sports immortality.

Since September, the mantra for coach Bill Belichick and his players has been, "We're only thinking of our next opponent." But amid the noise of Super Bowl week, a few veterans finally allowed themselves to acknowledge the possibility of perfection.

"I think it's the biggest game of all of our lives," acknowledged Tom Brady, who has a chance to join Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks with four Super Bowl rings. "We're going to be remembering this game for as long as we live, win or lose. We're going to have great memories of this experience or we're going to look at it truly as a missed opportunity."

The Patriots are 12-point favorites as they attempt to become only the second team in NFL history to complete a season without a loss (the 1972 Miami Dolphins finished 17-0). The only smudge on New England's otherwise perfect résumé is a September videotaping controversy in which Belichick and the Patriots were slapped with the largest penalties in league history after getting caught taping the signals of the Jets' assistant coaches. The scandal resurfaced days before tonight's game when Senator Arlen Specter, Republican from Pennsylvania, asked NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to explain why the league destroyed the tapes seized from the Patriots.

Tonight's game features clashes of quarterbacks, coaches, and cultures: Brady vs. Eli Manning (columnist/author Mark Kriegel tabbed it "quarterback chic and quarterback geek"), Belichick vs. Tom Coughlin, and Boston vs. New York.