They're history, all right

"Tonight doesn't take away from anything we have done over the course of the season," Tom Brady said late Sunday.

Yes, it does. Take all your pinball victories (remember those long-ago days of 52-7 and 56-10?) and lock them away. The Patriots shredded the NFL record book (and the league rulebook, if you believe Senator Arlen Specter), but they did not accomplish their goal. They did not win the Super Bowl. By their own standards of excellence, this season is a failure - same as 2005, when they were eliminated by the Broncos, and 2006, when the Colts bounced them in the AFC Championship.

It's pretty clear that the Patriots peaked too early - very unBelichickian. The rout of the Bills Nov. 18 was the pinnacle. In that game, Randy Moss caught four touchdown passes in the first half. It was 35-7 at intermission and the Patriots kept piling on the points all the way to 56-10. A week later, the Eagles came to Foxborough and went facemask-to-facemask with the Patriots for four quarters. The Patriots were never truly dominant after the Philadelphia game. In the eight games before the Super Bowl, their best showing was a 34-13 rout of the Steelers.

So they were ripe for an upset, and the Giants were just the team to do it. Despite losing six games during the regular season, including a 41-17 beating at home against the non-playoff Vikings Nov. 25, the Giants were well-positioned to match New England in the Super Bowl.

There was a playoff atmosphere in the "meaningless" regular-season finale between the Pats and G-Men in late December and that game served the Giants well Sunday night in Glendale. The Giants were not afraid of the Patriots. They knew the only way to stop New England was to get to Brady. And they had guys who could do it.