That’s still Eli Manning dropping back to pass - just as he did on that hideous third and 5 (from his own 44) when David Tyree made the Velcro-helmet catch. It was the last catch of Tyree’s football life and the beginning of the rest of our lives.
That’s still Tom Coughlin, scowling on the sideline, game-planning to beat Bill Belichick once again.
That’s still Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora chasing Tom Brady, and that’s Kevin Faulk trying to protect Brady from harm in the Patriots backfield.
My favorite moment of Giant Week in Foxborough was Tuesday morning, when Belichick took to the podium and was peppered with 10 consecutive questions about Patriots players getting into trouble over the last couple of weeks.
Channel 7’s hard-charging Jonathan Hall went after Belichick with a barrage of splitters, spitters, and curveballs, and the Hoodie kept fouling them off like Dustin Pedroia in one of his epic at-bats. Belichick sprinkled a couple of “no comments’’ into his terse, two- and three-word answers. He was at once Nixonian and Naderesque.
And what finally broke the ice and got Belichick away from the Julian Edelman arrest?
A question about Super Bowl XLII.
Amazing. I never would have dreamed in a million years that Belichick would be almost relieved to be asked a question about the Super Bowl shocker in Glendale. But it happened.
He said he didn’t reflect on the loss “much more than any other game.’’
He said, “Whatever the thoughts were after the game, they’ve come, they’ve gone, and that’s what it is. Can’t change it.’’
He also said, “I think we’re pretty much over that.’’
Sure.
Coach has to say they’re over it. It’s what you do in sports. You move on to the next game, the next season.
But no one in New England is ever going to get over the Super Bowl loss to the Giants. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity at perfection. Bob Kraft’s History Boys were set to bump those annoying 1972 Dolphins from the record books. This was going to go down as the Greatest Football Team of All-Time. They were going to go 19-0.
