“It was a mistake by me,’’ Manning said after the Giants’ 21-17 win. “I had a feeling they might do that. I should have got to him and told him not to score. As I broke the huddle, it kind of crossed my mind. As I got the snap, I saw their [defensive] line just ease up and I was yelling to Ahmad not to score.’’
Bradshaw got the message. He just couldn’t stop. The Giants had 6 more points, when they didn’t exactly want them. At least, not that soon.
“I heard Eli yelling,’’ Bradshaw said. “I tried to declare myself down, but then I just fell into the end zone. I tried to go down.’’
It was an awkward moment, a moment unworthy of an athlete like Bradshaw. He slowed as he approached the goal line, turned, and attempted to put his hand down. The hand went down, but his momentum was too much. His backside dropped, and he sat down in the end zone.
Touchdown.
And yet, the Giants weren’t thrilled. They had left too much time on the clock, nearly a minute, for the Patriots to take a shot at history.
They didn’t, and so the Giants could laugh about it after the game. But, at the time, Bradshaw had the bizarre potential to score a touchdown and be a goat.
“We were trying to let him score,’’ Patriots linebacker Jerod Mayo said. “That was the best play to make, let him score and get our offense on the field. It was situational football. We were going to drag him into the end zone pretty much.’’
Tuck and roll
Justin Tuck gave motivation and got some before the game ever started.
First, he gave a pregame speech in the end zone during warm-ups.
“I pointed to every guy that didn’t have a ring and I told them, ‘You don’t know how it feels.’ ’’ Tuck said. “And I pointed to every other guy that had one and I told them, ‘You know how it feels.’ You don’t want to walk off this field thinking you missed an opportunity, because you never know when you’re going to get an opportunity to be back here.
“I just told them we’re built for this, go out here and grab it.’’
Then he was slighted during the coin toss, with the Patriots captains shaking every hand but his.
