Celizic: XLII Greatest Super Bowl of Them All

Eli Manning had Lorenzen Wright backing him up? Good luck getting a pass out of HIM.

 

I'm not sure of the number, just because I'm not an NFL guy and don't keep up with the numbers, but Elway and Davis knocking off the Pack was my favorite Super Bowl.

 

Disagree. Loved the Giants starting the game with a nine-minute scoring drive, followed by the Patriots with the touchdown on the ensuing drive, which took us to the second quarter. Then came some good defense (Steelers fans can admire that). Add in Belichick passing on a field goal and that fourth quarter on top of the historical perspective of this game -- yeah, this was the best Super Bowl.

Like most in flyover country, I can't stand most things Boston and New York. But this trumps the Rams-Titans (a clunker for three-plus quarters with a great finish), Patriots-Panthers (Kasay's kickoff sailing out of bounds took the drama out at the finish) and even Giants-Bills (I prefer to see teams win games as opposed to lose them when a field goal sails wide right).

Which reminds me, I loved how the Giants needed a touchdown to win it. All or nothing, like 49ers-Bengals. Same thing, but with two improbable heroes on a play that will be revered like Lynn Swann's acrobatic catch.

I haven't read the column on which this thread is based, but I agree, it's the best Super Bowl I've seen.

 

I agree with Oz here. I don't think games have to be high-scoring to be great. The Patriots-Panthers Bowl proved that to me. All I could think of was, why isn't anyone playing defense?

The Giants defense was fun to watch in this game and it was interesting to watch the chess match between the Giants O and the Patriots D. Once Moss scored, everyone in their right mind figured it would take a miracle for the Giants to win - Eli's metamorphasis into Brett Favre was nothing short of miraculous to me. I always thought he was an over-rated twerp.

 

Do we define defensive battles as boring? I kinda thought that's what made for a good game, kinda like a 40-point scoring-fest by both teams would do the same, only at the other end of the spectrum.

Think low-scoring games are boring? Then go watch the NBA, MLS, World Cup, NHL .... uh, college football!

 

Be a touch more impressive if Little Brother hadn't thrown three interceptions on it.

 

And Montana threw one in Billups' breadbasket in the end zone that would kept the final drive from ever happening.

And Eli didn't come even close to three INTs on the drive. Just one.

Just when I think you might float above pure flamework. ...

 

Someone who made the point about this being subjective is spot on. It's all a matter of what you like from a game.

It's interesting, though, that people who accept the (partly knee-jerk, in my opinion) contention that this is the greatest Super Bowl so quickly dismiss opinions that the first three quarters shouldn't count.

Just because it was decided in the final minute doesn't make it the best ever. So was Super Bowl V, and I don't see that one on many lists.

(For the record, Sunday's game had its share of mistakes in the first three quarters, just like the 49ers-Bengals in XXIII. However, as I said before, the dominance of the Giants defense made this one a better game than XXIII.)

For my money, the best game was Steelers-Rams in XIV. If you're laughing at that because of the 31-19 final score, you didn't watch or don't remember the game. And the 1979 Rams were a bigger early-season mess, and were given even less of a chance to win, than the Giants.)

But that's just one opinion.

 

Joe, I personally didn't discount the first three quarters...for all of us at the party, that was definitely part of the equation. Nip and tuck all the way through. While it may not have been high-flying exciting, it was smash and give an inch exciting.

 

I don't know if it was the best ever - my first-hand knowledge only goes back to about the time the Eagles got beat by the Raiders - but it was definitely an amazing game. The most fun to watch since the Rams, Titans in my opinion.

 

NE always seemed one play away, a bomb to Moss or a bad throw by Eli, from taking the lead or having a two-score lead.

I never felt like NY had the game won and in hand until the final knee. Even when NE was basically throwing Hail Marys down the sideline to Moss, I was still expecting a flag or an impossible catch.

From the first snap to the last, that tenseness never left for me

 

I thought it was a great football game but "greatest ever" is one of those debates you start over your third pint of Guinness.

The people who thought it was boring probably prefer a 8-6 slugfest in baseball or a 6-4 hockey game.

Nothing wrong there, but I'll take a 2-1 pitcher's duel or a 1-0 goalie battle every time.