Who was it that predicted a Giants victory?

That would be Plaxico Burress, who caught the triumphant pass in the Giants' 17-14 Super Bowl success over the Patriots.

Eli Manning was the MVP, although personally my vote would have gone to Plax for the winner or possibly even to David Tyree, who caught two of the biggest passes of the evening.

That said, amazingly enough the other keys to the Giants victory were - EAGLES take note - four rookie draft picks.

Tight end Kevin Boss caught a 45-yard pass to set up the first Giants TD.

Wide receiver Steve Smith caught a 12-yard pass and just as importantly, got out of bounds with 39 seconds left to give Manning four fresh downs from the 13-yard line.

Zac DeOssie tackled Laurence Maroney, who had killed the Giants every which way throughout the night, at the 26-yard line on the ensuing kickoff.

Finally defensive tackle Jay Alford of Penn State sacked Brady for a 10-yard loss on the last series of the game.

Greatest team ever? I was with Mercury Morris, the retired running back, no matter what happened; his 1972 Miami Dolphins are the best.

As for the Patriots, their head coach, Bill Belichick, didn't stick around for the last second to tick off the clock.

A part of me wants to say cheaters proof.

Another part says, thank you Giants, for saving the NFL from the ignominy of having a tainted champion.

Thanks for doing what the new age owners and their new age commissioner have been unable to do with any real degree of credibility, and that is to preserve the integrity of America's greatest game.

Now, if we can just get rid of the salary cap ...

Like a pitcher who can't throw strikes but still gets outs, Tom Brady found a way to lead the Patriots on an epic march culminating in a touchdown pass to Randy Moss. Victimized was cornerback Corey Webster, who gave up the go-ahead touchdown to Moss in the Patriots' regular season loss to the Giants.

BTW: Did you see Ray Ventrone's (Villanova University) tackle on the ensuing kickoff? Ouch!

Eli Manning finally woke up, although as Troy Aikman pointed out, his TD pass to David Tyree giving the Giants a 10-7 lead over the Patriots easily could have been intercepted by Asante Samuel. But the score was huge.

On his next chance Manning alertly avoided a Patriots blitz but blew a chance to bust the game open as his lob to the wide open Plaxico Burress sailed clear over the 6-foot-5 receiver's head. That ultimately could prove fatal.

Hats off to Tom Brady. He's throwing ducks because he's a wounded duck. All he can take is a three-step drop. That high ankle sprain is killing him. The pump fakes he made on the only deep ball he's thrown in the third quarter is proof positive how bad he's hurting. Brady took a three-step drop, then pumped his arm twice to get enough time to go deep. The ball was long and off-target.

The way Tom Brady is hobbled, it's so obvious there are two and only two ways the Patriots can move the ball: 1) Running it, and 2) Throwing short (dink) passes. Brady cannot take more than a three-step drop because his ankle is bothering him. Even Troy Aikman seems to have missed that hugely important point. You cannot, repeat cannot throw deep on a three step drop. Any questions about what the Giants should be doing defensively?

After guiding the Giants to a 3-0 lead, Eli Manning completed just three of his next nine passes. Worse, he was intercepted once and fumbled twice. High definition looks inside Manning's facemask show an exhausted, Donovan McNabb, Super Bowl XXIX type of player. The way Tom Brady is playing hurt, there is no way the Giants should be trailing 7-3 at the half.

What's next? A four-minute two-minute offense?

The Patriots look very beatable, just as they did when the Eagles blew it against them in SB XXXIX.

It was obvious in the first quarter of Super Bowl XLII that something is physically wrong with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady. Instead of taking his customary three-step drops, he's had to go five and seven steps, and that's enabled the Giants to pound him.

Brady's intermediate and deep throws have been terrible.

The Giants still haven't figured that out, though, as they've dropped way too deep in coverage out of respect for the high octane regular season passing offense that just isn't there tonight.

How long will it take the Giants to figure out that the only passes they've been hurt with have been screens?

In case you missed it, the only NFL quarterback actively campaigning for more weapons on offense, defense and special teams said if the Eagles don't come through with help during the offseason, the media will have something to say about it.

Insightful, Mr. Donovan McNabb, who put that word out at Super Bowl XLII.

Bad timing. The last time McNabb played the Patriots, who oppose the Giants for the NFL title this Sunday, was Super Bowl XXXIX. The game highlights/lowlights are plastered all over the tube as that's the last Bowl the Patriots played in.

It's all coming back ...

McNabb answering an Adam Viniatiri field goal giving the Patriots a 24-14 bulge with the second of three interceptions.

And later, in a hurry-up offense that still lives in infamy, McNabb hyperventilated and became ill in the huddle according to teammates.

It was a hurry-up like no other, McNabb needing almost four minutes to score in the so-called two-minute offense and leaving the Eagles only 1-minute, 48-seconds to stop the Patriots and position his team for the tying field goal.

McNabb had weapons - plural - in that game. But McNabb could only get along with Brian Westbrook, not Terrell Owens, the best receiver on his team. Owens was kicked out of town. And now McNabb again is saying he wants big-time help. Did it really take him three years to reach that conclusion?

McNabb made no mention at this Super Bowl of how he's chronically misunderstood by the media and how the Eagles declined to re-work his contract and instead drafted his successor last spring.

All injury excuses aside, McNabb himself won just one game last year - against the unprepared Detroit Lions. That's it. He didn't lose eight games but he only won one. The Eagles picked off Tony Romo three times in Dallas, so don't go even go there.

Until McNabb starts playing like the old McNabb, the quarterback who made the players around him better, he should stop insulting teammates and making himself look like an apologist for media critics of the Eagles.

McNabb ought to keep the focus on himself, not management, as he did so successfully earlier in his career.

Even when McNabb had it his way, even when he lobbied to add Owens, he didn't answer the bell in the biggest game of his career.

Make no mistake, teammates still remember - and will never forget - how he played in Super Bowl XXIX with a full arsenal of weapons.






With the Patriots chasing a perfect season in this, the Super Bowl week,