Super Bowl | Giants end Patriots' run to perfection

GLENDALE, Ariz. — With the Super Bowl on the line, look who had the perfection thing down pat: Eli Manning and the road-conquering New York Giants.

And what a beauty their 11th straight road victory was, a 17-14 Super Bowl win Sunday that shattered the New England Patriots' unblemished season.

In one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history, Manning, New York's unlikely Mr. Cool, hit Plaxico Burress on a 13-yard fade with 35 seconds left. It was the Giants' fourth consecutive postseason away win and the first time the Patriots tasted defeat in more than a year.

"There's something about this team," Manning said. "The way we win games, and performed in the playoffs in the stretch. We had total confidence in ourselves."

It was the most bitter of losses, too, because 12-point favorite New England (18-1) was one play from winning and getting the ultimate revenge for being penalized for illegally taping opponents' defensive signals in the season opener against the New York Jets.

"We made some plays. They just made a few more," coach Bill Belichick said. "We played as hard as we could. We just couldn't make enough plays."

The Giants (14-6) had the perfect answer for the suddenly imperfect Patriots: a big, bad defense and the improbable comeback led by Manning, who furthered the family legacy one year after older brother Peyton led Indianapolis to the title.

"I talked to Peyton and he said, 'Go in there, have some fun, you can do it,' " Eli Manning said.

After Tom Brady completed an 80-yard drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss with 2:42 left, the Patriots held a 14-10 lead and it appeared as if an incredible defensive performance by the Giants was going to be wasted.

But that's not what they believed on the Giants' sideline.

"When we got the ball, I got everyone together and was begging them to repeat to me that we were going to win it, 17-14," Giants veteran defensive end Michael Strahan said. "That was because we believe in Eli and we know he's going to do it. He's done it time and time again."

Manning and the Giants' offense had 2:39 and all three timeouts remaining when they took over at their own 17-yard line.

"You can't write a better script," Manning said. "To go and do it is just an unbelievable feeling."

The most unbelievable part of the script was indeed the 83-yard, game-winning touchdown drive, and one play in particular was stranger than fiction.

With New York facing a third-and-5 situation from its own 44-yard line, it appeared as if Patriots defensive end Jarvis Green was going to pull down Manning for a pivotal sack. Instead, Manning eluded the pressure, took a few steps back and heaved a throw to No. 4 receiver David Tyree in the middle of the field.

"I was just trying to make a play," Manning said. "I knew people were grabbing for me, but I knew I wasn't getting pulled down. The ball just hung up there forever and it was an unbelievable catch by him."

Tyree, with safety Rodney Harrison bearing down on him, came up with the catch at the Patriots' 24-yard line.

"It was an amazing drive," Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. "We'd make a first down and stall a few plays. By the end, we didn't have any timeouts left. The escape by Eli and the catch by David Tyree were amazing. That ball was challenged. He had two people ripping for the ball. That might be one of the greatest play of all-time in the Super Bowl."

New England's 14 points were a season low, and when the evening was over, so was the Patriots' quest for perfection.

"It isn't something we really prepared for, but anytime you go into a game you know somebody's got to win and somebody's got to lose," Brady said.

"I'm sure it's going to be hard to swallow in the months to come."

The St. Petersburg Times contributed to this report.