Super Bowl XLII was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2007 season. The Giants defeated the Patriots by the score of 17–14. The game was played on February 3, 2008, at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.
The game is regarded as one of the biggest upsets in the history of sports. The Patriots entered the game as 12-point favorites after becoming the first team to complete the first perfect regular season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and the only one since the league expanded to a 16-game regular season schedule in 1978. The Giants, who finished the regular season with a 10–6 record, were seeking to become the first NFC wild card team to win a Super Bowl, and were also looking for their third Super Bowl victory and first since they won Super Bowl XXV seventeen years earlier. This Super Bowl was also a rematch of the final game of the regular season, in which New England won, 38–35.
The game is best remembered for the Giants' fourth-quarter game-winning drive. Down 14–10, New York got the ball on their own 17-yard line with 2:39 left and marched 83 yards down the field. In the drive's most memorable play, David Tyree made a leaping one-handed catch for a 32-yard gain. Wide receiver Plaxico Burress then scored the winning touchdown on a 13-yard reception with 35 seconds remaining. The game was tight throughout. Only 10 total points were scored in the first three quarters. The Giants consumed a Super Bowl record 9 minutes and 59 seconds on their opening drive, but could only manage a field goal. The Patriots then responded with running back Laurence Maroney 1-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter. The fourth quarter then saw a Super Bowl record three lead changes, including New England wide receiver Randy Moss making a 6-yard touchdown reception with 2:42 left to play before New York's game-winning drive. Giants quarterback Eli Manning, who completed 19 of 34 passes for 255 yards and 2 touchdowns, with 1 interception, was named Super Bowl MVP.
The telecast of the game on Fox broke the then-record for the most watched Super Bowl in history with an average of 97.5 million viewers in the United States.
The two teams would meet again four years later.
Read more about Super Bowl XLII: Avoided Shooting Incident, Game Summary, Starting Lineups, Officials, Effect of Yankees–Red Sox Rivalry
Famous quotes containing the words bowl and/or xlii:
“It seemed a long way from 143rd Street. Shaking hands with the Queen of England was a long way from being forced to sit in the colored section of the bus going into downtown Wilmington, North Carolina. Dancing with the Duke of Devonshire was a long way from not being allowed to bowl in Jefferson City, Missouri, because the white customers complained about it.”
—Althea Gibson (b. 1927)
“As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul
after thee, O God.”
—Bible: Hebrew Psalm XLII (l. XLII, 1)