The 2007 New York Giants led by Eli Manning have defeated Tom Brady and the 2007 New England Patriots. In other news, the war is over and I’ve gotten reports they’re skiing in Hell. For those of you attempting to take it in stride, don’t bother. This event is bigger than you think. No point in trying to make sense out of it, for none exists. It’s one of the greatest upsets in sports history, along with Buster Douglas’ knockout of Mike Tyson and the 1980 Miracle on Ice.But now we have to try to put this in some sort of context. And the truth is, I don’t think we can. We’ve never seen anything like this. It’s unprecedented in the world of sports. Never in history has an undefeated team lost in the championship. The '72 Dolphins beat the Redskins in the Super Bowl. The 72-10 Bulls beat the Sonics in '96. The 69-13 Lakers won in '72. The 1998 Yankees won 114 games (a record since broken) and went on to win the Series. The Patriots had to win this game. It just made sense. A win would have made it possible for all of us to say, “Yeah, 19 – 0, they won the championship. I guess that does make them the best ever.”
So where do we put them now, in historical terms. We certainly can’t say they’re the best ever, can we? Should we even say they’re in the top five? Do we have the nerve to list a team that didn’t even win the Super Bowl in the top five in history? If they win that game, they’re top three, hands down. If Asante Samuel doesn’t let that pass go threw his fingers, if Rodney Harrison out-jumps David Tyree, if they wrap up Eli instead of letting him slip away, if they stop Brandon Jacobs on 4th and 1, then they’re top three ever… maybe the best.
But they didn’t. What’s more is they couldn’t. They were incapable of stopping Eli Manning (Eli FREAKIN’ Manning) from driving it down their throats 83 yards in the closing minutes of the Super Bowl in the ultimate sink or swim moment. How great can this team be? They were incapable of scoring more than 14 points against a young, inexperienced and injury-plagued secondary. How great can this team be? They were incapable of giving Brady more than 2 seconds to throw the ball without having Tuck, Mitchell or Strahan breathing down his pads. How great can this team be?
Don’t get me wrong. You’d have to be the guy from Memento to so quickly and easily forget the incredible season they had. And they deserve to be in the conversation of best teams ever. Their offense, particularly, belongs in the discussion of greatest scoring machines (maybe second best behind the ’99 “Greatest Show on Turf” Rams – who won the Super Bowl). But that defense has question marks. Harrison can tackle a bus, but he can’t keep up with a tortoise, or a Kevin Boss for that matter. Asante Samuel is 5-3 in stilettos, and their two middle linebackers might be grandfathers. They’re good, but not that good.
The conclusion is that the 2007 New England Patriots are a great team, but they don’t sniff my top five. Top 10, yes, 16 – 0 warrants top 10. But I’d still put the ’85 Bears, ’89 and ’94 49ers, and the ’78 Steelers ahead of them. Probably the ’77 and ’93 Cowboys too. You could even throw in one of those early Packers and Colts teams. And yes, the ’72 Dolphins deserve a mention as well. The difference between all those teams and this year’s Patriots: they all won the Super Bowl. I guarantee any one of the players in the New England locker room after they lost the biggest game of their lives would have told you they would have rather went 8 – 8 and won the Super Bowl, then go 16 – 0 and lost.
