SUPER BOWL XLVI

 

Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, Indiana

February 5, 2012, Attendance: 68,658

NEW YORK GIANTS 21, NEW ENGLAND 17—

Ahmad Bradshaw scored on a 6-yard touchdown run with 57 seconds remaining to cap an 88-yard drive and lead the Giants to their second Super Bowl victory over the Patriots in five years. The triumph was the Giants’ franchise’s fourth Super Bowl title.

 The Patriots’ defense forced a punt to begin the game, but Steve Weatherford’s punt pinned New England back to its own 6-yard line. On the Patriots’ first play, Justin Tuck pressured Tom Brady and forced him to pass deep down the middle of the field, where no players were within range, resulting in an intentional grounding penalty. A safety was enforced by rule, giving the Giants a 2-0 lead.

Following the ensuing free kick, the Giants drove 78 yards in nine plays, capped by Victor Cruz’ 2-yard touchdown catch for a 9-0 advantage. New York led 9-3 late in the first half when Weatherford pinned the Patriots back to their own 4-yard line.

This time New England responded with a 96-yard drive, which included a key 12-yard third-down catch by Aaron Hernandez, and was capped by Brady’s 4-yard touchdown pass to Danny Woodhead with 15 seconds left in the half to take a 10-9 halftime lead.

The Patriots then began the second half with an 8-play, 79-yard drive, sparked by a 21-yard pass to Chad Johnson and BenJarvus Green-Ellis’ 17-yard run, and capped by Hernandez’ 12-yard touchdown catch for a 17-9 lead.

 The Giants answered with a field goal, forced a three-and-out on defense, and generated a second field-goal drive to trim the deficit to 17-15 with 35 seconds left in the third quarter

 On the second play of the fourth quarter, Brady attempted a deep pass to Rob Gronkowski that was intercepted by Chase Blackburn at the Giants’ 8-yard line.

Both teams then traded punts, with the Giants getting the ball on their own 12-yard line with 3:46 to play.

On the first play of the possession, Eli Manning launched a perfectly placed pass to Mario Manningham deep down the left sideline. Manningham caught the ball just inbounds with two Patriots’ defenders in close pursuit. Passes of 16 yards, to Manningham, and 14 yards, to Hakeem Nicks, put the  Giants at the Patriots’ 18 with 2:00 remaining. Bradshaw gained seven yards on the first play following the2-minute warning, and Manning completed a 4-yard pass to Nicks that resulted in a first down. After Bradshaw gained 1 yard, his next run up the middle resulted in the go-ahead touchdown with 57 seconds remaining.

Faced with fourth-and-16 with 39 seconds left, Brady completed a 19-yard pass to Deion Branch and then an 11-yard pass to Hernandez. A 12-men-on-the-field penalty with 17 seconds left pushed the ball to the Patriots’ 49, but Brady’s Hail Mary pass fell incomplete in the end zone as time expired.

Manning was 30 of 40 for 296 yards and 1 touchdown and was named the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player. Nicks had 10 catches for 109 yards. Brady completed 27 of 41 passes for 276  yards and 2 touchdowns, with 1 interception.

 

N.Y. Giants (21) New England (17)

Offense

Victor Cruz WR Wes Welker

David Diehl LT Matt Light

Kevin Boothe LG Logan Mankins

David Baas C Dan Connolly

Chris Snee RG Brian Waters

Kareem McKenzie RT Sebastian Vollmer

Jake Ballard TE Rob Gronkowski

Hakeem Nicks WR Deion Branch

Eli Manning QB Tom Brady

Ahmad Bradshaw RB BenJarvus Green-Ellis

Henry Hynoski FB/TE Nate Solder

Defense

Justin Tuck LDE/LB Tracy White

Linval Joseph LDT/DT Vince Wilfork

Chris Canty RDT/DT Kyle Love

Jason Pierre-Paul RE/DL Brandon Deaderick

Chase Blackburn MLB/LB Rob Ninkovich

Michael Boley WLB/LB Jerod Mayo

Corey Webster LCB/LB Brandon Spikes

Aaron Ross RCB/LCB Devin McCourty

Kenny Phillips SS/RCB Kyle Arrington

Antrel Rolle FS/S James Ihedigbo

Deon Grant S Patrick Chung

 

SUBSTITUTIONS

N.Y. GIANTS—Specialists: K—Lawrence Tynes. P— Steve Weatherford. LS—Zak DeOssie. Offense: RB—

Brandon Jacobs, D.J. Ware. WR—Jerrel Jernigan, Mario Manningham, Devin Thomas. TE—Travis Beckum,

Bear Pascoe. T—Tony Ugoh. G—Mitch Petrus.

 

 Defense: DE—Dave Tollefson, Osi Umenyiora. DT—Rocky

Bernard. LB—Greg Jones, Mathias Kiwanuka, Spencer Paysinger, Jacquian Williams. CB—Prince Amukamara,

Will Blackmon. DB—Derrick Martin. S—Tyler Sash.

 

DNP: QB—David Carr. Not Active: RB—Da’Rel Scott. WR—Ramses Barden. T—James Brewer Jr. C—Jim Cordle. DT—Jimmy Kennedy. DE—Justin Trattou. LB— Mark Herzlich.

NEW ENGLAND—Specialists: K—Stephen Gostkowski. P—Zoltan Mesko. LS—Danny Aiken. Offense: RB— Danny Woodhead. FB—Lousaka Polite. WR—Julian Edelman, Chad Johnson, Matthew Slater. TE—Aaron Hernandez. OL—Marcus Cannon. C—Ryan Wendell.

Defense: DE—Mark Anderson, Shaun Ellis. DL—Gerard Warren. LB—Dane Fletcher, Niko Koutouvides. CB—Antwaun Molden. DB—Sterling Moore, Malcolm Williams. S—Sergio Brown. DNP: QB—Brian Hoyer. RB—Stevan Ridley. DE—Alex Silvestro. DB—Nate Jones.

Not Active: QB—Ryan Mallett. RB—Kevin Faulk, Shane Vereen. OL—Nick McDonald, Donald Thomas. DL—Ron Brace. LB—Gary Guyton.

OFFICIALS

Referee—John Parry. Umpire—Carl Paganelli. Head Linesman—Tom Stabile. Line Judge—Gary Arthur. Side Judge—Laird Hayes. Field Judge—Gary Cavaletto. Back Judge—Tony Steratore. Replay Official—Larry Nemmers.

SCORING

N.Y. Giants (NFC) 9 0 6 6 — 21

New England (AFC) 0 10 7 0 — 17

NYG — Safety, intentional grounding penalty enforced on Brady in end zone

NYG — Cruz 2 pass from Manning (Tynes kick)

NE — FG Gostkowski 29

NE — Woodhead 4 pass from Brady (Gostkowski kick)

NE — Hernandez 12 pass from Brady (Gostkowski kick)

NYG — FG Tynes 38

NYG — FG Tynes 33

NYG — Bradshaw 6 run (run failed)

 

TEAM STATISTICS NYG NE

Total First Downs           26 21

Rushing                              7 6

Passing                            18 15

Penalty                                1 0

Total Net Yardage         396 349

Total Offensive Plays      71 62

Avg. Gain Per Offensive Play 5.6 5.6

Rushes                             28 19

Yards Gained Rushing (Net) 114 83

Avg. Yards per Rush        4.1 4.4

Passes Attempted              40 41

Passes Completed              30 27

Had Intercepted                   0 1

Tackled Attempting to Pass 3 2

Yards Lost Attempting to Pass 14 10

Yards Gained Passing (Net) 282 266

Punts                                          4 3

Avg. Distance                       40.8 41.0

Punt Returns                              1 0

Punt Return Yardage                10 0

Kickoff Returns                        4 3

Kickoff Return Yardage         75 73

Interception Return Yardage         0 0

Total Return Yardage (excl. Kickoff) 10 0

Fumbles                                              2 0

Fumbles Lost                                      0 0

Own Fumbles Recovered                    2 0

Opponent Fumbles Recovered              0 0

Penalties                                                  4 5

Yards Penalized                                      24 28

Field Goals                                                  2 1

Field Goals Attempted                                2 1

Third-Down Efficiency                             5/11 6/12

Fourth-Down Efficiency                             0/0 1/1

Time of Possession                               37:05 22:55

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING:

 

NYG: Bradshaw 17-72-1, Jacobs 9-37-0, Ware 1-6-0, Manning 1-(-1)-0.

NE: Green-Ellis 10-44-0, Welker 2-21-0, Woodhead 7-18-0.

PASSING:

 NYG: Manning 40-30-296-1-0.

NE: Brady 41-27-276-2-1.

RECEIVING:

NYG: Nicks 10-109-0, Manningham 5-73-0, Pascoe 4-33-0, Cruz 4-25-1, Bradshaw 2-19-0, Hynoski 2-19-0, Ballard 2-10-0, Ware 1-8-0.

NE: Hernandez 8-67-1, Welker 7-60-0, Woodhead 4-42-1, Branch 3-45-0, Gronkowski 2-26-0, Green-Ellis 2-15-0, Johnson 1-21-0.

KICKOFF RETURNS:

NYG: Jernigan 3-71-0, Blackmon 1-4-0.

 NE: Edelman 3-73-0.

PUNT RETURNS: NYG: Blackmon 1-10-0. NE: None.

PUNTING:

NYG: Weatherford 4-163-40.8.

NE: Mesko 3-123-41.0.

INTERCEPTIONS:

NYG: Blackburn 1-0-0.

NE: None.

SACKS:

 NYG: Tuck 2.

NE: Anderson 1.5, Deaderick 1, Ninkovich 0.5.