It was suppose to be a perfect season. Perhaps the best football team ever assembled. But they lost the Super Bowl to the Giants on a play in which an unheard of special teams player, David Tyree, caught a ball on his helmet. The Patriots lost by 3 and perfection was broken.
Yesterday’s AFC championship game was a painful grinder for Patriots fans. Tom Brady failed poorly. The defensive came up huge but Joe Flaco, sporting some kind of ninja mustache, played like a world beater.
The game came down to one final Ravens drive. Let’s be honest they had the game won. Down by 3 their man had the ball in the end zone for the win and a trip to the Super Bowl. But a guy named Sterling Moore–rarely used except on the practice squad–did something remarkable. From behind receiver Lee Evans he miraculously stripped him. My first thought was how long does the receiver have to hold the ball for it to be a touchdown? But the play wasn’t even challenged.
Then it came down to a very makable field goal. Billy Cundiff missed it to send the Patriots to the Super Bowl.
To play who? The Giants, who beat the 49ers in overtime.
I was almost embarrassed by our performance (to Brady’s credit he admitted on national tv after the game that he “sucked”) but then I remembered the helmet catch. And then I felt better. We deserved this win. We deserve the rematch. We have a score to settle with the other Manning and his band of New York brothers.
On to Indy and the big game.