New England Patriots: Super Bowl XLII vs New York Giants
The Patriots were on their way to becoming the undisputed greatest team in NFL history. They were 18-0, broken records for yards gained and points scored in a season, as well as a medley of individual accomplishments.
Tom Brady threw for 50 touchdowns and Randy Moss caught 23 of those touchdowns, both of which were new NFL records. It seemed to be a given that the Patriots were going to beat the New York Giants and be the first 19-0 team in history- that wasn’t the case, though.
The Giants pass rush played an instrumental part in the Giants slowing down the explosive Patriots offense. Michael Strahan and co. sacked Brady five times and held the Patriots to just 14 points offensively.
Even with their struggles, the Patriots had multiple opportunities to win the game. Asante Samuel almost picked off an Eli Manning pass on the Giants final drive that would have ended the game. If not for David Tyree’s helmet catch, the Giants would have faced a fourth down and may have turned the ball over on downs. Regardless, things went in favor of New York, and New England suffered the upset.