Eli Manning stepped out of his brother's shadow in Super Bowl XLII, with a Payton-like 12-play drive to lead the New York Giants to a come back win that shocked the New England Patriots 17-14.

The game was hard fought throughout all four quarters, and unlike their week 17 meeting that was won by the Patriots 38-35, the Super Bowl was a defensive battle from the start. The game was billed as a David and Goliath matchup, with the Giants defense playing the part of David and the Pats offense as the fearsome Goliath, and just like David slew Goliath, the Giants dismantled the Patriots offense.

New York showed that it didn't matter what New England did during the regular season, the Giants were not afraid of them, and it showed, as the Giant's defense brought everything they had at the Pats offense and Tom Brady was pressured like never before this season. The Giant's defense definitely controlled the first half, limiting Brady and the Patriots to a measly 83 total yards and they took Randy Moss out of the picture by holding him to no catches.

The game was still back and forth in the second half. The Patriots held a slim 7-3 lead they had at the half until the fourth quarter, when Eli Manning threaded the needle in the end zone to find David Tyree for a touchdown to put New York up 10-7.

Brady responded by showing why he was named MVP of the regular season. The Patriots offensive line regained some composure and he finally got some time to throw. As a result, Brady was able to get Randy Moss involved in the game, hitting him with a go ahead touchdown with 2:42 remaining in the game when cornerback Corey Webster fell at the goal line.

Eli and his teammates could have let that Pats drive down the field knock the wind out of them, but they did not, Instead, they turned around and made an impressive march down the field, which was capped off by Plaxico Burress catching the winning score on a 13-yard fade pattern with 35 seconds in the game.

The play during that drive that proved to be the dagger in New England's heart was an unbelievable 35-yard pass to Tyree. Manning looked to be going down for a sack as three Patriot defenders had him wrapped up. But, Manning, who is not known for his mobility, somehow wriggled his way out and unleashed a pass to Tyree, who made a Randy Moss-like catch by pinning the ball with his right hand to the top of his helmet and holding on to it as he was brought down with a hard tackle.

Four plays later the Giants took the lead for the last time on the pass to Burress. Manning was named the MVP by going 19 for 34 passing for a respectable 255 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Super Bowl XLII was an exciting game, but in the end, the Giants overpowered the Patriots offense and showed they would not be denied the championship

On a side note: Burress predicted that the Giants would win 24-17. Everyone thought he was foolish, not only for predicting that the Giants would win, but for thinking that the Pats would only score 17 points. Brady even stated that with New England's high-powered offense, there would no way they would only score 17 points. Plaxico doesn't look so foolish now.