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When the Giants played in and
won Super Bowl 17, it was a young team with a young QB,
young talent, coming off of their second consecutive
Super Bowl appearance and with all the potential in the
world. Little did they know at the time that it would be
the last time in a decade in which they would have a
chance to raise the Lombardi trophy. Since then the
Giants were consistent playoff participants with only
one losing season during that time. However, they had
three consecutive years where they were one and done in
the playoffs each time losing by 3 points. Additionally,
they made the conference championship twice losing to
the eventual Super Bowl champion both times. Yet despite
getting so close, once again in the 2013 season, the
same core group of Giants that consisted of QB Eli
Manning, DE's Umenyiora, Tuck and RB Brandon Jacobs came
back to try to reach the goal of the Super Bowl once
again. Except this season it was known that this would
be the last go around as a group for many of the
players. QB Eli Manning had already announced that he
would retire at the end of the season.
The
season for the Giants started out rocky going 2-2 in
their first four games. Their next three games would be
wins by 3 points each and that kicked off a run of 8
consecutive wins. They finished the season 11-5 but with
two consecutive losses to playoff teams the Arizona
Cardinals and the #1 seed Detroit Lions to close it out.
In summary, it looked like a typical season for the
Giants which was a good regular season topped off with a
disappointing playoff run.
In the
Wild-Card game, the Giants hosted the always tough
Minnesota Vikings. Down 16-14, the Giants were driving
for the go-ahead score. On the critical play of the
game, Manning threw the ball in the endzone which was
intercepted in the air by a Vikings defender but then he
fumbled the ball into the waiting arms of a Giants
receiver for a 21-16 lead. In what almost was another
one and done scenario, the Giants escaped with the gift
win and moved on to face the #1 seed Detroit Lions. Once
again, lady luck was on the side of the Giants. After
storming out of the gates to a 20-7 lead, the Lions
clawed back to take the lead 21-20 in the 4th quarter.
The Giants added a late FG to regain the lead 23-21 but
left plenty of time for the Lions to march down. On the
Giants 35 yard line facing a third down, the Lions ran a
sweep to the outside and HB Javhid Best broke free.
However, as he was tackled at the 20 yard line, which
would've set up a chip shot FG attempt, he fumbled the
ball and the Giants defenders stomped on it to secure
the win! In the Conference Championship game they headed
to Carolina to face the 13-3 Panthers. In a tough
defensive battle the Giants outlasted the Panthers 19-13
to earn their first Super Bowl trip in 10 seasons!
The
Ravens had a great season going 13-3 under new coach Dan
Kipfer. Prior to that and since then, the Ravens have
not made the playoffs. However, in their one playoff
berth they made the most of it and made it all the way
to the Super Bowl beating the Titans and the Bills along
the way.
In preparing for the game, the
Giants coach later admitted that going in he was
concerned with one particular matchup advantage he saw
that the Ravens had. "As we were scouting the Ravens one
thing that stuck out to me was the fact that his WR's
were 6'4 and 6'3. I knew my CB's were no taller than 6'0
so I thought that could be a huge mismatch and I think I
may have focused on that too much" said Coach Torres.
The
game was a chilly 57 degrees with a slight wind. "We
thought this was our kind of weather being a run first
and defensive oriented team. The only problem was that
we knew they played the same way" said Coach Torres. The
first half played out as expected. The teams had
exchanged FG's when suddenly the Giants caught a break.
Freshly signed CB Terrell Thomas, who was picked up due
to injury just for this game and who had been a long
time player for the Giants, picked off QB Blaine Gabbert
of the Ravens deep in their territory. "In my mind at
this point I was thinking story book ending. The guy who
we cut in the offseason comes back and makes the
critical play to turn the game in our favor.
Unfortunately my play calling put a stop to that" said
Coach Torres. The Giants got extremely conservative
trying to run the ball and instead of punching in a TD
they settled for a FG to go up 6-3. That ended up
burning them since before the half ended the Ravens were
able to score a TD to go up 10-6 at the half.
In the
third quarter the teams once again exchanged FG's to
bring the score to 13-9 going into the 4th quarter. The
game was clearly still up for grabs but the margin of
error had diminished dramatically. The fear that coach
Torres previously expressed that he had prior to the
game, the Ravens' extra tall receivers, finally came to
pass. On the Giants 31 yard line, Blaine Gabbert threw a
jump ball to WR Calvin Bailey who out jumped both the CB
and FS to haul it in for a TD and a commanding 20-9
lead. The Giants came back on offense and desperately
opened the playbook up. QB Eli Manning, in what would be
his last game, moved the ball down the field. Deep in
Ravens territory, the drive to bring them back into the
game, the Giants thought they had scored on a pass down
the sideline. But after further review the player, did
not have both feet in bounds. On the very next play
Manning was intercepted and that ended the drive, ended
the Giants hopes of a storybook ending and their chance
at winning the Super Bowl.
"It’s
the biggest regret I have had. I not only failed myself
but I failed guys who worked hard their whole careers
like Manning and Jacobs and Osi and Tuck. We tried to
keep the game close with the hopes that, as had happened
all season, the game would break our way with a
defensive play or big run on offense. It just didn't
happen and the Ravens made the plays when it counted"
said Coach Torres.
The
game ended as even as can be. Time of Possession for the
Giants 22:57 to the Ravens 24:41; there were 14 first
downs completed for both teams; rushing yards was 85 for
the Giants and 97 for the Ravens; passing yards was 193
for the Giants and 192 for the Ravens. The big
difference in the game was the Giants kicked FG's while
the Ravens scored TD's.
In the end, the Ravens hoisted
the Lombardi Trophy for the first time in their history,
tasting the sweet nectar of PFL champions in their first
trip to the playoffs. For the Giants, great players
sailed off into the sunset leaving behind a rebuilding
team looking to the future thinking of what will come
ahead while glancing in the rearview mirror thinking of
what could've been.
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