Man in the Arena (2021) s01e04 Episode Script

1
You said earlier, you said,
"Man, like, this one's gonna be
like therapy."
♪♪
When I think of
my professional football career,
this is the year
that I saw us at our best.
Touchdown, Randy Moss.
In my mind, the greatest
football team that ever played.
Touchdown, Wes Welker.
We were doing something
that would be pretty impossible
to match forever.
Jaw-dropping performance
by the Patriot offense.
The highest scoring offense
in the history of the league.
589 points.
50 touchdown passes
from Tom Brady.
And if there was ever
a team to be remembered,
that would have been the one.
And Super Bowl XLII is underway
♪♪
With three Super Bowl rings,
he already has
Hall of Fame credentials,
even if he never played
another game.
But he's only 28
and just entering his prime.
What's your favorite ring?
My favorite ring.
We always said and I said
always the next one.
The next one's the best.
For me, I always felt
like I was an underdog.
Our team always felt like
we were underdogs.
By 2004, we were definitely the Goliaths,
but we didn't feel like it.
You know, we still felt like we were
14-point underdogs to the Rams.
And then I remember finally
getting beat by Denver,
and that was the first time
I'd lost a playoff game.
And the great Patriots run
of the last four years
has come to an end.
I realized, wow.
Like, everyone was really
rooting for us to lose.
Guys start to leave.
Deion Branch left in '06.
Some people wanted to maximize
their earning potential.
They went to different teams.
They took advantage of the opportunities
that were presented for them.
You have your arch-rival here,
the Colts and the Patriots.
You know, we lost an AFC
championship to the Colts.
Definitely struggled
in the passing game that year,
more so than what we had.
We're going to the Super Bowl!
We're going to the Super Bowl!
The Colts win Super Bowl XLI.
Peyton Manning has a ring.
- Is it over?
- I think it's over.
It's very much endangered.
I think they'll be an edge
in the playoffs-type team,
their dynastic sort of invincibility,
and I think they've lost a lot of faith
in that quarterback of theirs
because
Well, he doesn't
have the pieces, though,
- that he had back then.
- I don't know,
but I don't think
he's Tom Brady anymore.
And as it came to 2007,
you know,
we were on the hunt
for great talent.
The Minnesota Vikings
have selected
wide receiver Randy Moss.
Randy Moss,
Tom Brady's ultimate weapon.
Whoa, that's a highlight film catch
by number 84.
- Touchdown!
- I want the ball,
I don't care how you give it to me.
Give me the rock!
End zone for Randy Moss, who leaps.
Moss in the end zone. Caught!
Wow!
One-handed catch by Randy Moss.
He's the best wide receiver in football.
The Minnesota Vikings,
you know, gave me my start.
I'm frustrated 'cause
it should be a blowout.
That's what I'm frustrated about.
90 career touchdown catches
in just 109 games,
but as he proved again on Sunday,
it does not come without drama.
I don't give a
what they talk about.
They better talk about this W
that we put on Lambeau Field today.
I told you before the game
what they gonna give you.
You gotta win!
Worse than losing is
Randy Moss walking off the field
with two seconds to play.
I wanted everything done right.
I wanted perfection.
Acquisition of Randy Moss
in the offseason
by the silver and black
caused shockwaves.
And then being able to get traded
overnight to Oakland, man,
it really stunned me, it hurt me.
Thought it was gonna
affect my game a little bit
as far as me being mentally focused.
And I struggled a little bit in Oakland.
Then I got ran down.
First time in my NFL career
I've ever been ran down.
And it kinda got to me,
'cause I've never been
ran down in my life
and I was like,
"Did he just run me down?"
You realize Randy Moss
isn't capable of speeding anymore.
He just lost a step.
"He lost a step
and he doesn't
care about the game anymore."
Me not caring about
the game of football hurt me
and affected me more
than me losing my physical step.
You don't never
take your playmakers
off the damn field.
I got a teammate
that just got traded
to the New England Patriots.
Fires it toward the end zone,
Touchdown, Doug Gabriel.
So he calls me, tells me,
"Man, you would love it here."
I said, "Man, what is Tom Brady like?
Is he all that
that they're saying that he is?"
"Oh, man, you would love
his preparation, Moss.
You would love how he prepares,
how he comes to practice."
We played in Minnesota in 2006,
and he flew to Minneapolis.
That night I put a outfit on,
snuck in the Patriots' hotel.
True story.
Meet Tom Brady for five minutes.
He came up,
and that was my first
real interaction with Randy,
and he was like,
“Bro, like, I want to play with you."
He gave me five, gave him a hug,
and I said, "Look, man,
you got a big game tonight.
I don't wanna take up your time."
I said,
"But, dude, things are not going right,
and I wanna play with you."
That was it. I left.
And I'm sitting here
thinking where
"I'm not really sure
where he's coming from."
Hey, I'm not the general manager.
Like, I'm the quarterback.
And then I realized, like,
he flew all the way
out there to let me know
that he wanted to
come play together.
Tom Brady went off that night.
Some part of me from
that little hug that I gave Tom
felt that, I I felt a part
of those touchdowns
I felt a little bit of that.
So that offseason came,
and I got a phone call
from Coach Belichick,
and he said we're thinking
of trading for Randy.
"What do you think?"
And I was, like,
"What do I think?
I mean, abso lutely."
Oakland sending disgruntled
yet talented wide receiver
Randy Moss to New England
for a fourth-round draft pick.
Even if people were saying
Randy Moss is not the same
player that he once was,
you have to pay attention to him,
even if he doesn't get the football.
Everyone thought, you
know, he was way past his prime.
I get to Foxborough,
and the biggest thing
that I want is, like, "Man,
when is Tom getting here?"
When is Tom getting here
so we can get to work?
That's what I'm ready to do.
I'm in my 10th year,
and I'm still ready to play.
He came in with no agenda.
He wasn't even getting paid
that much money.
There was just a lot of incentives.
Just winning postseason games,
not New England's M.O.
Winning Super Bowls, that's the M.O.
So in come, kas the guys mentioned,
Randy Moss, Donté Stallworth,
Wes Welker. Watch him.
I mean, these were guys
that were incredible players,
and had been, and we somehow
got everyone on the same team
at the same time.
Bringing in all those players
does not guarantee that
you're going to be successful.
This is a great team.
There's no question about it.
They'll win 12, 14 games.
The ultimate goal: win it all.
If they don't win the Super Bowl,
it is a bad season
for the New England Patriots.
That is what they are all about.
♪♪
The Giants have selected Michael Strahan,
defensive end, Texas Southern.
There's just such
New York.
All day long.
Takes the snap and back to throw.
Steps in the pocket.
He's sacked by Michael Strahan!
Michael Strahan once again
getting into the backfield
and causing problems.
Welcome home, baby.
Yeah, I knew Michael,
You know, we I had always
kind of revered Michael.
And Michael is just
the most imposing guy, you know.
He's big. He's just
You know, his voice carries everywhere.
You know everybody
gonna watch the whupping
I'm putting on you, right?
Whoo!
He had a real
killer instinct on the field.
And Michael Strahan has become
the NFL's single season
all-time sack leader.
Offseason for the 2007 season,
that offseason leading up to it,
I flirted with retirement but I don't
I wasn't really serious about it.
I was coming off of injuries.
See, right at the end there,
he knows something's wrong
with that right foot.
I can't end my career like that.
I want to come back,
but I don't want to go to training camp.
I don't wanna do it.
And while I was at home,
in California at the time,
the guys would still call.
"Trust me, it's different now.
It's different this year."
And I had been there
for 14 years at that point.
I'm thinking,
how different can it be?
The Giants D last year
finishing in the bottom ten
in yards and points allowed
for the first time
in a quarter of a century.
27.3 over the last eight games.
They lost six of those eight games.
We had a young quarterback.
We had, you know,
some players here and there,
but I didn't know
if we had the right players
or even if we had the right coach.
Let's go!
So I came in expecting just to have fun.
It was my
This was my swan song.
I just wanted to end on a good note.
I didn't want to end
And not good note meaning
we're gonna win the Super Bowl,
because that was
the furthest thing from my mind.
If we were lucky,
we would make the playoffs.
And I mean if we were lucky.
Michael Strahan, late return for him.
Today, the Giants and Cowboys
match up at Texas Stadium
with possible thunderstorms
as part of that setting.
I said, I'm thinking about retiring,
and then before the first game,
the week before, I said I'm back.
Good morning, Sal.
Good morning, Boomer.
Today is the long-awaited debut finally
of wide receiver Randy Moss in
a New England Patriots uniform.
I'm told by people close to this team
that he had a spectacular week of practice
and he's ready to play today.
Tom looks at me.
"You ready?"
I said, “Tom, I don't know if I'm ready,
but I'm gonna give you everything I got."
I was so down on myself
because of my production in Oakland,
I didn't know if I had it anymore.
I come to New England
and I'm determined
to go out here and put on a show.
Brady back to throw.
It's over the middle.
It's complete to Moss at the 20.
When we went through
training camp,
it was like, damn,
we're gonna be really good.
Doesn't matter if you cover him.
He can go up and get the football.
And then literally from the first series
of the opening game
Brady fires to Welker.
He's got it inside the five, and he's in!
Touchdown!
And I remember that week, he told me,
he's, like, “Hey, when we call this play.
You can go anywhere on the field
that you want to go.
He had the play action.
Brady, the play action fake.
And instead of me running a post route,
I ran like a deep drag.
It was like a 20 yard,
and then I kept climbing,
kept climbing.
He threw me all the way
to the front pylon.
Airs it out downfield.
Randy Moss is there and he has it.
- Touchdown!
- Wow.
It was like.
Caught.
Touchdown to Benjamin Watson.
On his feet at the 25.
We made football look so easy.
You know, it was the start of
the Randy Moss show that year.
And the
Patriots are blowing the doors off
the New York Jets in this season opener.
Brady and Randy Moss
a huge part of the story here.
I wanted to get
Tom's stamp of approval
to come and help
win a championship.
That's all I cared about.
The Patriots
start the season of high anticipation
with a blowout victory over the Jets
here at Giants Stadium.
We went in there,
and we just put on a display.
And it was like we were gonna
take whoever came our way.
I have nothin' to say,
so get outta my face.
Let me play. It's my first game back.
You're making me nervous.
I didn't practice or come in
until the Monday of that week.
We're playing the Cowboys,
first game of the season, in Dallas.
They are whipping us.
Lots of time, throws it in the end zone.
Touchdown!
We are down by so much,
and I'm literally
sitting on the sideline
thinking to myself,
I was just on a beach in California
a few days ago.
What have you done?
Their defense is tired,
and they're not getting
any pass rush at all.
This is not gonna be a fun year.
This is no different.
I mean, this Giant defense
left a lot to be desired, I think.
And then the next week
really didn't help my argument either,
because we took another shellacking.
Took another beating.
Throws the middle of the end zone.
Back line. Touchdown, Driver.
We gave up 80 points on defense.
80 points in two games!
And the Green Bay Packers,
a 35-13 victory at the Meadowlands.
I just wanna scream
and run outta here,
but I come from that family
when you say you're
gonna do something,
you gotta stick it out
and you have to do it.
And not only that, you got to do
it to the best of your ability.
So I was stuck.
Coach of the New England Patriots,
Bill Belichick said today
he's focusing on
this weekend's football game.
Well, he may be,
but the rest of the sports world
is focusing on the news
that his team
illegally videotaped
its opponent's signals.
NFL officials are saying
that a Patriots employee
tried to steal signals from the Jets.
If they know before the snap of the ball
what your coverage basically is,
they can chew you up and spit you out.
When it came out, Belichick
called us in the next day
and he said, look,
none of you players
had anything to do with it.
Just shut your mouth,
focus on what your job is.
Like, none of you guys
know anything about it,
none of you guys have
information on it, you know.
I'll deal with it
how I need to deal with it,
and you guys focus on your job.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell
fining Bill Belichick $500,000,
the maximum penalty allowed.
So it was kind of crystal clear
what the game plan was for the players,
so there wasn't much for us
to elaborate on, you know.
Then we felt like we were
being attacked by everybody.
I've heard these whispers
for three or four years
that New England and Belichick
lead the National Football
League in high-tech espionage.
So this is the tip of that iceberg.
So we kept going,
"Where's the respect?"
I really didn't know what
the hell Spygate really was.
I wasn't there,
so, you know,
I'm listening to the vets.
Now, I'm a vet,
but the guys that I'm calling the vets,
these are the Super Bowl-winning vets.
Tom, Bruschi, Vrabel, Faulk, Wilfork.
These guys are affected by it,
like, for real for real.
It was just another attack
from the outside
that we felt people
were trying to take us apart.
We took it upon ourself
to, you know what,
let's ignore the noise
and let's knock everybody
out the box that comes this way.
And it seemed like they
knew everything we were doing.
Fires down the right side.
Touchdown! Randy Moss!
What a throw!
He makes catching the football look
Nobody said anything
about Spygate this
and Spygate that. Nobody.
The Spygate scandal,
or whatever you want to call it,
you're not gonna insult us.
We're gonna go out there
and we're gonna dominate.
We are not finished.
We are not finished, fellas.
Looks, fires, intercepted.
Looking, looking, looking.
Floats it to the right. Touchdown.
Benjamin Watson.
I mean,
what a statement this is.
I turn on the TV
to listen to how a so-called expert
thinks about some
that he has no clue
what he's talking about,
and all's it does is diminish
what we're accomplishing.
Once Bill said what he said
It's over, and we're moving on.
We're done with it.
Next thing you know,
we just start hanging up Ws.
Pump fake by Brady.
Shoots it down the right side.
Randy Moss is there.
He's got it! Touchdown!
We didn't take
a lot of for granted.
We felt like we had to put the work in
so that when people would attack us,
we'd be like, what the
you guys talking about?
You know, you weren't here for the work.
Cuts left. He's in! Touchdown!
Sammy Morris.
Fires end zone. Touchdown!
I remember Bill, when I first got there,
Belichick said "I want
a smart, tough football team"
that knows how to perform
under pressure.
With everything that's going on,
you know, off the field,
we still was able to perform
at a high level.
It was a good lesson in life
for us to just focus
on what our job was
and what our task was.
You know, we went to Dallas,
and they were a great team.
They were the first seed
in the playoffs that year,
and we beat them at home
by, like, 20 points.
The other teams
started to sense, like,
"Oh, you know,
we gotta play the Patriots."
Is there a team tougher than them
that you've seen through the years?
There might be. Might be.
There might be.
There's always a challenge out there.
London, England. Wembley Stadium.
The site of the Giants and the Dolphins
playing in front of the Brits.
The turning point
for our team wasn't a play.
It wasn't, you know,
something on the field.
It was our trip to London.
You have your team flights
when you'd go to games,
but that was different.
We're in a hotel, we're bonding,
we're around,
you're in a different country.
But this time we had to travel
a little bit further.
We had to do all that.
That ain't no reason for us
not to come out here
and perform the way
we're supposed to perform.
There's just such a level of excitement
and bonding that comes with that.
We are accountable
to each other.
♪♪
Turnover
recovered by Michael Strahan.
You can have all the talent
in the world on the field,
but if guys don't get along.
It doesn't matter.
If you don't care about the
other guy, it doesn't matter.
We traveled around the country.
It. We traveled around the world,
and we whip.
We were like road warriors.
That's what we called ourselves.
For some reason
we were not very good at home.
But on the road,
I think we were
David.
We are the New York Giants!
Giants looking good here at 7-3.
We were a group of players
that collectively you look at,
you don't expect much out of us.
But we realized that it's
like the world's against us.
All we had was each other.
When we saw we had a legitimate
shot of making the playoffs,
that added a different
type of focus for us,
and we went from hoping to win
We went into it expecting to win.
We're just as good as anybody.
I think in the NFL what you see
is there's a receiver speed,
There's a DB speed, and
there's a fast receiver speed.
And then there was Randy Moss.
Another spectacular catch.
Then you had his counterpart,
which was Wes.
Entirely different skill set,
but there was nothing that Wes
couldn't do on the football field.
He'd get open on anybody.
Quickness, run after catch,
that one-two combo,
they complement
each other so well.
And not only did we have a great offense,
but we had an incredible defense, too.
We signed Junior Seau.
Big stop by Junior Seau.
We still had Rodney. Mike Vrabel.
He's gonna be hit.
Fumbles the ball. It's on the ground.
Asante.
So, I mean, the list goes on.
Another jaw-dropping
performance by the Patriot offense.
We played so well that day,
and they were saying, "Well, dude,
did you guys run up the score?
You know, why didn't they take
you out in the third quarter?"
And I'm sitting here thinking, like,
"I'm in here to do a job, you know.
They put me on the field to score points."
The Patriots have the league's
leading passer in Tom Brady.
They've got the league's
leading receiver in Randy Moss,
But you wouldn't
want to know any of that
from listening to
Bill Belichick's film sessions.
We were a force in all phases of the game,
and we were coached incredibly hard, too.
You do your job!
That's what's the problem right here.
Bill Belichick made us feel
as if we're not the number one offense
or team in the National Football League.
He's so critical
that the players call it
their serving of humble pie.
Coming out of those meetings on Monday,
you were gonna get your humble pie.
You're gonna eat it.
You're gonna eat it.
You're gonna eat
that humble pie up there.
Adalius Thomas made these shirts,
and then everyone would wear
'em into the meetings on Monday.
Because they knew they were gonna get
some humble pie from Belichick.
Although even Belichick
is having some trouble these days
being critical of Brady.
He's completing
nearly 80% of his passes.
And then after every game,
probably about
I don't know which week it started,
but Tedy Bruschi would bring his speaker
into the locker room.
Boom.
Dum, dum, dum ♪
Another one bites the dust ♪
Duh, duh, duh ♪
Hey, another one bites ♪
Everybody started it became to
after we break the team down,
you go to your locker,
start getting undressed,
next thing you know
that song was playing.
Oh, yeah!
The whole year.
Belichick knew we were good,
but he didn't want us thinking
that we were better than we were.
You know, after
we beat San Diego in week two,
it was like, "Man,
they're going undefeated."
You know, and it was like
We heard it, you know.
We never really believed it,
but that was part of it,
was, you know,
we had this great success,
and it looked so easy that
everyone automatically said,
well, next stop's gonna be, you know,
Super Bowl
and undefeated season.
How do you think
I'm gonna get along ♪
Touchdown, Randy Moss.
Direct snap to Brady. The throw.
Fires, caught, touchdown!
We got 'em on the ropes.
Keep up what we doing now.
You know, and then
we went on the road to Indy.
They were undefeated at the time.
- You know, we beat them.
- Shooter! ♪
How do y'all feel being 9-0
going into the bye week?
Oh, yeah!
Another one bites the dust ♪
We went to Buffalo
and scored, like, I don't know,
seven or eight touchdowns
on that many possessions.
Gonna get you, too,
Another one bites the dust ♪
How much celebrating
y'all want me to do?
And Dwayne Wright loses the ball,
and it is plucked
out of the air, and this
10-0 now, blasting away
just about everybody that they play.
411 points they've scored.
More than every team but five
scored less than that all last year.
You know it was just a year
that was every week
we tried to outdo the next.
The Patriots averaging more points
than Michael Jordan ever averaged
during one season of his career.
Spot pass right
to Randy Moss, who drops it.
Throws it back to Brady in the backfield.
Looking for a flea flicker.
Fires it long and deep.
Open! Touchdown!
What a play!
The New England Patriots,
there's no need to panic.
You're gonna go 16-0.
You're gonna go undefeated.
He gets rid of the ball,
it's picked off
and run in for a touchdown.
They're now 14-0.
I don't think anybody can stop 'em.
I really don't.
We faced the toughest competition,
the best coached teams,
the most talented teams,
on the road, at home, in the cold,
in the dome, in the heat,
Monday night, Sunday night, Sunday day,
and, you know,
we beat everybody's.
We had Buffalo
and then we had the Patriots.
We had to win one of these games
to make the playoffs.
We're looking at
an undefeated Patriot team
or we're looking at Buffalo,
who was kind of struggling.
For us, we chose Buffalo.
Edwards back to throw.
Zips one left, deflected and intercepted!
It was raining, snowing, sleeting,
from top, bottom, sideways, underneath.
And the weather was awful.
And we took control of the game
with Ahmad Bradshaw's
big touchdown run.
No one's gonna get
the rookie out of Marshall.
30, 20, 15, 10, 5,
touchdown, Ahmad Bradshaw!
And the rookie may have run
the Giants into the postseason.
It was lights out.
We know we're going to the playoffs,
and I'll just never forget
how horrible the weather was
but how proud we were,
because we actually made the playoffs
with a team that wasn't given
much chance of doing anything,
and we truly were the only
ones who believed in ourselves.
The New York Giants
have clinched a playoff spot
with a 38-21 win over the Buffalo Bills.
The Patriots do become
the first 15-0 team
in regular season history.
A host of records set in this day
and next week perhaps against the Giants.
The only time in 2007
where I can honestly say
that we kind of felt the pressure
of going undefeated, like, we were, like,
“Hey, guys, let's go.
Last game of the season
against the Giants."
It is the kickoff to the final week
of the National Football League season,
but, of course, it is
so much more than that.
Only four quarters remain
between the Patriots
and football immortality,
with one Giant obstacle in their way.
Leading up to the game,
the questions were,
"Patriots, are you guys
playing your starters?"
And of course, we were like,
“Oh, hell yeah, we're playing.”
And they were asking the Giants
With nothing to be gained
in the playoff standings,
do they sit their starters
or do they go for the big win
against the Patriots?
They're very talented.
I think definitely Strahan
should take the weekend off.
I'd rest him. I know that.
Coughlin was, like, you know,
“We're playing our guys,"
even though for them
it didn't mean anything.
- Ten seconds.
- Let's go, baby.
Let's go. Yeah.
You could feel
they were under pressure to be perfect.
I knew they were putting up
30, 40 points a game.
I mean, it was some astronomical number.
I also knew from experience
that if you look at it that way,
you can be intimidated
before you ever play the game
and you've already lost.
"The Giants are in the playoffs,
They ain't got nothin' to play for.
Rest their guys so they don't get hurt."
These are in the playoffs, too.
Why ain't their guys sitting on the bench?
I will tell you right now.
You know what we gonna do?
- We gonna
- Stomp 'em!
Is today a thrill?
- Isn't it always?
- Yeah
Well, no, not always.
I would say, Giants didn't have
a great season to that point.
We knew they were good.
Looking deep for Burress.
Caught inside the 20.
I didn't realize how good they were
until we got playing against them.
They're good, but not necessarily a team
that played in the style of which
I think we were used to playing,
which was, in my opinion,
a lot more physical.
Brady feels some pressure,
and he's going to get sacked
back at the 39-yard line.
Brady fires right. Caught!
It was a little bit back and forth,
and I remember that crowd
just being on fire that night,
and they were so loud.
Let's go now, fellas.
Just do your job!
Those guys
played really hard that night.
And then I remember finally
when they returned
the kickoff for the touchdown
Hixon. Touchdown, Giants.
I could see a sense on their sideline
that was like, "Holy.
This is our night. We're gonna be
the team that beats these guys."
Let's get physical with 'em.
Manning, Boss.
Touchdown, Giants!
Manning with time into the end zone.
Touchdown, Giants!
Eli and them was out there
throwing touchdowns.
We were losing. We would answer.
Maroney. Touchdown, Patriots.
They would answer.
They are trailing the Giants by 12
They were playing
some tough coverages.
They weren't giving us some of
the easy opportunities that we had had.
They were making us earn it.
We went against them
without a game plan
'cause we were in the playoffs.
We weren't gonna put
anything into our game plan
that Buccaneers
would see the next week.
I forget the actual play,
but I remember
it was a right formation,
and we didn't connect.
So I'm like,
“Oh, that was it, that was it.”
And before I could even
get back to the huddle,
all I hear is "Same play on one."
Brady with time.
Going back again to Moss.
Touchdown, Patriots.
And then finally I hit Randy
on the 50th touchdown
and his 23rd touchdown reception
to put us ahead.
They talked about
my skills were diminishing,
I don't care about the game
of football, how slow I am.
"He can't do it anymore."
But then I'm out here,
23 touchdowns
record-breaker later, man.
That that gave me, you know,
more of a confident that,
you know, I can still play
at a Pro Bowl type level, man,
and it was just a good feeling
to get back to playing football
the way I knew I could play.
Championship football.
At that point it was like,
“, man, we got this.”
So, of course, they went
down the field and scored again.
Now, this
undefeated season on the line
with an onside kick.
And then they were gonna
kick the onside kick,
and I was standing right
on the sideline watching it.
Vrabel recovered it,
and that's when we knew we had,
you know, sealed the season.
Congratulations
to the New England Patriots.
They did it.
16-0, and went to the locker room.
Tedy Bruschi's bumping.
Everyone's hugging.
I got pictures in the locker room,
you know, holding up, you know, 16-0,
and just in the belly
of the old Meadowlands Stadium,
16-0. Perfection personified.
What a season.
Celebrating a really historic night
in our franchise, in my career.
Tom Brady, of course,
this year's League MVP
and this year's
Offensive Player of the Year.
I ended up staying
in New York that night,
and just was really enjoying kind of
what we had accomplished.
And the final hurdle
may have been their toughest,
their 35 points allowed tonight.
The Giants brought
a lot of game into this one.
They played their guys
and they played it to win
and they just came up a little short.
For us, we were a vagabond
group of guys out there
just throwing our bodies around
playing football.
For them,
it really meant something.
Their best players were on
that field from start to finish,
and for us it was surprising
because we just athletically,
without stunts and games
and running around
and exotic coverages,
we just athletically took it to them.
We felt we should have beat 'em.
We see them again, we'll beat them.
That bye week is
an interesting week, you know,
'cause you can
kind of re-calibrate
a little bit about what we've done,
what we can do going forward.
So early in the year,
we had a bunch of blowouts.
Later in the year
we played some teams
that were challenging us
in different ways.
So I think we recognized that
it wasn't, you know, all perfect.
The Patriots obviously at 16-0
and now to win three playoff games,
unbelievable pressure.
Three games, three football games,
and you're in the history books.
I think that they are three games
away from immortality,
one loss away from infamy.
I think when you
look at that playoff game
against Jacksonville,
they were really committed
to not letting anything bad happen.
They kind of played
real soft and conservative,
and made us just, you know, earn it.
You know, they weren't going to give up
any right hooks or uppercuts.
They were just
going to make you throw jabs
and, you know,
we were getting a little impatient.
Stands in, fires, end zone.
Touchdown, Ben Watson.
We ended up completing
a lot of passes that day.
We didn't run it
as well as we were capable.
In the end, we came through
when we needed to.
But, you know,
we recognized that, okay,
it's gonna be a lot tougher
in the playoffs.
The Patriots have advanced
to the AFC championship game
with their 17th consecutive victory.
That was a really tough day.
I think the hard part for both teams,
it was like ten degrees out.
First and ten,
Brady goes play action, goes downfield.
Quentin Jammer with the pick!
Early in the game,
I threw an interception on the right side
with play action fake.
I wanted to throw it to the tight end
running up the seam,
and then looked up the sideline,
threw it.
Quentin Jammer just backpedaled.
Pass rush coming from Phillips.
The pass is bobbled. Picked off!
Second interception of the day
by the great Tom Brady.
I made a pretty play,
you know, throwing an interception
to Cromartie in the end zone.
Brady chucks it up in the air.
Picked off! Cromartie!
It wouldn't have been as close as it was,
but it really ended up being
a fourth quarter game
Brady back to throw, steps.
Looks, fires, end zone, touchdown!
And the Patriots are 18-0.
And for the fourth time
in seven years,
Super Bowl, here we come.
I think we ended up
winning the game 21-12,
but it was kind of unimpressive.
It was kind of an ugly game.
Our defense played really good,
but offensively,
there was a lot to be desired.
And, you know, we all thought
we'd be playing the Packers.
I remember getting home
to my apartment,
turning the game on,
and they got the interception there
in the fourth quarter,
and ended up kicking
the field goal in overtime,
and then they were going to be the team
that we were going to play.
So I just remember, "Wow, we got"
You know, no one really
expected the Giants.
We were the worst team possibly
to be in the Super Bowl
out of every team
that was in the NFC that year.
A lot of people probably felt that way.
- Thank you, man. Let's go get it.
- Playing fast. Thank you, man.
I love you. Thank you.
They went on the road
to beat Tampa, I think,
in the first round of the playoffs.
Then they went on the road
to beat Dallas,
and then they go to Green Bay
to win in the third round of the playoffs.
I mean, that tells you
all you need to know
about the Giants that year at the end.
And, you know, I would say
the playoff games that we won
weren't as impressive.
We played okay against Jacksonville.
We played really mediocre
against the Chargers.
But, you know, I was happy
we were playing the Giants.
I thought, great, we know 'em.
We know we can beat 'em.
That gave us a lot of confidence.
They got some good players,
but, you know, we should win this game.
We've played better teams than that.
But the better team doesn't always win.
They played it
on a computer 500,000 times,
a half a million times.
The winner in an amazing
79% of those games,
the New England Patriots.
When the sun rises
on Sunday morning,
Eli is gonna be shaking in his bed.
No one believed in us.
No one thought we had a shot.
But we didn't feel that way,
and that was all that mattered.
Yesterday, Giants
wide receiver Plaxico Burress
was asked for a prediction
by the New York Post,
and without hesitation,
he said, 23-17.
We're only gonna score 17 points?
I mean, I kinda laughed at it.
We all watched it and replayed it.
Tom, like, "Ha ha ha.
Oh, yeah, okay, yeah.
I guess we aren't
gonna score points"
or something to that effect,
and it just pissed us off.
Plaxico's a hell of a player.
And if he feels that way,
I mean, I think that's great.
I'd hate for him to think
that, you know,
he's gonna lose this game.
You know, I kind of felt like
if we played the way
we're capable, you know,
no one could really stop us.
Only we could really stop us.
I wish he'd said, like,
45-42 or something like that.
At least he gave us some more credit
for scoring a few points.
The audacity, the arrogance.
To think that you're just gonna come
and put up 35, 40 points
like it's nothing.
And "Ha ha."
It was almost a dismissive laugh.
But it tells you the kind
of confidence that they had.
I mean, I didn't necessarily
pick up on that at the time.
- All right.
- Let's get it.
Super Bowl. New York Giants.
I know defensively, he lit the match.
Dang it, you make me
wanna play again. Oh!
I always feel like when you
get to the Super Bowl at the end,
there's a calmness about you,
because either way, win or lose,
there's no tomorrow, you know.
The season's over.
In that one I felt very calm
and I felt very relaxed
and I felt like we were going
to go take care of business.
Remember
the old Johnny Cash line
when the company executives
said to him,
"Man, why do you wear black?
You look like you're
on the way to a funeral."
And he said, "Maybe I am."
We arrived in all black
because we looked at it as
we're going to someone's funeral.
It's gonna be theirs
or it's gonna be ours.
This is our last little climb
to try to reach the mountaintop.
But, man, we've done all the hard work,
and now it's just, let's go play ball.
Highest scoring offense
in the history of the league.
589 points.
50 touchdown passes from Tom Brady.
Nobody's caring
about no dadgum records.
We want that undefeated season.
The New England Patriots
trying to rewrite history.
18-0.
I don't care about history
and them having a perfect season.
If anything, my thought is
let's it up.
The New York football Giants
and the New England Patriots
in Super Bowl XLII.
First drive of the game,
they went down,
basically possessed the ball
the whole first quarter.
Took up a lot of time.
They kicked a field goal
on their opening drive.
The first play of the game,
we had a screen set up,
And I was gonna fake a reverse.
I was gonna turn and throw it to
the running back on the screen.
Well, as soon as I turned
They fake a reverse,
and Brady in trouble, throws low.
I was getting hit.
Well, had I completed that
to Laurence Maroney,
it probably would have been
a 50-yard touchdown.
Brady. Time was running out.
End zone and a flag.
Maroney right side.
Touchdown, New England.
We still went down,
we scored on that drive,
but, you know,
they were attacking the pocket
in a very aggressive style.
Not having a plan
during the regular season,
and then having a plan in the Super Bowl
was a big difference.
We got the jitterbugs out of our system.
Let's go. All right, let's go.
Get backed up on the next drive.
And they had some crazy, exotic blitzes.
Brady in trouble. Down he goes.
We knew the only way
to beat the Patriots
is you gotta beat Tom.
You gotta hit Tom.
We just couldn't quite
hone in on what they were doing.
Third down and 17.
Brady in trouble again. Justin Tuck.
And we know Tom has seen a lot,
but he hasn't seen us.
There was nothing easy out there.
Brady is hit as he let it go.
Has to step up.
Throws for Moss,
who has his first of the game.
And the 4th possession of the game
was the end of the first half
where we're driving,
and I'm about to throw
a touchdown to Randy Moss
up the right sideline.
Back, has time. Steps up.
- Gets hit, fumbles
- Fumbles the football.
It's loose on the ground.
They scramble for it.
I think Justin Tuck
was the one that strip-sacked me.
Was holding in the pocket.
He got an edge on one of our rushers,
and then, you know, slapped
the ball out of my hand, so
And in a rematch
of a game that ended 38-35,
it's 7-3 New England at the half.
7-3?
We were happy. 7-3?
This team scored 35,
40-something points a game.
Tom Brady just said
he was gonna do that,
and here they only have 7 points
going into the half.
It was just a pretty shitty half
in that there was not
a lot of points to show for it,
so we went into halftime
and we're, like, “, man,
we gotta slow these guys down.
We can't keep
giving them short edges.
They're just getting there too fast.
I mean, they got off the ball.
They were
They were just
They were dialed in.
Brady.
That pass is tipped by Strahan.
Third down and seven.
Good jump off the line by Strahan,
who gets the sack.
We were hitting Tom so fast
and so often
that there were times you felt
this must be a screen play,
'cause I'm getting in too fast.
They're just gonna dump it
over my head.
Once I saw him
slam the ball a few times,
starts yelling at his lineman
I see it in his face.
He don't know what to do.
I realized it's not a set-up.
Pressure on Brady,
and the ball is tipped.
Their D line that day
was impossible to stop.
I mean, we had
great players up front
trying to block 'em,
but they were just unblockable.
Manning over the middle.
Pass is caught. Kevin Boss.
Play fake.
Manning throws to the end zone.
Touchdown!
David Tyree on the post.
And the Giants have the lead
with 11:05 to go in the ball game.
Pretty tough all around day
up until we got the ball 10-7.
We had to go 90 yards,
and we put together
one of the best drives,
you know, you could put together
in that situation.
This defensive
pass rush has been relentless.
For New England,
here's Moss, third catch.
As Welker makes the catch
and has a first down inside the 30.
Over the middle, there's Faulk.
Had been working
on this play with Randy
where he was set up on the right,
and, you know, everyone thought
we were gonna run a fade
to the back pylon.
The view was to try to get the guy
to run into the back pylon,
and then right when he stuck
his foot on the goal line,
slip inside of him.
Direct snap to Brady.
Looks, fires, touchdown!
Randy Moss!
He ran such a good route,
Corey Webster fell on the ground.
Randy jumped up and
caught it about mid-stomach,
and we took the lead
with just over 2 minutes left
to go up 14-10.
I definitely knew
the game wasn't over,
but in a really tough,
hard-nosed game,
you know, that's those
were the types of plays
that we needed at the end.
I remember going, unh!
Like, all this? This team?
They only scored,
you know, 14 points,
and they're gonna win with 14 points?
Just doesn't seem right.
17-14 is the final, okay?
17-14, fellas.
One touchdown,
we are world champions.
Believe it and it will happen.
Hixon down at the 17-yard line,
and here comes Eli Manning
trying to answer Tom Brady.
Our defense had played really great
all year in those situations,
so I thought we'd make a play
to end the game.
They threw a ball right on our sideline.
Rodney was in on the play,
and when I saw
the ball was in the air,
I thought "We're gonna intercept this."
Then on their sideline, they throw it.
Asante's there to make the catch,
and he jumps up
I think he's worried
about having his feet inbounds,
and he kind of mistimes his jump,
and the ball is just
on the top of his fingertips
and bounced away.
I watched him do that,
and I go, okay.
We're gonna score now.
That was their chance to end it.
They didn't wanna end it.
It's not meant for them to end it.
It's meant for us to end it.
At that point I have
no control over the outcome.
Pressure
from Thomas off the edge.
Eli Manning
I'm standing right against the sideline,
far down so I have a unobstructed view,
and I see the pocket collapse on Eli.
He's in the pocket.
I think we're gonna sack him
to get to 4th down.
And I literally am, like,
yelling out, oh, no!
'Cause in my head, it was,
like, there goes the Super Bowl.
Avoids the rush,
and he's gonna fight out of it.
Still fights out of it.
And Eli, who is one of the
Literally one of
the clumsiest people I know
I've seen in practice
He gets out of it.
But I'm not even a quarterback.
One thing I do know, they do tell you
don't ever throw the ball up
in the middle of the field.
And so I went from,
"Oh, no, he's getting sacked,"
to "He got out, oh, my God,"
to, "Oh, no!
He's throwing it up
in the middle of the field."
He escapes, wheels out
of the pocket, throws it.
I'm watching the ball flutter
in the middle of the field.
Rodney Harrison,
who's right there on the play,
goes up, hits the ball, hits the helmet,
and the guy catches
the ball on his helmet.
Throws it deep downfield.
Wide open Tyree,
who makes the catch!
- At the 23 yard line.
- What a play.
What a play by Manning.
He eluded three sacks.
I don't know where I was.
I don't even know what I was doing.
I don't know. I know after the catch
when the stadium lit up.
To see David Tyree go up,
pin it on his helmet with
Rodney Harrison all over him
And what a catch by Tyree
with 58 seconds to go.
What a play.
This team won't quit, Bob.
We're gonna win the game.
We're gonna score.
And right then and there,
I was, like,
they're gonna score a touchdown.
Manning takes the snap.
Looks left, lobs it left.
Burress is wide open.
Touchdown, Giants!
And then the crowd went crazy.
And the crowd went crazy.
Their sideline went crazy.
The perfect season
is only 35 seconds away from ending.
Hey, I love you, man.
Love you, too, man.
What a play.
We gotta go down
and drive this thing and score.
Or kick a field goal
to put into overtime, all right?
You just you never
count out Tom Brady, though.
That's one thing I will tell you.
He won't stop.
Let's see if Tom Brady
can do it one more time.
We had about 28 seconds,
we had three timeouts,
so we had a shot to get the ball
down at field goal range.
I forgot how much time
we had on the clock,
but I remember Tom just saying,
"All right, guys, let's make a play."
Tom is someone you looked at
and you realize you have to respect him.
This was nothing out of the ordinary
to be in these situations
where he's not gonna finish
and follow through to the entire game.
We knew they gotta go deep to Moss.
You know, I just kind of
threw a ball up on first down,
which sucked.
Second down I got sacked,
trying to hold onto the ball
to throw it deep.
Called a timeout.
19 seconds remaining.
Third down and 20.
It was third down.
I ran over the sidelines
and I yelled to Josh,
you know, I want to roll me out
so I can buy some time
to get down the field.
And, of course, I did that.
I threw the ball as far as I ever could.
I think it was probably the
furthest I ever threw a ball.
♪♪
And, man, right where
this microphone is, man,
the ball, like
Randy was probably
one step behind him,
and if the ball would have
been maybe another yard further,
maybe he catches that ball,
which gets us in field position.
The ball did touch my hand.
And my philosophy as a wide receiver:
If the ball touches my hand,
that's my fault.
And on fourth down,
I threw it up the Giants sideline.
Long and deep, and
it is incomplete.
With one second to go,
the New York Giants
have broken the Patriots'
18-game winning streak,
and the New York Giants
will be Super Bowl champions.
We lost the Super Bowl.
We lost the Super Bowl.
They kneeled on the clock.
Kneeled on the ball,
the clock ran out.
I just walked off the field,
and I was just numb.
You know, I was just numb.
I thought, wait a minute.
That's not that's not how
the game played out in my mind.
It's not it's not
what was supposed to happen.
We weren't supposed to lose.
We were supposed to win.
And then we got to the locker room,
and everyone was really
obviously broken up.
Um
You know, I took my pads off
and showered.
Um
Did the media, and then I remember
getting on the bus
and it was just the rain came,
in Arizona, which is strange.
We're sitting on the bus
in the pitch black,
and everyone's just sitting there.
It's just dead quiet.
Our hearts were broken,
you know.
And, um
we got back to the hotel.
Um
I didn't sleep
but for 20 minutes that night.
And I laid in bed.
I'd wake up thinking,
that didn't happen.
That was a nightmare.
When is the Super Bowl? It's today.
Come on, get ready to play.
That game didn't happen.
We didn't lose.
It didn't end like that.
And, um
We lost.
Flew out the next morning
back to Boston, and, uh
Had to move on.
I don't remember nothin'.
Everything is a blur.
I mean, I'm being truthful.
I don't remember nothin'.
I don't. I remember
Walked off the field,
came in the locker room.
Changed. That was it.
Really honest,
I don't really remember
too much after that game.
It was like a blur.
- Probably for a reason.
- Yeah, I really don't.
When the ball hit the turf,
the clock ran out, we won the game.
I felt like I had
a 15-year gorilla off my back.
Because you play all those years
just to experience what it feels like
to be at the top.
It's better than ever
winning any individual award
that you could imagine.
You can have a lot
of big names on your team.
You can have all those things.
But we had a lot of heart.
That was it.
I had nothing else to prove.
And the only reason
I came back for the 15th season
was to have fun.
And the fun ended up being
the most incredible
experience of my career.
It could never be topped.
It was time to go,
and that was the perfect ending
to a very improbable career.
The major disappointment
when you think about that team
is that game would have defined
what that team in NFL history
meant to the league,
meant to what greatness was.
I still think it was the best team
that I've ever played on,
even though we didn't win the Super Bowl.
It wasn't the most accomplished team,
but it was probably the best team.
It was the best team.
It was probably
the best team in NFL history.
Had we reached perfection,
had we were reached 19-0,
that would have been
a celebration among all celebrations,
and you'd be celebrating it
for the rest of your life.
Do you think perfection is possible?
Do I think it's possible?
It's hard, man.
I mean, it it it oof.
For what we for us? 18?
I would really want to
I hope that I'm still on this Earth
to be able to see it.
So much of the success
in life is about that journey,
and it's not about whether
you win or lose always.
I think it's about how hard you tried
and what you put into it,
and the relationships you develop.
Then I think those shared experiences
are what make relationships.
Had we won that game, I don't know.
I'm not a big hypothetical guy, but
maybe the desire
is a little bit different.
You know, if you're
looking at silver lining,
maybe the desire to,
you know, reach that point,
you know, maybe
I would have been fulfilled
you know, not to stop
playing at that time,
but I don't know.
Maybe I'd play another
seven or eight years
and maybe I'm fulfilled.
Maybe not.
But there's not much
I could do about it now,
and maybe that's the lesson in life
is, you know, dealing with what
happens, positive, negative.
You can't change it.
You can learn from it.
And hopefully
it can make you a good person
and you deal with life
in a positive way.
And when things
don't go your way,
you know, appreciate the other
people who it goes good for,
and then try your hardest
to get back there again.
And I knew that if I ever
won a Super Bowl again,
I was gonna celebrate
the out of that one.
All righty.
Thanks, guys. The Giants.
On three..