INDIANAPOLIS -- Why should anyone have been surprised?
Eli Manning has been doing this all season.
Yes, it was a fourth-quarter touchdown to win a game, another game, this game being the Super Bowl. Again.
But this was a touchdown like few others, maybe no others with the NFL title on the line.
The drive was legit -- Mario Manningham will join David Tyree in New York Giants' receiving lore -- but the score was a giveaway.
Bill Belichick figured he had no choice, so his New England defense parted like the Red Sea to let Ahmad Bradshaw score a touchdown he hesitated to accept, putting the Giants ahead 21-17 with 57 seconds left on the clock Sunday night at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Prior to that, the Giants were down two points, well into the red zone, plenty of downs to work with, draining the clock. A field goal was enough. There would be no time left.
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Belichick wasn't going to let the game end with Tom Brady standing on the sidelines, his gut boiling, able to play no role in this outcome.
So his defense, well, took a dive.
"Right," Belichick said. "The ball was inside the 10-yard line, there's a 90 percent field goal conversion."
And he needed time. So he let Bradshaw blast through like a hot knife through butter. Bradshaw appeared to consider taking a knee at about the 1, but instinctively fell into the end zone.
It handed the Giants a four-point lead, but it gave Brady a chance with numbers still on the clock.
Brady converted on a fourth-down pass, got the ball to midfield, and then had one chance at a Hail Mary.
Tight end Aaron Hernandez went high, surrounded by four Giants defenders, and the ball bounced tantalizingly, diving to the end zone floor, a mere incompletion, as trailing receiver Rob Gronkowski couldn't haul it in.
Belichick figured he gave his team a chance.
Brady and the Patriots had the ball last.
"I liked it," Brady said of the strategy. "I'd have rather been on the field and had a shot at it."
But Manning and the Giants scored last and are champions again, another dramatic, scintillating knee-knocker, 21-17 being the final score.
It marked the seventh time this season that Manning, who set an NFL record for fourth-quarter touchdown passes, led New York from behind to victory in the final 15 minutes of play.
"It was a great game with two great teams that played it to the very end," said Manning, named Super Bowl MVP for the second time.
The first time was four years ago when these same teams met in Arizona.
The Patriots led in the fourth quarter of that one, too, but then Tyree became a legend in one play. He'd caught but five passes all season in 2007, but he had a touchdown earlier in Super Bowl XLII and then with everything on the line, a must-convert third down, Manning evaded what looked like a sure-to-be sack, and Tyree went high against Rodney Harrison and pinned the ball against his helmet as he flipped over and somehow held on.
Moments later, the Giants scored and stunned an 18-0 Patriot team.
This time it was Manningham, 3 1/2 minutes to play and the Giants in need of a giant kick-start at their own 12. The one-time University of Michigan receiver, third on the New York pass-catching pecking order behind Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz, and with two Giants tight ends down and out with injuries, became the hero.
He got man-to-man coverage streaking down the left sideline, caught the ball, took a hit, maintained possession, and managed somehow to get both feet down before tumbling out of bounds.
It was bang-bang, and it was a 38-yard gain to midfield, and it changed everything.
"We got some big-time plays from a number of guys," Manning said. "We spread the ball around, taking what they gave us. I looked to the right, everything was covered pretty well, so I went the other way. Mario made a great catch. To get both feet down, it was a huge play. We were backed up and got a 40-yard gain. Now could be a little patient, run the ball a little. The clock was on our side."
Until Belichick tried to change that using some unconventional strategy.
"They kind of let us score," said Giants coach Tom Coughlin. "It created 50-some seconds for them to play with. I felt good with the situation, but then they converted on the fourth-down play and took it to the wire. That was some game."
And, once again, it was some drive and some catch.
Manning to Manningham.
"That catch was remarkable," Coughlin said. "I mean, David's catch four years ago was incredible. It's part of Giants and Super Bowl history. Now, this one. Wow."
Wow indeed.
Contact Blade sports columnist Dave Hackenberg at: dhack@theblade.com or 419-724-6398.
First Published February 6, 2012, 5:15 a.m.
