Tedy Bruschi On Giants: 'The Better Team Won' In Super Bowl XLII
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- It was one of the biggest upsets in NFL history, if not sports history.
On Feb. 3, 2008, the fifth-seeded Giants shocked the undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
Coming into the game, many considered the 18-0 Patriots the greatest team in the history of the sport. Tom Brady and Co. were heavily favored in the game, but Eli Manning and the G-Men shocked the world by taking them down.
The Giants played the Patriots remarkably tough and ended up winning by a field goal. But to this day, many wonder if New York simply got lucky en route to an improbable championship.
"I can't think of a game in Super Bowl history with more on the line than there was that day," former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi told ESPN.com on Monday. "This was THE SUPER BOWL, all caps. The one that would trump all the others. A chance to go 19-0, be the only team that ever did that, call ourselves the greatest team of all time?
"No question about it. But the better team won. They were definitely the better team."
The Giants went 10-6 that season and needed three road playoff victories to get to Glendale, Arizona. A brilliant Eli Manning performance and an absurd David Tyree catch later, the Giants were champions.
"I definitely feel the right team won," Bruschi told the website. "The way we played, the way they played, they should have won. And that's just the respect I have for the NFL game. To sit here and say we were the better team, or we'd have beaten them nine out of 10 times, come on. What a slap in the face it would be for me to say that."
The Patriots will go for their fourth title when they take on the NFC champion Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX on Feb. 1.
