The Unsung Heroes of Super Bowl XLVI
The Giants started the last decade with a Super Bowl victory over the New England Patriots to cap the 2011 season. In that game, two unsung heroes emerged who, were it not for their efforts, the game might have had a much different outcome.
In the latest installment of The Big 50: The Men and Moments That Made the New York Giants, the new book by your truly dropping September 8, we take a look at those two unsung heroes and how they helped the Giant seal the deal.
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In so many ways, the Giants Super Bowl XLVI win over the New England Patriots was identical to Super Bowl XLII.
Besides having the same outcome (a Giants win albeit by a different score), the same MVP (Eli Manning), the same general margin of victory (less than a touchdown), and even a highlight-reel catch (albeit not by David Tyree, who made the helmet catch in 2007), the game was a thriller for Giants fans.
But this victory for the underdog Giants on the Lucas Oil Stadium field had a little bit of a different feel to it, as were it not for the contributions of two of the most unsung heroes in that game, who knows what might have happened?
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Chase Blackburn probably wondered if his NFL career was finished.
Blackburn, a linebacker who signed with the Giants as an undrafted free agent out of Akron in 2005, was initially brought on board for his special teams prowess. But when given a chance, Blackburn’s versatility and high football IQ made him invaluable at linebacker.
But after the 2010 season ended, Blackburn was a free agent, and the Giants didn’t seem interested in retaining his services.
In 2011, the Giants had kept four rookie linebackers on their roster, two draft picks (Greg Jones and Jacquian Williams), and two undrafted free agents (Spencer Paysinger and Mark Herzlich). They hoped that one or more from that group would step up and become a part of the team’s foundation.
What the Giants weren’t counting on, however, were injuries at the position.
Michael Boley, who started 13 games for them at inside linebacker, missed two games with a hamstring strain. His replacement, Herzlich, suffered an ankle injury. With Paysinger mainly a special teams player and Jones still feeling his away around the pro game, the Giants made the call to Blackburn, whom they signed on November 29, 2011.
Blackburn, who knew the Giants defense inside-out and who was well respected by the coaching staff, wasted little time contributing.
In his first game back, he picked off Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in a 38–35 Giants loss. Blackburn’s football intelligence and knowledge of the defense was so intact that he finished second to Boley in the postseason with 25 tackles.
For all the plays Blackburn made during the 2011 season and postseason, there was none more significant than his interception in Super Bowl XLVI.
The pick came on the second play of the fourth quarter, on a pass by quarterback Tom Brady intended for tight end Rob Gronkowski. On the play, Brady was hit by defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul as he threw the ball. Gronkowski tried to outreach Blackburn for the ball but was unable to do so.
If Blackburn, who in that game also contributed six tackles, doesn’t make that interception, the Patriots, up 17–15 at the time, might very well have gone on to make it a two-score game.
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Mario Manningham was a third-round draft pick by the Giants in 2008, a 6'0", 185 wiry-looking receiver out of Michigan who was supposed to be able to slice the top off of the defense.
Manningham played four seasons with the Giants, 2011 being his last. (He did attempt a comeback with the Giants in 2014 after rehabbing from a knee injury suffered in 2012, but it didn’t work out).
While with the Giants the first time, Manningham’s most productive season was in 2010 when he recorded a career-high 944 yards on 60 receptions and nine touchdowns in what would be the only 16-game season he played in his career.
Looking to build on that in 2011, Manningham missed four games that year due to injuries, though between Weeks 8 and 10, he had a receiving touchdown in each of those games.
In the final two games of the Giants regular season, Manningham, who missed the Week 16 game against the Jets, was a nonfactor.
Between the injuries and the drop-in-a-bucket production down the stretch, he was barely considered a threat to take over a game by himself by his postseason opponents.
Their hunch proved correct. Manningham’s stats in the Wild Card, Divisional, and Conference games totaled eight receptions for 116 yards with three touchdowns—not enough to cause tremendous concern for Patriots head coach Bill Belichick in the Super Bowl.
Instead, Belichick seemed more concerned about containing receivers Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz.
Manningham, who finished the Super Bowl catching five out of nine pass targets for 73 yards, would make the Patriots pay for doubting him.
Before Manningham got his chance to shine, the Patriots ended up hurting themselves. With 9:24 left in the game and the Giants having used two of their three timeouts, New England was in control.
But Brady and crew couldn’t get the job done, as on a second- and-11, the quarterback tried to connect on a deep ball to sure-handed receiver Wes Welker, who was streaking down the middle of the field with no Giant in sight thanks to what looked like a busted coverage by the Giants’ defensive secondary.
Had Welker caught that pass, the Patriots would have had a fresh set of downs and a chance at expanding their 17–15 lead. Instead, the ball fell through Welker’s outstretched hands, and, following another deep pass attempt that went incomplete, the Patriots punted the ball back to the Giants.
With 3:46 left on the clock, the Giants wasted no time. Quarterback Eli Manning heaved a deep pass along the sideline to Manningham, who ran a go route.
Manningham not only reached out to secure the ball, but he also maintained possession and got both feet in bounds before safety Patrick Chung pushed him out of bounds, the catch good for 38 yards.
With the Giants now at midfield, Manning began to move the ball down the field. He again targeted Manningham on first-and-10, the pass falling incomplete. Unfazed, Manning went right back to Manningham on his next two pass attempts, completing both and moving the ball 18 yards to the Patriots’ 32-yard line.
After the two-minute warning, the Giants, who on the preceding play had another pass completion (Manning to Hakeem Nicks for 14 yards which put them at the 11-yard line,) tried to chew up the clock.
However, three plays later, running back Ahmad Bradshaw, on second- and-6 from the Patriots’ 6-yard line, scored to give the Giants a 21–17 lead, leaving less than a minute left in the game.
With 57 seconds left for Brady to work his magic, it was up to the Giants defense to finish the game.
But the Giants defense wasn’t having it, as although Brady and the Patriots did convert a fourth-down attempt on that final drive,
Brady’s final pass attempt, a 51-yard strike intended for tight end Aaron Hernandez in the end zone, was knocked away by safety Kenny Phillips.
Although Manning was named the game’s MVP, Blackburn and in particular Manningham, were heroes.
Blackburn finished third on the team with six tackles, along with his big interception and a pass defensed.
Manningham, who had failed to catch his lone pass target in the first half, contributed three of his five receptions and 56 of his 73 receiving yards on the game-winning drive.
“We just tried to be patient,” Manningham said of his big-play contributions after the game. “We knew big plays was [sic] going to come. We just had to take advantage of them.”
The Giants did, and, in the end, they were able to hoist the Lombardi trophy for the second time in five years.
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This excerpt from The Big 50: The Men and Moments That Made the New York Giants by Patricia Traina is reprinted with the permission of Triumph Books. For more information or to order a copy, please visit Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Bookshop.org, or Triumph Books.
Save 20% off the (printed copy only) now through September 30, 2020 when you order direct from Triumph Books. Use promo code NYGIANTS20 for 20% off your purchase, print edition only. Visit Triumph Books or call 1-800-888-4741 to order.
