New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick underestimated New York Giants WR Mario Manningham - NFL News
They say that you should never underestimate any of your opponents lest they come back to bite you. For New England Patriots and their head coach Bill Belichick, that was exactly what happened as new audio from the coaches and players’ perspective has been released by NFL.com.
According to the Sound FX video, coach Bill Belichick seemed to have marked out New York Giants' wide receivers, Hakeem Nicks and Victor Cruz, as the two most dangerous players, and told his defence to mark them tightly to force Giants' quarterback, Eli Manning to either pass to Mario Manningham or Bear Pascoe.
It seems that Belichick did not rate Manningham or Pascoe in the same league as Cruz or Nicks.
That fallacy in his plans was laid bare as the Giants started their game winning drive in the final quarter to win the game.
Belichick could be heard saying during the game:
"This is still a Cruz-and-Nicks game," Belichick was heard saying. "I know we're right on them. It's tight, but those are still the guys. Make them go to Manningham, make them go to (Bear) Pascoe. Let's make sure we get Cruz and Nicks."
Things went according to plan as Eli Manning did pass the ball towards Mario Manningham but the wide receiver made the catch for a huge 38-yard gain.
That was not according to plan.
Quarterback Tom Brady, watching from the bench was shocked at the turn of events as he blurted out, "He caught it."
The rest as they say is history. Manning drove the Giants forward in a brilliant drive, and with just 57-seconds left in the game, sent a 6-yard pass to running back, Ahmad Bradshaw, who reached the end-zone to give the Giants a 21-17 lead.
New England got the ball back and Tom Brady, in a desperate attempt, drove the Patriots forward. In the end, he was forced to go for a Hail Mary pass into the end-zone.
Tight-end Rob Gronkowski got agonisingly close to making a brilliant catch that could have won the game in the final seconds but it did not happen and quarterback Tom Brady, with his head bowed, sat on the field while the New York Giants celebrated another Super Bowl victory all around him.
"That was flattering," said Cruz, who saw what Belichick said about the defensive strategy. "It was crazy just to hear him say on the sideline in the Super Bowl, he was talking about me and Hakeem, that was definitely a crazy moment to hear him say that.”
At least the Patriots' coach learnt a valuable lesson.
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