Super Bowl XLVI — 2011 Season

Result

Super Bowl MVP

Eli Manning, QB, New York Giants

Starting lineups

Starting offense

Starting defense

Note: New York's base 4-3 played extensive nickel that game, resolving to only 10 clean defensive-starter slots from the sources checked (2 CB + 2 S + 4 DL + 2 LB) rather than a traditional 3-LB front; reported as sourced. New England's offense used a 2-TE personnel grouping (Gronkowski + Hernandez) rather than a traditional 1-TE/3-WR front.

Box score

Passing

Rushing

Receiving

Game context

Super Bowl XLVI was a near-exact rematch of Super Bowl XLII four years earlier, with the same two franchises, the same starting quarterbacks in Eli Manning and Tom Brady, and, remarkably, a similarly tight, back-and-forth script that again ended with the Giants denying the Patriots a championship. New York struck first, taking a 9-0 lead built on a safety — Justin Tuck sacking Brady in the end zone on New England's opening drive — and a touchdown pass to Victor Cruz. The Patriots responded with a 96-yard scoring drive to grab a 10-9 halftime lead, and New England extended its edge to 17-9 in the third quarter. The Giants then authored the decisive sequence of the game. Manning directed an 88-yard drive in the fourth quarter, the key play a perfectly placed 38-yard throw down the sideline to Mario Manningham that Manningham hauled in while tightroping the boundary — widely regarded as one of the best throw-and-catch combinations in Super Bowl history. Ahmad Bradshaw finished the drive with a go-ahead touchdown, awkwardly stumbling backward into the end zone on a play where the Giants' coaching staff, wanting to run more clock, had actually signaled for him to avoid scoring; Bradshaw could not stop his own momentum. New England got the ball back with a chance to win, but Brady's final Hail Mary attempt from midfield was batted down as time expired, sealing a 21-17 Giants victory. Eli Manning was named Super Bowl MVP for the second time, completing 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions, continuing a postseason stretch in which he was widely regarded as playing the best football of his career and, for many, cementing his Hall of Fame case alongside older brother Peyton's. Brady finished 27 of 41 for 276 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted once and sacked twice by a Giants pass rush, again led by Justin Tuck, that repeatedly disrupted New England's offense. The win gave the Giants their fourth championship and made head coach Tom Coughlin, then 65, the second-oldest head coach to win a Super Bowl. For New England, it marked a second consecutive Super Bowl defeat to the Giants and, at the time, fueled growing questions about whether the Brady-Belichick era's championship window had closed — questions the pair would emphatically answer over the following decade with three more titles. Played before 68,658 fans at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Super Bowl XLVI is remembered as one of the most dramatic sequels in Super Bowl history, living up to its predecessor's legacy almost beat for beat.

Sources

• Wikipedia: Super Bowl XLVI
• Pro-Football-Reference: Super Bowl XLVI box score