A Look Back at How the Giants Defense Made 18-1 Happen

Super Bowl XLII Breakdown

In the NBA, the Boston Celtics just recently fell short of an opportunity to make history by coming back from a 3-0 series deficit. Since it’s the NFL offseason and not much is going on right now, we’re going to use this as an excuse to look back at another New England-based team that fell just short of making history - the 2007 Patriots.

Although to say the Patriots merely fell short in Super Bowl XLII would be an insult to the New York Giants, who outplayed them on their way to a 17-14 victory. Nowhere was that more prevalent than in the matchup between Big Blue’s defense and New England’s offense.

In 2007, the Patriots scored a then-record 589 points. They seemed unstoppable, largely because of the assassin-like precision of Tom Brady and the big-play ability of Randy Moss.

But after leading the NFL with 57 pass plays of 20 yards or more during the regular season, New England didn’t generate a single 20-yard play in Super Bowl XLII.

And after leading the NFL with a 68.9 completion percentage and 8.3 yards per pass in 2007, Brady completed just 60% of his passes for 5.5 yards per attempt in the Super Bowl.

So how did the Giants defense do it? It was a combination of factors, but it centered around preventing the big play from Moss and getting pressure on Brady.

To stop Moss, New York rolled coverage to his side frequently and accounted for him with two defenders the majority of the time. But it was the pressure they got on Brady that made the biggest difference.

The Giants did this with a front-4 that dominated New England’s offensive line and an assortment of creative blitzes designed by defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo.

Breaking Down the Patriots’ Protection

This 2nd-and-10 on New England’s third possession was when the Giants really started to dial up the pressure:

Let’s take a look at this from the end zone angle. Pre-snap, you can see that the Giants were threatening a blitz with Antonio Pierce in the B-gap to the right and Kawika Mitchell in the A-gap to the left:

New York would end up bringing cornerback Aaron Ross from the slot to the right, with Pierce and Mitchell appearing to drop out at the snap:

I’ll pause right here to say that the best offenses against the blitz don’t just get stuck throwing hot all the time. They don’t allow the defense to dictate their throws. Instead, they try to set the protection at the line to pick up the blitz and eliminate free rushers, allowing the normal timing, rhythm, and routes of the play to happen.

To do this, it takes a smart and savvy quarterback at the line of scrimmage. Tom Brady is the epitome of this type of quarterback, with one of his many calling cards being his ability to recognize the defense and set the protection in a way that negates even the best pressure schemes.

Here, he was not looking to throw hot. He wanted to take a shot with Randy Moss streaking down the right sideline.

This is all important to note because according to Kawika Mitchell, the Giants ran this very blitz throughout the 2007 season and he dropped out into coverage 100% of the time.

It appeared that Brady and the Patriots were aware of that as well. Because the protection didn’t pay much attention to Mitchell despite the fact that he was threatening the A-gap. If they were truly concerned about him rushing, they probably would have slid in his direction.

Instead, New England geared up to handle the more-likely pressure from Pierce to the right and Ross from the slot. They slid right from the center over, with running back Kevin Faulk also turning his attention to the slot blitz almost immediately after the snap. This allowed them to use 4 blockers to account for 4 potential pass rushers to that side. To the back side, the left guard and tackle took the two down linemen over them:

It’s tough to say for sure if center Dan Koppen or Faulk had a dual read that would initially account for Mitchell before they moved right. Neither seemed to look in his direction at the snap. Perhaps they snuck a glance at Mitchell, saw him drop out into coverage initially, and then turned their attention to Ross when they saw him blitzing from the slot.

Or maybe they weren’t responsible for Mitchell at all. Perhaps it was Brady who was responsible for him if he came. Allowing a blitzer to run free through the A-gap is really not something offenses like to do. But it might have made sense to set the protection this way if they didn’t think he’d actually blitz based on his season-long tendency.

Regardless of who was responsible, Brady, Koppen, and Faulk all turned their attention away from Mitchell at the snap as he appeared to be dropping into coverage:

But the Giants did not do what they had done all season. A half-second into the play, with everyone practically ignoring Mitchell, he turned back towards the line of scrimmage and sprinted for Brady:

The seas parted and the result was the first of New York’s five sacks on the night:

Great design, great timing, great execution. And this wouldn’t be the first time the Patriots guessed wrong with their protection that night.

This play on New England’s next drive was a 1st-and-10 with less than 2 minutes remaining in the first half, an obvious passing situation. Spagnuolo dialed up another blitz.

This time, New York was threatening with 8 men near the line of scrimmage (4-down linemen and 4 second-level defenders).

Antonio Pierce was threatening the A-gap to the left of the center with Aaron Ross off the edge to the same side. To the offense’s right, cornerback Kevin Dockery was threatening to blitz over the guard, and safety Gibril Wilson was creeping in off the edge:

Brady was likely wary from Mitchell’s A-gap pressure on the previous drive, so he set the protection to slide left from the right guard over, which would account for Pierce:

Unfortunately for New England, Pierce, Ross and the defensive end to that side (Osi Umenyiora) dropped out into coverage:

To the other side, right tackle Nick Kaczur was matched 1-on-1 with Michael Strahan. Running back Kevin Faulk was responsible for either Dockery or Wilson if they blitzed:

Unfortunately for Faulk, both Dockery and Wilson would end up blitzing, and he could only block one. As you can see from this close-up angle, Brady had to unload the ball a hair early before taking a punishing hit:

From the sideline angle, you can also see how the Giants’ coverage choices were to make sure Moss couldn’t beat them over the top. Here, they accounted for him with cornerback Corey Webster (#23) as well as Ross, who had raced all the way from his blitz look at the line of scrimmage to get deep:

Wilson’s blitz impacted that throw, but even if it didn’t, the Giants would have had two defenders ready to make a play on the ball.

According to Steve Spagnuolo, the Giants’ DBs and Linebackers did a great job of using the playclock to time their blitzes in Super Bowl XLII. They knew Brady liked to use most of the clock to get his team into the best protection and look against the defense. So they held their pre-snap disguises until the last possible moment.

For instance, on the play above, the playclock was at 6 seconds when Brady appeared to change the protection. The Giants knew that there wouldn’t be enough time to change it again at that point. They held their look until right before the snap, timing their blitzes and coverage drops on Brady’s silent-count leg lift.

On this next blitz that got another free rusher home, the ball was snapped with just 2 seconds left on the playclock. This again allowed New York to hold their disguise until after the protection was set and then time their pressure:

Schematically, the Giants defense won the battle against the Patriots offense.

The Front-4 Dominated

The Giants defense also outplayed the Patriots man for man in Super Bowl XLII, particularly in the trenches.

Every quarterback, including Brady, gets uncomfortable in the pocket while taking a beating. It had to be especially unsettling that he was not able to decipher the Giants’ blitz schemes and set the protection in the best possible way on numerous occasions.

It didn’t help that even when the Giants didn’t blitz, they got significant pressure on Brady. The front-4 absolutely destroyed New England’s O-line, finishing with 4 sacks on normal 4-man rushes, led by Justin Tuck (#91) who continually won inside:

Defensive end Osi Umenyiora never did get to Brady for a sack, but he did lead the team with 8 pressures and recover the fumble shown above.

Defensive end Michael Strahan, playing the last game of his 15-year Hall-of-Fame career, had 2 sacks on the night. The biggest one came in the third quarter with the Giants trailing 7-3.

New England was threatening to add to their lead and had the ball at the Giants’ 25-yard line. This was a 3rd-and-7 and New York needed a stop.

Just as I mentioned above about Giants defenders using the playclock to time their blitzes, Strahan did the same thing on this pass rush. The playclock was running down, and with about 3 seconds left Brady lifted his leg for the silent count. Right after he put his foot down and the center’s head popped up, Strahan took off. You can see he was into his pass rush before anyone else on the d-line had moved:

A look from this iso angle shows that Strahan had started his rush before right tackle Nick Kaczur had even moved:

The matchup was hard enough for Kaczur, but when you throw in a head start for Strahan, you have almost no chance.

The Patriots then went for it on 4th down instead of kicking a 48-yard field goal. Brady would fire an incompletion, and New England turned the ball over on downs.

This 5th sack by the Giants came on the Patriots’ final drive with under 30 seconds left in the game and the Giants leading 17-14. New England used 3 O-linemen to block Tuck and Osi to the left, leaving defensive tackle Jay Alford in a 1-on-1 against right guard Steve Neal, which Alford won:

When you’ve got Tuck, Osi, and Strahan beat and other pass rushers are still getting to the quarterback, it’s just not your night. This sack put the Patriots in hail-mary mode instead of game-tying field-goal mode for the final two plays. Two incompletions later, the game was over.

When it was all said and done, the Giants pulled off arguably the biggest upset in Super Bowl history. Given the circumstances, it might have been the biggest championship game upset we’ve ever seen in any of the four major sports.

Super Bowl XLII might be remembered for David Tyree’s helmet catch and Eli Manning’s 4th-quarter heroics. But it was the Giants defense that made a victory possible.