Super Bowl 2012 Highlights: Eli Manning to Mario Manningham Spurs Giants Win

Surprise, surprise. The New York Giants beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI, 21-17, and Eli Manning is the one man who ultimately makes the difference.

With Big Blue down 17-15 and 3:46 left in the game, Manning somehow hit Mario Manningham with a 38-yard bomb along the sideline on first down to put New York at the 50-yard line.

It was just the sort of play the Giants needed to get their offense moving again after slogging through most of the game. Manningham managed to haul in the ball and get two feet down inbounds despite the presence of two Patriots defenders converging on him in a hurry.

Then again, that's the old Eli move, isn't it? Throwing the ball in just such a place so two defensive backs take each other out?

Well, that and the whole "leading the Giants on a long touchdown drive in the fourth quarter" thing. After a season full of clutch performances, Manning pulled out one more when it mattered most, with his team down in the final minutes of the Super Bowl. All told, Manning completed 10-of-14 attempts in the fourth quarter for 118 yards and seven first downs. 

But as good as Eli was, he couldn't have put together that amazing final drive without Mario Manningham coming up with this year's David Tyree moment.

A stunning, seemingly impossible catch to jump-start the Giants offense with the game on the line, just the sort of catch becoming of another Super Bowl victory for the G-Men in the Eli Manning Era.

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