Giants vs. Patriots: 5 Best Moments from Super Bowl XLVI

Everybody expected a close game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots tonight, and the teams didn't disappoint. After what has to be considered one of the most dramatic postseasons in the history of the NFL, the Super Bowl capped off an amazing season.

This wasn't the most well-played Super Bowl of all time. In fact, the first half was downright near unwatchable. Their were a lot of nerves on both sidelines, and mistakes were aplenty. 

With that said, the second half did not disappoint as the game came down to the last play once again. We are quickly getting spoiled with all these great Super Bowl finishes in recent history.

In the end the Giants collected their second Lombardi Trophy over the New England Patriots in a game that seemed to have everything.

This article is going to focus on the five best moments from Super Bowl XLVI.

5. Tom Brady's Safety Opens Up the Scoring

It didn't seem like a big deal at the time, but this two-point swing may have been the difference in the outcome of the game.

Tom Brady, with loads of time and throwing from his end zone, couldn't find anyone open. In a snap second decision, the future Hall of Fame quarterback threw the ball deep down the middle of the field. However, there was no one in the vicinity of the ball and Brady was called for an intentional grounding penalty.

In the end, the New England Patriots lost by four points as Brady's Hail Mary fell harmlessly to the ground to give the New York Giants the Lombardi Trophy.

There is no telling how the final drive would have turned out if this safety had never occurred. You would think that the entire philosophy of the Patriots offense would have chances, going for a field goal rather than a touchdown.

Hindsight, of course.

4. The New England Patriots Drive Length of the Field to Take Halftime Lead

Depending on who you ask it was either a 99-yard touchdown scoring drive or a 96-yard touchdown scoring drive. Considering where it started prior to the initial penalty, I would have to conclude it was of the 96-yard variety.

Either way, it become one of the single greatest drives in the modern history of the Super Bowl.

Tom Brady completed all 12 of his passes on the lengthy drive, tearing apart the Giants defense in the process. They were a combination of short and intermediate passes, something that the future Hall of Fame quarterback has thrived on throughout his career.

Not only did this drive span the length of the field, it resulted in a touchdown and prevented the New York Giants from meaningfully getting the ball back before the half ended.The drive culminated in a four-yard Brady touchdown pass to Danny Woodhead.

In short, this is one of the reasons why Tom Brady is one of the best quarterbacks to ever play the game.

3. Ahmad Bradshaw Excited Fantasy Football Owners, Nearly Costs Team the Title

He tried, he really did. Ahmad Bradshaw was attempting to fall short of the end zone in the final minute of the game in order to set the New York Giants up with a game-winning, chip-shot field goal.

What happened could have been one of the single greatest blunders in the history of the Super Bowl.

Bradshaw, with the Patriots allowing him to get into the end zone, stopped on a dime at the 1-yard line but couldn't stop his forward momentum, which led him in for six. If the Giants running back was actually able to stop on a dime, the game would have been over without Tom Brady and Co. seeing the ball again.

With that said, New England got the ball back with just over a minute remaining in the game and needing to drive 80 yards.

We all know how the game ended, but it could have been tragic for Bradshaw and Co. if New England was able to connect on that final Hail Mary pass.

2. Wes Welker's "Drop" Forces Patriots to Think About What Could Have Been

It is one of the hardest catches a receiver can make on the football field. Your momentum is going one way and the quarterback throws the ball slightly behind you. This "dropped" pass cannot be called out as the reason New England didn't win the game, but it is a catch that Wes Welker makes 90 percent of the time.

On 2nd-and-11, Tom Brady threw the ball between the hashes down the field, but it was a little behind Welker. However, the talented receiver couldn't adjust to the ball and it fell to the ground incomplete.

New England was forced to punt a player later, setting the Giants up to run time off the clock and drive down the field for the game-winning touchdown.

The NFL is a game of inches, and this one play proved that.

1. Mario Manningham Pulls a David Tyree 2.0

It was a catch for the ages and as Cris Collinsworth said "a catch we will be talking about for the next 50 years." This is just how amazing Mario Manningham's 50-yard game-saving catch late in the fourth quarter was.

He was draped between two defenders, had to find the ball in the air and maintain a high level of concentration to hold on to the ball, while still dragging two feet in bounds. It was such an amazing catch that Bill Belichick made the snap judgement to challenge it, despite having a birds' eye view of the play.

Not only did this play put the New York Giants in prime position for a game-winning score, it forced the Patriots to use a timeout in order to challenge the play. As foolhardy as that challenge might have been, it was utterly impossible to think that Manningham actually made the catch when watching it live.

What made the play so much greater is the fact that Manningham ran an absolutely atrocious route earlier in the half, which cost the Giants a shot at a huge play downfield.

Big players step up in big games. This is something that the former Michigan star did in the fourth quarter of the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers and he did it again tonight.