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Eli Manning won two Super Bowls with the New York Giants in two of the biggest upsets of all time. He won Super Bowl XLII (2008) and XLVI (2012) and was Super Bowl MVP in both editions. In both instances, he defeated the more-fancied New England Patriots and Tom Brady.
In Super Bowl XLII, the Patriots were coming off a perfect 16-0 season. Eli Manning and the Giants had a 10-6 record and were a a Wild Card team. The difference between them was chalk and cheese. Super Bowl XLVI told a similar story as well. The Patriots were 13-3. The Giants were 9-7 in the regular season. In winning that Super Bowl, the Giants set the record to become the champion with the lowest regular season win percentage.
Needless to say, they were both shock results. But where do they rank in the pantheon of all-time Super Bowl upsets?
Eli Manning: The Giants' slayer
The greatest Super Bowl upset of all time remains Super Bowl III (1969) when the Baltimore Colts took on the New York Jets. The first two Super Bowls were won by the Green Bay Packers from the NFL and the AFL was still viewed as an upstart league and not worthy of Super Bowl consideration. The Colts were favored by a whopping 18-point margin. But the Jets defeated the favorites 16-7. The seismic shock reverberated around pro football and cemented the status of the Super Bowl above the NFL Championship.
Next on the list is Super Bowl XXXVI (2002), when the New England Patriots took on the St. Louis Rams. The Patriots were 14-point underdogs. The Rams had won the Super Bowl just two seasons before that and their offense (led by Kurt Warner) was known as the "Greatest Show on Turf". The Patriots were led by backup quarterback Tom Brady. We all know how that panned out. The 20-17 win kickstarted the Patriots dynasty and Brady was on his way to becoming the greatest quarterback of all time.
Eli Manning's first Super Bowl XLII win is the third-greatest among all Super Bowl upsets, sitting together with Super Bowl IV. In both these games, the winners came into the final game as 12-point underdogs. As mentioned before, Eli Manning and the Giants spoiled a perfect season for the Patriots by winning 17-14.
Needless to say, that ranking among the top three Super Bowl upsets of all time is a huge credit to Eli Manning. But what about Super Bowl XLVI? In that game too, they were the underdogs but only by a 2.5 point margin.
The reason why the spread was not as lopsided as Super Bowl XLII is because the Patriots were not coming off a perfect season. Also, during the regular season, the Giants defeated the Patriots 24-20 away from home. So, despite their differences in win percentages in the regular season, the Patriots were not as heavily fancied.
In fact, to look at the second-biggest Giants upset of all time in the Super Bowl, we have to go back to 1991. In Super Bowl XXV, the Giants took on the Buffalo Bills. The Bills were seven-point favorites but the Giants eked out a 20-19 victory. The Bills and Jim Kelly would go on to lose four consecutive Super Bowls in that time.
The Giants seem to have a habit of coming up top even when no one gives them a chance. Eli Manning has certainly been a part of that illustrious history. While his second Super Bowl win might not have been the biggest upset, it was still a surprise. His first Super Bowl win came against all odds and remains one of the greatest shocks of all time.
