GLENDALE, Ariz. - A tidal wave hit the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.
The team's record-setting offense faced a variety of challenges through its first 18 games, but had not seen something as ferocious as what the Giants delivered last night at University of Phoenix Stadium. There is pressure. And then there is pressure.
The Giants unleashed their fury and overwhelmed Patriots pass protectors. After being sacked just 21 times during the regular season, Tom Brady was swallowed up five times - three in the first half, twice in the second. He was hit and battered on seemingly every throw, and it didn't help that his right ankle appeared to be hindering his mobility.
It did not take long to pinpoint the key question for the Patriots: How would they adjust to the Giants' blistering pressure?
As it turns out, they never did.
What they did was ride the wave as long as they could, and for a moment late in the game it looked as if they might have outlasted its force. When the Patriots needed to drive the field for a potential winning touchdown, Brady finally had the necessary time to make plays. The Giants' defense, which had been so relentless, looked as if it was rippling quietly onto shore.
It was a stunning turn.
But that stunning turn was matched by something even more unexpected - the Giants' offense matching the score with 35 seconds remaining and recording a 17-14 victory.
The Giants' pressure was crucial, as defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo estimated he called blitzes 30-35 percent of the time. If Spagnuolo's estimate is on the mark, that meant two out of every three plays were standard four-man rushes, an indication the Giants didn't necessarily win because of scheme, but more because they won more individual matchups.
"It never really comes down to scheme," Spagnuolo said. "It always comes to players, and our guys were ready to play. They had tremendous confidence in what we were doing and believed in some way, they could somehow get to him. And they did that. I have to give credit to our four guys up front. We hung our hat on those guys all year long and we did it again."
If there was a new wrinkle, Spagnuolo said it was using relentless lineman Justin Tuck (6 tackles, 2 sacks) in a two-point stance (standing up) next to the nose tackle. But Spagnuolo reiterated that this wasn't a game-plan win. It was a players' win.
Spagnuolo heard no disagreement from Patriots center Dan Koppen.
"It's one of those things where they have a great front seven and they just outplayed us," Koppen said.
In-game statisticians recorded nine hits against Brady, which meant the pressure-based Giants, who led the NFL in the regular season with 53 sacks, were carrying out what they hoped to do.
"We never had a number on it, but all week long we talked about how even if he got the ball out, and completed the pass, that we needed to hit him to somehow disrupt things," said Spagnuolo, who is a candidate for the Redskins' head coaching vacancy. "We thought if we did it early, it would somehow pay off in the end."
New York's base 4-3 defense was made up of a four-man defensive line of ends Osi Umenyiora and Michael Strahan, and tackles Barry Cofield and Fred Robbins. Umenyiora and Strahan consistently pinched the edges, forcing Brady to step up into the pocket.
Then, when the Giants went to a sub package, the dangerous Tuck was inserted, and he turned in an MVP-caliber performance. The Patriots' interior linemen couldn't handle Tuck, who also played in base packages as the game progressed.
Because the rush was getting there so fast, it took away the Patriots' ability to go vertical, and protected what was considered the Giants' vulnerable secondary (the Patriots' longest passes were 19 and 18 yards, on catch-and-runs). The Giants won the battle at the line of scrimmage, a rare feat against an offensive line that many have labeled as the unsung unit of the Patriots. When they blitzed, most of the pressure came up the middle.
It was a case in which one element of the game - the ability to create pressure - paralyzed most of what the Patriots tried to do.
Left tackle Matt Light had two false starts in the third quarter, and tight end Benjamin Watson also had one in the quarter, a reflection of how the Giants were controlling play up front.
There were protection problems across the board. Light and right tackle Nick Kaczur struggled on the edges, and the normally strong interior of Koppen and guards Logan Mankins and Stephen Neal seemed to be on its heels throughout. Neal left the game in the second quarter with a right knee injury and did not return; he was replaced by Russ Hochstein.
All five Giants sacks came when the Patriots had three receivers on the field. In employing that package, the Patriots have a maximum of seven players who can stay in to protect - the five linemen, a tight end, and a running back.
Most often over the course of the season, it was a six-man protection, with Watson releasing into a pass route, and a running back waiting to see if extra pressure came.
Last night, the Giants had the answers against that package, with rushers twisting and turning, slanting and stunting.
In the end, the pressure turned out to be the tidal wave that crashed the Patriots' hopes for perfection.
Mike Reiss can be reached at mreiss@globe.com.
