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Super Bowl Capsules: Helmet catch will forever define Tyree's career
EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) — Eli Manning took home the MVP. Plaxico Burress had the game-winning catch. David Tyree got the biggest prize in the 2008 Super Bowl — an unforgettable moment that forever will be his.
No play in the New York Giants' 17-14 victory over the New England Patriots has been shown more than Tyree's fourth-quarter catch of a ball against his helmet with defender Rodney Harrison draped over him.
It led to Manning's last-minute touchdown pass to Burress and changed Tyree's life.
The New Jersey native became a hero in the New York metropolitan area, earned up to $15,000 per appearance fees, made numerous television and radio appearances and wrote a book.
"The truth of it was I was never going to have a moment ever in my career that was going to eclipse that," Tyree said in a conference call about what is known as "The Catch" in Giants history. "It gave me a sense of peace as far as moving on and knowing I had a career that I can be satisfied with.
"It's not about the money; it's about, for me, having a moment that transcends my own personal career, to be a part of Giants history, NFL history, Super Bowl history," Tyree said. "That's something that most people who've had far better careers than myself never had."
A sixth-round draft pick out of Syracuse by the Giants in 2003, Tyree didn't do much after the Super Bowl. He hurt his knee and missed the following season, and spent his last year with Baltimore, failing to make a catch. He retired in 2010 after signing a one-day contract with the Giants.
Off the field, Tyree has turned around his life. His days of drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana are long behind him and he has become born-again Christian
The 32-year-old father of six serves as the director of strategic partnerships at Tepidus Group, a company involved in wealth management, marketing and philanthropic ventures. He is also writing another book with his wife, Leilah, that intends to "challenge the core of our culture."
One thing they will address, he said is "how we esteem people who are in the limelight and have been given pedestals and platforms."
Tyree also is the senior vice president of the International Children's Support Foundation, which tries to improve the lives children.
The Pro Bowl special teams player also isn't afraid to express his religious beliefs. He has come out against same sex marriages, and he has been criticized by many.
"I knew what I was getting myself into," he said.
Tyree plans to attend the Super Bowl next week and he said he might get a few speaking engagements out of it.
Tyree has watched the Giants (12-7) current run to a Super Bowl rematch with the Patriots and he marvels at the similarities, calling them spooky.
New York has once again made a late-season rush and done its most damage in the postseason on the road, knocking off the defending champion Green Bay Packers in the NFC division round and the San Francisco 49ers in the conference title game.
After the 2007 regular season, the Giants won all their playoff games on the road, winning at Tampa, Dallas and Green Bay.
Placekicker Lawrence Tynes made game-winning field goals in overtime both conference championship games.
"I might have been just as speechless as I was when we won the Super Bowl four years ago," Tyree said.
Tyree had three catches in the Super Bowl, including one for a touchdown. The one everybody remembers is the 32-yarder on a third-and-5 play with 1:15 to play and the Giants trailing the then-unbeaten Patriots 14-10.
Manning avoided a big pass rush and lofted a long pass down the middle. Tyree leapt, got his hands on the ball, then pinned it against his helmet, first with one hand and then the other. All the while, Harrison was pulling Tyree to the ground by the arm.
Harrison said Wednesday that the only time he thought about the play was when his son gave him a book for Christmas a couple of years ago with a picture of the play on the front cover.
"It's in my office," Harrison said. "Every time I walk in my office I see it so I'm reminded of it every single day.
"But it doesn't haunt me. It's something that happened, you know. It's almost funny because I look back at my career and I started thinking, do I have any regrets? And I don't really have any regrets because I played hard, I played tough, I played physical and you ask this guy to make this catch a million other times, he doesn't make it. So it's just one of those things that you look at and say, 'wow, you know what? No matter what I could have done, he was going to catch that ball. It was just meant to happen.' "
Call it fate. But it's a catch that made Tyree famous and gave him a place in football history.
Patriots secondary still question mark vs. Giants
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Eli Manning could have a pretty clear view downfield against the hardly super secondary of the New England Patriots.
Get ready, Julian Edelman. Here comes Victor Cruz.
A young group including undrafted free agents, a Pro Bowl player in a sophomore slump and even a wide receiver was good enough to help beat Joe Flacco and the Baltimore Ravens — barely — in the AFC championship game.
The New York Giants and Manning, with his big-game experience and receivers Cruz and Hakeem Nicks, pose a tougher challenge in the Super Bowl on Feb. 5.
"The Giants are playing like they're the best team in the National Football League at this point," former Patriots safety Rodney Harrison said Wednesday, "and Eli, he's been fantastic and he will pick this secondary apart."
James Ihedigbo isn't listening to the doubters.
After three years as a special teams player for the New York Jets, he's started the last 14 games at safety for the Patriots — with no interceptions all season. He is, Harrison said, a "serviceable" player but hard-working and team-oriented.
"We have a saying, 'All we got is us,' and that's how we play," Ihedigbo said. "We play for each other."
Since the season began, 16 different defensive backs have played. The changes began in training camp when the Patriots released starting safeties Brandon Meriweather and James Sanders.
Cutting Sanders, a smart leader, was "a big mistake" by coach Bill Belichick, Harrison said.
The Patriots allowed 70 completions of 20 yards or more, nearly 4 1-2 a game. But Belichick saw improvement after the midpoint of the season.
"I don't think that necessarily the work ethic or the desire or the competitiveness to do it has changed a lot, but the results started to improve because of a little more continuity, a little better execution, better technique, more confidence," he said. "It's a group of guys and coaches that have worked hard and tried to get better on a daily basis and I think they have over the course of the season, more so in the last five or six weeks. "
The starters are Ihedigbo and cornerback Kyle Arrington, both undrafted, second-year cornerback Devin McCourty, and safety Patrick Chung, who missed seven games with a foot injury before returning for the next to last game of the regular season.
The backups are Edelman, Sterling Moore, Antwaun Molden, Nate Jones and Malcolm Williams. Edelman is the only one of those five who were with the Patriots last season, and that was as a wide receiver and punt returner.
The last time he played defensive back?
"I think 1998," he said. "Pop Warner. I was 12."
Edelman had finished his junior season as a quarterback in 2007 at Kent State when the Patriots and Giants last met in the Super Bowl, where Manning was named MVP. David Tyree's unforgettable catch, trapping the ball against his helmet while closely guarded by Harrison, set up the winning touchdown in New York's 17-14 win.
That was the last game for Harrison, now an analyst for NBC who spoke on a conference call.
"One point in time I said that I felt like this was the worst secondary that the Patriots had the last decade and I felt strongly about that," he said. "I'm not 100 percent sold on any of these guys.'
There were missed tackles, poor communication and lack of physical play, he said. The Patriots allowed 293.9 yards passing, second most during the regular season.
Since their playoffs began with a 45-10 win over Denver, Harrison has seen the defensive backs competing harder and playing better. But their performances declined in the 23-20 victory over the Ravens, he said.
"I was very disappointed because, yes, they made some plays," Harrison said. "Sterling Moore, obviously, made a couple of key plays, but Patrick Chung and that secondary, you saw some miscommunications and it's his job to get everyone lined up and the other guys to do their job. And Flacco had a couple of opportunities down the field, which he didn't convert on that could have been a totally different game."
Moore, a rookie who had been cut earlier in the season, swiped the ball out of Lee Evans' hands in the end zone with 22 seconds left.
"That play, that's our season," Ihedigbo said. "That's everything that we worked for right there and he knocks that ball out of the receiver's hands."
Moore followed that by breaking up a pass to Dennis Pitta at the 3-yard line with 15 seconds remaining. Then Billy Cundiff hooked a 32-yard field goal attempt.
"I can't say enough (about Moore)," Ihedigbo said. "He played phenomenal down there at the end."
But Moore was the culprit on a 29-yard touchdown pass to Torrey Smith with 3:38 left in the third quarter as the Ravens took a 17-16 lead. Flacco threw to Smith in the right flat and immediately spun past Moore, attempting to make the tackle.
And Edelman, a physical player working hard to learn a new position, did a poor job on slot receiver Anquan Boldin for gains of 29 and 9 yards on Baltimore's final drive.
"Afterward, you know, you're like, 'Wow, you definitely had to guard Boldin,' " he said, "but not during the game."
In the Super Bowl, he may guard Cruz. Bad idea, Harrison said.
"I just don't think that's a smart matchup," he said. "They tried it with Anquan Boldin and Edelman struggled."
But the Patriots still won. And despite their shortcomings, they're taking a 10-game winning streak into the Super Bowl
So much for the critics, who may give the secondary added motivation.
"You've got to prove that you're able to play this game at a high level," Ihedigbo said. "You play with a chip on your shoulder and guys have been able to do that."
-- Howard Ulman
Patriots' Gronkowski listed as unable to practice
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was listed as unable to practice on Wednesday on the team's first injury report since he injured his left ankle in the AFC title game against the Baltimore Ravens.
Although the Patriots did not practice, they were required to file an injury report. Gronkowski is listed as "DNP." Twelve players were listed as "limited participation," including receiver Wes Welker, guard Logan Mankins and linebacker Rob Ninkovich. Two others were listed as "full participation."
Gronkowski was seen wearing a removable boot on his left foot on Monday. The second-year star, who set an NFL record for tight ends with 17 touchdown catches, limped off the field in the third quarter of Sunday's 23-20 win over Baltimore but returned about five minutes later.
The Patriots will play the New York Giants in the Super Bowl on Feb. 5 in Indianapolis.
Commentary: A wise guy looks at the Super Bowl
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Ask Lem Banker about the New York Giants and he tells the story of how he won a bet against them in the 1958 NFL championship game, when Alan Ameche bowled into the end zone from a yard out in overtime to win it for the Baltimore Colts.
The game, at Yankee Stadium, was a television classic that captivated the country and sparked its love affair with the NFL. If it wasn't the greatest title game ever, it was surely the most significant.
For the gambler, though, it was just a win.
"I've had plenty of good losers, too," Banker said. "You're never going to get them all right."
Maybe not, though Banker once had a streak of 13 straight Super Bowl winners picking against the spread. Good thing, because he's never had a real job and winners pay the bills.
They have over the years, starting when he began booking bets in the family candy store in Union City, N.J., where his father would take the neighborhood action in between dispensing sweets. The son was a good enough basketball player to get scholarship offers, but he became even better at betting sports.
He'll be 85 this year, and he can still recall the big bets and bad beats of a career spent betting on the fortune of sports. The phone still rings in his sprawling home with people asking him "Lem, who do ya like?"
If he's not the greatest sports bettor — and many think he is — he's certainly the one of the few who have been around this long. He was especially good at picking winners of big fights, not surprising since he was Sonny Liston's best friend when the fearsome slugger ruled the heavyweight ranks.
Right now it's all about football. Always is at this time of year, something Banker was reminded of this week when his manicurist gave him her pick for the Super Bowl while filing his nails.
"Everybody has an opinion on the Super Bowl," Banker said.
That's good news for this city's bookmakers, who could do record business in the matchup between the Giants and the New England Patriots. The wise guys will push their usual six-figure bets across the counter, but it's the massive flood of money from the squares betting $20 bills that will determine who is favored and by how much next week in Indianapolis.
Some will risk their money because they believe the Giants have a stifling defense or are a team of destiny. Others will wager because they like the way Tom Brady does his hair.
The smart ones, though, may look to a man who made his first Super Bowl bet on the first Super Bowl and ask:
So, Lem, who do ya like?
"I'm laying the points and taking New England," Banker said. "It's really very simple. To me, Tom Brady is the best quarterback I've ever seen — and I've seen a lot of them back from when I was a kid and Sid Luckman was playing."
Some bookies in this gambling city are hoping Banker is right. They're the unlucky ones who were hit with sizeable wagers late in the regular season when the Giants were struggling and the odds were as high as 100-1 that they would win the Super Bowl.
They won't be run out of business, of course. Bookies always recover, because there are always more squares with money in their pockets who think they know more than the guys across the counter who have the point spread thing down to a science. Casinos have lost money only once on the Super Bowl in the last 10 years, taking a beating in 2008 when the Giants — who were 13-point underdogs — beat New England, 17-14.
And this could be one of the highest bet Super Bowls ever, rivaling the $94.5 million wagered in Nevada — and untold millions elsewhere — on the Steelers-Seahawks game in 2006.
"It's probably the best matchup there could be," said Jimmy Vaccaro, a longtime bookmaker who helps run sports books in several casinos for Lucky's Race & Sports Book. "The general public rules these events and they like these teams."
Banker won't be wagering that much himself. He never did make huge bets, preferring to make his money on volume instead.
And it's not like the old days when he had runners in different cities finding the best lines from bookmakers to lay his action on. Certainly not like the time he took a Minneapolis bookmaker for $30,000, only to be told he wasn't going to get paid. He got the money the next day, after asking a friend with, shall we say, connections, to look into the matter.
"There wasn't a bookmaker dead or alive that I didn't beat," Banker said. "I had runners everywhere, in New York, Miami, Chicago, all seeing different numbers. But now it's all the same numbers everywhere."
Computers and corporations have replaced pencils and candy store bookmakers. Online betting will dwarf anything even Las Vegas takes in on the game.
It's enough to make an aging gambler yearn for the days he once knew.
"It's very, very tough now," Banker said. "If I had to do it all again, I couldn't do it. I'd be driving a taxi."
Tim Dahlberg is a national sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at tdahlberg@ap.org.
