Ex-Giant Anderson sees Giants upsetting Patriots

Bob Glauber

January 23, 2008

As soon as Lawrence Tynes' kick sailed through the uprights at frigid Lambeau Field on Sunday night, Ottis Anderson flashed back to Jan. 21, 1991.

Giants-49ers. NFC Championship Game. Candlestick Park. Matt Bahr's 42-yard field goal as time expired.

The Giants had beaten the 49ers, 15-13.

Jeff Hostetler had beaten Joe Montana.

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The Giants advanced to Super Bowl XXV, where they beat the favored Bills, 20-19.

For Anderson, it is deja vu. And Anderson believes the Giants will pull off another shocker against the Patriots.

"It was almost the exact same scenario," said Anderson, who was at Lambeau for the Giants' 23-20 overtime win against the Packers. "It's just like when we played San Francisco. Nobody gave us a chance. Playing one of the greatest quarterbacks in history. But we did it."

The Giants went on to upset the Bills the next week in Tampa, and Anderson was the Most Valuable Player, rushing for 102 yards and a touchdown in one of the greatest Super Bowl upsets ever.

Anderson believes Eli Manning's Giants are about to pull off a similar upset in Super Bowl XLII a week from Sunday. For many of the same reasons the Giants knocked off the Bills 17 years ago.

"Just look at what the Giants have done in the playoffs. Personnel-wise, they weren't supposed to beat Dallas," Anderson said. "And if they did get by Dallas, then they certainly weren't going to beat Green Bay on their field with Brett Favre and his mystique. The Lambeau history. The cold weather. Everything pointed to the Giants' failures."

Same scenario when the Giants went to San Francisco.

"They were all saying, 'You guys are making a wasted trip,"' he said of the game at Candlestick. "Same thing this year. The Giants can't play in cold weather, especially Eli. They took away his 'Seinfeld'. They kept going on and on about how the Giants couldn't beat Green Bay. A lot of those Packers fans had already packed their bags and made their plans for Arizona. Everything pointed to Brett Favre and the Packers finishing off his career and his legacy."

Then the Giants pulled off the shocker. Manning dominated the Packers' defense, the Giants forced Favre into throwing two critical interceptions, the second of which led to the winning field goal, and now it's Giants-Patriots in the Super Bowl.

Anderson believes the Giants have what it takes to beat the Pats, who have been installed as 12-point favorites. Just like the Bills were the 7-point choice when the Giants went to Tampa.

"I see so many parallels," Anderson said. "Back then, you had me as the power back and Dave Meggett as the scatback. Now you have Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. We lost to Buffalo late in the season that year. The Giants lost to New England in the last week. Buffalo had the high-powered offense. New England has the high-powered offense. The only difference was that we had a backup quarterback, and this year's team has Eli. The quarterback position has been consistent from the start."

But what about 18-0 and the quest for perfection? And Tom Brady, the quarterback for the ages? And Bill Belichick, the greatest coach on the planet? Don't those count for something?

"Look, the Patriots are a great team, but there's something going on with the Giants," Anderson said. "You can feel it. They've got it going. Nobody is giving them a chance, but they're feeding off that."

But the Giants already gave the Patriots their best shot in the regular-season finale, and it wasn't good enough. Does that change in the Super Bowl?

"I remember Bill Parcells always used to tell us to be careful what you say, because you never know when you're going to play a team again," Anderson said. "The Giants lost to New England, but they didn't say anything. Now they've got a chance to redeem themselves.

"And every team that beat the Giants, there was a chance for redemption. Dallas and Green Bay beat them in the regular season, and the Giants beat them in the playoffs. Buffalo and San Francisco beat us in the regular season, and we beat them in the playoffs. Same deal."

Championship on the line. Anderson likes his old team's chances.

"I expect a victory," he said.

Head to head -- 1990 vs. today

Comparing the Giants' 1990 team that won Super Bowl XXV with the current edition (regular-season statistics):

1990		2007
Bill Parcells	Coach	Tom Coughlin
13-3	Record	10-6
1st, NFC East	Standing	2nd, NFC East
Simms	Key injury	Shockey
335	Points scored	373
211	Points allowed	351
+20	Turnover ratio	-9
Simms, 2,284; Hostetler, 614	QB, passing yards	Manning, 3,386
Anderson, 784	Rushing leader	Jacobs, 1,009
Meggett, 39	Receiving leader	Burress, 70
Taylor, 10.5	Sack leader	Umenyiora, 13.0
Bahr, 17-for-23	FG kicker	Tynes, 23-for-27