Super Bowl notebook

GLENDALE, ARIZ. - New York Giants coach Tom Coughlin called David Tyree's catch that inspired the winning touchdown drive "one of the great catches in Super Bowl history." This might have been an understatement.

The Giants were facing third-and-5 from their 44 with 75 seconds remaining. Eli Manning stumbled away from a big rush and lofted a pass down the middle of the field.

There seemed a better chance that a Patriots defender might get to this floater than Tyree, a fifth-year receiver from Syracuse. Eventually, it turned into a two-man tussle between Patriots veteran safety Rodney Harrison and Tyree.

Tyree had it in his hands, the ball was pinned to his helmet, he continued to hold on, the pair went to the ground, and still Tyree held the ball. He kept it a couple of inches off the field, so there would be no reason for a review.

How did you catch that?

"I have no clue," he said. "It was mostly hands. They forced the ball into my helmet. I was trying to get off the ground with the ball, and the Patriots were trying to make it seem like they snapped it away from me."

The pass went for a 32-yard gain to the Patriots 24. Four plays later, Manning threw the winning pass to Plaxico Burress in the Giants' 17-14 upset.

The Giants had lost to New England 38-35 in the regular-season finale, even though they had nothing to play for when it came to playoff position.

"When we played them the first time, we didn't treat them like a Greek myth," Tyree said. "They played like regular guys. There was no Godzilla factor."

Tyree's mother, Thelma, died unexpectedly in mid-December. He missed a game against the Redskins. "We've been on fire since I sent my mom to the Lord," he said. "That's the way I look at it: We've been riding on the wings of the Lord. I'm sure my mom was up there knocking on heaven's door, making sure we would get this win."

Randy Moss had few controversial things to say during his first, record-breaking season with the Patriots.

On Sunday, he went from a Super Bowl hero -- catching a touchdown pass that put the Patriots ahead 14-10 with 2:42 remaining -- to a Super Bowl loser.

And there was a hint of the old, shoot-from-the-lip Randy in his postgame comments.

"The Giants just had a better game plan," he said. "They played heads-up football. They came ready to play for four quarters, 60 minutes. My hat's off to the Giants.

"I think their intensity from the beginning snap to the end of the game was really higher than ours. We just couldn't meet that intensity."

Former Miami coach Don Shula, who led the 1972 Dolphins to a 17-0 record, watched the Giants knock the Patriots off their path to a perfect season from a suite at University of Phoenix Stadium.

In November, Shula said the Patriots' success was diminished by the spying scandal. In January, he acknowledged that because the Patriots threatened to match his team's perfect-season achievement, his comments could be interpreted as sour grapes.

"I'm probably not the guy that should have said it," Shula said then. "I think a lot of people, when I said it, perceived it as helping yourself."

The Associated Press contributed to this notebook.