Oh brother, here art thou: Eli matches Peyton

GLENDALE, ARIZ. - Archie's boys sure can play.

A year after older brother Peyton Manning won Super Bowl MVP honors in helping the Indianapolis Colts blow out the Chicago Bears, little brother Eli matched him in MVPs, as the 12-point underdog New York Giants won a jaw-dropping 17-14 Super Bowl XLII victory over a New England Patriots team that seemed destined to complete the first 19-0 season in NFL history.

"I never thought about them even playing college ball, much less pro football, much less winning Super Bowls or MVPs," said Archie Manning, who never played on a winning team or reached the playoffs in 14 NFL seasons. "It wasn't in the plan. We tried to raise the kids. We raised the kids just like other parents raised their kids. I can't explain it."

Eli was the most unlikely of Super Bowl MVPs. After all, this is the same kid who had three of four interceptions returned for touchdowns in a 41-17 loss to the Vikings three months ago.

But Eli started and ended the Super Bowl in scrappy -- but winning -- fashion.

The Giants took the opening kickoff and kept the Patriots' record-setting offense off the field for 16 plays and a Super Bowl-record 9 minutes, 59 seconds. New York converted its first four third-down situations, including three Manning passes, before taking a 3-0 lead on a 32-yard Lawrence Tynes field goal.

Manning's last drive began with 2:39 left in the game. Patriots two-time Super Bowl MVP and three-time winner Tom Brady had just thrown a 6-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss to put New England ahead 14-10.

Manning calmly led the Giants back down the field. He avoided a relentless Patriots pass rush, escaping at least two sacks, while completing five of nine passes for 77 yards and the 13-yard game-winning touchdown to a wide-open Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left.

"It was just a fade route, and they came with an all-out blitz," Manning said of the touchdown pass. "They had been playing zone coverage, but they went with the all-out blitz, and Plaxico just ran by [Ellis Hobbs] and made the catch to win the game."

The play of the drive and perhaps the game was a 32-yard completion to David Tyree. Manning barely avoided being sacked by defensive linemen Richard Seymour and Jarvis Green, buying extra time to launch the ball deep downfield to Tyree, who caught it by pinning the ball to the top of his helmet as he fell to the ground.

"It feels great; it's unbelievable," Manning said. "We had no doubt that we could win. We believed the whole time, and we made it happen."

And big brother Peyton was watching and celebrating from a luxury suite inside the University of Phoenix Stadium.

"I got a lot of [text] messages telling me to calm down, because I was excited and pumped after the big plays he was making," he said. "The Patriots had an unbelievable year. For the Giants to have beaten them, it is going down as one of the greatest games of all time. Eli's pass to Tyree, I think, was one of the greatest plays of all time."