Giants Win Super Bowl XLVI

The New York Giants are the 2011 NFL Champions. They defeated the New England Patriots tonight 21-17 in Super Bowl XLVI to win their fourth Super Bowl. It is the second title for the Giants in five years. The Patriots now have gone seven years without winning it all.

What does this mean for the Jets? Mainly it means a long offseason of insufferable Giants fans, players, and friendly media. There are a few things we can take from this, though, beyond watching the Pats fall heartbreakingly short.

This is Eli Manning's second Super Bowl win. For his first three years in the league, he looked uncannily like Mark Sanchez has. A lot of people gave up on him at that point. None of that means Sanchez will follow the same path and develop into a top tier quarterback. There are a lot of questions about almost every aspect of his game on the field and off the field right now, but three shaky years can be overcome.

Even more, it shows you don't need to have a super team to win in the NFL. The Giants were not a great team. They were an average to slightly above average team. Just about every significant aspect of their team was near the bottom of the league except their passing game. They just got hot at the right time and got a bunch of bounces to go their way. It can happen to anybody.