Super Bowl XLVI Results: Giants Defeat Patriots in Final Minutes

The Super Bowl XLVI results are in and the New York Giants have defeated the New England Patriots for the second time in the Super Bowl in recent years.

New York managed to survive a valiant effort on a Hail Mary attempt from Tom Brady in the last seconds, and held on for a 21-17 win.

The Hail Mary was intended for Aaron Hernandez most likely but Rob Gronkowski, running downfield and battling a nagging injury, was unable to lay out and catch the deflection.

The Giants won their second Super Bowl under Tom Couglin and Eli Manning ended up with his second positive Super Bowl result as well, entering himself into the conversation for the top QBs in the game.

In this one, the Patriots got off to a bad start when Brady got flagged for an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone. He had no one open downfield and threw it into an empty area when he had to get rid of it as a rusher barreled in on him. The safety gave New York a 2-0 lead, although the patriots bounced back and led for much of the second half.

Late in the game, a long grab by Mario Manningham led the Giants into position for an Ahmad Bradshaw rushing touchdown that proved to be the decisive score for the Super Bowl result in favor of the Giants.

The last drive was quite climactic. Brady converted on a 4th and 16 by escaping and finding Deion Branch in the flat. But even a penalty on the Giants for too many men on the field wasn't enough to save the Patriots, who didn't have enough time and had to throw the Hail Mary.

In this one, the clutch play of the Giants' receivers made a big difference. Manningham's catch came after Wes Welker was unable to make a similarly difficult one of his own that ultimately led to a punt late in the game.

Brady's clutch QB status will likely remain unchanged but this one has to sting extra for the former Michigan QB. Eli Manning was 30/40 for 296 yards in the game, and deserves much ore credit at this point from the fans.

He also has the benefit of more explosive weapons than Brady, with Manningham making the biggest play of the game down the sideline. He caught it in between two defenders as he managed to stay in bounds despite little room to work. Cris Collinsworth called it one of the greatest catches in Super Bowl history and he's right on the money.

It will go down with David Tyree's as one of the best in the history of the game and the Giants franchise also just took a big step up in prestige.

The Super Bowl XLVI result was somewhat surprising according to the point spread going in as New England was a slight favorite, but most knew it would be a close game coming down to a handful of plays. That's exactly what happened, and the Giants are the new 2011-2012 Super Bowl champs.

Nick Meyer is a lifelong NFL fan from metro Detroit.

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