Super Bowl XLII will be a memory that haunts the New England Patriots players and their fans for a long, long time.
The Patriots were mere minutes from a 19-0 season before Giants quarterback Eli Manning led a game-winning drive late in the fourth quarter.
One Patriots player from that 2007 team, linebacker Tedy Bruschi, still thinks about that game and wonders what he could've done differently on that final Giants drive to prevent New York from spoiling the perfect season. The loss was so tough, there's even a specific word that he can't stand now because it conjures up memories of that Super Bowl.
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"I think about it, I want to say, often," Bruschi said in the latest episode of "The Michael Holley Podcast" from NBC Sports Boston. "Sure. You think about the ones that got away, especially the one. We were trying to not just win the Super Bowl, but win the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl that probably never would have been matched, 19-0 and things like that.
"I have a stigma in my mind now, since that game, every time I hear the word "perfect" it just bothers me. I just shake my head. Or, say, my wife will make something that tastes so good. You know when you have this meal and it's just so great, and I say, 'Babe, that's some 19-0 stuff right there.'
"When I think of that game, I think of that last drive of Eli Manning. I remember the 4th-and-1 to (Brandon) Jacobs and Madison Hedgecock was the fullback. I was in there, and I took on Hedgecock and we had a great collision. Jacobs was still able to get the first down by this much. I think, man, maybe if I made a call to (Richard) Seymour, like I ripped him from the backside. Maybe if I jumped over Hedgecock and took the ball from Jacobs and punched at it. I always think of those types of changes I could've made. How I could've maybe stopped that fourth-down rush, because then the drive would've been over. That's what as players you individually think of."
New England Patriots
Bruschi won three Super Bowl championships with the Patriots during his exceptional pro career. But no matter how many titles you win, the ones you didn't win often stick with you more.
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