The New York Giants are among the most legendary teams in National Football League history, having won four Super Bowls. Super Bowls XLII and XLVI were two of those victories, and they came against the New England Patriots in the middle of their dynastic years.
Even still, ESPN’s Aaron Schatz, who ranked the 57 Super Bowl-winning teams, didn’t give their victories any credit.Schatz used exclusive DVOA measures to determine his rankings. The 2007 Giants Super Bowl XLII team was ranked 53rd out of 57 by this data, while the 2011 Giants Super Bowl XLVI team was ranked 56th.
Regarding the 2007 Super Bowl squad, which infamously dashed the Patriots’ hopes of becoming the first team since the 1972 Miami
The 2011 Giants made history even without an off-season program to set the precedent. They were the first team in NFL history to advance to the Super Bowl with a negative regular season point differential (minus-6, 394 points scored, 400 points allowed), and they were also the third team to win fewer than ten games in a 16-game season.
Dolphins to record a perfect season, Schatz wrote: “The 2007 Giants had the lowest rank, coming in just 15th at 4.5% DVOA. They finished second in the NFC East behind the Cowboys but went on a legendary run through the playoffs, while Washington in 1987 had the lowest regular-season DVOA of any Super Bowl champion.”
The wins were close, but they were all away from home against teams who had excelled in the regular season. They defeated No. 3 Dallas 21-17, No. 4 Green Bay 23-20, and No. 8 Tampa Bay 24-14. Of course, the highlight of the season was the 17-14 triumph in Super Bowl XLII over the previously unbeaten No. 1 Patriots.Regarding the 2011 squad, which once more dashed the Patriots’ hopes of extending their winning streak to a fourth title,
Despite having the third-toughest schedule of the season and finishing 13th in regular-season DVOA, the 2011 Giants are the only Super Bowl champion in history to be outscored during the regular season. They went from being 6-2 to 6-6 in the midst of the season after losing four straight games, but they ended up finishing 3-1 and taking home a pretty meh NFC East title (9-7).
The Giants had victories over the [Atlanta] Falcons, [Green Bay] Packers, and the 49ers in overtime during the postseason. The Giants defeated the Patriots, who possessed the poorest defense to ever play in a Super Bowl, 21–17 in Super Bowl XLVI.”
While the numbers may not present a positive image, the 2007 season was truly magical in the eyes of Giants supporters. The Giants made their first trip to the Super Bowl since they were defeated by the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV (2000), and it was also their first triumph since Super Bowl XXV in 1990.
It was also remarkable that the Giants, a Wild Card club that had to win every game in the postseason on the road in order to win the championship, went undefeated and earned the moniker “Road Warrior” in the process. With 11 road playoff victories in the modern era, the Giants are tied with the Tennessee Titans and Indianapolis Colts for fourth place in terms of most such victories.
Even more remarkable was the 2011 championship season, given that the players union and the owners’ labor dispute had caused a lockout during the off-season.
The 2011 Giants made history even without an off-season program to set the precedent. They were the first team in NFL history to advance to the Super Bowl with a negative regular season point differential (minus-6, 394 points scored, 400 points allowed), and they were also the third team to win fewer than ten games in a 16-game season.
