Manningham's catch? How about Manning's throw?
Mario Manningham of the New York Giants signals first down after catching a 38-yard pass from Eli Manning over Patrick Chung and Brian Witherspoon in the fourth quarter. (Feb. 5, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
INDIANAPOLIS -- It was the most important, amazing, acrobatic Super Bowl catch by a Giants receiver since . . . .
Well, you know the answer to that one. But when Mario Manningham brought in a 38-yarder from Eli Manning along the Patriots’ sideline on the game-winning drive, somehow securing the ball tightly and planting both feet inbounds, he wasn’t thinking about David Tyree’s iconic helmet catch. For Manningham, it was just a catch that he needed to make, he said.
“Eli threw a perfect ball, nobody could get it but me,” Manningham said yesterday afternoon during an appearance at Modell’s in Times Square. “It was either going to go out of bounds or I'll catch it. I'm speechless still. I'm speechless and just full of joy.”
Manningham said he and Tyree spoke after the game about his catch.
“I talked to him,” Manningham said. “He said 'good game, great catch.’ ”
Eli Manning joked that his brother Peyton was upset that everyone was gushing about the catch, telling Eli that it was a pretty good throw, too. And it was.
“They do have a tendency, their safeties will read my eyes, so I did look to the right pretty long,” Manning said. “I didn’t like what I was seeing, so I slid up in the pocket. I was going to see where that safety was to the left. I saw he had cheated in, I saw a little window for Mario Manningham where he would catch it or nobody and he made a great catch.”
Manning said he would not rank that as one of the best throws of his career, but certainly it was one of the most important. He put it in a perfect spot and Manningham made a perfect catch.
Patriots coach Bill Belichick challenged the ruling on the field of a catch.
“I knew I was in, then I looked at the sideline and I could see everybody signaling it's a catch,” said Manningham, who will become a free agent but said he wants to return to the Giants. “You could see — the first replay they showed, it showed me stepping down but not both feet so I was like ‘Oh man.’ Then they ran it back and showed it and sure enough I was in bounds.”
To add to the significance, the Patriots also had to waste a timeout to challenge the call of a completion on the field. They certainly could have used that on their final drive.
“Obviously it was a Super Bowl and a tight throw, but I didn’t have any questions,” Manning said of his confidence in the toss. “I didn’t think much about it. I just saw where Mario was and knew the timing. A lot of those throws are muscle memory. You don’t think about how far to throw it or what to do. You see your receiver, you step, you make the throw and hopefully you put it in a good spot where he can catch it. He made a great play.”
With Zach Schonbrun
