III. The Giants only topped 125 yards rushing once in 19 games this year; the Patriots did it six times.
IV. The Patriots have forced a turnover in 28 of their last 30 games.
V. Tom Brady needs 157 yards passing to become the all-time Super Bowl leader.
VI. Brady, Matt Light and Kevin Faulk are the only Patriots to be on all five Super Bowl teams of the Bill Belichick era. Three other members of the 2001 title team were still active in the league last year: Lonie Paxton, Richard Seymour and Adam Vinatieri.
VII. This will be Belichick's eighth Super Bowl as a coach (including three as an assistant) and Tom Coughlin's third. That's the most combined title-game coaching appearances since Tom Landry (7) and Chuck Noll (5) faced off in Super Bowl XIII.
VIII. There hasn't been a running back named Super Bowl MVP since Terrell Davis 15 years ago. A tight end has never won the MVP.
IX. Only one team ever scored 30 or more points and lost the Super Bowl (Dallas in Super Bowl XIII). The Patriots averaged 32.1 points a game in 2011 and scored at least 30 in 12 of their 17 games.
X. Victor Cruz and Wes Welker became two of only 29 players ever to top 1,500 yards receiving this year; this is the first time any of those receivers reached the Super Bowl. Neither Cruz nor Welker were drafted.
XI. Welker has more catches the last five seasons as a Patriot (554) than Hall of Fame wide receivers John Stallworth, Lance Alworth, Bobby Mitchell, Tommy McDonald, Bob Hayes and Lynn Swann had over their entire careers.
XII. The Giants are the only Super Bowl team that was outscored by its opponent in the regular season.
XIII. Six Giants started all 16 games: QB Eli Manning, OL David Diehl, OL Kareem McKenzie, CB Corey Webster, S Antrel Rolle and DT Chris Canty; five Patriots started all 15 games: QB Tom Brady, G Brian Waters, TE Rob Gronkowski, DL Vince Wilfork and LB Rob Ninkovich.
XIV. Over 26 seasons as a head coach and coordinator, Belichick's defenses have never finished in the bottom 10 league-wide in points allowed. His teams have only placed in the top 10 in yards per rush twice.
XV. Brady went 10-0 in his first playoff games with 14 touchdowns and three interceptions. Since, he's 6-5 with 22 touchdowns but 16 interceptions.
XVI. Since 2007, when they "became more of an offensive team," the Patriots have allowed an average of 20.0 points a game in the playoffs. Before 2007, they allowed 18.6 points a game.
XVII. Approximately 54 percent of Americans will drink coffee the morning after the Super Bowl. Approximately all of Americans will wish they ate a couple less appetizers.
XVIII. This is the third Super Bowl rematch of quarterbacks. The previous two were repeats (Terry Bradshaw over Roger Staubach, Troy Aikman over Jim Kelly).
XIX. Famous people from Indianapolis include: David Letterman, Steve McQueen, John Dillinger, Kurt Vonnegut, John Wooden and Dan Quayle. Fun group.
XX. There has never been an overtime Super Bowl game.
XXI. Every member of the winning Super Bowl team gets $88,000. When the Jets won a bidding war for Joe Namath's services in 1964, his four-year contract averaged out to $75,000 a season.
XXII. The first big-name singer at the Super Bowl was "? yep, Carol Channing, at Super Bowl IV. The first football great to be brought in for the coin toss was legend Red Grange.
XXIII. It's been 19 years since the first points of the Super Bowl came on a rushing touchdown (Thurman Thomas 2-yard run in the Bills' 52-17 loss to Dallas in SB XXV).
XXIV. Only 16 of the 90 Super Bowl teams played a turnover-free game.
XXV. The only non-Super Bowl in the top 10 most watched American sports programs of all time was the 1994 Winter Olympics showdown between Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.
XXVI. The Patriots amassed 400+ yards of offense 12 times this year; they only did it once in their Super Bowl season of 2001. That team was outgained by an average of 29.4 yards per game.
XXVII. Giants QB Eli Manning and backup David Carr were both drafted No. 1 overall. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady was drafted No. 199 overall, and backup Brian Hoyer was undrafted.
XXVIII. The NFC has won 14 straight coin tosses. The chances of one conference winning 14 straight coin tosses is 1 in 16,368. The 1996 Patriots were the last AFC team to win the toss.
XXIX. Super Bowl referee John Parry is a financial consultant for the national Ameriprise chain. He will not be available to talk to you about term-life insurance on Sunday, but give him a call on Monday and he'll be happy to talk about a plan that works for you and your family.
XXX. No team has come from more than 10 points down to win the Super Bowl.
XXXI. The first Super Bowl between the Giants and Patriots was the first to feature more than two fourth-quarter lead changes (3).
XXXII. The Giants took David Diehl with the 160th pick in the 2003 draft; the Patriots took center Dan Koppen five picks later. By Week 2 of their rookie seasons, they were both in the starting lineup, and only injury has taken them out of it since.
XXXIII. New York hasn't drafted a running back anywhere in the first 100 picks since taking Ron Dayne in the first round back in 2000.
XXXIV. The Patriots got starts from 19 different players who were never drafted by the NFL this year; the Giants had seven different undrafted players start games.
XXXV. Former Boston College coach Tom Coughlin has four former BC players on the roster: Mark Herzlich, Mathias Kiwanuka, Chris Snee and Will Blackmon.
XXXVI. The Giants allowed an average of 31.1 points per game in their seven losses this year. New England averaged 32.2 points per game on the season.
XXXVII. In 15 previous seasons as a head coach, Coughlin's teams ranked in the top 10 in yards per carry 10 times and were never worse than 20th; this year the Giants were dead last.
XXXVIII. It's well-known, but worth repeating: since he was a freshman running back at Indiana in 2004, BenJarvus Green-Ellis has handled the ball 1,551 times, scored 56 touchdowns, and not lost a single fumble.
XXXIX. The Patriots have scored more points the past five regular seasons (2,457) than they did in the 10 seasons between their Super Bowl seasons of 1985 and 1996 (2,442).
XL. Tom Brady's average game passer rating in 13 games played at domes is 106.5.
XLI. Eli Manning had never topped 300 yards in a playoff game (eight games) until doing it in back-to-back games in Green Bay and San Francisco.
XLII. The Giants have allowed fewer than 24 points in all 10 of Manning's playoff starts; they've only topped 24 points once.
XLIII. Despite annually ranking as one of the league's best kickoff men, Patriots kicker Stephen Gostkowski has only attempted eight field goals from 50+ over 88 career games, making five.
XLIV. The Patriots ride into the Super Bowl on a 10-game win streak; they had a 14-game winning streak in 2003 and an eight-game winning streak in 2001.
XLV. At 22, the Giants' Jason Pierre-Paul is the second-youngest player ever to record 15+ sacks in a season; only Shawne Merriman (2006) was younger.
XLVI. Roman numerals went out of vogue approximately 700 years ago, but still add a touch of class to movie sequels, popes and football championships.
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