Eli Manning led the New York Giants to a last-minute 21-17 win over the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl in Indianapolis on Feb. 5. Manning said a couple of months ago that he felt he was just as good as Patriots’ QB Tom Brady and then went out and proved it. It’s the second time Manning has guided his New York teammates to a Super Bowl win over New England as he also did it back in 2008.

The Giants marched 88 yards down the field and scored the winning touchdown with just 57 seconds left to play when Ahmad Bradshaw carried the ball in the end zone from just six yards out. Ironically, he tried not to score when he realized the Patriots were giving him the touchdown.

Patriots head coach Bill Belichick figured it’d be better to let the Giants score a touchdown so they could get the ball back for a chance to come back and win the game. He reasoned that the Giants would just run down the clock and attempt a short field goal if he didn’t allow the touchdown. The tactic made sense, but needless to say it failed.

Along with the two Super Bowl rings, Manning also has won the MVP award for both of the wins. However, the win wasn’t sealed until the last play was completed. Brady’s last-second hail-Mary pass dropped to the turf in the end zone as the game ended. Manning got off to a Super Bowl record start by completing his first nine passes. Brady then completed 16 in a row during the second and third quarters, which broke the previous mark of 13 set by Joe Montana.

Manning completed 30 out of 40 passes overall for a total of 296 yards with a touchdown. Brady completed 27 out of for 41, gaining 276 yards. He threw for two touchdown passes and an interception. Scoring late in a game is nothing new for manning since he led the giants to six comeback wins during the season and threw 15 touchdown passes in the last quarter of games for a new league record.

Manning said when he realized the Patriots were allowing them to score a touchdown he yelled at Bradshaw to tell him not to score. Bradshaw then appeared to try and stop, but tumbled into the New England end zone. The Patriots came close to pulling off a thrilling comeback, but tight end Rob Gronkowski couldn’t hang onto the final desperation pass from Brady. That meant Brady still needs one more Super Bowl win to tie Joe Montana’s and Terry Bradshaw’s record of four quarterback wins.

Brady did tie the record for Super Bowl appearances though along with Belichick since it was their fifth trip to the NFL’s championship game. However, they found themselves down 9-0 before pulling out into a third-quarter 17-9 lead. Scotsman Lawrence Tynes then kicked two field goals for the Giants to close the gap to 17-15, setting the stage for the final touchdown.

Sixty-five-year-old Giants’ head coach Tom Coughlin became the oldest coach to win the Super Bowl while the giants became the first team with a 9-7 record to win the trophy. It’s the fourth Super Bowl win for the Giants, who now trail Pittsburgh (6), Dallas and San Francisco (5) for the most wins.

Aaron Rodgers, the star quarterback of the Green Bay Packers, was announced as the NFL’s most valuable player on Feb. 4 in a vote that was conducted by the Associated Press. Rodgers was by far the clear favorite with the national voting panel as he garnered 48 votes out of a possible 50, for a total of 96 per cent. The other two votes went to another quarterback, Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints, who was named the top offensive player in the league this season.

Rodgers had an excellent season in 2011 when he set a new single-season mark for passer rating with 122.5 and also set club records for touchdown passes with 45 as well as 4,643 passing yards, a 68.3 per cent completion record, 9.25 yards per attempt, and a 7.5 touchdown to interception ratio. Rodgers also had eight games of 300-yards or more. Rodgers led Green Bay to the NFC North championship this season as they finished it with a near perfect record of 15-1.

Rodgers is now the fifth Green Bay player to win the NFL’s MVP award. Brett Favre won it from 1995 to 97, Paul Hornung was named the MVP in 1961 while Jim Taylor took the award in 1962 and Bart Starr won it in 1966. Quarterback Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers was named the league’s offensive rookie of the year and linebacker Von Miller of the Denver Broncos was names as the top defensive rookie. Miller was named on 39 of the 50 ballots while linebacker Aldon Smith of the San Francisco 49ers was named on the remaining 11.

Miller is now the second Bronco to be named the Defensive Rookie of the Year. Linebacker Mike Croel won it back in 1991. Miller was drafted by Denver from Texas A&M with the second overall draft pick. He finished the season with 11.5 sacks and 64 tackles even though he played the last month of the season with a cast on his hand to protect his injured right thumb, which required surgery to repair.

Newton was taken number one overall in the draft by Carolina last year and threw for 21 touchdowns and 4,051 yards this season. He also threw for 17 interceptions. Newton became the first quarterback in NFL history to rush for more than 500 yards and pass for more than 4,000 during the same season. Newton rushed for a total of 706 yards which included 14 touchdowns, which broke the single-season record that Steve Grogan had held for the past 35 years.

Newton’s name appeared on 47 of the 50 ballots with quarterback Andy Dalton of the Cincinnati Bengals receiving the three other votes. Newton’s the first Carolina player to win the award. However, the Panther’s Julius Peppers, a defensive end, won the Defensive Rookie of the Year award back in 2002. Peppers now plays with the Chicago Bears.

The Oakland Raiders have come to a formal agreement with Dennis Allen, the former defensive coordinator with the Denver Broncos, on a four-year head coaching contract. Reggie McKenzie, the new general manager of the Raiders, decided on Jan 24 to hire Allen after interviewing him a couple of times after the regular season ended. Allen will replace Hue Jackson, who was let go by the club after just one season, which saw Oakland finish with an 8-8 record.

Allen becomes the west coast club’s seventh head coach since 2003. The team has missed out on the playoffs for nine straight seasons and has a losing record in each of them. The closes they came was this season when they just missed out on title in the AFC West title on tiebreakers. Allen will be the team’s first new head coach since 1969 when John Madden was hired, who specializes in the defensive side of the game.

Allen had a fine season as defensive coordinator with Denver as he helped the team improve defensively by cutting down on their yards and points allowed per game. They were the worst in the NFL last season with 29.4 points and 390.8 yards against per game. This season they won the AFC West title by cutting those numbers down to 357.8 yards against per game, which was 20^th best in the league and 24.4 points allowed per game, good for 24^th in the league. Denver also saw their total sacks grow to 41 from 23 and tied for sixth-best for blitzes on passing plays.

Before joining the Broncos last year Allen worked with the New Orleans Saints for five years as a defensive assistant and also had a coaching job with the Atlanta Falcons. He was the secondary coach for the Saints from 2008 to 2010 and assistant defensive line coach before that. He was a defensive assistant with the Falcons and operates a 4-3 scheme, which the Raiders also employ. The 39-year-old is now the youngest coach in the NFL. He’ll try to work his defensive magic in Oakland since the Raiders finished the season ranked 29^th in defense.

McKenzie said Allen will be able to hire his own coaching staff before next season gets underway. At the moment, the only assistant who remains with the club from Jackson’s regime is offensive coordinator Al Saunders. It’s unclear if Allen will keep Saunders with the club or not. With McKenzie being on the job for just a month himself and with Jackson being fired and Allen being hired, there have been quite a few changes since Raiders owner Al Davis passed away last October.

Mark Davis, his son is now in charge of the club and looks intent on turning it into a winner. Davis’ son Mark has taken control of the team. Official details of Allen’s four-year contract weren’t released to the media and public.

The Oakland Raiders may have just made one of the best moves of their last few years. By hiring the Denver Broncos’ Dennis Allen as their head coach, the Raiders have not only managed to position top-notch talent at the helm of the team, they also weakened one of their rivals in the same time. Oakland’s search for a new head coach was prompted by the firing of head coach Hue Jackson, following a rather dismal 8-8 finish this season. Although a final decision in the matter has not yet been made – as specified by Raiders general manager Reggie McEnzie on Tuesday – but according to Jason LaCanfora, the two parties are close to finalizing the deal.

Allen would be a great fit for the Raiders for a whole bunch of reasons. He would be the first defensive-minded Raiders head coach since the legendary John Madden, and a defensive-minded coach is what the Raiders are in bad need of: they ranked 29th in the league this season in defense. Allen’s defensive-mindedness isn’t just lackluster either. He has statistics to back up his defensive prowess: the Broncos were league-worst when he took defensive matters into hand and he helped them to 20th rank in yards and 24th in points, while clinching the AFC West title. The number of total sacks showed a massive improvement as well: the Broncos managed 41 sacks compared to 23 last season.

Another reason while Allen will fit with the Raiders like the best poker prop deals fit a professional player, is that he uses the same 4-3 scheme the Raiders have pushed for the last 7 years. Allen has also worked with the New Orleans Saints, where he was secondary coach as well as assistant defensive line coach. The Atlanta Falcons have also enjoyed his services: he was their defensive assistant.

Kyle Williams of the San Francisco 49ers has received a lot of abuse via social media sites ever since his punt-return fumble led to a 20-17 overtime loss to the New York Giants in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 22. But while he said he’s just ignoring them all, his father is pretty upset that his son has received several death threats.

Williams isn’t hiding though. He said the day after the heartbreaking loss that he’s taking full responsibility for the fumble that led to Lawrence Tynes kicking the winning field goal from 31 yards out. Williams, who was playing in place of the injured Ted Ginn Jr., said he didn’t pay attention to the media sites and was consoled by his teammates, friends and family.

San Francisco fans weren’t quite so forgiving though and Williams was blamed for the loss by many of them and became an instant Internet villain. He said it’s part of his job to take responsibility for his mistakes and said he also blew a third-quarter punt return when the ball bounced up and hit his knee. Williams said that every player is accountable for what they do on the field and he is willing to own up to his gaffes, but it’s time to move on.

His teammate David Akers asked people via Twitter to stop with the abuse the day after the game and said they need to get a grip. He reminded them that football’s a team game and the club win and lose as a team not as individuals. He said nobody points their fingers at anybody in the locker room after a loss. Ackers said Williams is being treated badly as he tried his best for the team, but it just didn’t work out as they had hoped. He added that mistakes happen in sports all the time and every athlete makes them.

Jim Harbaugh, San Francisco’s head coach, said he’s not surprised that his players are all showing their support for Williams. He said the squad is filled with class guys and they aren’t blaming anybody for the loss. Williams said things didn’t work out like ha had planned, but he wanted to make a play to help his teammates reach the Super Bowl. He added that he’d probably do the same thing 10 times out of 10 and he can’t go back and change things now.

Williams’ father Kenny, who’s the general manager of the Chicago White Sox, told ESPN that his son was playing with a possible separated shoulder when he fumbled the ball in overtime. But his son said that had nothing to do with his bad play and Harbaugh said he wasn’t aware of any injury. Kenny Williams said either way, he’s not too happy about the death threats that his son has received. He said he’s been threatened a few times in his career, but it’s pretty hard to accept when your son’s life is being threatened. He added that there’s something wrong with the culture of sports when people react like they have been.

Don’t be surprised if you hear some members of the St. Louis Rams speaking with English accents in the next couple of years or becoming quite fond of fish and chips. This is because the NFL team has committed to playing a regular-season game at Wembley Stadium in London, England in each of the next three seasons. They’ll basically become London’s home team during that time and will face the New England Patriots in their first contest on Oct. 28. Their opponents haven’t been chosen yet for the games in 2013 and 2014.

It might not come as a big shock to NFL insiders since Rams owner Stan Kroenke spends quite a bit of time in Jolly old England since he’s also the majority shareholder of London’s Arsenal F.C, of the English Premier Soccer League. The decision means the Rams will lose out on one home game per season over the next three years while they’re playing in London.

Kroenke released a statement that said the NFL’s popularity is growing in both London and other major European markets. He said he’d like the Rams to play a role in the growth and promotion of the league and feels this is an excellent way to do it. The game against New England will be the sixth NFL contest held in London, but it will also be the only there next year even though it was rumored there might be a second game added ad Wembley.

Alistair Kirkwood, who’s the managing director for the NFL in Britain, said that 2012 is going to be a very competitive and busy place for sports in Britain because the Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games are going to be held there this summer. He said the NFL wanted to concentrate on the Rams as more or less being Britain’s home team for the time being and didn’t think they should add a second game at Wembley next season.

He added that the league still wants to play more games in Europe and they will be scheduled when it feels the time is right. Their chance will come since the NFL has agreed to play at least one regular season game in London for each of the next five years. League commissioner Roger Goodell also hopes that Britain will one day have its own NFL franchise. However, British fans won’t have one of the league’s elite teams to cheer for. The Rams have won just 15 games over the past five seasons and finished this year with a 2-14 record, which was the worst in the league and shared with the Indianapolis Colts. The club also recently fired coach Steve Spagnuolo and replaced him with Jeff Fisher.

The NFL played its first game in London back in 2007 when the New York Giants edged the Miami Dolphins by a 13-10 score. Since then, a total of seven other NFL franchises have played in England, with Tampa Bay playing there twice. Next season’s game will also be New England’s second visit as they beat Tampa 35-7 back in 2009. Tampa played there this season as well and dropped a 24-18 decision to the Chicago Bears in October. It was the first NFL game in London that didn’t sell out.

Robert Kraft, owner of the Patriots said he’s excited about the trip, especially since his club won’t be giving up a home game. He said the Patriots have a pretty big fan base in Britain and it’s actually like playing an extra home game for his team.

After possibly their biggest win of the season, the Denver Broncos turned in a lousy performance against the New England Patriots last Sunday, jotting down a disappointing mark in the L column. It would appear though that there was a more than reasonable explanation behind the loss: Tim Tebow, the QB who had pretty much achieved legendary status just a week ago was little more than a walking corpse. He was plagued by a wide selection of chest, lung and rib injuries, which he valiantly played through, eventually failing to lift his side over the opposition.

According to ESPN, Tebow was hurt in the 3^{rd quarter of the Pats game, in a tackle after which he had trouble sleeping and had a chest MRI test done on Monday. According to Broncos officials, his offseason program should in no way be affected by the injuries. The exact nature of the injuries could not be made public, because of team policy. Brady Quinn was on hand to step up to the plate when Tebow got hit, but the starting QB decided to stick it out in order to show character and integrity. He said he was going to play through the pain like a poker prop regardless of the stakes involved because he just wanted to give everything he had.}

After the game, Tebow missed the media hour in the locker room, only emerging from the trainer’s room as reporters were on their way out. On Monday, Tebow’s status within the team was cemented by John Elway who declared that the team would retain him as their starting QB for next season. Tebow logged an 8-5 record with the Broncos after the disastrous 1-4 start the team got off to under Kyle Orton’s leadership. During his stretch, Tebow had four extremely spectacular 4-quarter comebacks.

In a move that many football fans saw coming, the Indianapolis Colts fired their head coach Jim Caldwell on Jan. 17 after the NFL club struggled to a 2-14 season. Of course, they had to play the entire season without future Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning.

The record is a reversal of Caldwell’s 14-2 season back in 2009, which was his first as head coach, when he led the Colts all the way to the Super Bowl only to be beaten 31-17 by the New Orleans Saints. The team didn’t make it quite as far last year as they were knocked out of the playoffs by the New York Jets in the wild-card round after going 10-6 in the regular season.

Caldwell, who was the team’s quarterback and assistant head coach from 2002 to 08, saw the wheels fall off the bus this year, starting with the injury and surgeries to Manning. Fans knew the quarterback was one of the most valuable players in the league, but most of them didn’t expect the Colts to miss him as much as they did and perform so poorly.

Jim Irsay, owner of the franchise, told the press after the season that Caldwell’s and the team’s performance was being evaluated and it would take a bit of time until a decision on the head coach’s future would be made. It’s possible that Tony Dungy, who coached the team from 2002 to 08, could return. However, that remains to be seen since he seems to be quite content working for “Football Night in America” on NBC.

Caldwell’s dismissal wasn’t the first major move made by Irsay and there could be more of them coming in wake of the disastrous season. Bill Polian, the club’s vice chairman, was fired along with his son Chris, the team’s GM as soon as the season came to a crashing end. However, Caldwell lasted a few weeks longer while Irsay decided what to do with the man who went 26-22 as the team’s head coach in his three-year stint.

Caldwell started his head coaching career brighter than anyone in history by setting a league record for a first-year coach after winning his first 14 NFL contests. He was also just the fifth rookie coach to take his squad to the Super Bowl. The fans didn’t care that Manning was injured though and the writing has been on the wall for Caldwell since mid season.

With Manning in the lineup the Colts won 115 regular-season encounters in the previous decade for a league record. They also tied the NFL record by making the playoffs nine years in a row and won a pair of two AFC championships and a Super Bowl along the way. But without Manning, the team went 0-13 this season before winning two of their last three games. They came close to becoming just the second NFL club to go winless in a regular season. They lost their final game of the campaign to Jacksonville, which gave them the number-one pick in the next draft.

Manning said Caldwell helped him to win his record four MVP Awards and called him a friend as well as a good coach. Ryan Grigson, the team’s new GM will now meet with Irsay to decide if any other moves need to be made and who might be a good candidate for the head coaching job.

Broncos fans know that “Tebow time” is back and it’s clear that it returned in as spectacular a fashion as possible. Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos stunned the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday with an impressive overtime win which is beyond doubt the highest point of Tebow’s QB career. The Denver QB, whom many began doubting after his dismal 6 of 22 performance against the Kansas City Chiefs, came through big time for his team during the closing moments of the Steelers game. Prior to the game, there was a lot of discussion within the Broncos organization regarding Tebow’s capabilities. According to some inside sources, the team had considered expanding backup QB Brady Quinn’s role and involving him in the game-plan more. Eventually, the decision was John Elway’s who told Tebow to go out there and pull the trigger.

The moment that will go down in history is obviously the overtime one when Tebow connected brilliantly on a pass to Demaryius Thomas for the game winner, but this time around that was not when “Tebow time” started. It started much earlier than that: in the second quarter. In a rather uncharacteristic manner, Tebow managed to connect on one big play after the other in the second quarter, stringing together 185 yards and putting his team up 20-6 before halftime. Just to put things into perspective: Tebow’s previous second quarter average was 11.18 passing yards, totaling 123 yards over 11 starts.

Obviously, for Tebow there was much more on the line than the game: he was fighting the biggest battle of his career so far, and he acquitted himself like a poker prop. One can’t peg the laurels on anyone else either. There was no falling back on the defense, there was no Matt Prater and there were no unexpected fumbles from anyone: it was all Tebow, like it or not.

The Minnesota Vikings and the Jacksonville Jaguars have locked horns over an unlikely issue: both teams would like to have Mel Tucker as their defensive coordinator and Tucker’s current contractual situation is a little bit unclear. Tucker was the Jags defensive coordinator, but his contract expired and he is no longer legally tied to Jacksonville. The Vikings are apparently interested in interviewing him and eventually securing his services as a defensive coordinator. To that end they have sent a fax to Jacksonville requesting to talk to Tucker. The only problem is that the Jaguars are apparently interested in retaining his services too, so Tucker has suddenly become as hot a commodity as a generous rake back deal.

Tucker acted as interim head coach for the team after Jack Del Rio’s departure, but the Jags now want him back in the defensive coordinator spot, as they’re set on acquiring a more offense-oriented head coach. One person that the Jags seem to have set their sights on is Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey. Mularkey, who is set to interview with the Jags soon is reportedly in favor of retaining Tucker as defensive coordinator too. The Falcons front office seems to think that Mularkey is highly likely to get a job, so much so that they have apparently prepared a plan B to replace him at the offensive coordinator position.

Having finished a disappointing 8-8 and having missed the playoffs this season, the cowboys are facing some serious changes according to owner Jerry Jones. In an interview given at a film premiere in Forth Worth, Jones told journalists that he was disappointed his team didn’t make the playoffs. He felt bad for the fans too, because playing in the playoffs is “just a different game”. Instead of the Cowboys playing in the NFC wildcard game, the New York Giants and the Atlanta Falcons did, with the Giants getting the better of their opponents.