The New York Times-20080124-Seven Years Later- Super Bowl Loss Still Stings

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Seven Years Later, Super Bowl Loss Still Stings

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Jim Fassel, the former Giants coach, made an appearance at a gathering of Giants fans last weekend on the eve of the National Football Conference championship game at Green Bay.

So many people came up and thanked me for helping get the team into the 2001 Super Bowl, Fassel said Tuesday in a telephone interview. They said they really enjoyed that season. And that made me feel good, but it kind of hurt, too, because I wish we had won. You don't get over some losses.

When Ernie Accorsi, the general manager of that team, who retired last year after 35 years in pro football, was asked to recall the game, he seemed disgusted.

That game still irritates me, Accorsi said of the Giants' 34-7 defeat to the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV.

The former Pro Bowl linebacker Jessie Armstead, who was involved in a pivotal, controversial play in the game, said it was not unusual for someone to mention the last Giants Super Bowl to him, even seven years later.

It's the biggest game in football, and so many players never get to it, Armstead said. So people want to know what's it like. Or, they ask what happened. And I wish I had a better story to tell them.

Losing Super Bowl memories cast a long shadow, and they die hard.

As this season's Giants enjoy their status as the surprising feel-good story of the N.F.L. playoffs, it may be worth remembering that not long ago, there was another Giants team cast in the same light. Much like this season's team, the 2000 Giants were a remarkable story, a team given up for dead in November with a coach many expected to be fired. Instead, the Giants charged into the playoffs.

It was the season of Fassel's wild-eyed, rambling playoff guarantee on the day before Thanksgiving, a most improbable rallying cry that nonetheless led to five consecutive victories to finish the regular season.

Labeled the worst team in the playoffs that season, the Giants first defeated the Philadelphia Eagles. Although they were underdogs at home in the N.F.C. championship game, the Giants thrashed the Minnesota Vikings, 41-0.

Kerry Collins threw five touchdown passes. Cornerback Jason Sehorn, in a game-long one-on-one battle, held Minnesota's Randy Moss to two catches for 18 yards.

This is where the storybook karma of the always-underdog 2000 Giants ran out.

There were a number of things that went wrong for the Giants in the Super Bowl, but two early plays essentially set the tone of the game and handed the Ravens all the strategic advantages.

The first major blow to the Giants was a 38-yard touchdown catch by wide receiver Brandon Stokley midway through the first quarter. Sehorn carelessly let Stokley get behind him, and the help he was expecting from safety Shaun Williams was slow in coming. Williams had missed nearly the entire week of practice leading to the game with a leg injury.

The Giants expected to have trouble moving the ball against the Ravens, and they planned for a close game that they eventually hoped to tip in their favor by pressuring Baltimore's inconsistent quarterback, Trent Dilfer, into turnovers.

So early in the second quarter, when Armstead picked off a wobbly Dilfer screen pass in the second quarter and returned it 47 yards for a touchdown, the Giants felt things were breaking as expected.

It was the script we planned, Fassel said. The score is 7-7. But then I saw the flag.

Nullifying the touchdown was a holding call on defensive tackle Keith Hamilton, an exceedingly rare penalty to call on a defensive lineman. Dilfer had made a play fake to running back Jamal Lewis, who got lost in the crush of bodies at the line. Hamilton, thinking that Lewis had the ball, had made a grab in Lewis's direction, although replays seemed to indicate he barely touched Lewis's jersey.

One of the other refs came to me on the field and told me, 'There's no way you make that call,' Armstead said. Instead of a tied game, we were soon down, 10-0, because they kicked a field goal. That's a big swing. I would have loved to see Dilfer come back on the field after that interception knowing it was a tied game and we were coming after him again.

Fassel said, At that point we had to start gambling offensively.

The Giants went to the air with abandon because Baltimore linebacker Ray Lewis was single-handedly shutting down Tiki Barber's running attempts. Soon, Collins had a pass picked off and returned for a touchdown, the first of four Collins interceptions. The rout was on.

I was still proud of our guys, Fassel said. We went against one of the best defenses I've ever seen. But yeah, you don't sleep for a while.

Armstead said that the better team won on that Sunday seven years ago and that he harbored plenty of fond memories about the season. But I wish we could have played them again a week later, said the fiery Armstead, ever the competitor even in retirement.

Accorsi, even in retirement, remains troubled by the lost opportunity.

I never felt we had the intensity for that Super Bowl game; I always thought we were too happy after the 41-0 Vikings win, he said.

I know the players played hard, but I never felt good about our preparation. It was too light-hearted for me.

When you're involved in this game, there's one thing that becomes clear: you play for the ultimate goal, and the ultimate goal is not the N.F.C. championship game.

[Illustration]PHOTO: Brandon Stokley slipped behind Jason Sehorn for the first score in Super Bowl XXXV.(PHOTOGRAPH BY DOUG MILLS/ASSOCIATED PRESS)(pg. D2)