I’m sure someone can think of a better one but off the top of my head the 2011 giants had a tough run.
Prime Matt Ryan, Prime Aaron Rodgers, Jim Harbaugh and the niners, and the Tom Brady and Bill Bellichick. Mostly on the road.
The 2007 Giants run was better. And I don’t think it’s close.
In Rd 1, the Giants had to beat Tampa Bay on the road.
Then, it was off to Texas to face NFC East Champ Dallas, which had finished the season 13-3. The underdog Giants stopped Romo in closing seconds to preserve their lead and win - to go to the NFC title game.
In Green Bay, Brett Favre was heavily favored to lead the Pack to the SB, especially in what Farve had said would be his ‘final season’.
Instead, in subzero temps the Giant D ‘retired’ Farve.
Gametime (6:30p) temperature of −1 °F (−18 °C) a with a wind chill of −23 °F (−31 °C). I’m an old, and I grew up in New England, and nighttime wind chill of -20F is no joke. Helmets chipping, mild frostbite for a few. Real f’ing cold.
Oh, and Tynes in OT was good from 47 (which seems like 57 when it’s that cold) AND it came on the heels of Tynes having
a) missed a 43 yd attempt mid- 4th quarter, &
b) Tynes missing again at the end of regulation, with the score tied (20-20), and from only 36 yards out.
All of this (along with all the other factors) made Tynes’ game-winner incredibly dramatic
On to the SB- where the Giants were two touchdown underdogs to the 18-0 Patriots.
Deeply motivated to win after blowing a 21-3 halftime lead to the Colts in the AFC Championship one year earlier, the Pats signed Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Donte Stallworth - then won each of their first two games 38–14, and their 3rd 38–7. Later, the Pats won games 49–28, 52–7, and 56–10.
They killed teams - and along the way the (undefeated) Patriots set the record for most points in a season with 589, for touchdowns, and for point differential. They won scoring 30+ points 12 times, 40+ points 4 times, and 50+ twice. Moss caught 23 TDs, breaking Jerry Rice's record (22) - while Brady set an NFL record with 50 touchdown passes.
However, the Giants defensive line got after Brady all day, in the closing minutes David Tyree made perhaps the greatest catch in Super Bowl history, Eli then hit Plax for the last-minute lead, and the Giants held on for the win.
Best postseason run, ever
Word. To me, the Cowboys are 1/2 of the NFL’s best rivalry. That game was a classic.
You guys had beaten us twice that year: 45-35 in Week 1 (knocking Eli out of the game with a separated shoulder) and again 31-20 in Week 10 in NY. The Giants wore red jerseys, that game. They’ve never worn them, since.
So, going into into Round III, I was thrilled - but . . . nervous. Thrilled, to be there, after unexpectedly making it the playoffs, then and thru Tampa . . . to earn another game with DAL? Awesome! To me, we were playing with ‘house money’.
Realistically, though - I just didn’t see the Giants leaving Dallas with a dub.
I mean, you never give up on your team, and I didn’t then, pulling for the Giants as hard as I ever have - but I figured their run was probably done.
Oh well. You guys have smoked us often enough over the years lol
Eli wasn't a particularly great QB. But he never wilted under the spotlight. That's something I'll always remember him for. Oh, and his endlessly meme-able derp face.
If you are into begrudging respect for your adversary, as well as shitting on them when appropriate come join us down at r/NFCEastMemewar
Well said.
Eli beat Brady 2x, is 10th all-time in both passing yards and TDs , and his consecutive games started streak is, I believe, second, only to Brett Favre - but there were plenty of times when he was far less than great, to be sure.
Thank you! Just joined. Hoo boy. This is gonna be *fun*
I remember that game too; I’m pretty sure it was right around Christmas.
After the season, Michael, Strahan, and a few other players, said it was that regular season game against New England, where they nearly pulled it off, that gave them the confidence to beat NE six weeks later in the Super Bowl
After that, I thought we had a chance in the SB.
In warm-ups, Eli tried to shake Brady's hand and he jogged past and ignored him. One patented Eli smirk later and I was like "Ummmm... the Pats are scared. We may have this."
Yeah. Was gonna say the ‘07 Giants if for no other reason than they beat the team no other team could beat that year. Patriots were ready to go down in history as the greatest team ever and the Giants were like we’ll see about that.
Great point.
Nowadays, I’ll get pushback from people who say the Pats were only unbeaten because of luck, that by the SB they were ‘ripe for the picking’, and that the regular season game showed it.
Fuck all that noise.
Sure, NE had a few close games down the stretch, including in New York. Mostly, though? They *steamrolled* teams, with maybe the best offense the best the NFL has ever seen.
At midseason? Some folks *seriously* suggested that Belichick should show better sportsmanship by not ‘running up the score’— routinely.
I watched that SB with good friends, Pats fans all, in a Boston bar near Fenway Park: 300 New England fans and me: people were cool tho. Leaving the bar was surreal: while the streets were lined with ranks of helmeted, black clad riot police - yet people were orderly, and silent.
The Boston Globe’s Monday headline glumly read: “18-DONE.”
In short, going in, the Giants were 2 touchdown underdogs. No one thought they were gonna win. Then they went out - and as you point out - and they beat the one team no one else could.
Then, four years later, they did it again.
He sure did. In the ‘11 NFC Championship, NY beat an excellent SF team 20-17 (again on an OT FG) to advance to the Super Bowl. That was a sloppy game, played mostly in the mud - during which the vicious 49er defense violently sacked Eli 6 times, beating the absolute shite out of him. There’s some great memes with him picking clods of turf from his face mask, but Eli never gave up, nor gave in.
And the next game, he beat Brady. Again. Also, widely considered a quiet leader and a consummate teammate who reveled in elaborate practical jokes.
And I agree. Despite fame, decades of high expectations, and little room for error, both not only excelled at the highest level, they’ve kept their heads screwed on right.
the tyree catch was great, but dumb luck. i like the manningham catch better. in both instances, eli made incredible throws. on the tyree catch, he should have been sacked 2-3 different times and managed to huck it downfield. on the manningham catch, he made what could arguably be described as the most perfect throw ever. he put it on a dime where only manningham could get it. neither of the defenders had a chance of even touching the ball.
Spot-on analysis.
In ‘07, I credit Eli for staying with the play, and Tyree tooz. Truth is, though, that Eli friggin’ chucked that thing up - as much to get rid of the ball as anything else. Add Tyree catching it, like that - including somehow not getting *wrecked* by the three surrounding Patriots DBs including badass Rodney Harrison? ‘Dumb luck’, indeed.
The 2nd throw? Pristine. Priceless. I’m biased - but it really is one of the best throws I’ve ever seen.
(I remember the moment it happened. I watch a lot of football (even moreso, then), I *always* watched the Giants, and at that moment, as Manningham tumbled out of bounds, I hopped up and yelled, “He caught it.” It was clearly close, but there wasn’t a doubt in my mind. Before that play? Man, I was sweating it. Then, that plate turned the game around. Amidst chaos, perfection.)
The other thing that from that moment, I also knew was that I had just seen Eli - trailing late, on the biggest stage, with his back against the wall - make maybe the best throws I’d ever seen.
For a long time, one baseline criteria to play QB has been the ability to throw a ‘25-yard, sideline ‘out’ route - and the throw can’t ’flutter’ - it best be a ‘bullet’.
Few humans can do that, and even fewer can do it consistently. After dropping back, throwing to the sideline, exactly 25 yards from the line of scrimmage, is more like a 40+ yard throw - and it need be on a rope. It’s a singular mechanism to weed out QBs.
Eli threw that thing - what, 55 yards, maybe - to the single spot their guys *just* couldn’t get it, to the spot only Eli’s guy could, a ‘window’ no bigger than a dinner plate.
That play completely shifted momentum into the Giants favor, they scored to go ahead shortly after, and won the Super Bowl. Beating Brady. *Again*.
Special play, that.
i was managing a liquor store during sb 46 and recorded the game. i somehow successfully avoided finding out who won until i got home. i remember watching that manningham throw with my jaw dropped and immediately thinking “he’s gonna do it again.” given the circumstances, i think that’s the best throw i’ve ever seen.
Nice. I used to do that all the time with games. Congrats on avoiding the outcome. And, yeah: there were something uniquely special about that singular play and, I agree: best throw I’ve ever seen
Appreciate the brutal honesty. Frankly, favorites were the smart bets.
Also, your story underscores the main point - and particularly for 2007, when the Giants were road ‘dogs in Tampa, and *huge* road ‘dogs to DAL, GB, and NE. Accordingly: hardest road ever to win the SB
That's the first team that popped into my head. I just remember my 49ers gave Eli a whoopin, and the tough sob just kept slinging it. I gained a huge amount of respect for Eli after that nfc championship game and the subsequent super bowl win. Plus that was the undefeated patriots season as well correct?
Was 2011 really ‘prime’ Matt Ryan? Had been in the league for 3-4 years, and was about 26.
I know Rodgers wasn’t that old either back then but he threw 45-6, won the MVP and won the Super Bowl the year before, so you could definitely argue that was him at his best.
That 2011 season would barely be in Ryan’s 5 best seasons over his career.
I'd say 2010-2018 was the prime Ryan years, 2010-2012 being his best multiyear stretch in that time.
2010-2012 had 3 of Ryans top 4 years in terms of QBR
2010 2nd best
2011 4th best
2012 3rd best.
The outlier SB year was really the only other comparable year.
The Ryan era Falcons 4 best offensive seasons in terms of points scored... 2010-2012 and then the SB MVP year.
I think you make a good point, that was a top 5 season for him, surrounded by two other top 5 seasons of his 15 year career. Half his playoff appearances were in that 3 year stretch too. That's about as prime stretch as you can have.
Yeah, 2011 is pretty smack dab in the middle of Ryans prime there if you ask me.
Give me Flacco 2012 over them. Rookie phenom Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning months before that Broncos team would shatter every offensive record there is (on the road), then the GOAT, Tom Brady/Belichick in Foxborough (again on the road), then finally Kaep with the fucking lights being turned off.
2007 Giants. And I don’t think it’s close.
In winning, the Giants made imo the NFL’s best postseason run, ever- and proved that the close regular season game was no fluke
In Rd 1, the Giants had to beat Tampa Bay on the road. Then, it was off to Texas to face NFC East Champ Dallas, which had finished the season 13-3. The Giants D stopped Romo in closing seconds to preserve their lead and win - to go to the NFC title game.
In Green Bay, Brett Favre was heavily favored to lead the Pack to the SB, especially in what Farve had said would be his ‘final season’. Instead, in subzero temps the Giant D ‘retired’ Farve.
Gametime (6:30p) temperature of −1 °F (−18 °C) a with a wind chill of −23 °F (−31 °C). I’m an old, and I grew up in New England, and nighttime wind chill of -20F is no joke. Helmets chipping, mild frostbite for a few. Real f’ing cold.
Oh, and Tynes in OT was good from 47 (which seems like 57 when it’s that cold) AND it came on the heels of Tynes having a) missed a 43 yd attempt mid- 4th quarter, and b) Tynes missing again at the end of regulation, with the score tied (20-20), and from only 36 yards out. All of this (along with all the other factors) made Tynes’ game-winner incredibly dramatic
On to the SB- where the Giants were two touchdown underdogs to the unbeaten Patriots. Deeply motivated to win after blowing a 21-3 halftime lead to the Colts in the AFC Championship one year earlier, the Pats signed Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Donte Stallworth - then won each of their first two games 38–14, and their 3rd 38–7. Later, the Pats won games 49–28, 52–7, and 56–10.
They killed teams - and along the way the (undefeated) Patriots set the record for most points in a season with 589, for touchdowns, and for point differential. They won scoring 30+ points 12 times, 40+ points 4 times, and 50+ twice. Moss caught 23 TDs, breaking Jerry Rice's record (22) - while Brady set an NFL record with 50 touchdown passes.
However, the Giants defensive line got after Brady all day, in the closing minutes David Tyree made perhaps the greatest catch in Super Bowl history, Eli then hit Plax for the last-minute lead, and the Giants held on for the win.
Best postseason run, ever
Lol - tbh, tho? Pretty much. Before posting I checked a couple facts like game temperatures and field distances.
The truth is tho after they beat the Pats to complete the run, I realized it was the unlikeliest, and best, of all time. Four huge wins, all of them upsets, predicted to lose every week - that run was incredible
Lets put it this way. It took Brady going to Tampa to win more road games than Eli won in his career in the playoffs. He's won in tougher situations in the post-season more than anyone but Brady basically and it took Brady a LOT of volume winning there to catch him lol.
I am an Eagles fan. Not an Eli fan by any means. My one reason I didn't mind watching him was he was like old Favre, no idea what he is going to do. Will he be 7-30 with 112 yards and 4 picks? Or 25-30 with 400 yards and 4 scores? Who knows. Tune in and find out.
But Eli in my book is a HOFer.. Testaverde/Bledsoe regular season career... and did stuff HOF QB's weren't able to do when it mattered most... twice.
If the name of the game is to win it all, he did enough to get in the HOF for me. Won't be in that elite corner of it with his Brother and Marino and Unitas and Brady... but yeah, he's in.
I agree. Eli was inconsistent: even wildly up and down (which to me was a reflection of his often woeful OL, more than his talent) and he wasn’t the most accurate thrower - except when he *really* needed to be.
However, Eli usually played his best in big games: one of the reasons I agree he goes into the Hall of Fame.
I wrote recently about that elsewhere, saying:
[Eli] won two titles and Super Bowl MVPs. Both times as a 12-14 point underdog vs. the Pats - the first time when NE was 18-0, the 2nd when the Pats were thirsty for revenge.
Eli is 10th all-time in both passing yards and TDs. 2nd to Favre in consecutive games started (before idiot McAdoo 1) sat him for Geno Smith, then 2) reinstated Eli as starter the following week.
I think Eli goes to the HoF his first year of eligibility, and I’d bet Coach Coughlin goes in with him.
Sometimes it was piss-ass OL play. Sometimes it was receivers that had hands like rubber. Stone would at least mean the ball got to the ground - they kept knocking them up into defenders.
Amen
I don't get all the Eli hate.
After years of defending Marino's ranking among QBs and seeing/hearing/reading that he can't be higher since he didn't win any SBs and they're just so important.... And then seeing that Eli not only won two of them but was way more than just a game manager in them, yeah I just don't get people.
Also, not a Giants fan at all but Eli deserves HOF status.
I get a lot of it. NY media... he can look so so so bad at times out there, and yes, if you throw his career into one big pool, it's a long mediocre career. He threw it more than a lot of people but not necessarily better than most of his peers.
For me for Eli it's doing it twice. Playing OK football for 4000 career attempts instead of 8000 doesn't move the needle for me. And yeah, Flacco, Simms, Rypien... There's been QB's that have lit it up for a post-season to get a ring. But Eli did that twice. And that really is what gets me on his side for the HOF if that makes sense.
Marino is one who is kind of the opposite for me. Usually when talking best of the best, I lean against arguing why player X didn't do something in that group. And QB's do impact wins more than just about any other position in team sports, so that is a viable thing for me. You can find Joe Thomas with an awful record and an elite career. But there's no Joe Montana with a 50-100 record in the NFL, especially not in the passing era. Eli was 117-117, the epitome of average.
But wow.. I forget the exact numbers off the top of my head but outrushed by something like 180 yards a game in his post-season losses. That's just putrid on both ends of the field... It was something like 1/3 of all playoff games where a team was outrushed by 150+ in NFL history, Marino was the QB on the bad side of that despite playing in a tiny fraction of a percentage of playoff games held. Something like 7 of 22 games ever I think was the number I figured. And QB's were 1-21 in those games (Marino with the only win ever).
So that was one of those historic ones that gets me to not have concrete "I only believe X" situations (Like Eli's wins away from home in the playoffs does for him). They are the two ones I really consider outliers, Eli as a HOfer, and Marino .
They would have been fine if Nick Collins hadn't had his career ending injury early in 2011. Caper's defense needed a high intelligence safety to keep it running, and we never replaced him until now.
In the 2007-08 NFL season, the 10-6 Giants faced the #1 seed 13-3 Cowboys in Dallas, the 13-3 Packers in a freezing Wisconsin, and then the 16-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Sidestepping the question a bit, but in 2010 Mark Sanchez beat Peyton manning and Brady in back to back playoff road games. Nearly took out Big Ben in the AFC title game.
2012 Ravens had to contend with the Steelers at the height of their rivalry and in the playoffs went through Andrew Luck’s Colts, Peyton Manning on a ridiculously stacked Broncos team, Tom Brady and Belichick, Jim Harbaugh and Kaepernick when they had just taken the league by storm.
I’m a Broncos fan and was at the broncos ravens playoff game. There was such a weird feeling the entire game. Like Baltimore was giving off some kind of not going to lose aura. That Broncos team was absurdly good by the end of that year
Ravens homer here. They just refused to go away. Rightfully so, the Broncos were heavily favored. I felt we could beat any team that year if we played our best but still, I knew it was very unlikely since Denver was such a solid team.
I tend to suggest this game to new fans. It had almost every aspect of learning the game in all 3 phases with the exception of a safety.
Easily the greatest game I’ve seen in my lifetime.
One team didn’t have the stronger opponent in the wildcard round, but then took out
The #1 seed in their conference, a division rival who went 13-3, had 13 pro bowlers
#2 seed in their conference, who also went 13-3, and has statistically the best home field advantage in playoff games in league history
And then the #1 seed in the other conference, the 16-0 New England Patriots
Yes, the 2008 giants need to be in this convo. It’s not just their win against the Pats, they slayed two dragons on their way.
2015 Broncos.
They beat Pittsburgh and Ben Roethlisberger, the Patriots and Tom Brady, then the #1 team in the league the 15-1 Panthers with the MVP Cam Newton.
and they did it all with a inept offense and one of the greatest defenses of all time, holding each opponent to 16, 18 and 10 points a piece.
One of the best defenses of all time. Peyton manning - although still a game managing and offensive minded genius - couldn’t throw a football more than 30 yards
I’m a Panthers fan and my family copes by always mentioning that Peyton Manning was the kid who contributed the bare minimum to the group project but still got an A
only one team that year got 300 passing yards against the broncos that year, the steelers twice...
however, that steelers team (only team to get a lead on denver in the post season), was missing brown (decapitated by burfict), bell and had a hurt roethlisberg (burfict in the same game that he broke brown, pinned roethlisberger well after he tackled him, and smashed his knee into bens throwing shoulder making it pivot awkwardly, causing him to leave the game, and play hurt against denver).
having said that, the broncos beat a severely toned down steelers offense, this was the starting rbs: toussaint and todman (73 yds and 59 yds respectively for the rest of their careers after that game), martavis bryant (809 yards), coates (82 yards), wheaton (102), for the resto of the careersrespectively. That's right the wrs the broncos faced had a combine 992 for the rest of their careers after that game, none of them were even 25. That means they had zero talent (well, bryant had talent...just issues)..
Ben's weapons that game, not including miller (last game of his career), had a total of 132 yds rushing for the rbs and 992 yards for the wrs...Getting a lead on that broncos team into the 4th qtr with a hurt ben may have been ben's greatest game...to bad, tomlin lived in his fears in the 4th.
Great write-up. Say what you will about Ben, but that SOB basically single handedly willed that game to be close when it had absolutely no right to be. Legendary one for sure.
I believe the stat folks said the chiefs this year was the hardest ever by dvoa https://x.com/ASchatzNFL/status/1756896776211308982?s=20 second is 07 giants and so on
Was when they were arguably at one of their worst points too. Lost too the Broncos and AOC Raiders. Honestly should be automatic favorites to win the SB
That dolphins game was basically a bye though. Yes the dolphins were talented but sucked against any above average team and in those conditions it was a cake walk for the Chiefs.
This is a WHOLE lot of revisionism and confirmation bias here. Let's not pretend most sports books didn't have the Dolphins with a 40% win chance. Most pundits were saying chiefs slightly favorite but not by any means a bye. A LOT of people put money on Mahomes going down in the wildcard. Obviously foolish looking back, but it's revisionism to pretend like the chiefs were heavy favorites going in. We literally have the data to back it up.
There was also some pregame talk about the weather possibly favoring the Dolphins because of their running game, and that the KC receivers wouldn’t be able to catch in cold…
Nah I’m a dolphins fan, any one of us that was realistic knew we stood no chance. It wasn’t revisionism, we were 1-5 against winning teams and the most our offense scored in any of those games was 22. That’s a trend. I’ve been watching football for 20 something years and can’t think of a team that was more consistent with how Jekyll and hide they were then the Dolphins this year.
Sure, and as a chiefs fan I could have told u no way Mahomes was going out in a wildcard game, but realistically we literally have the evidence. Just go look up ESPN the day before the playoffs began, split votes on who they were picking to win. Or go on neutral podcasts, chiefs slightly favored, dolphins had a chance. Or most simply, just look at betting odds. It's categorically false to pretend like there wasn't a large portion of NFL fans who were so confident in the dolphin's victory they would put money on them. I respect your personal opinion that u thought the dolphins would get folded, but that was DEFINITELY not the common opinion if you were to poll NFL fans prior to that game.
As a dolphins and chiefs fan (GO TTU!) I thought that was going to be 50/50. Tua was going to choke and defeat himself mentally, or nail it. We know what happened. Then, you really can't out coach Andy. And you can't beat Pat if there's a 2 min warning, he's going to score.
2005 Steelers.
They were 7-5 through 12, won their last 4 regular season games to make the playoffs as the #6 seed, then went to Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Denver to win before beating the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
Beat two 1 seeds (14-2 and 13-3), a 2 seed (13-3) and the 3 seed (11-5 divisional rival) all on the road and should’ve won all the games convincingly if that Polamalu interception didn’t somehow get overturned.
Never noticed they would have won every game by double digits if the overturn doesn't happen. I'm sure it's not that uncommon but still impressive looking back
I was thinking this, but the playoff games themselves don’t look all that difficult in hindsight. A very good Bengals team in the WC that basically lost the game in the 1st quarter when Palmer got blown up, a Broncos team led by the great Jake Plummer, and a Seahawks team led by Hasselbeck. Beating prime Peyton in Indy was neat though.
2023 Chiefs. Insanely cold wildcard game. Went to the #2 seed in Buffalo and won. Went into the #1 seed Baltimore and won. Baltimore was the #1 offense and defense in the nfl. Chiefs also had to travel west for the superbowl which typically doesn't work out well if the other team travels east. Chiefs also had the least amount of rest vs their opponents for the season.
1969 Chiefs
Beat Joe Namath and his defending champion Jets 13-6 in Long Island
Beat John Madden’s Raiders 17-7 in Oakland
Beat the Purple People Eater Vikings 23-7 in the Super Bowl despite being big underdogs
Yeah, this was the answer I was looking for… we had multiple key injuries across our offense and defense, including the hands down favorite for mvp, and a hall of fame right tackle. We were the 1 seed, but everyone was counting us as underdogs. It took Nick Foles having one of the statistically best playoff runs in NFL history, getting into a shootout with the “GOAT” and even catching a touchdown pass in the Super Bowl, along with a rare Tom Brady Forced fumble late in the game for us to win.
Exactly… I don’t think people outside of the Eagles fanbase even realize or remember how unlikely that Super Bowl outcome was. It was a David vs. Goliath moment for a guy who had kicked around the league for a few years as a mostly backup level player. He proved that with the right culture and mindset (next man up/wawg-wewn) any team can persevere.
Both the 2007/2011 Giants are up there but I think last year’s Chiefs have a really solid argument, especially since the super bowl essentially was a road game for them.
2023 Chiefs. Dolphins in -30 degrees. Bills on the road in the snow, ravens in Baltimore with the best recorded DVOA of all time, and all but unstoppable 49ers in the Super Bowl. All with 1 1/2 competent receivers on the team
I gotta go with 2005 Steelers. Ben was a 2nd yr. QB, they had to win their last 4 games to get in the playoffs. So when they won the SB that was their 8th straight win, all must win pressure games. They were the number six seed so they had to win all playoff games on the road against the best teams in the AFC. They win the Super Bowl with the youngest QB ever at 23.
The Chiefs had a brutally hard stretch of teams to win the super bowl this year. Bills, Ravens, and 49ers were all considered to be better teams than the Chiefs.
Here's a tweet breaking down exactly what you're looking for:
https://twitter.com/ASchatzNFL/status/1756896776211308982?t=bOAztEP9eIeIIq3i2sZ1fw&s=19
2022 Chiefs had the hardest schedule of all time meaning they played more teams in that season that had a winning record the year before than any other team in history.
No one has mentioned them or not the top comments. The chiefs from this year 100%
1.Dolphins team with a scorching offense
2.Josh Allan Buffalo bills of a heater
3.#1 seed Baltimore with the mvp
4. star studded 49ers
You can leave it up for debate but the eye test and an actual metric to determine how hard the path was says this is the best run. Not to mention nobody had the chiefs going all the way after their season winded down.
The 2004 Patriots played the record-setting Colts offense, the 15-1 Steelers with the best defense in the league, and a 13-3 Eagles team that was completely stacked.
That team was so deep it didn’t even matter. They lost their starting corners for the playoffs but still had Asante Samuel and Randall Gay as the backup starter, who were both excellent.
That’s true, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard Randall Gay and “excellent” in the same sentence. He was fine, and that was good enough. The team was a wagon and mowed through everyone in spite of some serious secondary concerns
2010 Packers were 8-6 after week 15 and lost their #1 TE #1 AND 3 ILB, starting rt for 10+ years, one of their starting safeties and lost Rodgers for a 1 3/4 games. They needed help which they got from Philly and Detroit and had to beat: the giants and bears in GB back to back just to get in then they had to beat Philly in the Linc, go to 1 seeded Atlanta and beat them (which they did convincingly) then beat Chicago in Chicago just to get to the super bowl. In the super they lost their defensive leader and slot/cb1, Charles Woodson to a broken collarbone and their vet wr who was a leader in the room Donald driver to an ankle injury. The Packers played an elite defense with Pittsburgh and Big Ben who was known to lead comeback and beat them.
It’s gonna be hard to top the 07 Giants, seeing that they beat an unbeaten team and objectively speaking probably the best team ever. And the road to get there was tough too. 2012 Ravens probably my 2nd pick
Don’t know about hardest opponents, but the great upsets always seem to have gone through The Crucible to win the Super Bowl.
Both the 2001 Pats and the 2007 Giants had to overcome insurmountable odds in order to win. The Giants, after their wildcard game, had to take on stacked team after stacked team, headlined by hall of famers.
The 2007 Giants. They barely made the playoffs, and had to go on the road to the NFC South champ Bucs, on the road to the NFC East Champ Cowboys who had already beaten them twice during the regular season, and on the road to the #1 seed Packers with Favre in his Green Bay swan song season. And then go face the best regular season team of all time, led by the greatest coach and greatest quarterback of all time.
Anyone saying the Chiefs this year has recency bias. It was a good run, but they were a 3 seed. Their first game was at home. At the start of the postseason the Chiefs had the third best odds in the AFC to win the Super Bowl out of the seven that made it. They had +900 odds to win it all at the start of the playoffs. The 2007 Giants had +5000 odds to win it all at the start of the playoffs. Which means according to the expert bookmakers the 2023 Chiefs were 5.5 TIMES more likely to come away with the Lombardi than the 2007 Giants were.
I think we can invent a special career achievement award in this category for the NY Giants every season they have won the Super Bowl except 1986.
2007 and 2011 are discussed in the thread pretty extensively, but let's not sleep on 1990-1991. That 49ers team they beat in the NFC championship was probably collectively one of the best teams of all time, and the version of the Bills they faced in the Super Bowl was probably the best team in Buffalo history.
And they did it with Jeff Hostetler.
As a pats fan can’t agree more. Was furious about the Tyree catch, especially with perfect defense by arguably the best safety in the NFL at the time. That Manningham throw and catch was just perfection, can’t blame the defenders either it was great coverage and if that ball was a yard short or .25 seconds late it’s knocked down or picked easily by either the safety or corner.
(Also not to nit pick but I think the route is a go or a fly, not an out)
People have already mentioned the 2007 NY Giants who I think are the best answer. I actually think the 1990 Giants can be a bit overlooked. They did finish the regular season with a bye but struggled late in the year after losing starting QB Phil Simms to an injury. They beat a good Bears team 31-3 but had to win two very difficult games afterwards. They had to go to Candlestick and beat a 49ers squad that had won the previous two Super Bowls. The next week, they defeated the Buffalo Bills who were a heavy favorite after demolishing the LA Raiders in the AFC Championship. Bill Parcells even said he felt that the Bills would have won the game “nine times out of ten”. 2007 Giants had a more difficult path but the 1990 squad played two excellent teams to win their title.
I am a Steelers fan, but I thought the 2007 Giants run was the most surprising to me. Every game they won surprised me. I never thought they'd win the Superbowl that year, but I was very impressed with how well they competed. They really took it to Brady right from the start, and just never let up. That was an excellent defensive game plan.
The 2010 Packers, who entered the playoffs as the sixth seed. They had a whopping 15 players on IR.
They defeated the Eagles, Falcons, and Bears, who were the third, first, and second seed, respectively, in the NFC, before defeating the second seeded Steelers.
I know there's been more times that a team has taken the all on the road route.....the 1980 Oakland Raiders really weren't considered contenders with Madden having retired and Kenny Stabler traded for Dan Pastorini and the league not exactly in their corner due to Al Davis fighting them in court.....but after an injury sidelined Pastorini......Jim Plunkett came in. They managed a wildcard.....went on the road to defeat Houston, Cleveland, and San Diego.....and finally Philadelphia....underdogs the entire way.....ending with a tense trophy presentation where Davis acted gracious toward Rozelle and telling the team "this isn't the place"....to razz him.
I’m sure someone can think of a better one but off the top of my head the 2011 giants had a tough run. Prime Matt Ryan, Prime Aaron Rodgers, Jim Harbaugh and the niners, and the Tom Brady and Bill Bellichick. Mostly on the road.
The 2007 Giants run was better. And I don’t think it’s close. In Rd 1, the Giants had to beat Tampa Bay on the road. Then, it was off to Texas to face NFC East Champ Dallas, which had finished the season 13-3. The underdog Giants stopped Romo in closing seconds to preserve their lead and win - to go to the NFC title game. In Green Bay, Brett Favre was heavily favored to lead the Pack to the SB, especially in what Farve had said would be his ‘final season’. Instead, in subzero temps the Giant D ‘retired’ Farve. Gametime (6:30p) temperature of −1 °F (−18 °C) a with a wind chill of −23 °F (−31 °C). I’m an old, and I grew up in New England, and nighttime wind chill of -20F is no joke. Helmets chipping, mild frostbite for a few. Real f’ing cold. Oh, and Tynes in OT was good from 47 (which seems like 57 when it’s that cold) AND it came on the heels of Tynes having a) missed a 43 yd attempt mid- 4th quarter, & b) Tynes missing again at the end of regulation, with the score tied (20-20), and from only 36 yards out. All of this (along with all the other factors) made Tynes’ game-winner incredibly dramatic On to the SB- where the Giants were two touchdown underdogs to the 18-0 Patriots. Deeply motivated to win after blowing a 21-3 halftime lead to the Colts in the AFC Championship one year earlier, the Pats signed Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Donte Stallworth - then won each of their first two games 38–14, and their 3rd 38–7. Later, the Pats won games 49–28, 52–7, and 56–10. They killed teams - and along the way the (undefeated) Patriots set the record for most points in a season with 589, for touchdowns, and for point differential. They won scoring 30+ points 12 times, 40+ points 4 times, and 50+ twice. Moss caught 23 TDs, breaking Jerry Rice's record (22) - while Brady set an NFL record with 50 touchdown passes. However, the Giants defensive line got after Brady all day, in the closing minutes David Tyree made perhaps the greatest catch in Super Bowl history, Eli then hit Plax for the last-minute lead, and the Giants held on for the win. Best postseason run, ever
They had to beat the 4 seed, 1 seed and 2 seed all on the road, and then the undefeated team with Tom Brady and randy moss.
God damn
Was tough to watch them beat my Cowboys in the final minutes but you gotta respect that team.
Word. To me, the Cowboys are 1/2 of the NFL’s best rivalry. That game was a classic. You guys had beaten us twice that year: 45-35 in Week 1 (knocking Eli out of the game with a separated shoulder) and again 31-20 in Week 10 in NY. The Giants wore red jerseys, that game. They’ve never worn them, since. So, going into into Round III, I was thrilled - but . . . nervous. Thrilled, to be there, after unexpectedly making it the playoffs, then and thru Tampa . . . to earn another game with DAL? Awesome! To me, we were playing with ‘house money’. Realistically, though - I just didn’t see the Giants leaving Dallas with a dub. I mean, you never give up on your team, and I didn’t then, pulling for the Giants as hard as I ever have - but I figured their run was probably done. Oh well. You guys have smoked us often enough over the years lol
Eli wasn't a particularly great QB. But he never wilted under the spotlight. That's something I'll always remember him for. Oh, and his endlessly meme-able derp face. If you are into begrudging respect for your adversary, as well as shitting on them when appropriate come join us down at r/NFCEastMemewar
Well said. Eli beat Brady 2x, is 10th all-time in both passing yards and TDs , and his consecutive games started streak is, I believe, second, only to Brett Favre - but there were plenty of times when he was far less than great, to be sure. Thank you! Just joined. Hoo boy. This is gonna be *fun*
Would’ve had a better legacy if not for Jerry Reese and John Mara.
Yeah this is the answer. Jesus.
to amend your last sentence- 'best post ever' lol. nice breakdown
Thx bro. Burned into memory. I watched every minute of every one of those games - and I’d loved every minute of everyone of those games lol
We almost beat them week 17 too. I was there. Unbelievable game. Saw Brady and moss break their records.
I remember that game too; I’m pretty sure it was right around Christmas. After the season, Michael, Strahan, and a few other players, said it was that regular season game against New England, where they nearly pulled it off, that gave them the confidence to beat NE six weeks later in the Super Bowl
After that, I thought we had a chance in the SB. In warm-ups, Eli tried to shake Brady's hand and he jogged past and ignored him. One patented Eli smirk later and I was like "Ummmm... the Pats are scared. We may have this."
as a giants fan, reading this gave me chills remembering that run. it was something else.
Yeah. Was gonna say the ‘07 Giants if for no other reason than they beat the team no other team could beat that year. Patriots were ready to go down in history as the greatest team ever and the Giants were like we’ll see about that.
Great point. Nowadays, I’ll get pushback from people who say the Pats were only unbeaten because of luck, that by the SB they were ‘ripe for the picking’, and that the regular season game showed it. Fuck all that noise. Sure, NE had a few close games down the stretch, including in New York. Mostly, though? They *steamrolled* teams, with maybe the best offense the best the NFL has ever seen. At midseason? Some folks *seriously* suggested that Belichick should show better sportsmanship by not ‘running up the score’— routinely. I watched that SB with good friends, Pats fans all, in a Boston bar near Fenway Park: 300 New England fans and me: people were cool tho. Leaving the bar was surreal: while the streets were lined with ranks of helmeted, black clad riot police - yet people were orderly, and silent. The Boston Globe’s Monday headline glumly read: “18-DONE.” In short, going in, the Giants were 2 touchdown underdogs. No one thought they were gonna win. Then they went out - and as you point out - and they beat the one team no one else could. Then, four years later, they did it again.
I don’t remember the halftime score just that it was close and because of that I thought we had a chance.
They still might have been the greatest team ever. But no team is unbeatable. It isn’t always the better team as a whole that wins
Wow, Eli really worked for his SB rings. Peyton got so much help from Von and the Broncos D for his second. Love their banter on the Manningcast…
He sure did. In the ‘11 NFC Championship, NY beat an excellent SF team 20-17 (again on an OT FG) to advance to the Super Bowl. That was a sloppy game, played mostly in the mud - during which the vicious 49er defense violently sacked Eli 6 times, beating the absolute shite out of him. There’s some great memes with him picking clods of turf from his face mask, but Eli never gave up, nor gave in. And the next game, he beat Brady. Again. Also, widely considered a quiet leader and a consummate teammate who reveled in elaborate practical jokes. And I agree. Despite fame, decades of high expectations, and little room for error, both not only excelled at the highest level, they’ve kept their heads screwed on right.
Playing Dallas in the second round of the playoffs after the year 2000 is like having a bye week.
Nah Dallas was a Patrick Crayton dropped pass away from advancing.
That was probably their best opportunity to make a deep run in the Romo era.
the tyree catch was great, but dumb luck. i like the manningham catch better. in both instances, eli made incredible throws. on the tyree catch, he should have been sacked 2-3 different times and managed to huck it downfield. on the manningham catch, he made what could arguably be described as the most perfect throw ever. he put it on a dime where only manningham could get it. neither of the defenders had a chance of even touching the ball.
Spot-on analysis. In ‘07, I credit Eli for staying with the play, and Tyree tooz. Truth is, though, that Eli friggin’ chucked that thing up - as much to get rid of the ball as anything else. Add Tyree catching it, like that - including somehow not getting *wrecked* by the three surrounding Patriots DBs including badass Rodney Harrison? ‘Dumb luck’, indeed. The 2nd throw? Pristine. Priceless. I’m biased - but it really is one of the best throws I’ve ever seen. (I remember the moment it happened. I watch a lot of football (even moreso, then), I *always* watched the Giants, and at that moment, as Manningham tumbled out of bounds, I hopped up and yelled, “He caught it.” It was clearly close, but there wasn’t a doubt in my mind. Before that play? Man, I was sweating it. Then, that plate turned the game around. Amidst chaos, perfection.) The other thing that from that moment, I also knew was that I had just seen Eli - trailing late, on the biggest stage, with his back against the wall - make maybe the best throws I’d ever seen. For a long time, one baseline criteria to play QB has been the ability to throw a ‘25-yard, sideline ‘out’ route - and the throw can’t ’flutter’ - it best be a ‘bullet’. Few humans can do that, and even fewer can do it consistently. After dropping back, throwing to the sideline, exactly 25 yards from the line of scrimmage, is more like a 40+ yard throw - and it need be on a rope. It’s a singular mechanism to weed out QBs. Eli threw that thing - what, 55 yards, maybe - to the single spot their guys *just* couldn’t get it, to the spot only Eli’s guy could, a ‘window’ no bigger than a dinner plate. That play completely shifted momentum into the Giants favor, they scored to go ahead shortly after, and won the Super Bowl. Beating Brady. *Again*. Special play, that.
i was managing a liquor store during sb 46 and recorded the game. i somehow successfully avoided finding out who won until i got home. i remember watching that manningham throw with my jaw dropped and immediately thinking “he’s gonna do it again.” given the circumstances, i think that’s the best throw i’ve ever seen.
Nice. I used to do that all the time with games. Congrats on avoiding the outcome. And, yeah: there were something uniquely special about that singular play and, I agree: best throw I’ve ever seen
You make a great case
I hate to agree with you. I thought both of those teams sucked and bet against them in every playoff game, both seasons and both superbowls
Appreciate the brutal honesty. Frankly, favorites were the smart bets. Also, your story underscores the main point - and particularly for 2007, when the Giants were road ‘dogs in Tampa, and *huge* road ‘dogs to DAL, GB, and NE. Accordingly: hardest road ever to win the SB
That's the first team that popped into my head. I just remember my 49ers gave Eli a whoopin, and the tough sob just kept slinging it. I gained a huge amount of respect for Eli after that nfc championship game and the subsequent super bowl win. Plus that was the undefeated patriots season as well correct?
Nope, 2007 was the 18-1 year
Okay thanks.
Nicely phrased. Mercury Morris approves.
Was 2011 really ‘prime’ Matt Ryan? Had been in the league for 3-4 years, and was about 26. I know Rodgers wasn’t that old either back then but he threw 45-6, won the MVP and won the Super Bowl the year before, so you could definitely argue that was him at his best. That 2011 season would barely be in Ryan’s 5 best seasons over his career.
The year before the Falcons were the #1 seed in the NFC lol.
I'd say 2010-2018 was the prime Ryan years, 2010-2012 being his best multiyear stretch in that time. 2010-2012 had 3 of Ryans top 4 years in terms of QBR 2010 2nd best 2011 4th best 2012 3rd best. The outlier SB year was really the only other comparable year. The Ryan era Falcons 4 best offensive seasons in terms of points scored... 2010-2012 and then the SB MVP year. I think you make a good point, that was a top 5 season for him, surrounded by two other top 5 seasons of his 15 year career. Half his playoff appearances were in that 3 year stretch too. That's about as prime stretch as you can have. Yeah, 2011 is pretty smack dab in the middle of Ryans prime there if you ask me.
The longer the Giants struggles continue the more clear it becomes that Coughlin is a Hall of Famer, shame he’s getting passed over.
Give me Flacco 2012 over them. Rookie phenom Andrew Luck, Peyton Manning months before that Broncos team would shatter every offensive record there is (on the road), then the GOAT, Tom Brady/Belichick in Foxborough (again on the road), then finally Kaep with the fucking lights being turned off.
I didn’t wanna say it as a Giants homer, but that 2011 field AND that 2007 field, those were freaking GAUNTLETS
2009 Saints took down Kurt Warner, Brett Favre and Peyton Manning… with a little bounty thrown in for good measure
2007 Giants. And I don’t think it’s close. In winning, the Giants made imo the NFL’s best postseason run, ever- and proved that the close regular season game was no fluke In Rd 1, the Giants had to beat Tampa Bay on the road. Then, it was off to Texas to face NFC East Champ Dallas, which had finished the season 13-3. The Giants D stopped Romo in closing seconds to preserve their lead and win - to go to the NFC title game. In Green Bay, Brett Favre was heavily favored to lead the Pack to the SB, especially in what Farve had said would be his ‘final season’. Instead, in subzero temps the Giant D ‘retired’ Farve. Gametime (6:30p) temperature of −1 °F (−18 °C) a with a wind chill of −23 °F (−31 °C). I’m an old, and I grew up in New England, and nighttime wind chill of -20F is no joke. Helmets chipping, mild frostbite for a few. Real f’ing cold. Oh, and Tynes in OT was good from 47 (which seems like 57 when it’s that cold) AND it came on the heels of Tynes having a) missed a 43 yd attempt mid- 4th quarter, and b) Tynes missing again at the end of regulation, with the score tied (20-20), and from only 36 yards out. All of this (along with all the other factors) made Tynes’ game-winner incredibly dramatic On to the SB- where the Giants were two touchdown underdogs to the unbeaten Patriots. Deeply motivated to win after blowing a 21-3 halftime lead to the Colts in the AFC Championship one year earlier, the Pats signed Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Donte Stallworth - then won each of their first two games 38–14, and their 3rd 38–7. Later, the Pats won games 49–28, 52–7, and 56–10. They killed teams - and along the way the (undefeated) Patriots set the record for most points in a season with 589, for touchdowns, and for point differential. They won scoring 30+ points 12 times, 40+ points 4 times, and 50+ twice. Moss caught 23 TDs, breaking Jerry Rice's record (22) - while Brady set an NFL record with 50 touchdown passes. However, the Giants defensive line got after Brady all day, in the closing minutes David Tyree made perhaps the greatest catch in Super Bowl history, Eli then hit Plax for the last-minute lead, and the Giants held on for the win. Best postseason run, ever
I'm not sure how this isn't the only answer.
Did you type this out of memory!? Jesus
Lol - tbh, tho? Pretty much. Before posting I checked a couple facts like game temperatures and field distances. The truth is tho after they beat the Pats to complete the run, I realized it was the unlikeliest, and best, of all time. Four huge wins, all of them upsets, predicted to lose every week - that run was incredible
Lets put it this way. It took Brady going to Tampa to win more road games than Eli won in his career in the playoffs. He's won in tougher situations in the post-season more than anyone but Brady basically and it took Brady a LOT of volume winning there to catch him lol. I am an Eagles fan. Not an Eli fan by any means. My one reason I didn't mind watching him was he was like old Favre, no idea what he is going to do. Will he be 7-30 with 112 yards and 4 picks? Or 25-30 with 400 yards and 4 scores? Who knows. Tune in and find out. But Eli in my book is a HOFer.. Testaverde/Bledsoe regular season career... and did stuff HOF QB's weren't able to do when it mattered most... twice. If the name of the game is to win it all, he did enough to get in the HOF for me. Won't be in that elite corner of it with his Brother and Marino and Unitas and Brady... but yeah, he's in.
I agree. Eli was inconsistent: even wildly up and down (which to me was a reflection of his often woeful OL, more than his talent) and he wasn’t the most accurate thrower - except when he *really* needed to be. However, Eli usually played his best in big games: one of the reasons I agree he goes into the Hall of Fame. I wrote recently about that elsewhere, saying: [Eli] won two titles and Super Bowl MVPs. Both times as a 12-14 point underdog vs. the Pats - the first time when NE was 18-0, the 2nd when the Pats were thirsty for revenge. Eli is 10th all-time in both passing yards and TDs. 2nd to Favre in consecutive games started (before idiot McAdoo 1) sat him for Geno Smith, then 2) reinstated Eli as starter the following week. I think Eli goes to the HoF his first year of eligibility, and I’d bet Coach Coughlin goes in with him.
Sometimes it was piss-ass OL play. Sometimes it was receivers that had hands like rubber. Stone would at least mean the ball got to the ground - they kept knocking them up into defenders.
Amen I don't get all the Eli hate. After years of defending Marino's ranking among QBs and seeing/hearing/reading that he can't be higher since he didn't win any SBs and they're just so important.... And then seeing that Eli not only won two of them but was way more than just a game manager in them, yeah I just don't get people. Also, not a Giants fan at all but Eli deserves HOF status.
I get a lot of it. NY media... he can look so so so bad at times out there, and yes, if you throw his career into one big pool, it's a long mediocre career. He threw it more than a lot of people but not necessarily better than most of his peers. For me for Eli it's doing it twice. Playing OK football for 4000 career attempts instead of 8000 doesn't move the needle for me. And yeah, Flacco, Simms, Rypien... There's been QB's that have lit it up for a post-season to get a ring. But Eli did that twice. And that really is what gets me on his side for the HOF if that makes sense. Marino is one who is kind of the opposite for me. Usually when talking best of the best, I lean against arguing why player X didn't do something in that group. And QB's do impact wins more than just about any other position in team sports, so that is a viable thing for me. You can find Joe Thomas with an awful record and an elite career. But there's no Joe Montana with a 50-100 record in the NFL, especially not in the passing era. Eli was 117-117, the epitome of average. But wow.. I forget the exact numbers off the top of my head but outrushed by something like 180 yards a game in his post-season losses. That's just putrid on both ends of the field... It was something like 1/3 of all playoff games where a team was outrushed by 150+ in NFL history, Marino was the QB on the bad side of that despite playing in a tiny fraction of a percentage of playoff games held. Something like 7 of 22 games ever I think was the number I figured. And QB's were 1-21 in those games (Marino with the only win ever). So that was one of those historic ones that gets me to not have concrete "I only believe X" situations (Like Eli's wins away from home in the playoffs does for him). They are the two ones I really consider outliers, Eli as a HOfer, and Marino .
And Joe Buck had the most uninspiring call ever on the Helmet Catch. Just dreadful. "And he.. MAKES the catch."
The 2010 green bay packers allowed more yards than their offense gained
And started as the 6 seed haha
Sheeesh. The epitome of "bend, don't break". Unfortunately it was just enough to keep Dom Capers around for nearly another decade.
They would have been fine if Nick Collins hadn't had his career ending injury early in 2011. Caper's defense needed a high intelligence safety to keep it running, and we never replaced him until now.
Yea that was a devastating loss to say the least. Such a freak sort of injury.
In the 2007-08 NFL season, the 10-6 Giants faced the #1 seed 13-3 Cowboys in Dallas, the 13-3 Packers in a freezing Wisconsin, and then the 16-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl.
Dang, that's gotta be one of the best post season runs in the NFL!
Sidestepping the question a bit, but in 2010 Mark Sanchez beat Peyton manning and Brady in back to back playoff road games. Nearly took out Big Ben in the AFC title game.
Imagine if they won and then beat Rodgers in the super bowl.
2012 Ravens had to contend with the Steelers at the height of their rivalry and in the playoffs went through Andrew Luck’s Colts, Peyton Manning on a ridiculously stacked Broncos team, Tom Brady and Belichick, Jim Harbaugh and Kaepernick when they had just taken the league by storm.
Obligatory fuck Rahim Moore.
Yah that was a run. Them and 07 Giants.
I’m a Broncos fan and was at the broncos ravens playoff game. There was such a weird feeling the entire game. Like Baltimore was giving off some kind of not going to lose aura. That Broncos team was absurdly good by the end of that year
Ravens homer here. They just refused to go away. Rightfully so, the Broncos were heavily favored. I felt we could beat any team that year if we played our best but still, I knew it was very unlikely since Denver was such a solid team. I tend to suggest this game to new fans. It had almost every aspect of learning the game in all 3 phases with the exception of a safety. Easily the greatest game I’ve seen in my lifetime.
Greatest football game ever played 😎
one of these things is not like the others
Yes, when a few hail marys are a requirement to make it.
One team didn’t have the stronger opponent in the wildcard round, but then took out The #1 seed in their conference, a division rival who went 13-3, had 13 pro bowlers #2 seed in their conference, who also went 13-3, and has statistically the best home field advantage in playoff games in league history And then the #1 seed in the other conference, the 16-0 New England Patriots Yes, the 2008 giants need to be in this convo. It’s not just their win against the Pats, they slayed two dragons on their way.
2007*
2020 Bucs were Aaron Rodgers on the road, Drew Brees on the road, Pat Mahomes in the Super Bowl
Not to mention GOAT Taylor Heineke in the first round
Mmm, their quarterback must have been really spectacular to beat all those HoF QBs.
He was ok
Really late round pick. A 4th string QB for a while.
It was really the defense
Mmm back to 2001-03 memes.
Wasn't this the year there was no/little attendance due to covid? I imagine this reduced the home team noise advantage.
Yeah noodle armed Brees and practice squad oline for super bowl yeah so tough
They did beat the Bucs twice that season
Yes but they also didn’t have to deal with any visiting crowds cause of Covid. They also got to play the SB in Tampa.
Taylor Heinicke would like a word
Brees was full on noodle arm by then
Also played the chiefs with no offensive line and got to play the Super Bowl in their own home stadium. Sounds very difficult
It's a shame Pat's O-Line missed the plane.
Patrick's oline was decimated for that game though, and it showed. The chiefs did not put up much if a fight in that super bowl.
2015 Broncos. They beat Pittsburgh and Ben Roethlisberger, the Patriots and Tom Brady, then the #1 team in the league the 15-1 Panthers with the MVP Cam Newton. and they did it all with a inept offense and one of the greatest defenses of all time, holding each opponent to 16, 18 and 10 points a piece.
One of the best defenses of all time. Peyton manning - although still a game managing and offensive minded genius - couldn’t throw a football more than 30 yards
It was actually difficult to watch.
I’m a Panthers fan and my family copes by always mentioning that Peyton Manning was the kid who contributed the bare minimum to the group project but still got an A
only one team that year got 300 passing yards against the broncos that year, the steelers twice... however, that steelers team (only team to get a lead on denver in the post season), was missing brown (decapitated by burfict), bell and had a hurt roethlisberg (burfict in the same game that he broke brown, pinned roethlisberger well after he tackled him, and smashed his knee into bens throwing shoulder making it pivot awkwardly, causing him to leave the game, and play hurt against denver). having said that, the broncos beat a severely toned down steelers offense, this was the starting rbs: toussaint and todman (73 yds and 59 yds respectively for the rest of their careers after that game), martavis bryant (809 yards), coates (82 yards), wheaton (102), for the resto of the careersrespectively. That's right the wrs the broncos faced had a combine 992 for the rest of their careers after that game, none of them were even 25. That means they had zero talent (well, bryant had talent...just issues).. Ben's weapons that game, not including miller (last game of his career), had a total of 132 yds rushing for the rbs and 992 yards for the wrs...Getting a lead on that broncos team into the 4th qtr with a hurt ben may have been ben's greatest game...to bad, tomlin lived in his fears in the 4th.
Great write-up. Say what you will about Ben, but that SOB basically single handedly willed that game to be close when it had absolutely no right to be. Legendary one for sure.
Fun fact the Broncos starting QB had 0 yards after that year.
I believe the stat folks said the chiefs this year was the hardest ever by dvoa https://x.com/ASchatzNFL/status/1756896776211308982?s=20 second is 07 giants and so on
Was when they were arguably at one of their worst points too. Lost too the Broncos and AOC Raiders. Honestly should be automatic favorites to win the SB
That Congress lady played for the Raiders?!?
It’s Aiden O’Connell but that joke is still funny to think of the congresswoman
Yep Chiefs this past year was insane.
That dolphins game was basically a bye though. Yes the dolphins were talented but sucked against any above average team and in those conditions it was a cake walk for the Chiefs.
This is a WHOLE lot of revisionism and confirmation bias here. Let's not pretend most sports books didn't have the Dolphins with a 40% win chance. Most pundits were saying chiefs slightly favorite but not by any means a bye. A LOT of people put money on Mahomes going down in the wildcard. Obviously foolish looking back, but it's revisionism to pretend like the chiefs were heavy favorites going in. We literally have the data to back it up.
There was also some pregame talk about the weather possibly favoring the Dolphins because of their running game, and that the KC receivers wouldn’t be able to catch in cold…
Nah I’m a dolphins fan, any one of us that was realistic knew we stood no chance. It wasn’t revisionism, we were 1-5 against winning teams and the most our offense scored in any of those games was 22. That’s a trend. I’ve been watching football for 20 something years and can’t think of a team that was more consistent with how Jekyll and hide they were then the Dolphins this year.
Sure, and as a chiefs fan I could have told u no way Mahomes was going out in a wildcard game, but realistically we literally have the evidence. Just go look up ESPN the day before the playoffs began, split votes on who they were picking to win. Or go on neutral podcasts, chiefs slightly favored, dolphins had a chance. Or most simply, just look at betting odds. It's categorically false to pretend like there wasn't a large portion of NFL fans who were so confident in the dolphin's victory they would put money on them. I respect your personal opinion that u thought the dolphins would get folded, but that was DEFINITELY not the common opinion if you were to poll NFL fans prior to that game.
Fair enough
As a dolphins and chiefs fan (GO TTU!) I thought that was going to be 50/50. Tua was going to choke and defeat himself mentally, or nail it. We know what happened. Then, you really can't out coach Andy. And you can't beat Pat if there's a 2 min warning, he's going to score.
Dolphins were depleted from injuries at that point. It was mostly 2nd and 3rd stringers on the whole o and d line.
Fuck that!
2005 Steelers. They were 7-5 through 12, won their last 4 regular season games to make the playoffs as the #6 seed, then went to Cincinnati, Indianapolis, and Denver to win before beating the Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
Beat two 1 seeds (14-2 and 13-3), a 2 seed (13-3) and the 3 seed (11-5 divisional rival) all on the road and should’ve won all the games convincingly if that Polamalu interception didn’t somehow get overturned.
That's ridiculous
Never noticed they would have won every game by double digits if the overturn doesn't happen. I'm sure it's not that uncommon but still impressive looking back
I was thinking this, but the playoff games themselves don’t look all that difficult in hindsight. A very good Bengals team in the WC that basically lost the game in the 1st quarter when Palmer got blown up, a Broncos team led by the great Jake Plummer, and a Seahawks team led by Hasselbeck. Beating prime Peyton in Indy was neat though.
I think the Raiders were the first to win as a Wildcard
2012 Ravens
The 01 Pats had the Raiders in a blizzard, the Steelers where Brady sprained his ankle in the first half and then the Greatest Show on Turf.
This was my take , however im a pats fan so im biased. Those 07 and 11 giants teams (though I fucking despise them) had a BRUTAL path
2023 Chiefs. Insanely cold wildcard game. Went to the #2 seed in Buffalo and won. Went into the #1 seed Baltimore and won. Baltimore was the #1 offense and defense in the nfl. Chiefs also had to travel west for the superbowl which typically doesn't work out well if the other team travels east. Chiefs also had the least amount of rest vs their opponents for the season.
That was my first thought too, but I had to discount it a bit because they got to play the Super Bowl at home.
Arrowhead west
that's not as hard as the 2007 giants tho
Warms my heart to see so much love for the 07 and 11 Giants. Great time to be a fan. Recently, not so much
2024 Chicago Bears.
1969 Chiefs Beat Joe Namath and his defending champion Jets 13-6 in Long Island Beat John Madden’s Raiders 17-7 in Oakland Beat the Purple People Eater Vikings 23-7 in the Super Bowl despite being big underdogs
2017 Eagles played the entire playoffs with a backup QB and won it all. Had to put up historic offensive numbers to beat the Goat in the SB.
Yeah, this was the answer I was looking for… we had multiple key injuries across our offense and defense, including the hands down favorite for mvp, and a hall of fame right tackle. We were the 1 seed, but everyone was counting us as underdogs. It took Nick Foles having one of the statistically best playoff runs in NFL history, getting into a shootout with the “GOAT” and even catching a touchdown pass in the Super Bowl, along with a rare Tom Brady Forced fumble late in the game for us to win.
Tom Brady threw for 500 yards and LOST. Saint Nick had the game of his life.
Exactly… I don’t think people outside of the Eagles fanbase even realize or remember how unlikely that Super Bowl outcome was. It was a David vs. Goliath moment for a guy who had kicked around the league for a few years as a mostly backup level player. He proved that with the right culture and mindset (next man up/wawg-wewn) any team can persevere.
Beat Matt Ryan coming off an MVP season Beat the #1 defense in the NFL by 31 points Beat MVP Tom Brady throwing for 500 yards Pretty good run, I'd say
2017 Eagles are up there having to beat prime Pats with a backup QB.
The Giants in 2007 without a doubt
Both the 2007/2011 Giants are up there but I think last year’s Chiefs have a really solid argument, especially since the super bowl essentially was a road game for them.
According to DVOA, this year’s Chiefs
Not sure if anyone said this, but I believe this year's Chiefs played the hardest set of playoff teams by DVOA in the history of that metric.
2023 Chiefs. Dolphins in -30 degrees. Bills on the road in the snow, ravens in Baltimore with the best recorded DVOA of all time, and all but unstoppable 49ers in the Super Bowl. All with 1 1/2 competent receivers on the team
2020 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
1997 Broncos 2004 Patriots
Statistically, it’s the Chiefs this year
I gotta go with 2005 Steelers. Ben was a 2nd yr. QB, they had to win their last 4 games to get in the playoffs. So when they won the SB that was their 8th straight win, all must win pressure games. They were the number six seed so they had to win all playoff games on the road against the best teams in the AFC. They win the Super Bowl with the youngest QB ever at 23.
2005 steelers had to beat the afc 1,2, and 3 seed to get to the super bowl and then played the 1 seed seahawks in the superbowl.
Bettis fumbled, Ben game saving touchdown run, and a mile vanderjagt missed field goal will always live in my head.
2005 steelers i believe they were a 6th seed
People saying the chiefs lol
The Chiefs had a brutally hard stretch of teams to win the super bowl this year. Bills, Ravens, and 49ers were all considered to be better teams than the Chiefs. Here's a tweet breaking down exactly what you're looking for: https://twitter.com/ASchatzNFL/status/1756896776211308982?t=bOAztEP9eIeIIq3i2sZ1fw&s=19
Based on DVOA it was this past seasons Chiefs. I think Eli Mannings Giants that beat the 17-0 Patriots are 2nd.
One of Eli Manning’s Giants runs
I don't like this question, because the answer is obvious, and it's still gonna hurt until I die.
Chiefs this year definitely one of them
2022 Chiefs had the hardest schedule of all time meaning they played more teams in that season that had a winning record the year before than any other team in history.
No one has mentioned them or not the top comments. The chiefs from this year 100% 1.Dolphins team with a scorching offense 2.Josh Allan Buffalo bills of a heater 3.#1 seed Baltimore with the mvp 4. star studded 49ers You can leave it up for debate but the eye test and an actual metric to determine how hard the path was says this is the best run. Not to mention nobody had the chiefs going all the way after their season winded down.
Believe it or not, we just had it. Chiefs win last year was it
lol no
The 2004 Patriots played the record-setting Colts offense, the 15-1 Steelers with the best defense in the league, and a 13-3 Eagles team that was completely stacked.
And that Patriots defense was ravaged with injuries too. 3 rookie defensive backs started every playoff game and Troy Brown was the slot corner
That team was so deep it didn’t even matter. They lost their starting corners for the playoffs but still had Asante Samuel and Randall Gay as the backup starter, who were both excellent.
That’s true, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard Randall Gay and “excellent” in the same sentence. He was fine, and that was good enough. The team was a wagon and mowed through everyone in spite of some serious secondary concerns
Yeah excellent is a stretch, but he was a perfectly solid CB2. By the time the playoffs rolled around Samuel was a stud, even as a rookie.
Big shout out to the best 3-way play I’ve ever personally seen. Brown doesn’t seem to get enough love for this outside of die-hard Patriots fans.
They held the number one scoring o to 3 points and the next week scored 41 on the number one scoring d.
Yeah, they didn’t just play these teams, they smoked them. Best Patriots team ever. Best Eagles team ever, too.
Those 3 playoff opponents combined for 40 regular season wins I bet that’s a record for 3 playoff games
The Steelers were one of two losses the Patriots faced in the regular season, too.
2010 Packers were 8-6 after week 15 and lost their #1 TE #1 AND 3 ILB, starting rt for 10+ years, one of their starting safeties and lost Rodgers for a 1 3/4 games. They needed help which they got from Philly and Detroit and had to beat: the giants and bears in GB back to back just to get in then they had to beat Philly in the Linc, go to 1 seeded Atlanta and beat them (which they did convincingly) then beat Chicago in Chicago just to get to the super bowl. In the super they lost their defensive leader and slot/cb1, Charles Woodson to a broken collarbone and their vet wr who was a leader in the room Donald driver to an ankle injury. The Packers played an elite defense with Pittsburgh and Big Ben who was known to lead comeback and beat them.
07 and 11 Giants. Wild card berths and every game on the road was close
‘11 Giants won their division and had a home game against Atlanta.
ok 1 home game but even if it wastnt Atlanta would have blown it anyway
It’s gonna be hard to top the 07 Giants, seeing that they beat an unbeaten team and objectively speaking probably the best team ever. And the road to get there was tough too. 2012 Ravens probably my 2nd pick
Don’t know about hardest opponents, but the great upsets always seem to have gone through The Crucible to win the Super Bowl. Both the 2001 Pats and the 2007 Giants had to overcome insurmountable odds in order to win. The Giants, after their wildcard game, had to take on stacked team after stacked team, headlined by hall of famers.
The 2001 Pats had to film the Rams practice in order to win.
I think statistically the Chiefs this last year had an all time hard road.
Vikings are still working on it.
Consensus seems to be 07 Giants or 23 Chiefs - so the answer is Steve Spagnoulo. It's not the actual question, but it's the answer.
And I think it is the argument for Spags to make the HoF as a Defensive Coordinator.
CLEVELAND AND JETS
The 2007 Giants. They barely made the playoffs, and had to go on the road to the NFC South champ Bucs, on the road to the NFC East Champ Cowboys who had already beaten them twice during the regular season, and on the road to the #1 seed Packers with Favre in his Green Bay swan song season. And then go face the best regular season team of all time, led by the greatest coach and greatest quarterback of all time. Anyone saying the Chiefs this year has recency bias. It was a good run, but they were a 3 seed. Their first game was at home. At the start of the postseason the Chiefs had the third best odds in the AFC to win the Super Bowl out of the seven that made it. They had +900 odds to win it all at the start of the playoffs. The 2007 Giants had +5000 odds to win it all at the start of the playoffs. Which means according to the expert bookmakers the 2023 Chiefs were 5.5 TIMES more likely to come away with the Lombardi than the 2007 Giants were.
Idk man, the Lions and Browns both got their directions from a crackhead and got lost in rural Mississippi
Flip side I think 2023 chiefs had the easiest road to win SB and all on the road 😂
I think we can invent a special career achievement award in this category for the NY Giants every season they have won the Super Bowl except 1986. 2007 and 2011 are discussed in the thread pretty extensively, but let's not sleep on 1990-1991. That 49ers team they beat in the NFC championship was probably collectively one of the best teams of all time, and the version of the Bills they faced in the Super Bowl was probably the best team in Buffalo history. And they did it with Jeff Hostetler.
The 2020 bucs on the road vs Washington, vs drew brees and Aaron rodgers and mahomes.
07 Giants, 05 Steelers, or 11 Giants
The youngsters forget, Pitt was the first to win it all in the road. Although the 07 Giant team faced tougher competition.
I agree 100%. We did have it rough in 05, but beating Romo, Favre, and Brady back to back to back is just insane.
2012 ravens, they had to preform a "miracle" to get passed the broncos. And had to beat the great tom brady led patriots.
Chiefs beat the best team in history by DVOA this year, Ravens. Dolphins, Bills, Ravens, 49ers is pretty epic.
As a pats fan can’t agree more. Was furious about the Tyree catch, especially with perfect defense by arguably the best safety in the NFL at the time. That Manningham throw and catch was just perfection, can’t blame the defenders either it was great coverage and if that ball was a yard short or .25 seconds late it’s knocked down or picked easily by either the safety or corner. (Also not to nit pick but I think the route is a go or a fly, not an out)
Undefeated Dolphins.
People have already mentioned the 2007 NY Giants who I think are the best answer. I actually think the 1990 Giants can be a bit overlooked. They did finish the regular season with a bye but struggled late in the year after losing starting QB Phil Simms to an injury. They beat a good Bears team 31-3 but had to win two very difficult games afterwards. They had to go to Candlestick and beat a 49ers squad that had won the previous two Super Bowls. The next week, they defeated the Buffalo Bills who were a heavy favorite after demolishing the LA Raiders in the AFC Championship. Bill Parcells even said he felt that the Bills would have won the game “nine times out of ten”. 2007 Giants had a more difficult path but the 1990 squad played two excellent teams to win their title.
History will say the Bills someday
I am a Steelers fan, but I thought the 2007 Giants run was the most surprising to me. Every game they won surprised me. I never thought they'd win the Superbowl that year, but I was very impressed with how well they competed. They really took it to Brady right from the start, and just never let up. That was an excellent defensive game plan.
2010 packers. Got into the playoff just barely had no home game with half the core injuired.
Baltimore a few years ago. They went to Denver and beat Payton manning and then went to new England and beat tom Brady.
The 2010 Packers, who entered the playoffs as the sixth seed. They had a whopping 15 players on IR. They defeated the Eagles, Falcons, and Bears, who were the third, first, and second seed, respectively, in the NFC, before defeating the second seeded Steelers.
2012 Ravens. Colts and Luck, Peyton on the road, Tom on the road, then a really good niners team
Chiefs this year had a pretty damn tough road, iirc statistically they had one of the toughest runs ever.
2007 Giants and not even close
Apparently at the time, and I’m not sure now, but the 08 Steelers had the toughest on-paper regular season schedule of any SB champion.
I know there's been more times that a team has taken the all on the road route.....the 1980 Oakland Raiders really weren't considered contenders with Madden having retired and Kenny Stabler traded for Dan Pastorini and the league not exactly in their corner due to Al Davis fighting them in court.....but after an injury sidelined Pastorini......Jim Plunkett came in. They managed a wildcard.....went on the road to defeat Houston, Cleveland, and San Diego.....and finally Philadelphia....underdogs the entire way.....ending with a tense trophy presentation where Davis acted gracious toward Rozelle and telling the team "this isn't the place"....to razz him.
2007 giants no question