2007 New York Giants season | |
---|---|
Head coach | Tom Coughlin |
General manager | Jerry Reese |
Owner |
John Mara Steve Tisch |
Home field | Giants Stadium |
Results | |
Record | 10–6 |
Division place | 2nd NFC East |
Playoff finish |
Won Wild Card Playoffs (Buccaneers) 24–14 Won Divisional Playoffs (Cowboys) 21–17 Won NFC Championship (Packers) 23–20 Won Super Bowl XLII (Patriots) 17–14 |
The 2007 New York Giants season was the 83rd season for the New York Giants in the National Football League. The Giants finished the regular season 10–6 and in second place in the NFC East, improving upon their 8–8 record in 2006 in which they finished third in their division. They qualified for the playoffs as a wild-card team as the #5 seed, and beat the #4 seed Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9–7), the top-seeded Dallas Cowboys (13–3), and the #2 seed Green Bay Packers (13–3) to become the National Football Conference representative in Super Bowl XLII. There, they defeated the heavily favored and previously undefeated 18–0 New England Patriots and spoiled their perfect season. The 2007 New York Giants became the 9th wild card team in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl and the 5th wild card team to win the Super Bowl, and the very first NFC wild card to accomplish the feat. They were the third team in history to win three road playoff games en route to a Super Bowl and set a league record for most consecutive road wins in a single season (11), though the Super Bowl is played on a neutral field rather than an opponent's stadium. It was the 7th league championship season for the New York Giants and their first since they won Super Bowl XXV in 1991.
2007 marked the third consecutive season that the Giants made the playoffs, which was only the second time that had happened since the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 (New York accomplished this feat in 1984, 1985, and 1986 and won the Super Bowl in the last of those three years). Tom Coughlin joined Bill Parcells (who led the team to the playoffs five times), Steve Owen, and Allie Sherman as the only head coaches in the history of the team to lead the Giants to the postseason three consecutive years. The Giants season is widely regarded as one of the greatest cinderella stories in professional sports history. In fact, based on regular season performance, the 2007 New York Giants were the worst team to ever reach a Super Bowl, a curiosity later surpassed when the 2011 New York Giants won Super Bowl XLVI to become the first team with a negative point differential to win a Super Bowl.