Super Bowl XLVI

Background

Per convention as an even-numbered Super Bowl, the Patriots as the AFC representatives had the home team designation. Super Bowl XLVI was the sixth Super Bowl in which the two teams had competed in a previous Super Bowl matchup, as the Giants and Patriots had previously met in Super Bowl XLII. Both head coaches (Tom Coughlin and Bill Belichick) and both starting quarterbacks (Eli Manning and Tom Brady) returned from Super Bowl XLII.

Host selection process

Three cities presented bids for the game:

On January 31, 2008, the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau announced their plans to host the game at Reliant Stadium, and holding events at the surrounding Reliant Park, hoping that their city would host the championship game for the second time since Reliant Stadium opened.

On February 19, 2008, the City of Indianapolis, led by Colts owner Jim Irsay and Indianapolis mayor Greg Ballard, officially announced details about their intentions to bid for Super Bowl XLVI. Part of the agreement included a proposal to build a practice facility on the campus of Arsenal Technical High School that would be utilized by the school after the Super Bowl.

On March 6, 2008, one month after hosting Super Bowl XLII at the University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, the second Super Bowl held in the Phoenix metropolitan area, the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee led by Committee chair Mike Kennedy formally announced their intentions to bid for another one. Glendale would eventually win its bid for Super Bowl XLIX in February 2015.

NFL franchise owners selected the Indianapolis bid at their meeting on May 20, 2008, in Atlanta.

A labor dispute had threatened the postponement or cancellation of the game during the spring and summer of 2011; league officials had set contingency plans to postpone the game one week if it had been necessary to postpone regular season games into the second week of January. Since the dispute was resolved well before the start of the regular season, no postponements were implemented, and the game remained as originally scheduled.

This was the first Super Bowl to be played in Indianapolis, and only the fourth time that the Super Bowl has been played in a cold-weather city, after Detroit (XVI and XL) and Minneapolis (XXVI). Downtown Indianapolis, the home of Lucas Oil Stadium, featured an outdoor Super Bowl Village and other programs at the Indiana Convention Center.

Teams

Working around a series of injuries, the Giants ended with a 9–7 record during the regular season and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2008, winning the NFC East and finishing the season as the NFC's No. 4 seed. Finally back to full strength, the Giants entered their week 17 matchup with the Dallas Cowboys with both teams tied for the division lead with 8–7 records. The Giants took a 21–0 first half lead and while the Cowboys closed the gap to make the score 21–14 early in the 4th quarter, the Giants held on to defeat the Cowboys 31–14, clinching the divisional title and a playoff berth.

New York's offense was led by Super Bowl XLII winning quarterback Eli Manning, in his seventh season as the team's starter. Manning set new career highs in nearly every statistical category in 2011, throwing for a franchise record 4,933 yards and 29 touchdowns, with 16 interceptions, giving him a 92.9 passer rating. His top target was receiver Victor Cruz, who caught 82 passes for a franchise record 1,536 yards (3rd in the NFL) and 9 touchdowns. He had plenty of other targets, including Hakeem Nicks (76 receptions, 1,192 yards, 7 touchdowns), Mario Manningham (39 receptions and 523 yards in 12 games) and tight end Jake Ballard (38 receptions, 604 yards).

Although not on the field for four games due to injury, running back Ahmad Bradshaw was the team's leading rusher with 659 yards and 9 touchdowns. He was also a reliable weapon in the passing game, hauling in 34 receptions for 267 yards and two touchdowns. Brandon Jacobs also made contributions on the ground, rushing for 571 yards and 7 touchdowns.

New York's defensive line was led by defensive ends Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul and Osi Umenyiora. Pierre-Paul racked up 86 combined tackles and ranked fourth in the NFL with 16.5 sacks, earning him the only Pro Bowl selection on the Giants defense, while Umenyiora, limited to 9 games because of injury, recorded 9 sacks and 2 forced fumbles. The Giants secondary was led by Corey Webster, who intercepted a career-high 6 passes. Defensive backs Kenny Phillips and Aaron Ross added four interceptions each, while safety Antrel Rolle picked off two passes and led the team in combined tackles with 96.

The Giants joined the 2008 Arizona Cardinals and 1979 Los Angeles Rams as the only other team to advance to the Super Bowl with fewer than ten victories since the NFL expanded to a 16-game season in 1978, and the only one of those three to win the Super Bowl they had advanced to. They have won six consecutive playoff games away from their home stadium, dating back to their victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2007 Wild Card round. That includes their Super Bowl XLII victory over these same Patriots, although that game was played at a neutral site (and the Giants were the designated "away" team for the game). The 2011 Giants are the first team in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl after having been outscored by their opponents in the regular season (394 points scored, 400 points allowed).

Season and playoffs

The Patriots and Giants faced each other in New England during the regular season; the Giants won that game, 24–20. Incidentally, the Giants and Patriots had also faced each other in New York during the regular season prior to Super Bowl XLII with the Patriots winning that regular season matchup and the Giants going on to win that Super Bowl. Super Bowl XLVI marked the 13th Super Bowl that was a rematch of a regular season game. The loser in the regular season had been 7–5 in these games prior to Super Bowl XLVI.

The Giants finished the season as the NFC East champion and the No. 4 seed in the conference. The Giants defeated the No. 5 seed Atlanta Falcons in the Wild Card round 24–2, the first playoff game at MetLife Stadium. Eli Manning threw for 277 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions, while the Giants defense shut down the Falcons, with the only Falcons points coming from a safety given up by Manning's intentional grounding penalty in his end zone.

The Giants then moved on to face the No. 1 seed and the defending Super Bowl XLV champion Green Bay Packers in the divisional round. The Giants never trailed in the game, winning 37–20. One of the key plays in the game was a Hail Mary pass by Manning to Hakeem Nicks, giving the Giants a 20–10 lead at the end of the first half. As they did to 2007 MVP Tom Brady and the Patriots' record-breaking offense, the Giants generated significant pressure on Packers quarterback and season MVP Aaron Rodgers, sacking him four times and disrupting his talented receiving corps. This was the first time in NFL history a 15–1 team failed to make it past the divisional round in the playoffs.

The Giants then faced the No. 2 seeded San Francisco 49ers in the NFC Championship Game. After a series of defensive standoffs in the fourth quarter, the game went into overtime. Both teams continued to struggle on offense, until Giants linebacker Jacquian Williams stripped the ball from 49ers wide receiver Kyle Williams after a punt return. The Giants recovered the ball at the 49ers 24-yard line, setting up a 31-yard field goal attempt by Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes. Unlike Cundiff earlier that day, Tynes' kick was successful, giving the Giants a 20–17 victory.

As the No. 1 seed in the AFC, the Patriots earned a first-round bye and home field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs. In the divisional round, the Patriots defeated the Denver Broncos 45–10. The Patriots dominated the game throughout, setting new franchise postseason records for total yards (509), points (45), and margin of victory (35). Tom Brady completed 18 of 25 passes for 246 yards and a postseason record five touchdowns in the first half. The Patriots defense had a breakout performance: Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow was held to just 9 of 26 completions and was sacked five times.

Super Bowl pre-game notes

The Patriots, as the designated home team, had a choice of wearing their home navy blue jerseys or their white away jerseys. Briefly, there was speculation that the Patriots might wear the white away jerseys in order to switch the jerseys from Super Bowl XLII, where the Patriots wore dark blue and the Giants wore white. Also, the Giants were 4–0 in playoff games in their white away jerseys since the 2007 season. However, the Patriots announced on the Monday following the Conference Championship Games that they would be wearing their customary navy blue home jerseys as the home team in Super Bowl XLVI.

Hospitality experts speculated that "Indianapolis will have seen the most severe hotel price gouging in Super Bowl history." The city has 6,000 hotel rooms, fewer than typical for a Super Bowl host city. Some rooms in downtown Indianapolis reportedly cost more than $4,000 a night. By contrast, rooms close to the stadium in previous Super Bowls were usually available for about $200. The room shortage and high prices caused some attendees to plan to stay in Chicago, 180 miles away, and ride buses to events.

Because the Giants and Patriots drew their fan bases from New York City and Boston respectively, the Super Bowl echoed the fierce rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball. Tom Brady said of the rivalry: "There is a great rivalry...between Boston and New York...When I got to the team, it was always Red Sox-Yankees. We've had some pretty meaningful games against the Giants over the past few years, so I don't think anyone is disappointed that it's the Giants." Overall, this was the seventh meeting between teams from Boston and New York City for a major professional sports championship. This previously occurred in Super Bowl XLII in 2008, two Stanley Cup Finals (1929, 1972), and three World Series (1912, 1916, 1986).

Broadcasting

Television

In the United States, the game was televised nationally by NBC.

Al Michaels called play-by-play for NBC, marking the eighth time that he was behind the microphone for a Super Bowl and the second time he called a Super Bowl for NBC (Michaels had previously done play-by-play for Super Bowls XXII, XXV, XXIX, XXXIV, XXXVII, and XL for ABC and Super Bowl XLIII for NBC). This was the first NBC Super Bowl without John Madden as he retired after Super Bowl XLIII. Cris Collinsworth was the color analyst for the game, his second Super Bowl as a game analyst and first since he was in the booth for Super Bowl XXXIX for Fox. Michele Tafoya was the sideline reporter. Bob Costas and Dan Patrick (who also presided over the trophy presentation ceremony) hosted the pregame, halftime, and postgame coverage for NBC with Football Night in America analysts Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison and special guest analysts (who were seated next to Costas during the pre-game festivities), Aaron Rodgers and Hines Ward. Also helping out on NBC's broadcast were reporters Alex Flanagan, Liam McHugh, and Randy Moss and NFL insiders Mike Florio and Peter King.

All commercials for the game sold out by Thanksgiving 2011, at an average price of $3.5 million per thirty-second ad, by far the highest rate for Super Bowl advertising in the event's history. At least one thirty-second advertisement commanded a price of $4 million.

Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry has said he was planning to run an advertisement featuring graphic photos of aborted fetuses during Super Bowl XLVI. Terry was not allowed to air the ad nationwide, given that the networks have a policy under equal time rules to reject all political and issue related advertising during the Super Bowl. He was able, however, under the then-current Federal Election Commission "reasonable access" rules, to force up to 35 local stations (those located in states in which the Democratic Party primaries are within 45 days of Super Bowl Sunday; Terry entered the primary as a dummy candidate primarily for the purpose of this advertisement) to run the advertisement uncensored, regardless of whether it meets Standards and Practices or Federal Communications Commission guidelines. The FCC ruled against Terry on February 3, two days before the game, when NBC owned-and-operated WMAQ-TV in Chicago refused to air the ad, citing the same equal-time statutes and the fact that Terry did not appear to be a bona fide candidate. The largest station to allow Terry to air his advertisement was WHDH in Boston, Massachusetts.

Streaming

This was the first legal online streaming of a Super Bowl telecast in the United States, available on computers via NFL.com and NBCSports.com, and mobile devices via Verizon Wireless's NFL Mobile app.

As part of "Operation Fake Sweep", Immigration and Customs Enforcement, along with the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, seized and shut down 16 websites that had provided access to pirated Internet television feeds of NFL games on February 2, in an action similar to the crackdown they had implemented the previous year. For the first time, domains in the .tv top-level domain were also seized, despite that TLD's allocation to Tuvalu.

Radio

Super Bowl XLVI was carried nationwide on radio over the Dial Global radio network, with Kevin Harlan as play-by-play announcer, Boomer Esiason as color analyst, and James Lofton and Mark Malone as sideline reporters. Locally, the game was broadcast by the New York Giants Radio Network flagship (WFAN) and the New England Patriots Radio Network flagship (WBZ-FM). Bob Papa called the game for the Giants with Carl Banks as his analyst and Howard Cross as sideline reporter, while Gil Santos was at the microphone for the Patriots with Gino Cappelletti as analyst and Scott Zolak as sideline reporter. Santos and Cappelletti returned for their sixth Super Bowl as broadcast team for the Patriots while Papa and Banks called their third and second Super Bowls, respectively, for the Giants. This was the first Super Bowl broadcast for the Giants not to feature longtime analyst Dick Lynch, who had retired from the team's radio booth following the 2007 season and died in 2008. As per the NFL's rules, all the other stations in the Giants and Patriots radio networks (as well as WCBS-AM in New York, which serves as a preseason overflow station for the Giants) carried Dial Global's feed.

BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra produced its own radio broadcast, with Darren Fletcher, Rocky Boiman, and Greg Brady announcing.

Entertainment

Pregame

The Indiana University Marching Hundred performed during the pre-game show.

On January 12, 2012, it was reported that former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson would sing the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLVI. It marks the fourth time in the previous five years that an American Idol contestant has performed the national anthem (joining Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson and Jordin Sparks). Clarkson was accompanied by the Indianapolis Children's Choir. Husband-and-wife country musicians Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert performed "America the Beautiful" as part of the ceremonies. American Sign Language translation for both songs was performed by Rachel Mazique, the currently reigning Miss Deaf America.

The coin toss ceremony featured the recent inductees to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Curtis Martin, one of the inductees, was originally selected to toss the coin, but in what NESN described as "a rather awkward scene", referee John Parry ended up flipping the coin himself while Martin stood beside and watched. The Patriots won the toss, the first AFC team to do so in the Super Bowl in 15 years. Because the coin toss landed on heads, the pizza chain Papa John's offered free pizza to millions of Americans who participated in a promotional contest.

Halftime

Word had leaked as early as October 2011 that Madonna would be the performer for the Super Bowl halftime show, with M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj performing as well; all three are featured on Madonna's new single "Give Me All Your Luvin'" which was performed as part of the show. The league confirmed Madonna as the performer on December 4. Other collaborators on the project included LMFAO, Cee Lo Green, long time Madonna collaborator Jamie King, Cirque du Soleil, and Moment Factory.

The setlist included an Egyptian-themed "Vogue" with costumes by Givenchy, a medley of Madonna's "Music" and LMFAO's two largest hits ("Party Rock Anthem" and "Sexy and I Know It", with the LMFAO singers remaining fully clothed, unlike in the latter song's music video), followed by her then-current single "Give Me All Your Luvin'", excerpts from "Open Your Heart" and "Express Yourself" (in a duet with Green), and the finale, "Like a Prayer", also featuring Green. Green and Shelton (who sang "America the Beautiful" as part of the pregame show) are both judges on the NBC TV series The Voice, which the network broadcast after the game.

M.I.A. came under controversy for giving the middle finger during the performance of "Give Me All Your Luvin'", which was caught by the broadcast feed. The gesture was given when she appeared to sing "I don't give a shit", although it was hard to hear clearly if the expletive was said, stopped short, or cut off, as the censor unsuccessfully tried to blur the screen to cover the gesture.

The show broke the record for the most viewed Super Bowl halftime show ever, defeating Michael Jackson's previous record, with 114 million viewers throughout the world.

Game summary

First quarter

The Patriots won the coin toss and deferred. This ended a stretch of 14 consecutive Super Bowls in which the NFC team won the coin toss.

The Giants opened the game with a drive to the Patriots' 33-yard line, threatening to score first. After quarterback Eli Manning completed a 19-yard pass to wide receiver Hakeem Nicks, the Patriots' defense stepped up to prevent a score. First, defensive end Brandon Deaderick sacked Manning for a 2-yard loss, then running back Ahmad Bradshaw was tackled behind the line of scrimmage on a blitz by cornerback Kyle Arrington. On third down, defensive end Mark Anderson sacked Manning for a 6-yard loss, pushing the Giants out of field goal range and forcing them to punt.

The Giants got a boost from punter Steve Weatherford, whose 36-yard kick pinned the Patriots back at their own 6-yard line. On the Patriots' first offensive play of the game, quarterback Tom Brady attempted a play action pass, but a heavy rush from defensive end Justin Tuck forced Brady to throw deep into the middle of the field, with no receiver anywhere near it. Brady was flagged for intentional grounding, and since he was in the end zone when he threw the pass, the play resulted in a safety, giving the Giants an early 2–0 lead. It was the first safety in a Super Bowl since the Arizona Cardinals scored one in Super Bowl XLIII. After receiving the free kick, the Giants drove 78 yards in 9 plays. Aided by a key 24-yard run by Bradshaw, the Giants increased their lead to 9–0 on Manning's 2-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Victor Cruz.

On the Patriots' following drive, Brady completed passes to running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis for 7 yards and wide receiver Deion Branch for 15, while wide receiver Wes Welker picked up 29 yards on a reception and a run on a reverse, moving the ball to the Giants' 17-yard line.

Second quarter

The Giants managed to stop the drive at their own 11-yard line, but Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 29-yard field goal to cut the Patriots' deficit to 9–3 early in the second quarter.

After the next three possessions resulted in punts, Weatherford's 51-yard punt gave the Patriots possession on their 2-yard line with 4:03 left in the half. However, this punt did not affect the Patriots, as they stormed 96 yards down the field in 14 plays, tying the record for the longest drive in Super Bowl history. Brady completed a 20-yard pass to tight end Rob Gronkowski, then followed it up with four consecutive completions to tight end Aaron Hernandez for a total gain of 38 yards. The drive ended with Brady's 4-yard touchdown pass to running back Danny Woodhead, giving the Patriots their first lead of the game, 10–9, at halftime.

Third quarter

The Patriots took the second half kickoff and started out strong; Brady completed a 21-yard pass to wide receiver Chad Johnson (his only reception of the postseason and Brady's longest pass of the game), and a reception and two runs by Green-Ellis gained 29 yards to the Giants' 24-yard line. Brady eventually finished the eight-play, 79-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Hernandez, increasing the Patriots' lead to 17–9.

Starting their first drive of the half from their own 35-yard line after wide receiver Jerrel Jernigan's 34-yard kickoff return, aided by Manning's two completions to Nicks for 19 yards, the Giants reached the Patriots' 20-yard line, where kicker Lawrence Tynes made a 38-yard field goal, cutting their deficit to 17–12.

On the Patriots' next drive, the Giants forced a three-and-out, and safety Will Blackmon returned Zoltán Meskó's 43-yard punt 10 yards to the Patriots' 47-yard line. The Giants subsequently drove back into scoring range on a drive that utilized several different players, including a 12-yard reception by seldom used tight end Bear Pascoe to reach the Patriots' 9-yard line. On third down, however, a sack by Anderson and linebacker Rob Ninkovich forced the Giants to settle for a 33-yard field goal by Tynes, cutting the score to 17–15 with 35 seconds left in the third quarter.

Fourth quarter

On the second play of the fourth quarter, the game's only turnover occurred when Giants linebacker Chase Blackburn stepped in front of Gronkowski and picked off a deep Brady pass at the Giants' 8-yard line. The Giants then drove to the Patriots' 43-yard line, but were stopped there and had to punt. The Patriots took the ball back at their own 8-yard line with less than 10 minutes left in the game. After Brady completed four consecutive passes for 34 yards to reach the Giants' 44-yard line, he threw to a wide-open Welker, but his pass was high and Welker was unable to reel it in while falling to the ground, crucially preventing a huge gain. Brady's next pass was incomplete, and the Patriots were forced to punt, after which Brady's wife supermodel Gisele Bündchen famously blamed Welker, saying her husband could not both "[T]hrow and catch the ball." The television footage of the game showed Patriots head coach Bill Belichick exhorting his defense to focus on stopping Cruz and Nicks, and to force the Giants to go to secondary options Mario Manningham and Pascoe.

The Giants took possession from their own 12-yard line with 3:46 left in the game and one timeout. On the first play, in what would end up being one of the key plays of the game, Manning completed a deep pass along the left sideline to Manningham for a 38-yard gain to midfield (the longest play from scrimmage in the game), which would later draw comparisons to his pass to David Tyree in Super Bowl XLII. Belichick challenged the catch, but the call on the field stood and it cost him the Patriots' first timeout. Two more completions from Manning to Manningham gained another 18 yards. Manning then completed a 14-yard pass to Nicks on the Patriots' 18-yard line at the two-minute warning. Three plays later, the Patriots called their second timeout with 1:03 left after Bradshaw's 1-yard run set up 2nd-and-goal on the 6-yard line.

On the second down play, which Sports Illustrated later called "perhaps the strangest play in Super Bowl history", Bradshaw's path to the end zone was clear as the Patriots chose to let him score. Once he realized what was happening, Bradshaw tried to stop running at the 1-yard line, but his forward momentum carried him over the goal line and the Giants took the lead on the uncontested touchdown run. The intentionally surrendered touchdown gave the Patriots 57 seconds to mount a game-winning drive, and they trailed 21–17 after Giants running back DJ Ware was stopped on the two-point conversion attempt.

The game's final drive began on the Patriots' 20-yard line. Brady's first two passes fell incomplete and then he was sacked by Tuck for a 6-yard loss on third down, bringing up 4th-and-16 and forcing the Patriots to use their final timeout. Facing heavy pressure in the pocket, Brady eluded defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul and linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka, then threw a 19-yard bullet to wide receiver Deion Branch, who ran out of bounds at the 33-yard line for a first down. An 11-yard completion from Brady to Hernandez advanced the ball to the Patriots' 44-yard line, followed by a twelve-men-on-the-field penalty against the Giants, which moved the ball to the Patriots' 49-yard line with nine seconds left. After an incomplete pass, Brady, on the game's final play, threw a Hail Mary pass intended for Hernandez in the end zone, but the ball was deflected by five Giants defenders. Gronkowski dove with outstretched arms toward the ball but was still a yard away when it hit the ground, giving the Giants their fourth Super Bowl title in franchise history. This was the most recent "big four" North American professional sports championship won by a New York City-based team until the New York Knicks won the NBA Finals in 2026.

Statistical overview

For the Giants, Manning completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions. Bradshaw was the top rusher of the game with 72 yards and a touchdown, also catching two passes for 19 yards. Nicks was the top receiver with 10 receptions for 109 yards. Blackburn, who had been cut by the Giants earlier in the season before being re-signed, had 6 total tackles and an interception. Tuck made 3 tackles and two sacks. For the Patriots, Brady completed 27 of 41 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception, becoming the first quarterback to throw a touchdown pass in five separate Super Bowls. His top target was tight end Aaron Hernandez, performing in a role similar to the one he played at Florida, catching 8 passes for 67 yards and one score. A 2010 4th-Round selection, Hernandez's stellar performance in the game would only add to the tragedy when his career was cut short by a self-destructive spiral into crime, resulting in his conviction in 2013 for the murder of Odin Lloyd. Fellow second-year tight end Rob Gronkowski, who came into Super Bowl XLVI battling a severe ankle injury, tallied 2 catches for 26 yards and Welker, despite the infamous drop, finished with 7 receptions for 60 yards and two carries for 21. Defensively, linebackers Jerod Mayo and Brandon Spikes each had 8 solo tackles, 3 assists, and a forced fumble.

With the win the Giants became the fifth team to win at least four Super Bowls, while the Patriots became the fourth to lose four. At the time, Brady had yet to win in Lucas Oil Stadium and had not won a game in Indianapolis since 2007, when the Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts on their way to a perfect regular season. Belichick dropped to 3–2 as a head coach in the Super Bowl, while Tom Coughlin won his second Super Bowl in as many tries. Some news organizations, among them The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, said that their victory made them NFL's version of the 2011 World Series champion St. Louis Cardinals, saying that these two championship teams that had been given the last rites by many near the end of the season, emerged as champions at the end. Eli Manning was the only quarterback to throw for more than 4,900 yards and win a Super Bowl in the same season until Patrick Mahomes threw for 5,250 yards and won Super Bowl LVII during the 2022 NFL season.

The Giants and Patriots became the 3rd and 4th teams (after the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers) to appear in Super Bowls in four different decades (both in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s) and the second and third to appear in Super Bowls in four consecutive decades (joining the Pittsburgh Steelers). The Giants became the first and only team in Super Bowl history to win Super Bowls in four different decades (1986, 1990, 2007, 2011). Conversely, the Patriots became the first and only team in Super Bowl history to lose Super Bowls in four different decades (1985, 1996, 2007, 2011).

Final statistics

Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XLVI, Super Bowl XLVI Play Finder NYG, Super Bowl XLVI Play Finder NE, The Football Database Super Bowl XLVI

Individual statistics

1Completions/attempts

2Carries

3Long gain

4Receptions

5Times targeted

Starting lineups

Source:

Officials

Referee – John Parry

Umpire – Carl Paganelli

Head linesman – Tom Stabile

Line judge – Gary Arthur

Field judge – Gary Cavaletto

Side judge – Laird Hayes

Back judge – Tony Steratore

Alternate referee - Alberto Riveron

Alternate umpire - Bill Schuster

Alternate flank - Wayne Mackie

Alternate deep - Don Carlsen

Alternate back judge - Greg Wilson

This was the last game officials wore the traditional white knickers. Beginning the next season, officials wore the full-length black pants introduced in 2006 for cold-weather games full-time.