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THE MAIN ATTRACTION

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 28, 2008

Flash back to Week 17 of the NFL season: The Patriots' road to perfection nearly took a sharp turn off Exit 16W of the New Jersey Turnpike, as the Giants made the visiting Pats work long and hard to complete the first 16-0 regular season in history.

Now, look ahead to Sunday: Those same Giants, who used that spirited effort in the 38-35 loss to gain a confident swagger that helped carry them through three road playoff victories, have another opportunity to stop the Patriots' road to history.

Even though the Patriots rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit that late December night, the Giants proved to themselves they could compete with anybody. They then went out and proved it to the rest of the NFC, beating the Bucs (24-14), Cowboys (21-17) and Packers (23-20 in overtime) to earn a rematch with the Patriots.

The Giants seemingly are at their best in adverse situations (they were big underdogs in all three playoff games), so it's only fitting they have another chance to keep the Patriots from joining the 1972 Dolphins atop the NFL's Mount Olympus.

And from winning a fourth Super Bowl in seven years, too.

An interesting aside: This is the 12th Super Bowl to match up teams that met during the regular season. The team that lost the regular-season game came back to win the Super Bowl six of the previous 11 times.

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