Super Bowl notes: Manning joins game's greats

QB Eli Manning won his second Super Bowl MVP award Sunday night after leading the Giants to a 21-17 comeback victory against the Patriots.

Spot-on from beginning to end, Manning went 30-for-40 for 296 yards, with one touchdown pass and no interceptions. He opened the game by becoming the first quarterback to complete his first nine attempts in a Super Bowl. And he finished his work by directing the nine-play, 88-yard TD drive that put New York ahead with 57 seconds left.

Manning also was the MVP in 2008, when he threw a scoring pass in the final minute to help New York upset New England and ruin the Patriots' bid for a perfect season.

Manning is one of only five players in NFL history with multiple Super Bowl MVP awards.

Patriots can't win biggest game for Kraft

A season that began with heartbreak for Patriots owner Robert Kraft ended with another loss.

The Patriots made no secret of wanting to win Sunday night's game against the Giants for Kraft, whose beloved wife Myra died of cancer shortly before the season began. His grief is still so deep just the mention of her name brings tears to his eyes, and the Patriots honored him — and her — by wearing patches with her "MHK" initials above their hearts.

QB Tom Brady even tapped his patch twice and pointed skyward after throwing his second touchdown pass.

But the Patriots couldn't win one last game for their owner. After Manning led the Giants on the 88-yard drive late in the fourth quarter, Brady had one last chance to win it for Kraft, but his desperation heave into the end zone fluttered to the ground on the game's final play.

Underwood wishes Pats luck after being cut

Tiquan Underwood wished the Patriots good luck after they cut him on the eve of the Super Bowl.

Had the Patriots won, the wide receiver who had three catches this season, would have been eligible for a championship ring.

Underwood tweeted that he would use his release as motivation, thanked his supporters and wished the Patriots luck. The team filled his roster spot with DE Alex Silvestro. Both played their college ball for Rutgers.

Underwood tweeted: "Im Fine, This Will Only Make Me Stronger…Tough Times Never Last But Tough Ppl Do."

New Jersey 2014

It's still two years away, but there should be optimism that a cold-weather Super Bowl in northern New Jersey in 2014 won't be a frigid one — at least based on the past two years.

Once again, the weather at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Sunday was perfect for a Super Bowl: sunny, with temperatures around 40 degrees and almost no wind.

The weather was even better last year. It was sunny, with a high of 46 and winds out of the northwest at 10 to 15 mph — and that happened during one of the worst winters in the New York metropolitan area.

League owners voted in May 2010 to play the title game in the $1.6 billion stadium co-owned by the Jets and Giants, deciding to play the first outdoor title game at a northern site.

The coldest kickoff temperature in Super Bowl history was 39 degrees at Tulane Stadium in New Orleans for the 1972 Super Bowl, when Dallas beat Miami 24-3. It's been at least 57 degrees for every outdoor Super Bowl since 1975, when it was 46 degrees.

Odds and ends

Giants backup TE Travis Beckum tore his anterior cruciate ligament with 12:55 left in the first half after being hit and knocked down by Patriots LB Tracy White. … The Giants lost the pregame coin toss, ending a streak of 14 straight coin-flip wins by the NFC in the Super Bowl. Special teams captain Zak DeOssie called tails — as he has all season — referee John Parry flipped the coin and it landed heads.

From wire reports