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A Complicated, Bizarre But Great Game

Stan Grossfeld/Boston Globe

Call it The Reluctant Touchdown. Ahmad Bradshaw's awkward and unwilling flop into the end zone is part of Super Bowl lore now -- there with Rice-to-Montana, there with David Tyree's helmet catch, there with Lynn Swann's ballet, there with Mike Jones' tackle one-yard shy. Those moments defined their times. In many ways, The Reluctant Touchdown defines ours.

The situation was this: The New York Giants trailed New England by two with one minute, four seconds left. The Giants, however, were on the Patriots' 6-yard line -- it would be a 24-yard field goal from there. Lawrence Tynes, the Giants kicker, had not missed a kick of less than 30 yards (or an extra point) in four years. The Patriots had only one timeout left, meaning the Giants were more or less set up to take the...

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