Justin Tuck ended up making the Super Bowl guarantee that came true for the Giants, the one that was forgotten amidst all the hype and the swagger.
So much attention was given to his comparing the Patriots' offense to a snake with Tom Brady as its head, how the only way to kill New England - and win the game - was to take care of the future Hall of Fame quarterback.
Never let him get in a rhythm.
Chase him around the backfield, take away his pocket and make him uncomfortable.
Because the Giants had done it before - twice, in fact - that is what emerged as the story line we all expected to dominate the rematch.
It did, just not in the way Big Blue hoped.
No one considered what might happen if Brady had time, if his offensive line held up.
Well, the Patriots showed us for 2 1/2 quarters and the results were not pretty.
Fortunately for the Giants, they revved up the engine along the defensive front and found a way to finish the way they started.
Ahmad Bradshaw's 6-yard touchdown with 57 seconds remaining proved decisive in giving the Giants a 21-17 victory over New England, good enough to bring the franchise its fourth Vince Lombardi Trophy.
But the Big Blue defense had to make that score stand up.
Vying to become just the third quarterback in NFL history to win four Super Bowl rings, Brady got the ball back with 80 yards to go and a chance to break the heart of Big Blue.
Tuck sacked Brady with 38 seconds left, but he got up.
Jason Pierre-Paul chased Brady around, and he got up again.
Then arguably the best quarterback to ever play the game got one final throw from his 49, into the end zone and toward the direction of Rob Gronkowski.
Unlike Hakeem Nicks' "Hail Mary" touchdown in Green Bay three weeks ago, the Patriots' prayer was not answered. It was Pierre-Paul, who threw down the gauntlet four days earlier by saying the Giants were not intimidated by Brady, coach Bill Belichick or their legacy, and Big Blue went out and backed it up.
"Anybody can be rattled. Tom Brady is a great quarterback, but at the end of the day he is just a quarterback," Pierre-Paul said. "It is not like he is God, he can't be untouched.
"We've just got to get to him, and going into this game we know what's at stake and we've got to get there fast enough."
Brady went 10-for-10 on what ended up being the longest touchdown drive in Super Bowl history - matching two others - and the possession culminated with a 4-yard touchdown pass on third down to former Jet Danny Woodhead.
On second down, Pierre-Paul made a tremendous stop on a Woodhead run by tripping him up in the backfield for a 1-yard loss.
Brady capitalized on third down, though, when Pierre-Paul was denied on his initial rush by left tackle Matt Light, forcing him to retreat into goal-line coverage.
Six seconds later - six long seconds during which Brady was allowed to survey the field and locate a mismatch to exploit - he found one when Woodhead slipped past linebacker Michael Boley and created enough of an opening for the score.
Boley had taken a look into the backfield on Brady's play-action fake, which allowed Woodhead to duck into traffic and eventually get free.
What Brady could not do against the Giants yet again was exact revenge.
"He's a great quarterback. If you give him time in the pocket to pick on your secondary and throw the ball, he is going to hurt you," Pierre-Paul said last week. "He is going to hurt you. If we don't rush, then he has all day to throw the ball. I put it on us. "We just have to play all-out and give it all we've got."
The Giants did that up front when it mattered most, and they ended up as Super Bowl champions yet again at Brady's expense because of it.
