It’s the GOAT versus the Kid, Brady vs. Mahomes, this Sunday, and much of the talk around Super Bowl LV is centered on the hyped quarterback battle.
With that discussion, at least for many, comes the relief that this Super Bowl has such a large appeal around such a prominent position on the field, and when many consider the undesired alternative, they point to Super Bowl XXXV, when Kerry Collins and the Giants went up against Trent Dilfer’s Ravens.
That Super Bowl matchup was hardly known for its quarterback battle, rather instead a duel between two formidable defenses – but even with that game being brought back into the fold on its 20th anniversary, former Giants running back Tiki Barber isn’t letting that “boring” label damper his memory of the Giants’ unexpected run that year.
“It was 20 years ago and it was in Tampa again, so maybe people are remembering it that way,” Barber said on his weekly appearance with Moose & Maggie. “But it doesn’t really bother me. We knew who we were that year. We had a really stout defense. Offensively we were good, we weren’t great by any means, but we had to be opportunistic.”
The Giants were hardly expected to reach the Super Bowl that year, but once they did, they ran into a wall in the form of a historic Ravens defense that allowed a record-low 165 points in a 16-game season. The Big Game was the same, as Baltimore suffocated New York’s offense in a 34-7 victory, holding the Giants to just 152 total yards and two third down conversions on 14 attempts.
“We dominated some of those games, including the NFC Championship Game, but when got faced up against probably one of the top-five defenses in the history of the NFL, that Ravens defense in 2000, we just didn’t have an answer,” Barber said. “Yes, it was because of Ray Lewis, but it was also Jamie Sharper, who was disruptive on our crossing routes in the middle of the field…they had everybody.”
The Giants sat at 7-4 that season before rattling off seven straight wins, including a 41-0 blowout over a high-powered Vikings offense in the NFC Championship Game, to reach the Super Bowl. Even after that, questions surrounded the team’s offense and Collins, who threw for 22 touchdowns and 13 interceptions that year, but Barber remembers the Giants going into that Super Bowl brimming with confidence.
“Leading into that game, we were middle-of-the-road offensively, but we felt like we could do anything those last couple games,” Barber said. “We felt eventually we would get you with some misdirection play. That’s what (offensive coordinator) Sean Payton had installed that season. There were a lot of bunch packages where we were running to the back side. Eventually we would get you off-balance and we’d crease one, we’d have a big play, or Amani [Toomer] makes a big play down the field or Ike [Hilliard] makes a big play.”
But once the game got going, with Baltimore building a 17-0 lead, it became clear to Barber that this Ravens defense was too strong to allow New York’s magical run to continue.
“I remember saying to Ike midway through the first quarter, ‘this is going to be a very long day,’” Barber said. “And it turned out to be that way.”
Barber was held to just 49 rushing yards while Collins threw four picks, and the Giants’ offense looked clearly overmatched in a battle that was expected to be dominated on the defensive end.
“Ray Lewis couldn’t be blocked,” Barber said. “So all of our misdirections and outside zones that we were doing were ineffective because Ray Lewis was just as fast as me. He could get there and beat me there most of the times. He knew exactly what we were doing most of the time.”
Many look back on Super Bowl XXXV as a yawner with an underwhelming quarterback battle, but Barber will remember it as the Giants simply running into the wrong defense at the wrong time.
“You have to give them credit, they beat us soundly, and they’d have probably beaten us again if we played them eight times more,” Barber said. “That’s how good that defense was.”
Listen to Barber’s entire appearance on Moose & Maggie below!
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