1)The last time both kickers participating in the Super Bowl did not make a field goal longer than 49 yards in the same regular season or postseason was more than 17 years ago. That was the famous ‘Wide Right!’ game, where the Bills’ Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal to seal a 20-19 Giants win in Super Bowl XXV.
2)This will be the 12th time that teams that met each other in the regular season will play again in the Super Bowl. The last time was in 2001, when the Patriots beat the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI, the championship that marked the beginning of New England’s dynasty.
3)Don’t feel too bad, Giants fans. The last time a team has beaten the same opponent in both the regular season and the Super Bowl was 13 years ago, when the San Francisco 49ers defeated the San Diego Chargers.
4)Tom Brady is hoping to become the first player since Kurt Warner in 1999 to win both the regular season and Super Bowl MVP in the same year.
5)New York Giants guard Grey Ruegamer and punter Jeff Feagles are the only people to have played on both teams. In fact, Feagles started his career as a free agent signee with the Patriots way back in 1988.
6)Hey, Jets fans, looking for a team to root for? Former Gang Green members reside on both squads. From the Giants there’s offensive tackle Kareem McKenzie (2004) and tailback Derrick Ward (drafted in 2004), while the Pats have tight end Kyle Brady (1998) and defensive tackle Rashad Moore (2006).
7)Four players will be returning to the state in which they played college sports. Alumni of Arizona include Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi, Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce and safety Michael Johnson. Hailing from Arizona State is Giants guard Grey Ruegamer.
8)Everyone on the Patriots starting offensive and defensive line has been with New England his entire career.
9)Defensive end Michael Strahan and wide receiver Amani Toomer are the only players that are still with the Giants since their last trip to the Super Bowl (2000).
10)Conversely, 21 Patriots players from New England’s last trip to the Super Bowl (2004) are still on the team.
11)Seventeen current Patriots players were with New England when it won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2003 and 2004.
12)Nine current Patriot players were with New England for all three of its Super Bowl wins. They are: guard Steve Neal, tackle Matt Light, defensive end Richard Seymour, linebackers Mike Vrabel, Tedy Bruschi and Larry Izzo, quarterback Tom Brady, running back Kevin Faulk and wide receiver Troy Brown.
13)With a win on Sunday, Patriots head coach Bill Belichick would tie former Steelers coach Chuck Noll for most Super Bowls won with the same team (4).
14)Troy Brown holds the career record for most punts returned in the Super Bowl (8).
15)With an interception, Patriot safety Rodney Harrison can tie the career record for most picks in the Super Bowl (3).
16)Mike Vrabel or Tedy Bruschi each need 1.5 sacks against the Giants to tie for the career Super Bowl record, an accomplishment currently held by former 49er and Cowboy Charles Haley (4.5).
17)The two longest receptions and pass completions in Super Bowl history both came against New England. The Carolina Panthers’ Jake Delhomme threw to Muhsin Muhammad for 85 yards in Super Bowl XXXVIII, while Antonio Freeman caught a Brett Favre pass in Super Bowl XXXI for 81 yards.
18)One last Super Bowl figure: In the three games Tom Brady has played in, he has only thrown one interception in 108 attempts (0.93%). This only trails Joe Montana and Jim Plunkett, each of whom have never thrown a pick in the big game.
19)If Eli Manning wins on Sunday, he, with his brother Peyton, would join players such as Matt & Chris Bahr and Jim & Keith Fahnhorst as siblings who have each won Super Bowls.
20)The only other time the Super Bowl was held in Arizona was in 1996. There, the Dallas Cowboys, led by cornerback and Super Bowl MVP Larry Brown, beat the Pittsburgh Steelers 27-17. It was the Cowboys’ third win in four years and solidly their dynasty of the ’90s.