Super Bowl history · A new standard

The 2000s: Brady's Patriots and championships decided at the edge

New England built the league's defining dynasty, but the decade's lasting images also belonged to an unbeaten team stopped and a title won by inches in the corner.

Super Bowl

XLII

GIANTS

PATRIOTS

Result hidden

FEB 3, 2008

What defined this era

New England built the league's defining dynasty, but the decade's lasting images also belonged to an unbeaten team stopped and a title won by inches in the corner.

Adaptability became the Patriots' enduring advantage.

The salary-cap era could still produce a dynasty.

The decade's greatest Super Bowls were decided by one possession and one impossible play.

Championship timeline

How the Super Bowl changed

2001–04
New England wins three different ways
The Patriots announced themselves by surviving Oakland and upsetting St. Louis. Two more championships followed, built less around one style than situational control.
2005–07
New champions interrupt the pattern
Pittsburgh and Indianapolis broke through before New England chased 19–0. Eli Manning's escape and David Tyree's helmet catch helped the Giants stop perfection in Super Bowl XLII.
2008–09
The corner catch closes a decade of close finishes
James Harrison's 100-yard return and Santonio Holmes's toe-tap gave Pittsburgh Super Bowl XLIII, another championship turned by two plays at opposite goal lines.

Watch the era