Even if no one yet quite believed it, the New York Giants had just won the Super Bowl, which meant loquacious Giants defensive lineman Michael Strahan was about to be interviewed.

“Because we had a lot of time on our hands, we watched a lot of TV,” Strahan told a Fox reporter following the Giants’ stunning, shocking, greatest-upset-of-all-time 17-14 victory over the New England Patriots. “I saw someone say that the Giants got a false sense of confidence from the first time we played them.

“No, we got confidence.”

Did they ever!

Forgetting all that went wrong when the Patriots defeated the Giants 38-35 on the last weekend of the regular season on New York's own field, the Giants instead focused on all that went right.

If they could build a 12-point third quarter lead in that game, why could they not finish the deal this time around? If quarterback Eli Manning could throw four touchdowns in that game, why could he not throw enough to win this time?

If the Giants could come so close in a game that meant much less to them than the Patriots, why not complete the deal when it mattered most?

And so they did. They roughed up Pats quarterback Tom Brady as he had not been roughed up all season, battering him to the point of causing the usually unflappable Brady to at least thrice miss wide-open receivers, including Randy Moss for a touchdown.

And when Brady finally hit the mercenary Moss for what appeared the game-winner, here came Eli.

All Peyton's younger brother did was lead the Giants on a magical 83-yard touchdown drive in 12 plays to abruptly halt the intended coronation of the Patriots as the NFL's best team ever.

“That’s the position you want to be in,” said Eli as he accepted the MVP trophy, just as Peyton had a year ago when the Indianapolis Colts defeated the Chicago Bears in the 2007 Super Bowl. “You want the ball in your hands in the last minute of the game.”

There will be plenty of time to dissect that winning drive. The amazing Eli scramble that led to a desperation heave caught by David Tyree, who snagged the ball against his helmet, then somehow held on around the 25-yard line.

After that, he coolly controlled the clock and his emotions, smoothly hitting Plaxico Burress for the winning score on a play tabbed “Sluggo.”

This time, for the first time all year, the Patriots couldn’t slug back. As one ESPN talking head said Sunday morning, “We’re either going to watch the greatest upset in Super Bowl history or the greatest team.”

Where the Patriots are now rated among the greatest teams ever remains to be seem, This would have been their fourth Super Bowl crown in seven years. Instead, they’ll have to retool, though they certainly have the weapons to return.

But they’ll have to win them all to return to the pedestal they found themselves on this season, a fact that surely caused champagne corks to pop throughout south Florida, since the Patriots’ defeat once more allows the 1972 Miami Dolphins to remain pro football’s only perfect Super Bowl winner.

Throughout the rest of the country outside of New England, there was probably only slightly less muted joy, the Patriots having rightly become a symbol for much that appears wrong with sports in the wake of Spygate.

This is not to diminish the brilliance of Brady. Or the passion of New England linebacker Ted Bruschi, who is a walking medical miracle after a minor stroke nearly forced him to retire two years ago.

But this also is a team led by Bill Beli-Cheat, who is the poster child for win-at-any-cost athletics. It may help make Belichick the best coach in team sports today, but it also makes it easy to cheer against New England, even as it almost completed one of the most remarkable seasons in pro football history.

As for the team that did win, this is basically the same Giants team that finished last season 8-8, then had coach Tom Coughlin convince his employers to give him one more season. The Giants did and their faith in the crabby Coughlin was clearly justified.

Was this the best Super Bowl ever? That’s tough to say. It was arguably the most fiercely contested from opening whistle to final horn. Each side owning the ball but once in the opening period was a Super Bowl record. The three lead changes in the final period was also a record.

And the fact that the game was better than the commercials may also be a record. It certainly was the most shocking conclusion since that other New York football team, the Jets, knocked off the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III.

Then, as now, the underdog predicted victory, though it wasn’t Eli, but Burress who publicly put the pressure on the winners.

As Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers wrapped up their halftime performance, they played their old hit, “Runnin Down A Dream.”

Roughly 90 minutes later, the Giants ran down the Patriots’ dream season. Around New England, Super Bowl XLII may forever more be known as the season of Tom Brady and the Heartbreakers.