Super Bowl XLVI

Super Bowl XLVI was an American football game between the National Football Conference champion New York Giants and the American Football Conference champion New England Patriots. The game decided the National Football League champion for the 2011 season. The Giants won the game with a score of 21–17.

The game took place on February 5, 2012, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. This was the first and only time the Super Bowl was played in Indiana as of 2026. The Giants set a new record for the lowest regular season record by a Super Bowl champion, finishing the regular season with a 9–7 record. The Patriots had a much better regular season record of 13–3 and were aiming for their fourth Super Bowl win.

The Giants started strong, leading 9–0 in the first quarter, but the Patriots took the lead with 17 unanswered points. The Giants fought back, and with just 57 seconds left in the game, running back Ahmad Bradshaw scored the winning touchdown. Eli Manning was named Super Bowl MVP for the second time in his career. He completed 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards and one touchdown.

The broadcast of the game on NBC broke records for being the most-watched program in American television history at that time. Over 111 million US viewers watched the game, and it also set a record for the most tweets per second during a sporting event, with over 13 million tweets sent during the broadcast. As of 2026, this remains the most recent championship won by a New York City-based team in the four major American sports leagues.

Background

Super Bowl XLVI was played between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots to decide the champion of the National Football League for the 2011 season. The Giants won the game with a score of 21–17. It took place on February 5, 2012, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. This was the first time the Super Bowl was held in Indiana.

The Patriots, as the American Football Conference champions, chose to wear their usual navy blue jerseys. The Giants and Patriots had previously met in Super Bowl XLII. Both teams' main coaches and starting quarterbacks returned from that game.

Indianapolis had fewer hotel rooms than usual for a Super Bowl host, leading to very high prices for some rooms. Fans from New York City and Boston brought their strong rivalry into the game, similar to the famous rivalry between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox in baseball.

Broadcasting

Television

United States

In the United States, the Super Bowl XLVI game was shown on NBC. The game was announced by Al Michaels, with Cris Collinsworth providing analysis. Michele Tafoya reported from the sidelines. The pregame, halftime, and postgame shows were hosted by Bob Costas and Dan Patrick, with help from analysts Tony Dungy and Rodney Harrison.

Advertising

All the commercials for the game sold out by Thanksgiving 2011. The ads cost $3.5 million for a thirty-second spot, the highest price ever for Super Bowl advertising at that time. Some of the advertisers included Pepsi, Doritos, Bridgestone, Volkswagen, General Motors, Toyota, Hyundai, Acura, Kia Motors, Audi, Honda, and Anheuser-Busch.

International

The game was shown internationally by NFL International, with Kenny Albert and Joe Theismann announcing in English.

Streaming

This was the first time the Super Bowl was legally streamed online in the United States. People could watch it on computers through NFL.com and NBCSports.com, and on mobile devices using Verizon Wireless's NFL Mobile app.

Radio

The game was broadcast nationwide on radio by the Dial Global network. Kevin Harlan announced the game, with Boomer Esiason as analyst. Locally, the New York Giants Radio Network and the New England Patriots Radio Network also broadcast the game.

Entertainment

Pregame

The Indiana University Marching Hundred performed during the pre-game show.

On January 12, 2012, it was reported that former American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson would sing the National Anthem at Super Bowl XLVI. She was joined by the Indianapolis Children's Choir. Husband-and-wife country musicians Blake Shelton and Miranda Lambert performed "America the Beautiful" as part of the ceremonies. American Sign Language translation for both songs was performed by Rachel Mazique, the reigning Miss Deaf America.

The coin toss ceremony featured recent inductees to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Curtis Martin, one of the inductees, was originally selected to toss the coin, but referee John Parry flipped the coin himself while Martin stood beside him. The Patriots won the toss, marking the first time an AFC team had done so in the Super Bowl in 15 years. Because the coin toss landed on heads, the pizza chain Papa John's offered free pizza to millions of Americans who participated in a promotional contest.

Halftime

It was announced that Madonna would perform at the Super Bowl halftime show, with M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj joining her. The league confirmed Madonna as the performer on December 4. The show featured many special guests and included a mix of Madonna's songs and collaborations with other artists.

The halftime show broke the record for the most viewed Super Bowl halftime show ever, with 114 million viewers throughout the world.

Game summary

The New York Giants played against the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI to decide the champion of the National Football League for the 2011 season. The Giants won the game with a score of 21–17. The game took place on February 5, 2012, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. It was the first time the Super Bowl was held in Indiana.

In the first part of the game, the Giants scored early with a safety, which happens when the offense is tackled in its own end zone. This gave the Giants a 2–0 lead. They later scored a touchdown, making it 9–0. The Patriots responded with a field goal to make it 9–3. In the second quarter, the Patriots scored a touchdown to take the lead for the first time, 10–9, by the end of the half.

In the second half, the Patriots extended their lead to 17–9. The Giants fought back with two field goals to close the gap to 17–15 by the end of the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, the Giants made a big play and scored a touchdown to take the lead at 21–17. The Patriots tried to score in the final moments but failed, and the Giants won the game. This victory gave the Giants their fourth Super Bowl title in franchise history.

Final statistics

Sources: NFL.com Super Bowl XLVI, Super Bowl XLVI Play Finder NYG, Super Bowl XLVI Play Finder NE, The Football Database Super Bowl XLVI

Statistical comparison

Individual statistics

¹Completions/attempts ²Carries ³Long gain ⁴Receptions ⁵Times targeted

Starting lineups

Officials

The game had several important referees and officials, including John Parry as the main referee and Carl Paganelli as the umpire. Others included Tom Stabile, Gary Arthur, Gary Cavaletto, Laird Hayes, and Tony Steratore. This was also the last game where officials wore the old-style white knickers. The following season, they started wearing full-length black pants all the time, a change that began in 2006 for cold-weather games.