Where to begin?
Outside Boston and New York, Super Bowl XLVI was an opus, a game full of the kinds of highs, lows, ebbs, flows and drama that will put it among the greatest Super Bowls ever played.
Across the North Shore, New York 21, New England 17 brings no joy, no awe, and nothing besides "ifs" and "buts."
How? Why?
Where to begin?
Was the NFL's world championship game lost by a porous defense that once again failed at the end of a close game?
Was it lost when Wes Welker, the All-Pro with sticky fingers, who actually dropped the ball on a crucial drive in the fourth quarter?
Was it lost when the typically infallible Bill Belichick burned a timeout with an unwinnable coaching challenge on Giants wide receiver Mario Manningham's sideline catch on the last NY drive?
Did Tom Brady, before setting a Super Bowl record with 16 straight completions, give away the Super Bowl with his early moment of Tom-foolery on that first-quarter safety? Without that, the Giants need a touchdown on their last drive and perhaps the Patriots don't purposefully give up on defense, allowing Ahmad Bradshaw to fall into the end zone for the winning score with 57 seconds remaining.
For the Patriots, there were far too many of those moments. Far too many small things that might have turned the tide in New England's favor didn't happen.
Instead, when the chips were down, it was the Giants and their now-two-time Super Bowl MVP quarterback, Eli Manning, that were calmer, better prepared and ready to execute with the game on the line.
That hurts.
Patriots Nation now knows how it felt to be a fan of Peyton Manning and Indianapolis Colts in the early part of the century, when the New England dynasty was at the height of its power.
Though in their heart of hearts, while the fans know their Hall of Fame QB and coach, Brady and Belichick, are better, they are instead forced to watch an inferior opponent parade around with the Lombardi Trophy.
In those days, it was Colts fans, and sometimes Steelers fans, who relied on regular-season records, statistics and "what-ifs" to make their arguments. The Patriots? They just pointed at their Super Bowl rings.
Now the shoe is on the other foot.
It hurts, deeply, and it's made so much worse by the fact that the vanquisher who stole two Lombardi Trophies from them comes from New York and in the form of a Manning.
Last night, it took the Patriots far too long to get in gear offensively. New England didn't touch the football (besides Brady's safety on their first place from scrimmage) for what felt like an eternity. More than 11 minutes passed before Welker touched the football; there was 2:55 left in the first half when Brady first targeted monster tight end Rob Gronkowski; and fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez didn't get involved until the final drive of the half.
It was no coincidence that once Hernandez was unleashed, the surgical Brady set his record for consecutive completions, led back-to-back scoring drives and put his team ahead, 17-9.
After that, Brady and the offense were lulled away from going to their playmakers and failed to drive into scoring range in the final 26 minutes of the game.
This Patriots team was never about defense, so it's unfair to blame them. The maligned unit held the Giants to two field goals in the third quarter and their efforts would've paid off if Brady and the offense could have manufactured one more field goal, never mind a touchdown.
Instead, they pittered and pattered until Manning got the ball back with 3:46 to play and snatched away greatness.
It was a painful reminder that the Patriots dynasty is dead, seven years removed from the type of heady, clutch plays that delivered three Super Bowl championships in four years from 2002-05.
Boston has plenty to cheer about, with seven world championships across the four major Ameircan sports over the last 10 years.
But it has plenty to lament, too, with New England's football team leaving two world titles — and the indisputable fact their QB is the greatest of all time — on the table. Both of them against New York, no less.
Even in the middle of the best run of sports dominance an American city has ever seen, Boston knows it won't last forever. Beantown went 15 years without a world championship before Brady (and 86 years between World Series titles), so fans know taking advantage when you're this close is a must.
For a time, Brady never lost when he was this close. He was Mr. Perfect, and his team was the one thing everybody could hang their hat on.
What hurts the most about Super Bowl XLVI is not the how, the why or the where to begin.
It's this truth: Nobody's perfect.
Not even Tom Brady.
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Matt Williams is the assistant sports editor of The Salem News. You can contact him at MWilliams@salemnews.com, 978-338-2669 and follow him on Twitter @MattWilliams_SN.
