GLENDALE, Ariz. - He's done it so many times before.

When the Patriots fall behind late in the game, Tom Brady puts on his "Superman cape," comes to their rescue and rallies them back for a victory.

Everything was in place for Brady to lead the Patriots to a thrilling come-from-behind victory and improves his credentials as the greatest quarterback of all time last night in Super Bowl XLII.

But it didn't happen.

He did his best.

With the Pats trailing the Giants, 10-7, with 7:54 remaining in the game, Brady (29 for 48, 266 yards, 1 TD) tried for what would have been the 29th time of his career, seventh time in the playoffs, and fourth time in a Super Bowl, to engineer a Patriots victory with the team either trailing or with the score tied in the fourth quarter, as Brady completed 8 of 11 passes for 71 yards late in the game.

But the Patriots defense couldn't stop the game's Most Valuable Player, Eli Manning (19-for-34, 255 yards, 2 TDs, 1 interception), from engineering a comeback.

Despite a ferocious Giants pass rush that sacked Brady four times for a loss of 37 yards and forced a Brady fumble, Brady's magic touch was there in the fourth.

He worked the middle of the field, completing three passes to Wes Welker, one to Kevin Faulk and three to Randy Moss.

Brady's six-yard touchdown pass to Moss gave the Patriots a 14-10 lead with 2:45 left, but it wasn't enough.

Considering that the game was indoors and the weather conditions were ideal, Brady figured to have a big game, but the Patriots offensive line was bullied all night long by the Giants pass rushers.

"It's one of those things where they have a great front seven," Patriots center Dan Koppen said. "They have tremendous players up there and they just outplayed us."

"They are a great team," Brady said. "They are very good on defense. They have some great pressure schemes, obviously some great pass rushers. Once we kind of got the idea of what we were doing, I thought we handled it much better, but we just didn't get the ball in the end zone enough."

Giants defensive ends Michael Strahan (3 tackles, 1 sack) and Justin Tuck (6 tackles, 2 sacks), combined for three sacks. Jay Alford and Kawika Mitchell also had a sack apiece on Tom Brady as the Giants totaled nine quarterback hits.

Brady had 29 seconds to score after Manning connected with Plaxico Burress for the game-winning 13-yard touchdown strike, but that wasn't enough time for Brady and Co. to generate a comeback.

Brady heaved the ball up deep to Jabar Gaffney for an incompletion, was sacked for a 10-yard loss, and threw it deep to Moss on his final two pass attempts but both times it fell incomplete.

"It is extremely disappointing," Brady said of the loss. This isn't something any of us prepare for but you go into a game and you know that some team is going to win and some team has to lose. I thought they had a very good game plan, they executed it very well...We just hae to regroup and come back and try to make it stronger next year."

The Patriots certainly don't blame Brady for the loss.

"Tom is the best in the game," Patriots receiver Wes Welker said. "He's everything you want in a quarterback. There's no quarterback I'd rather play with."