Super Bowl has special meaning for Manning family

Reporting from Indianapolis -- It’s a strange time for the Manning family. Eli just won the Super Bowl, and Peyton is almost certainly on his way out of Indianapolis, with the Colts eyeing his successor in Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.

The brothers’ father, Archie Manning, said this Super Bowl win was particularly special because it came in the town where Peyton created so many memories.

“I think it’s special because of the city here,” Archie said. “This city has meant a lot to our family for 14 years, and I’ve been here all week. The city did a great job, and this building looked beautiful.”

Asked whether this means he could have two sons wind up in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Manning said: “No, absolutely not. I don’t know anything about the Hall of Fame.

“Eli is in his eighth year, and I know one thing — he might have said earlier in the year that he belonged with the elite quarterbacks; he will not be saying that he belongs in the Hall of Fame. I know Eli that well.”

Close calls

Considering the Giants and Patriots both got to the Super Bowl with three-point wins in the conference championship games, it was a safe bet Sunday’s game would be close.

On that, the teams didn’t disappoint.

It was the fourth time in Super Bowl history that the winning touchdown was scored in the final minute, with two of those games involving these teams.

The first three:

Joe Montana connected with John Taylor on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 34 seconds left as San Francisco beat Cincinnati, 20-16, in Super Bowl XXIII.

Eli Manning threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left as the Giants beat the Patriots, 17-14, in Super Bowl XLII.

Ben Roethlisberger found Santonio Holmes with a six-yard touchdown pass with 57 seconds remaining as Pittsburgh beat Arizona, 27-23, in Super Bowl XLIII.

A blowout?

The four-point margin of victory was the most “lopsided” of the five Super Bowls involving Bill Belichick as coach of the Patriots. Each of the other four was decided by three points.

Against his instincts

It isn’t often that one team allows another to score, but that was the case in the waning moments of this game when the Patriots didn’t try to tackle Ahmad Bradshaw on his touchdown run so Tom Brady would have enough time to lead one last desperation drive.

But allowing Bradshaw to cross the goal line — and he tried to stop himself — was not an easy task for Patriots defenders.

“It killed me,” New England linebacker Brandon Spikes said. “When the call came in to let them score I was kind of like, ‘What?’ I’m here to do a job and it’s my job to play the defense and let them score. It was tough, though. It was definitely tough.”

Making history

He wound up on the losing end, but Brady had a remarkable game. With his pass to Chad Ochocinco on the first play of the second half, the Patriots quarterback surpassed Kurt Warner‘s career record of 1,156 yards passing in Super Bowls. Brady now has 1,277 yards for his career — passing John Elway, Montana and Warner to top the list.

“I’d love to keep coming back to this game and taking a shot,” Brady said. “It’s better than sitting around and not playing in this game, so I hope another opportunity comes.”

Now that’s odd

The Patriots did win something — the coin toss. That might not sound like a big deal, but it was the first time the AFC has won that 50/50 proposition in 15 consecutive Super Bowls.

sam.farmer@latimes.com