Super Bowl XV Super Bowl. The Eagles defeated the Raiders 10–7 on November 23 at Veterans Stadium. This game marked the first Super Bowl where both teams used the 3–4 defensive formation as their base defense. The Raiders were the first team to use the 3–4 in the Super Bowl in Super Bowl XI against the Minnesota Vikings, although the Miami Dolphins used a version of the 3–4 ("53 defense") in Super Bowl VI, Super Bowl VII and Super Bowl VIII. The 3–4 would be used by at least one team in every Super Bowl between Super Bowl XV and game XXVIII. The
Super Bowl XLII game as 12-point favorites after becoming the first team to complete a perfect regular season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and the only one since the league expanded to a 16-game regular season schedule in 1978. The Giants, who finished the regular season with a 10–6 record, were seeking to become the first NFC wild card team to win a Super Bowl, and were also looking for their third Super Bowl victory and first since they won Super Bowl XXV seventeen years earlier. This Super Bowl was also a rematch of the final game of the regular season, in which