Super Bowl XLVI teams that had been given the last rites by many near the end of the season, emerged as champions at the end. Eli Manning became (and still remains) the only quarterback to throw for more than 4,900 yards and win a Super Bowl in the same season. The Giants became the first team to have won Super Bowl games broadcast on all four U.S. national networks (CBS, ABC, FOX, and now NBC). The Giants and Patriots became the 3rd and 4th teams (after the Oakland Raiders and Pittsburgh Steelers) to appear in Super Bowls in four different decades (both in
Super Bowl 50 of the Broncos' defeats in Super Bowls XXI and XXIV, this was the first Super Bowl in which both head coaches played in the game themselves; coincidentally, the coaches they had played under, Mike Ditka (Rivera) and Dan Reeves (Kubiak), not only had Super Bowl playing experience themselves, but had done so as teammates with the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowls V and VI (and worked together as Cowboys assistant coaches for Super Bowls X, XII and XIII). Concerns were raised over whether Levi's Stadium's field was of a high enough quality to host a Super Bowl; during the inaugural