INDIANAPOLIS - Leading the Super Bowl with a minute remaining, New England let Ahmad Bradshaw score a touchdown to make sure Patriots quarterback Tom Brady would get the ball again.

But the New York Giants' defense wouldn't let Brady add to his legacy or his ring collection.

The Giants survived Brady's last-second, Hail Mary pass - which fell incomplete in the end zone just out of reach of tight end Rob Gronkowski - to win Super Bowl XLVI 21-17 after New England coach Bill Belichick decided to let the Giants score rather than have them run down the clock and attempt a field goal.

The Giants celebrated their second Super Bowl victory over New England in five years, following their 17-14 win in Arizona four years ago. Eli Manning won that game with a 13-yard touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds left.

The winning touchdown this time was a gimme, and made the Giants' players sweat out the final seconds.

"You don't want to leave the ball in Brady's hands with a minute to go," Bradshaw said. "But our defense is awesome."

The Patriots were leading 17-15 with 1 minute, 4 seconds remaining, but the Giants had a second-and-goal and were lining up Lawrence Tynes for a chip-shot field-goal attempt.

As he took the handoff from quarterback Manning, Bradshaw heard Manning yell, "Don't score." But Bradshaw's momentum carried him into the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown run with 57 seconds left.

"Just to have the ball in his hands in that situation is scary," Bradshaw said.

After the Giants' two-point conversion attempt failed, Brady took over at his 21 and got the Patriots to midfield with two completions, including a fourth-down pass to Deion Branch. But with five seconds left, Brady had no choice but to heave the ball into the end zone, and it nearly ended up in the hands of Gronkowski.

But the ball eluded a diving Gronkowksi, and the Giants streamed on to the field as confetti fell from the roof Lucas Oil Stadium.

"I've got to watch the replay," Gronkowski said when asked how close he was to catching it. "But close doesn't really matter because close isn't there."

Giants safety Antrel Rolle said he wouldn't have let Gronkowski score.

"I was there," Rolle said. "It almost fell into Gronkowski's hands. But I was going to do everything I could to dig it out."

Belichick defended his decision to give the Giants the touchdown.

"The ball was inside the 10-yard line," said Belichick, adding that kickers convert 90 percent of their chances from that range.

Manning won his second Super Bowl Most Valuable Player award after outdueling Brady and completing 30 of 40 passes for 296 yards and a touchdown. He now has one more Super Bowl title than older brother Peyton, the Indianapolis quarterback who was believed to be at the Colts' stadium, though he was never shown on the NBC broadcast.

Like his pass to David Tyree on the Giants' winning drive four years ago, Manning made another clutch throw Sunday - this one a 38-yarder to Mario Manningham down the left sideline that moved the Giants to midfield on the first play of their final drive.

Manning said he looked right first, but he came back to Manningham when he saw the Patriots in Cover-2.

"Great catch by him, keeping both feet in," Manning said. "That's a huge play right there, when you're backed up, to get a 40-yard gain and get to the middle of the field. That way we can pace ourselves, run the ball a little bit."

Brady, who tied John Elway with his fifth Super Bowl appearance, was trying to join boyhood hero Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks with four Super Bowl titles.

Brady was 27-of-41 for 276 yards and two touchdowns, with one interception. But he did not have enough time or magic at the end.

"It came down to one play at the end of the game," Brady said. "If we make it, we're world champs. If we don't, we're wishing we were."

Brady agreed with the end-of-game strategy by Belichick, who made history with Brady as the first coach-quarterback combination to appear in five Super Bowls.

"I liked it," Brady said. "It was better than not having a chance at all."

The Giants (13-7) won the fourth Super Bowl in their history, and New England (15-4) fell to 3-4 in the Super Bowl.

The first matchup between Super Bowl MVP-winning quarterbacks did not disappoint.

After Manning set a Super Bowl record by starting the game with nine consecutive completions, Brady broke another Super Bowl record with 16 completions in a row over the second and third quarters.

Brady tied his own postseason mark: He also completed 16 in a row in a playoff game vs. Jacksonville on Jan. 12, 2008.

But this night belonged to Manning. Again.

"I'm excited to win a championship," Manning said. "I'm excited for my teammates. There are a lot of guys, this is their first one. There are some other ones who are getting their second and more, but I'm just excited for them."

After a lackluster start that included a bad decision on a safety, Brady led the Patriots back from a 9-0 deficit with two long touchdown drives when he was perfect passing. After a Stephen Gostkowski field goal made it 9-3, Brady was 15-for-15 on the two touchdown drives - which covered 96 and 79 yards - for 152 yards and two scores.