Another Super Bowl ends with an already overblown halftime controversy, even though Madonna follows through on her promise to keep it in her shirt. British rapper M.I.A's silly, mainstream attention grabbing middle finger is hardly the most obscene thing seen in Lucas Oil Stadium Sunday night though.

The play of Tom Brady — the quarterback so many have so prematurely rushed to brand one of the greatest of all time — rates much higher on the offensive scale.

Brady cements his legacy all right. In the New York Giants' 21-17 win in Super Bowl XLVI, the New England Patriots quarterback proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that he's not close to the best of all time. How quickly we all rushed to declare Brady the equal of Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw. And how wrong he's shown it all to be.

Brady is not even a John Elway, or a Troy Aikman, let alone a Montana.

He's a good quarterback who won three Super Bowls as his franchise pulled off one of the most egregious cheating scandals in sports history — one who is now 0-2 in the big game post Spygate. Without any illegal taping of their opponents' signals, the Patriots have yet to win a championship — and Brady's played two very ordinary Super Bowls.

Four years ago in the Arizona desert, Brady could only lead an 18-0 team to 14 points in Super Bowl XLII. He didn't do all that much better in the great Midwest Sunday night, putting up a mere 17 points while giving the Giants two of their 21.

Brady may be married to supermodel Gisele Bundchen, but it turns out there's still some sixth round pick left in this 34-year-old's game.

He's not quite as cool under pressure as everyone wants to believe (see that first play intentional grounding safety). He's no longer the downfield threat his press clippings would have you believe (Brady's longest completion against the Giants covered 21 yards).

In that 23-20 AFC Championship escape against the Baltimore Ravens, the Patriots won in spite of Tom Brady. They weren't going to be able to do that against the tougher, much more resilient Giants of Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning.

Brady needs to be able to make a big play. On this night, with Giants defensive end Justin Tuck reemerging as Brady's personal Freddy Krueger and Jason Pierre-Paul making the brooms Bill Belichick broke out in practice to mimic his long reach look so inadequate compared to the real thing, Brady can't.

Don't blame the choke job of wide receiver Wes Welker — another vastly overrated Patriot — either. Oh, Welker should have made that catch. But Brady has even more chances to seal the game that he doesn't convert.

"You always wish you could have done a bit more," Brady says in the televised postgame press conferences that are more entertaining than 90 percent of the Super Bowl commercials.

How about just managing to score a point in the last 26:20 of the biggest game of the year? That's how long in gametime Brady, Belichick and the Patriots go without producing any points. Up 17-9, with the Giants one more push from folding, New England collapses in the moment.

With Brady at the controls, the Patriots might as well be driving a Ford in the Mayan apocalypse.

No Classic

The final score says this is one of the closest Super Bowls of all time. But don't let 21-17 fool you into thinking this is a classic.

It's not close to that 17-14 thriller between these two franchises four Februarys ago. That Giants-Patriots Super Bowl produced at least a half dozen unforgettable plays, including two of the most memorable Super Bowl moments ever — David Tyree's helmet catch after the Eli Manning sack escape and Plaxico Burress' game-winning one-on-one touchdown catch.

Super Bowl XLVI has no clip that will be playing 20 years from now. It's best moment is probably Mario Manningham's good, but hardly great, sideline catch and toe dance. If you don't count M.I.A's clearly planned flip off.

Manning's good (30-for-40 for 296 yards, a touchdown and no picks), but the man given the MVP award doesn't win the game as much as Brady loses it by seizing up rather than seizing the night.

Before Brady, all suited up (sans tie), meets Gisele for that photographer-friendly embrace in the bowels of the stadium, he even seems to sense that it's all slipping away from him, that Midnight's struck on his overinflated run.

"I hope we do get back here again,” Brady says in the postgame. "I’ve been lucky enough to play in this game five times in 10 years. I’d love to keep coming back to this game and taking a shot."

Good luck with that.

Whether you think that the Houston Texans are poised to go on a long run as AFC bullies or not (they are), there are plenty of other obstacles ready to move up into Brady's way.

Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers will be back. Ben Roethlisberger won't limp through every season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Ravens might have one more shot. The San Francisco 49ers are not going away. Heck, even the Detroit Lions are on the rise.

The NFL's shifting again — and Brady and the Patriots could be buckled under. Just like the Golden Boy is in Indy's moment.

Bad Start, Worse Finish

Brady appears shaken early, gifting the Giants two points with a brainless, near Jacoby-Jones-worthy intentional grounding penalty on the Patriots very first play from scrimmage. It's like Brady is still spooked by Tuck from that 2008 Super Bowl and he just flings in desperation whenever the New York defensive end approaches.

No wonder why Gisele asked for everyone to pray for her supremely gifted — and supremely spoiled husband — in that infamously leaked family email. The Patriots come across as the unsure team in the opening act of Super Bowl XLVI.

Soon, it's 9-0 Giants and The Hoodie and the Golden Boy look almost overmatched.

Everything changes right before halftime, in a 96-yard drive that's pure Patriots, largely short quick passes to unremarkable players. Including the final pass with eight seconds left, a 4-yard touchdown to an undrafted free agent out of Chadron State (Danny Woodhead) who Belichick once seemed to sign just to annoy the New York Jets.

The Giants' lead is gone by halftime and the Patriots are seemingly exerting their will. That 96-yard drive to end the first half gets followed by a 79-yard drive to open the third quarter. Cee Lo Green has barely blessed Lucas Oil and it's already 17-9 New England. Seventeen straight points for Brady and Belichick.

And then . . . it all stops.

From 16 straight completions (a meaningless Super Bowl record) to not being able to convert on third down.

Twenty six minutes of gametime without a single point.

"We decapitated them," always-talkative Giants running back Brandon Jacobs says on national TV afterwards. "They can't wear that crown no more.

"Can't wear that crown any more."

No one more so than Tom Brady. If you truly examine it, he hasn't been all that great in the Super Bowl. The only one in which he completely dominated the game was the one in Houston when he threw for 345 yards while outdueling the hardly immortal Jake Delhomme. He won MVP in that first one while throwing for 145 yards. Donovan McNabb hyperventilating lost Belichick's second Super Bowl as much as Brady won it.

One of the greats of the greats? Please. Brady's just another good quarterback, dropping to his rightful place in the game.