What an arm. What an afternoon.

When Kerry Collins was on, I thought he could throw with anybody. That arm. The way the ball came out. Give him that kind of afternoon and it was beautiful football.

Against Minnesota in the NFC Championship Game, he was on.

Forty-one to nothing. A trip to the Super Bowl. One of my favorite passing performances I have ever watched from a Giants quarterback.

Every throw felt like it was there.

Collins completed 28 of 39 passes for 381 yards and five touchdowns. He also threw two interceptions. The stat line includes the mistakes. The feeling I carry is watching him make beautiful throw after beautiful throw.

The feeling was that the throw was there and he was going to make it. He had that kind of arm, and we were getting the best of it with the conference championship on the line.

I watched him struggle on other days, too. This afternoon deserves its own space. He gave us something beautiful to watch.

Keep the zero in the story.

Minnesota had Randy Moss, Cris Carter, and Daunte Culpepper. The Giants kept that offense off the scoreboard. Forty-one points can make you spend the whole conversation talking about our quarterback. The other side earned some time, too.

This was a team that finished 12–4 after Jim Fassel’s playoff guarantee. They beat Philadelphia 20–10, then did this to Minnesota. They earned the right to go to Tampa.

What happened against Baltimore two weeks later was brutal. I’m going to tell that story here, too. The story of Kerry Collins and the 2000 Giants includes both afternoons.

We got this afternoon. I loved it. I still want to watch those throws.