NFL

BURRESS MOUTH COMES UP BIG

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Plaxico Burress’ mouth and months-long battle with injuries finally seemed to get the best of him last night.

Until money time, that is.

Following what became his usual routine this season, the Giants’ big-play receiver missed practice all week but fought through the pain of a sprained right ankle and a swollen left knee to start against the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

Unlike the NFC title game two weeks before, though, Burress was barely a factor after the first possession of the game. He spent the next 57 or so minutes essentially as a highly paid decoy, his brash prediction of a 23-17 Giants victory looking like so much hot air.

But with the Giants’ hopes of a shocking upset over the unbeaten Patriots in the balance, Burress came through with the biggest play of his career — a 13-yard touchdown grab over Ellis Hobbs with 35 seconds left that gave Big Blue a 17-14 victory and their third Super Bowl crown.

“This is the greatest feeling in the world,” Burress said afterward, fighting to control his emotions. “Nobody gave us a chance.”

After hauling in a 14-yard pass from Eli Manning to convert a key third down on Big Blue’s game-opening field-goal drive, Burress had been mostly MIA. Each of Manning’s next five passes for Burress fell incomplete.

As well as the injuries, Packers cornerback Al Harris and Burress’ own talk shared some of the blame for his woes most of the night.

After watching him abuse Harris for a franchise-record 11 catches for 151 yards in frigid Green Bay last month, the Patriots obviously were determined not to let Burress do anything close to that against them in the Super Bowl.

Burress got free to haul in that first completion by Manning, but he was blanketed by New England defenders the rest of the night.

Then came one of the most dramatic last-second drives in Giants history, a shining moment that Burress capped with his TD grab. Burress had gotten wide open in the left corner of the end zone against Hobbs by running a slant to the inside, then breaking to the corner.

“We hung in there, kept executing and never got down on ourselves,” Burress said. “It couldn’t have worked out any better.”