It Is not the most prominent picture in the hallway outside the weight room at the Giants Timex Performance Center practice facility because offense usually leaves the most photogenic memories. But anyone who still gets chills thinking about Eli Manning-to-David Tyree and ultimately Eli-to-Plaxico Burress before the confetti fell also cannot help but smile when recalling Tom Brady on the seat of his pants.
There’s a large color shot on the wall where the Giants work of Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora in the act of sacking and separating Brady from the ball. As much as Manning’s historic pass plays still resonate with Giants fans eager to reminisce about Super Bowl XLII, the late-game image of a short-stay defensive tackle named Jay Alford leaping past the Patriots offensive line to flatten Brady remains an unforgettable moment. It was the last of five sacks perpetrated against Brady on that fateful February night in the desert, and nearly four years later it remains the absolute blueprint for how to defeat Brady and Bill Belichick’s Patriots.
The Giants have just 14 players on their roster who played in the epic 17-14 victory over what was an unbeaten Patriots team and, notably, Tuck, Umenyiora and another defensive end, Dave Tollefson, are three of the holdovers. On Sunday, the Giants won’t meekly shuffle into Gillette Stadium, where the Pats have won 31 consecutive regular-season home games (they have lost two straight home playoff games, though). Any team that puts Eli Manning in uniform the way he is playing has a chance, and any team that can breathe fire along their defensive front believes dominance is awaiting them every weekend.
There’s a sense around the Giants that their fearsome foursome has not really clicked, which is quite remarkable considering they lead the NFL with 26 sacks. Umenyiora missed the first three games and Tuck missed four of the first six. The gang’s all here, joined by second-year terror Jason Pierre-Paul and sometime-linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka, who is really another athletic defensive end of the sort the Giants love to stock up on.
The time to unleash the most lethal collection of pass-rushers assembled on one team is against Brady’s passing wizardry. He was dropped three times in Sunday’s 25-17 loss in Pittsburgh, so you know Brady and Belichick will be especially on-point to stop the losing after one game. Brady has been sacked 14 times in 272 pass attempts and gets rid of the ball under fire. Though cornerback Corey Webster has done a fine job matching up with the top receiver on opposing teams, he may have trouble dealing with the quickness in the slot of Wes Welker. Brady has a synergy with tight ends Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez and the Giants linebackers could struggle in that matchup.
Given time, Brady can dissect anyone and everyone. The Giants specialize in limiting time. They did it masterfully back in Super Bowl XLII, and the ingredients are there to do it again Sunday.
“Obviously they have a bunch of really good players up front with [Osi] Umenyiora, JPP [Jason Pierre-Paul], now with [Justin] Tuck back and those guys,’’ Patriots offensive coordinator Bill O’Brien said yesterday. “It’s not just one thing or this or that, it’s a lot of different things you have to be ready for.’’
It took three quarters in Tuck’s return last week from neck and groin injuries for the defensive front to get its act together, and then the line produced four sacks in a six-play sequence in the 20-17 victory.
“It took us a while to get in the flow of things,’’ Tuck said. “I said I didn’t want to be a distraction. I don’t know if I was, but I don’t think we played up to our abilities in that first half. Right at the end of the third, going into the fourth, I think we hit our stride and started playing a lot better together. We were able to finish it out there at the end.’’
The trick is to pick up where they left off. The Giants put big money into their defensive line, and this is where that investment must pay off. For all those quaking about what awaits the Giants — at Patriots, at 49ers, vs. Eagles, at Saints, vs. Packers — it should be noted that every one of those formidable opponents has to deal a pass rush that at times is impossible to block. Even the great Tom Brady can’t throw from his back.
Nicks of time crush for wideout
An Mri exam revealed Hakeem Nicks did not suffer any structural damage when he could not finish the Dolphins game because of an injury to his right hamstring. Nicks said he felt “a tug or cramp’’ that “caught my attention’’ and the Giants are calling him day-to-day, which might be overly optimistic. There is little doubt he will be limited or out of practice for much of this week. Though it appears Nicks avoided a serious tear, a receiver with any sort of hamstring issue usually misses time.
The Giants are going to need points in Foxborough, and Nicks is the offense’s most dynamic play-maker. Victor Cruz ran free over the middle for the game-winning score last Sunday because the Dolphins assigned a safety to double-team Nicks. If Nicks cannot play, the Patriots and their lousy pass defense — ranked dead last in the league — won’t need to apply special attention to anyone on a consistent basis, putting the onus on Cruz and Mario Manningham to win their matchups.
Running into a problem
The Giants in their first seven games were inept at running the ball and incapable of stopping the run, but despite those failings forged a two-game lead in the NFC East. These are the strange but true facts, and here is another: If these problems continue, the Giants absolutely, positively will not be able to maintain their hold on first place as the competition rises and the temperature drops.
For now, the “Giants football’’ legacy this team wants to identify with is a myth. Only two teams have a worse rushing offense than the Giants and only four are worse at stopping the run. That the team in the Tom Coughlin era has been known for running the ball on offense and stopping the run on defense means nothing in 2011. That tradition of tough-minded and rugged play is part of recent history, but has not surfaced at all this season. Many of the names and faces have changed. It just might be that the Giants never will establish much of anything when it comes to the physical aspects of the game they used to count on.