GLENDALE, Ariz. – He said it once, exclusively to The Post, and he said it again yesterday to the world, perhaps not as big or as bold but just as forcefully and even more passionately.
Before the Giants ever left their own stadium, Burress when asked Monday by The Post for his prediction for Super Bowl XLII and offered up a score of 23-17. That news traveled west faster than you can say “bulletin board material” and the rangy receiver made no attempt to distance himself from his prognostication.
“Let me say it again,” Burress said, enunciating every word. “The goal is to win the football game. It’s not to come here and stand in front of you guys and act like we’re going to go out here and lose the game. The goal is to win. That’s the only reason why we’re here, to win.”
The setting was the infamous Media Day, as the Giants got their first look at the inside of the University of Phoenix Stadium, where come Sunday they hope to puncture the Patriots perfection. The sky was a clear blue, the grass was a crisp green and the Giants were in an ebullient mood, with all but Tom Coughlin having fun with the show of confidence from Burress.
“Was he supposed to say we’re going to lose?” Antonio Pierce asked. “What do you want us to announce, that we came here to lose? We didn’t travel this far to lose.”
They did travel this far largely because as an upstart team collecting weekly upsets, the Giants usually abided by the slogan Coughlin affixed to T-shirts way back in the summer: Talk is Cheap. Play the Game. But in the afterglow of conquering the NFC with rousing (and largely improbable) victories in Dallas and Green Bay, these Giants are feeling frisky.
Their co-owner, Steve Tisch, a few days ago was quoted as saying, “We’ll have more points than they do, that’s my score.” Michael Strahan, asked by The Post while unpacking his bags prior to the charter flight if he was ready to make history, said, “History will be ours.” Burress, asked the same question, said, “You better believe it” and then, as a nice touch, contributed his score.
“They’ve been pretty quiet through most of the season, they’re starting to talk a little bit more now, which makes me a little nervous,” co-owner John Mara said.
It makes Coughlin a little antsy. He was unaware of the Burress prediction prior to sitting for a solid hour and coming across as Mr. Congeniality as he breezily fielded question after question. A stern look crossed his face when 23-17 was brought up.
“I’ve tried to make our guys understand all along we’d rather do our talking on the field,” Coughlin said.
Asked if he would speak to Burress about the prediction, Coughlin said, “Maybe.”
Burress, like a few of his teammates wearing wrap-around sunglasses, was having a blast. Why would he be so bold as to predict a score? “It’s OK to dream,” he said. “Why not stand by it? Why come here with a negative attitude? Like ‘Oh, we’re playing the Patriots. We got to take a back seat to those guys because they’re 18-0?’ The goal is to win a football game. The goal is to go out and be great. Like number 10 (Eli Manning) tells me on Sunday when the game starts, he’s like ‘Let’s go be great.’ Not ‘Let’s go be good.’ Let’s go be great.”
At first, Burress said the 23-17 score was “the first thing that came to my mind.” Later, he explained that No. 23 was his high school number and No. 17 is his current number.
“There’s a quiet arrogance about (the Patriots) too,” Burress said. “They run around and walk with their chest out, they have a quiet arrogance about them on the field. We know that, everybody else knows that. We just got to go at those guys with the same mentality they have.”