NFL

Giants look to expose Edelman in Patriots secondary

The Giants are not sure which of their receivers will be covered by Patriots utility man Julian Edelman in Super Bowl XLVI. But they sound eager to find out.

“I hope he’s out there when we play them,” Giants wide receiver Mario Manningham told the Boston Herald.“I don’t want to sound like that, but you know what I mean.To our advantage, I hope he’s out there.

“It’s a different stage. This isn’t the regular season. That isn’t your real position, so we’re going to try to expose you. It’s all or nothing now. That isn’t your position, this is the Super Bowl and we want you to play that position.”

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Edelman, the team’s regular punt returner the past two season after catching 37 passes as a rookie in 2009, has become a big part of the Patriots’ secondary after being forced to play on both sides of the ball due to injuries. In last week’s AFC Championship, Edelman covered Ravens receiver Anquan Boldin for a good chunk of the game.

The former college quarterback has improved week by week at playing defense, according to his teammates. The position switch is nothing new from Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who has moved wide receivers to defense before, most famously with Troy Brown.

“[Belichick’s] done it pretty much throughout his career with different players at different times,” Giants coach Tom Coughlin said. “This being the person involved right now on both sides of the ball and special teams — last week he was the third receiver, he played the nickel-back position and he ran the punts back. I don’t think he sold tickets, but he may have.”

Edelman plays primarily in the slot as the Patriots nickel corner. That would lead to him lining up across from Giants breakout star Victor Cruz. That matchup would seem to seriously favor the Giants, but Cruz said he would not view it as a wide receiver trying to cover him, just another defensive back.

“Coming from watching the film, he’s out there at the nickel position covering the slot guy,” Cruz said. “If he’s on defense, I’ll see him as a defender trying to cover me. I’ll just treat him as a defender and try to execute my route and win like I usually do.”

So would Cruz like to try some defensive duty like Edelman?

“No,” he said. “Coming from a guy who likes to make defenders look bad going laterally, I don’t want to be on the other end of that.”