Tom Brady hasn’t been brutally beaten down by the Giants yet – but at least the petal-pushing flower boy is limping.
The cocky quarterback for the undefeated* New England Patriots was caught hobbling to the West Village home of his gal pal, Gisele Bundchen, yesterday – carrying a box of pretty little posies.
A day after the Pats’ win over the San Diego Chargers propelled them to the Super Bowl against the Giants, Brady sported an orthopedic, open-foot brace on his right leg as he struggled with luggage and the box of white flowers.
Brady was later spotted wearing the boot and hobbling out of the East Village nightspot Butter, with Gisele, early this morning.
The booty – known as a cam walker – is a good sign for the Big Blue faithful, according to Hospital for Special Surgery foot and ankle expert Dr. Rock Positano.
“When they put you in a cam walker, that usually means you’re hurting,” Positano told The Post, after viewing stills and video of the gimpy quarterback. “He’s sustained some kind of trauma that requires immobilization. This is not just a simple strain or a sprain.”
Positano was betting that Brady had suffered trauma to his metatarsals – bones toward the front of the foot – or the Achilles’ tendon, located near the heel.
“Achilles’ injuries are very difficult to treat,” he said. “You don’t come back from an Achilles’ injury in a week. The fact that he’s in a cam walker should make Giants fans very optimistic, and should certainly make Michael Strahan, or any defenseman who sees that, salivate.”
Vegas oddsmakers have the Pats defeating the scrappy Giants by 12½ points, but that could all be in flux depending on how badly Brady’s foot is banged up.
He played down any pain he may have endured Sunday, even though at the game’s end, he appeared to be gimpy.
“Ah, you know, there is always just kinds of bumps and bruises. I’ll be ready for the Super Bowl. I’m not missing this one,” he told Boston’s WEEI radio.
But the Giants weren’t picturing a Super Bowl without Brady just yet.
“It doesn’t matter. He’s got two weeks [to heal],” said running back Brandon Jacobs who was celebrating with teammates at The Plumm in Chelsea last night. “The guy’s gonna play.”
Officially, the Patriot front office pleaded ignorance. “You have more information than I do,” said spokesman Stacey James.
Meanwhile, tickets for the Super Bowl in Phoenix soared to $10,000 on eBay, and brokers hoped to make a killing.
Back at Giants Stadium, quarterback Eli Manning humbly admitted he has come into his own as a gridiron star, just like big brother Peyton of the Indianapolis Colts, after defeating the Green Bay Packers 23-20.
“I talked to [Peyton] last night briefly, and he just said, ‘I am proud of you. Congratulations. This is fun. Take it all in, and enjoy it,’ ” the younger Manning, 27, said of a Sunday phone call with his 31-year-old brother.
That advice may include how to beat a team that plays dirty.
The Pats’ 18-0 record is marred by the “Spygate” incident last September, when the team was caught videotaping the New York Jets’ hand signals. Since then, The Post has noted the Pats’ record with an asterisk for cheating – and the rest of the nation’s media has followed.
“It is going to be a tough game, but we have been playing our best football,” Eli said. He also seemed excited his fiancée’s “jinx” is broken.
Every time his college sweetheart, Abby McGrew, watched him play from a luxury box, the Giants lost. But not Sunday night.
“She sat inside, and I guess we broke the jinx,” he said.
Additional reporting by Don Kaplan, Kelly Magee and Tim Perone
cbennett@nypost.com