An argument for the New York Giants

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So the New York Giants are a huge underdog in the Super Bowl. So they are playing away from home again. So they will get maybe one-fourth as much attention as the New England Patriots and their quest for 19-0 leading up to Sunday’s big game.

So what?

The Giants are going to pull off an upset for the ages in this Super Bowl – the most startling upset since the New York Jets’ Joe Namath guaranteed a win over Baltimore in Super Bowl III. They are going to do what they have been doing these entire playoffs – win yet another game they aren’t supposed to, on a field that’s not their own.

First it was Tampa. Then it was Dallas. Then it was Green Bay.

And don’t forget, before all that, it was almost New England (although that one was at Giants Stadium). The Giants led the Patriots by 12 points in the third quarter before losing a 38-35 thriller, and that was the game where Eli Manning found his mojo. He’s kept it right by his chinstrap ever since.

Manning threw for four touchdowns in that game as Giants coach Tom Coughlin refused to rest his starters and played as if everything was on the line. Now, only a few weeks later, it is, and the Giants won’t be the least bit fearful of New England’s astonishing offense and big-play defense.

Plus, the game’s neutral site will likely help the Giants. They have won 10 straight games on the road after a season-opening road loss to the Dallas Cowboys and have mastered the art of staying somewhere strange at night and then silencing a hostile (or at least neutral) crowd.

Coughlin has been pushing to get the Giants past the Cinderella stage. He asked in a team meeting this past week – and then repeated to the media a couple of days later – “Who lost the Super Bowl two years ago?”

There was a long pause before either the players or the media got the answer right (it was Seattle). That was exactly what Coughlin had intended. The Giants don’t plan to go to Arizona just to play a game. They are there to win a game.

Although the Giants are 13-6 and New England 18-0, the Giants’ playoff performance has actually been more impressive. They have faced a rougher road and blasted through it, becoming only the third NFL team to win a trio of road playoff games on their way to the Super Bowl.

We don’t think Bootgate will keep Tom Brady off the field Sunday. It won’t be that easy for the Giants. But we do think that the defensive line group including Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck will keep enough pressure on Brady that he’s not going to complete 90 percent of his passes. The Giants led the NFL with 53 sacks. Pressure against Brady from the Giants’ front four only – allowing seven players to drop back against the Patriots’ frequent five-receiver formations – will be a key.

The Giants will want to limit the Patriots’ number of possessions, of course. Everybody wants to do that against New England, which inevitably is going to score at least in the 20s in this game. But the Giants seem to have the offense that can do it. Both WR Plaxico Burress and RB Brandon Jacobs are move-the-chains players who can tire out opposing defenses. The Giants had the ball nearly 40 minutes to Green Bay’s 22 in the teams’ overtime NFC championship game, and that was at Lambeau Field in miserable conditions.

Yes, the Giants defense wore down some late against New England in Week 17. Yes, the Patriots have far more players with Super Bowl experience and a quarterback in Brady who has won three rings already.

But in case you haven’t noticed, the Patriots aren’t scoring 50 points a game anymore. Once, they looked like Roger Federer or Tiger Woods – never letting their opponents see them sweat.

The Patriots have been sweating lately. And in Arizona, they’re going to sweat a lot more, as the undefeated season disappears and the Giants end up holding the big trophy.