PHOENIX — When it comes to stopping the New England Patriots’ vaunted offense, the New York Giants are putting it all on the line.
That is, their defensive line.
The Giants’ three defensive ends — Michael Strahan, Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck — represent the crux of the NFL’s fiercest pass rush and the key to knocking league Most Valuable Player Tom Brady off his sore right ankle in Sunday’s Super Bowl.
“How much pressure we put on Brady will be the biggest factor in the game,” Strahan said.
The game plan for slowing Brady can be traced to the Baltimore Ravens. They were the first team to hit him consistently, and when they didn’t touch him, they pressured him enough to move him out of his comfort zone.
The last two games in which he was sacked at least three times — against the Ravens and the Miami Dolphins — Brady had a 77.9 quarterback rating, a drastic difference from his overall 117.2 rating this season.
“Even when we don’t sack him, we can’t let the Patriots sit back and pick us apart,” Tuck said. “We have to get pressure in their face. We have to knock it down. We have to keep him uneasy in the pocket.”
The Giants were the NFL’s best at that during the regular season, leading the league with 53 sacks.
With the formidable combination of Umenyiora (13 sacks), Tuck (10) and Strahan (nine), the Giants also were the only team in the NFL with three players among the top 20 in sacks.
The success of the pass rush is rooted in the scheme of Steve Spagnuolo, New York’s first-year defensive coordinator.
Noticing the depth at defensive end, he decided to keep Umenyiora and Strahan coming off the edge and shift Tuck to the inside on passing situations. Tuck collapsed the middle, causing problems for quarterbacks attempting to step forward to avoid the outside rush of Strahan and Umenyiora.
“They are the best defensive line we’ve faced,” Patriots center Dan Koppen said. “They have a great combination of physicalness, athletic ability and smarts. It will be a tremendous challenge.”
The Patriots counter with Pro Bowl protection: Koppen, left guard Logan Mankins and left tackle Matt Light. New England allowed 21 sacks, the fifth fewest in the NFL this season.
In shielding Brady, this line has shown a tremendous feel, almost instinctively knowing when to slide and help one another.
The Patriots won the battle up front in their 38-35 win over the Giants a month ago. New York sacked Brady once in 43 drop-backs, enabling him to attack a vulnerable Giants secondary.
Brady passed for 356 yards, completed 76 percent of his passes and threw no interceptions.
“I think the only person who pressures Brady is himself,” Strahan said. “He hangs in there and takes hits in order to make plays. You have a lot of respect for a guy like that. He did it in our first game, and he’s done it in every game this season.”
The subplot in this matchup involves Umenyiora and Light.
In an HBO interview last week, Umenyiora accused Light of dirty play because of a late hit during the last meeting.
“I’m not quite sure that he thought that he was going to see me again because of some of the things he did and said during that game,” Umenyiora said. “But, you know, unfortunately, he does have to see me again.”
“I really haven’t had much of a comment on that, and I finally watched it,” Light said. “I don’t think it was what everybody wants to make it out to be. I don’t think anybody who’s watched film of me would say that, and I sure don’t talk out there. I try not to play in any other fashion than anybody else is doing out there, and I’m sure most people would say that.”
On Thursday, Umenyiora said he felt terrible about calling Light a dirty player last week.
“I want to apologize to Matt Light for calling him a dirty player. He’s really not a dirty player at all, I apologize, that’s my fault,” Umenyiora said. “I’m sorry, Matt Light, I didn’t mean anything by that. I didn’t mean to cause a whole hoopla or ruckus, it was between me and you, and we’ll see each other on Sunday. I love you, man.”
Instead of dirty tactics, the Giants probably need to concentrate on getting their pass rush back on track.
In three playoff games, New York has recorded three sacks, with Umenyiora and Tuck getting shut out. The Giants, though, have hit the quarterback 26 times this postseason.
“It’s going to be very hard to rattle Brady, but we can’t allow him to sit back and look down the field with Randy Moss and Wes Welker and all of his weapons,” Tuck said. “If we don’t get any pressure on him, we stand no chance.”
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