TAMPA – The Giants offensive line is experienced and intelligent, but sometimes this game comes down to wanting to just beat the other guy up. Whatever that counts for, the Giants were in the proper frame of physical mind last night, heading into their Super Bowl battle with the brash Ravens.
For two weeks now, these beefy Giants linemen have had to hear about the Ravens owning the best defense of all time. They’ve had to hear all the bragging by the Ravens. Everything from the Ravens saying they are going to shutout the Giants to guarantees of victory.
You don’t need any extra incentive in a Super Bowl, but don’t forget these are big kids in behemoth’s bodies. They get fired up the old fashioned way.
Lomas Brown has been in the league 16 years, so he takes the perspective of the players from the last generation of Giants to win the Super Bowl. He is not of the chirpy-ESPN generation that is today’s players. So when he hears what the Ravens have been saying all week, his blood boils.
Every day the Giants gather for breakfast as a team at their hotel. It was no different yesterday when the Giants gathered in the morning, only hours from finally strapping it on for Super Bowl XXXV.
The talk of the offensive linemen’s table has been the same all week. The talk of the Ravens. “We know everything they said,” explained Brown, who played in his first Super Bowl last night. “We’ve got it written down. That’s the topic of our breakfast in the morning.”
And you can be sure it was the topic of discussion last night at Raymond James Stadium.
All week the Giants have had a ‘shrine’ set up outside their meeting rooms one the second floor of their hotel, in an area that is locked away from the media. It is the same kind of shrine they’ve had in the back of their locker room all season, a shrine built by Tiki Barber every week to fire up his mates. This week’s shrine has been a box of Wheaties that features the Ravens logo. The Giants want to have the Ravens for breakfast. That is their breakfast of champions.
The Ravens defense has been spectacular as Ray Lewis and Tony Siragusa have led the way, but the Giants went into last night’s game confident they could beat the Ravens and hold off that front line.
“We know what we have to do,” said guard Glenn Parker, who is looking for his first Super Bowl ring in five tries after four failures with Buffalo. Parker was matched up against Siragusa. Siragusa went into the game, thinking he could beat Parker to the guard’s left. That promised to be one of the more fascinating matchups of the night.
Parker was on the Bills that night Scott Norwood missed that kick that gave the Giants their second Super Bowl title. We all know that Parker has talked for weeks about being on the field on the end when Norwood’s kick went awry. Look closely at the old film though and along the sidelines as Norwood walks off dejectedly, a young Parker comes up to him and gives him a forgiving hug. That’s the kind of person Parker is, that’s the kind of leader he has become.
Ravens coach Brian Billick has also had a talkative week, telling the media how to do their jobs among other items. Billick’s plan coming in was obvious, take the heat off Ray Lewis by attacking verbally. That’s the same tactic the Ravens defense uses. Attack verbally first. This time, the Giants, promised they are ready to attack back.
The Giants have said some strong words, too, but in their style of not being boastful. Noted Michael Strahan. “We realize we have a great challenge ahead of us. The only way to make this season a success is to win the Super Bowl.”