"23-17," mused Brady later. "I wish he had said like, 45-42, something like that. I wish he'd give us a little more credit for scoring a few points."
Burress went Joe Namath on us Tuesday and got a lot of headlines. He was late to yesterday's mandatory media session and appeared to have been tazed by Tom Coughlin when he finally arrived. There was far less bravado. But Burress didn't back off his remark. And he had some company. Giants chairman and executive vice president Steve Tisch also predicted a New York victory on Bloomberg Radio's "On The Ball." Tisch's score is 21-17.
Ouch. Another diss of the Patriots' offense. A Tisch diss.
In addition, the Giants got the Patriots' attention with their choice of black suits for Monday's flight to Arizona. The sartorial selection was recommended by linebacker Antonio Pierce and it's been suggested the Giants were preparing for the Patriots' funeral.
"We'll see who has black on after the game," said Randy Moss.
"We've been dealing with that all season," said Brady. "We've had a lot of players that we played against - there was a guy from the Chargers that did it. And obviously, the well-documented Steeler game."
When will they ever learn? There's plenty of evidence that it does not pay to agitate the Patriots on game week. Eagles wideout Freddie Mitchell tried it three years ago at Super Bowl XXXIX in Jacksonville, Fla. Mitchell wound up catching one fewer pass than Rodney Harrison. This year we had Pittsburgh defensive back Anthony Smith guaranteeing victory. Then there was Chargers lineman Igor Olshansky telling the world the Patriots needed to be worried.
New England's supreme confidence hasn't come from the mouths of Patriot players. Mayor Tom Menino revealed Super Tuesday parade plans and 19-0 commemorative "perfect season" books are in the works - just in case. But the Patriots want no part of premature victory plans.
"We don't make predictions," said Brady. "We just let our play do the talking. I learned that lesson early in my career. No matter what you say during the week, and God knows we say a lot in this entire week, we focus on going out there and trying to do our best."
