It’s Brady’s arm, of course, that New York must be most concerned with. This matchup is no different from the teams’ regular-season meeting, a 24-20 Giants win, nor from the 2008 Super Bowl. If Brady gets time, he will find his two All-Pro receivers, Wes Welker (83) and tight end Rob Gronkowski (87), not to mention wideout Deion Branch (84) and tight end Aaron Hernandez (81).
So the Giants must pressure Brady with a varied pass rush. Up front, All-Pro defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul (90), Justin Tuck (91) and Osi Umenyiora (72) need to be forces against a line built to protect Brady and anchored by guards Logan Mankins (70) and Brian Waters (54) and tackle Matt Light (72). Linebackers Mathias Kiwanuka (94) and Michael Boley (59) are dangerous on the rush, as well.
If the Giants can force either Gronkowski or Hernandez to block more than the Patriots want, it could be decisive. So could the high left ankle sprain Gronkowski is battling through if it limits him.
If not, the two tight ends are difficult challenges for New York’s linebackers — although backup Jacquian Williams (57) is quick enough to run with Gronkowski and Hernandez. Williams has a sprained right foot, though.
Safeties Antrel Rolle (26), Kenny Phillips (21) and Deon Grant (34) have stood out in pass coverage and run D recently.
Cornerback Corey Webster (23) figures to cover Welker, even when Welker lines up in the slot. Should the Giants get a decent pass rush on Brady, Welker becomes even more important to New England’s offense.
Also a key is if the Patriots can run as well as they did in the previous postseason games. BenJarvus Green-Ellis (42) is vastly underrated, and Danny Woodhead (39) is a versatile, do-everything guy.
Mostly, though, it comes down to how much time Brady gets to throw. The Patriots will operate out of a no-huddle much of the time to minimize how many substitutions New York makes on defense. Because the Giants have so many versatile defenders, that might not work as well as it has against other teams.
INDIANAPOLIS — The legend of New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski includes the most scrutinized left ankle in town, a nickname befitting a caveman and hands as large as a cereal box. Or a laptop. Or a legal pad.
From thumb to pinkie, Gronkowski's hands measure 10¾ inches — nearly as long as a football.
"Probably about two of mine," Patriots running back BenJarvus Green-Ellis said. "I mean, you've got to see those things. They're like oven mitts."
Those oven mitts helped Gronkowski catch 17 touchdown passes during the regular season — a record for tight ends — and three more in the playoffs, all in a divisional-round victory against Denver. On his first touchdown that game, Gronkowski, 6 feet 6 inches and 265 pounds, dived in the back left corner of the end zone and used his right hand to tip the ball to himself, cradling it as he fell. It was typical Gronk, teammates said.
"Dude makes big catches with big hands," safety Patrick Chung said.
Everything about Gronkowski seems oversize, from feet to personality. But his hands, sheathed in white gloves ("makes them look twice as big," guard Logan Mankins said), are his most recognizable feature. At media day Tuesday, a television reporter asked Gronkowski if he could lean forward and compare hand sizes. His were roughly twice as big. Then she asked if he could name the cast from "Jersey Shore." He obliged.
Dana Dimel, his position coach at the University of Arizona, said Gronkowski, 22, looked like a "big puppy dog out there with those huge paws and feet flopping around."
"You throw him the ball, he runs and catches the ball, he brings the ball back," tight ends coach Brian Ferentz said. "You throw him another ball, he comes back, he runs into other dogs, he laughs, he thinks it's funny. He brings the ball back again, and you throw it until he gets tired and doesn't want to do it anymore."
The summer before his senior year at Woodland Hills High School in Pittsburgh, Gronkowski visited Arizona. There Dimel, after shaking his hand for the first time, said he thought to himself, "OK, he'll be able to snatch some passes out there."
By nature of their position, tight ends make the bulk of their receptions in the middle of the field, where safeties and linebackers lurk. To succeed in those congested areas, they are taught to reach out and grab the ball with their thumbs together, not to catch it in their chest. Dimel called that skill "shaping the football," and Gronkowski, a natural, practiced it all the time.
Gronkowski said Wednesday that he strengthened his hands by repetition — catching thousands of passes — but a former college teammate remembered otherwise. At Arizona, players would hold 45-pound plates in their fingertips and walk the length of the weight room — about 40 or 50 yards.
"Most of us crazy guys who thought we were strong, we'd go once or twice and drop the weights," said Kris Heavner, the quarterback at Arizona when Gronkowski was a freshman. "And he would just keep going and going with this big smile.""
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