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December 29, 2007

Worry wart

BY JIM DONALDSON
Journal Sports Writer

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Call me a worry wart, if you will, but I'm putting this out there, an hour before kickoff, hoping the worst won't happen, but concerned that it might.

The Giants have a fearsome pass rush. Osi Umenyiora has 13 sacks, Justin Tuck has 10, and Michael Strahan has 91/2. Particularly troublesome to the Patriots is that Strahan and Umenyiora rely more on speed than power, and both Matt Light and regular right tackle Nick Kaczur seem to handle strong guys better than speed guys. Power, they can deal with. Quickness is another matter.

What's worse is that Kaczur, who has started every game this season, will not play tonight because of a foot injury. Replacing him will be 6-foot-7, 330-pound Ryan O'Callaghan, who started six games last season, when he was a 5th-round pick of the Pats out of the University of California, but hasn't started any this year.

Russ Hochstein will be making his third straight game at right guard in place of Stephen Neal, who now has missed four of the last six games with a shoulder injury.

As if it weren't bad enough that two regulars will be missing from the right side of New England's offensive line, veteran tight end Kyle Brady also is "out" with a foot injury. A powerful blocker, the 6-6, 280-pound Brady often is used to help pick up opposing pass rushers.

So it should be obvious that protection could be a concern tonight for New England QB Tom Brady.

It's no secret that Brady (Tom, not Kyle) is the key to the Patriots' hopes for winning a fourth Super Bowl in seven seasons. He has been remarkably durable -- never missing a start since stepping in after Drew Bledsoe was injured in the third game of the 2001 season.

But it's also no secret that the best way to beat the Pats -- if, in 2007, there IS a way to beat the Pats -- is to put pressure on Brady. So expect the Giants to come after him early and often. If they get to him, it's possible the Patriots actually could lose. But the much greater concern is that the Pats might lose Brady for the playoffs.

Expect him to throw many of those short, quick routes he executes so well in order to minimize the effect of the Giants' pass rush.

Posted by Jim Donaldson  at 7:11 PM | Permalink