By Ron Borges

The formula for beating the unbeatable Patriots is a lot easier to come by than to execute. You play to win or you prepare to lose.

Those are the simple options facing Tom Coughlin and his New York Giants Sunday night when they try to upset the unbeaten Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. If they do it, it will be one of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history. Doing it will not be easy but figuring out what has to be done is.

Unlike the Jacksonville Jaguars, who blitzed only eight times against New England in their playoff loss to them, the G-Men have to sellout to get to Tom Brady. That does not mean they have to blitz in every passing situation but it means they have to find ways to be painfully disruptive to Brady. They have to squeeze the pocket from the wings and, most importantly, they have to get pressure in his face so he is not free to step forward or slip one step to the side, two things he’s so adept at to buy another second of time.

If the Giants can do that with their four-man rush that is, of course, the best route since it will leave them with seven men in coverage with a minimum of only five receivers to defend. But if they cannot get there with their front four alone – as well they may not – Giants’ defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo must take the risk of sending more bodies after Brady because there is no other way to beat him.

Drop five into coverage, make it a seven-on-seven drill if you’d like, and it won’t matter. Brady has destroyed teams that have opted to limit their rush and maximize their men in coverage week after week, month after month, year after year. Why should it be any different at University of Pheonix Stadium on Sunday?

It won’t be. Sure the Giants have to closely monitor the movements of Randy Moss, as they learned in their Dec. 29 loss when Brady found him wide open behind their blown coverage two plays in a row to a fatal ending for the Giants. But beyond that, their first order of business has to be to get to Brady enough to make him feel the need to unload the ball a little quicker than he’d like. That is what San Diego did and has done in the past, which is part of the reason he has had less than stellar games against them.

Having said that, the Chargers had the advantage of better and more reliable cornerbacks than the Giants have so Spagnuolo has a difficult situation to deal with if his front four can’t get to Brady enough on their own but he has to gamble that he can survive with five or six men in coverage at times if pass rushing problems develop for his front four.

They very likely will develop because, if you recall, on Dec. 29 the entire right side of the Patriots offensive line plus tight end Kyle Brady were all on the sidelines with various aches and pains. That’s no knock on Russ Hochstein and Ryan O’Callahan, who replaced Stephen Neal and Nick Kaczur ably enough, but the fact is any team that has 40 per cent of its starting offensive line on the bench plus their best pass blocking tight end against the kind of pass rush the Giants can muster is at a disadvantage of some significance.

That won’t be the case this time so Spagnuolo must either find ways for his front four to reach Brady on its own or bring reinforcements because he will not beat Brady in a game of seven-on-seven. He might for a while but not for long enough.

Offensively, the Giants face the opposite situation. They cannot put too much pressure on quarterback Eli Manning to win the game. What Coughlin and offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride need to do – and what Bill Belichick surely knows – is to shorten the game in the same way their mentor, Bill Parcells, did in Super Bowl XXV.

Facing the high-octane Buffalo Bills K-Gun offense, which was often operating out of the no huddle, Parcells knew ball control was paramount. He pounded his running game at the Bills, holding the ball for 40 of the game’s 60 minutes and holding on for a 20-19 victory. This Giant team doesn’t seem likely to be that dominate at the line of scrimmage but it has to try with bruising Brandon Jacobs slamming away at New England’s sometimes vulnerable run defense. Engage in a shootout and you’re committing football suicide.

Yet even if they can do that they must do more and that is what will be most difficult. They must be conservative most of the game but bold when their moments come. That is what the Chargers’ Norv Turner failed to do and therein lay the reason behind San Diego’s demise in the AFC title game.

The Chargers blew whatever opportunity they thought they had at victory in less than 12 minutes of the second half, beginning when they got stuffed on third-and-1 at the Patriot 4 for a two-yard loss and opted to kick a 24-yard field goal to cut New England’s lead to 14-12 with 8:31 to play in the third quarter rather than gamble on fourth-and-3 at the 6 by going for the first down.

Had they done so and failed to score the touchdown, New England would have been pinned deep in its own territory with limited options. Had San Diego then held, its offense would have gotten the ball in good field position for a second run at the Patriots defense still trailing only 14-9.

What happened instead? They cut the lead to 14-12 but then allowed Brady to move the Patriots to their two-yard line before throwing an interception in the end zone. They then compounded their lack of boldness earlier by being too bold this time when Antonio Cromartie tried to run that interception out of the end zone and was tackled at his own four. Instead of first-and-10 at the 20 it’s first-and-10 at their own four, with San Diego’s offense now facing limited options because it was in the situation it could have left the Patriots’ in minutes earlier if it didn’t get the first down it needed at the other end of the field.

Five plays later San Diego had to punt, New England got the ball at its 33 and drove the field for a touchdown and a 21-12 lead with barely 12 minutes to play. Game over.

Why? Many reasons, including the Patriots’ superiority when they needed to be but mostly because the Chargers refused to be bold when it was imperative they do so - on fourth-and-3 at the Patriot 6 - and being foolishly bold when they needed not to be - after Cromartie’s interception in the end zone.

The Giants would be wise to look at that 12-minute scenario and remember it on Sunday for the only way they can win is to be bold when their moments arrive and cautious the rest of the time.

Attack Tom Brady. Attack the Patriot defense in the red zone. Otherwise play smart. Play like guerrilla warriors. Win by controlled aggression and patient resolve.
Attack, in other words, the Patriots the way they did the Rams a few years back when they were the heavy underdogs and The Greatest Show on Turf was the unbeatable force in front of them at the Super Bowl.

Those Patriots won because they were bold and aggressive when it was right to be but wise and risk averse when that was the proper approach. The New York Giants can win with no other formula than that one.