Brandon Jacobs says Plaxico Burress wanted to sign with the Giants as a free agent this past offseason, but he ended up with the Jets. Asked if Burress had his heart set on returning to the Giants, Jacobs said Tuesday, "Oh, no question, I know he did. I know he wanted to come to the Giants. We just didn't think it was going to be able to be done financially. But he may be (back) next year, who knows?" Burress signed a one-year, $3 million contract with the Jets. "I don't see him back with the Jets next year at all," said Jacobs, who speaks with Burress regularly. "I don't know what he's thinking, but I don't see that. They've got a lot of things going on over there, and I don't know if he wants to be part of that."

The Giants arrived in Indianapolis on Monday and they did so confidently. "We wouldn't have boarded the plane if we didn't expect to win," safety Antrel Rolle said. "I think that is the bottom line." "We have come here for one thing and one thing only which is to win," he added. "We are expecting to win this game come Sunday." Rolle wasn't making a guarantee or a prediction. He was just expressing the confidence that permeates throughout the Giants roster.

Jason Pierre-Paul, who has enjoyed a breakout season with 16.5 sacks, is looking forward to rushing Tom Brady in the Super Bowl. New York didn't hit Brady in their 24-20 win over New England in the regular season. "Every quarterback can be rattled; there's no guy who can't be," Pierre-Paul said. "Even the great ones. You do your assignments, don't do anything out of the ordinary, just do what you do."

Eli Manning delivered a powerful message to the Giants last week, warning his teammates how painful losing a Super Bowl can be. The quarterback is 1-0 in the big game himself, but his older brother, Peyton, lost to the Saints a few years ago. "I've never lost a Super Bowl," Manning said. "I was with my brother [Peyton] when he lost one [Super Bowl XLIV to Drew Brees and the Saints], and three months after that, that's all he could talk about. We don't want that feeling." "He spoke from the heart," one Giants player told The New York Post. "Like, 'Yeah, this is for real. We don't want that feeling and we want to win."

A skeptical Antrel Rolle says the Patriots have established a pattern of praising everyone before and after games, and little should be taken from their compliments throughout the week. "Typical Patriot fashion," Rolle said. "They give compliments to everyone they play." Rolle added that he and his teammates would not listen to what the Patriots had to say. "Before the game, after the game, you give them their respect," he said. "But during the game, there's no respect at all."

Corey Webster believes he is the best cornerback in the NFL and doesn't believe Wes Welker represents much of a challenge. "I think I'm great," he said, adding that his fellow defensive backs "feel the same way." "I think I'm the best thing out there. I don't think I'm second to nobody." Webster also discussed the challenge of covering New England's top receiver in the Super Bowl. "I don't know if it's that Welker is the challenge, or he has a great person throwing him the ball," Webster said. "Kind of throwing off the timing between the quarterback and the receivers, I think, will help us a lot."

The Patriots have been using Julian Edelman, a wide receiver-turned-cornerback on defense, something that hasn't gotten lost on the Giants. "I hope he's out there when we play them," receiver Mario Manningham said. "I don't want to sound like that, but you know what I mean. To our advantage, I hope he's out there." Manningham then added a few comments that surely will find their way to the New England locker room. "It's a different stage," he said. "This ain't regular season. That ain't your real position, so we're going to try to expose you. It's all or nothing now. That ain't your position, this is the Super Bowl and we want you to play that position."

The Giants are trying to heal all their wounds leading up to next weekend's Super Bowl. Rookie linebacker Jacquian Williams (sprained foot) and receiver Hakeem Nicks (sprained shoulder) have both been sitting out practice. In addition, Cornerback Corey Webster rested his hamstring injury and cornerback Will Blackmon sat with a knee injury. Tom Coughlin has said the team is being careful with all injuries and making sure everybody will be ready for the Super Bowl.

The last time Eli Manning played the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, he remembers seeing wrinkles and schemes he had not seen from the Patriots before that moment. So as Manning prepares for the Patriots in the rematch, the Giants QB is expecting the unexpected from Bill Belichick's defense.

Patriots quarterback Tom Brady told a national television audience that he "sucked" in his team's AFC Championship Game victory over the Ravens this past Sunday. Privately, in the locker room after the game, he told owner Robert Kraft something else: "I promise you I'm going to play a lot better in two weeks."