New England's play-caller explained himself afterward, remarking, somewhat sarcastically, "It was a pep rally."
"Certainly the players were excited," Brady said. "I know that 25,000 fans who were there were excited as well, so we had great support home and away. Hopefully we'll have some Patriots jerseys in the stands next Sunday night."
Even if Brady isn't looking past his opponents—which I in no way think he's doing—his post Super Bowl plans should serve as additional motivation for a red-hot Giants defense already bent on leaving the three-time champion with nothing to celebrate on Feb. 5.
Brady knows that New York's plethora of great to formidable defensive linemen—Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul, Mathias Kiwanuka, Chris Canty and Dave Tollefson—will be gunning for him after every snap. The talented front will force Brady to find targets Wes Welker, Rob Gronkowski (listed as questionable with a high ankle sprain) and Aaron Hernandez quicker than he'd normally have to.
"I think as a quarterback you just understand that you can't sit there and hold the ball all day," he said. "You better find someone and get rid of it, because they're comin'. You just don't want to sit back there and sort things out.
"And I'm certain I'm not gonna be able to run away from 'em so … I gotta be able to throw the ball quickly and try to find an open guy, and get it really into the hands of someone who can actually do something good with it, which my skill players have really done all season."
Pierre-Paul led the Giants in sacks this season with 16-1/2; Umenyiora, who missed seven games, was second with nine; Tuck and Tollefson each have five; and Canty and Kiwanuka had four and 3-1/2, respectively. When New York defeated New England 24-20 in Week 9, it recorded just two sacks but forced four turnovers, two of them on interceptions.
In the loss to Big Blue, Brady completed 28 passes—two of which were touchdowns—on 49 attempts for 342 yards. The Patriots' offense will now face a soaring Giants defense that has held its three previous postseason opponents—the Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers—to two, 20 and 17 points, respectively.
