Torbor (53) and the 'backers must provide more pressure to limit the chip-blocking on the Giants' ends. Al Tielemans/SI

That performance is a testament to the efficiency of a Patriots line that was playing without right tackle Nick Kaczur, right guard Stephen Neal and 280-pound blocking tight end Kyle Brady, all of whom will be back for the Super Bowl. Not including the single sack, of the plays on which Brady faced significant pressure, he completed 8 of 11 passes for 57 yards and one touchdown, hitting wideouts Randy Moss and Wes Welker as well as safety valves such as running back Kevin Faulk and tight end Ben Watson.

It was a masterly performance by Brady, made even more impressive by the fact that, amid the noise from a Giants Stadium crowd cheering for a miracle, he couldn't engage in as many of his usual at-the-line ploys. Miami defensive end Jason Taylor estimates that when the Dolphins played in Foxborough this year, Brady used what Miami calls a "double cadence" on about 80% of the snaps. "He'll call two plays in the huddle," Taylor says. "He'll go to the line, the linemen will get in their stances, Tom will look around, and he'll call out something like, 'Red 80! Red 80! Set, hut-hut!' But there won't be a snap, and no [Patriots] will move. [Brady] will stop for a second and get a quick mental picture. He does that so he can see what you're trying to disguise on defense. Then he'll either call that first play again, or he'll call the second play, and they'll snap it."

"He did that against us too," says Giants defensive lineman Justin Tuck, "but I get more frustrated with his quick snaps and quick counts."

Brady is able to make presnap reads with or without the double cadence. In a 27-24 win against the Ravens on Dec. 3, he engineered a vital third-down touchdown by taking a mental picture during the middle of a cadence, according to then Baltimore coach Brian Billick. On third-and-one from the Ravens' three, Brady saw cornerback Chris McAlister setting up to cover Randy Moss without safety help. When the ball was snapped, neither safety went to help, and Brady took only a split second to find Moss, who had a step on McAlister. Touchdown.

Brady can also simply draw from experience. One of the most stunning sequences in the win over the Giants came in the fourth quarter, when Brady threw two consecutive, identical "go" routes up the right sideline to Moss. On the first, Moss badly beat cornerback Sam Madison, but Brady underthrew him. On the second, though it was third-and-10 and New England trailed 28-23, Brady went to the same well against a different coverage. "That's our 2-High look," says one New York defensive starter. "Anything over 15 yards, the safety takes over the coverage. And we made a mistake." A big one. The ball was snapped at the New England 35-yard line. As Moss sprinted up the sideline, the corner left Moss near the Patriots' 48 to help on Welker in the right slot. But safety James Butler was still beckpedaling at midfield and didn't move to cover Moss until Butler was at the Giants' 45. Too late. Brady's bomb -- his NFL-record-setting 50th touchdown pass of the season, Moss's record-setting 23rd touchdown catch -- settled into the hands of the receiver, who jogged into the end zone four yards ahead of Butler.

That's one play the Giants know they can execute better. And they probably won't alter their defensive game plan noticeably from the first meeting. New York sent three- or four-man rushes at Brady on 22 of his dropbacks. The Giants had 18 one-man blitzes (five rushers), two two-man blitzes (six rushers) and one all-out attack in which they sent three blitzers and seven total rushers against six Patriots blockers.

Why, you ask, wouldn't New York send the house at Brady more often? It's simple. He handles pressure superbly, as his efficiency against the Giants showed. His final pass of that game came midway through the fourth quarter, deep in New York territory, when the Giants sent their only seven-man rush of the night. Brady saw the pressure coming, stood calmly and fired a near-lateral to Moss. Gain of five.

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