So I understand why NBC is slicing and dicing “coverage” of Super Bowl XLVI within an inch of its life, beginning game day programming more than six hours before the game’s 6:25 p.m. start Sunday and folding in broadcasts from Indianapolis everywhere from “Access Hollywood” and the Weather Channel to The Golf Channel, CNBC, Spanish language channel Telemundo and “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”

 “This is not just a football game,” said Sam Flood, executive producer for NBC Sports and the NBC Sports Network, in a conference call with reporters. “It’s the biggest event in America. It’s a national holiday. We’re going to celebrate it.”

I’m just hoping that, in the middle of all that celebrating and cheerleading, there’s a little room for some actual, you know, journalism and fact-finding.

Curiously, NBC isn’t the only culprit here. The Sunday before the big game, CBS’ “60 Minutes” unfurled a feature story on NFL commissioner Roger Goodell that felt like a big, wet kiss – complete with testimonials from team owners on the football field, talking about how much they love the guy who wrangled TV contracts ensuring they will continue to receive their $10 billion in annual revenue, carved up among 32 teams.

No talk about the blackout rules that keep those teams unable to sell game tickets in a depressed economic climate from airing their games on local television. No challenges to the bald observation that the NFL is a legal “cartel,” taking in tax money from communities to build giant stadiums, which enrich a small pool of owners and players.

No talk about last year’s lockout or how Goodell got it resolved. A lightning-fast gloss-over the issue of concussions and why players wind up refusing to admit they have them, playing in games where they can injure themselves further.

But this is the level of coverage we have come to expect from TV operations – even the venerated “60 Minutes” – when it comes to the cash cow which is the National Football League.

NBC sits in a worse position, mostly because it’s a fourth-place network with no programming even close to the viewership of NFL broadcasts. During the week of Jan. 23, just one NBC broadcast ranked among the top ten highest-rated shows of that week: the Pro Bowl game, which drew more than 12 million people to land in 8^th place.

So don’t expect any close looks at whether Indianapolis is really benefiting from the Super Bowl or Lucas Oil Stadium, which cost $720 million to build but the home team Indianapolis Colts have only paid $100 million to fund.

“I remember sitting with (Colts owner) Jim Irsay, as he was there trying to get Lucas oil Stadium here, sitting with the state legislature telling them how important football was to central Indiana,” said former Colts coach and NBC analyst Tony Dungy on a conference call with reporters this week.

“When I flew in here Sunday night and saw downtown and all the things they had going on, it just made me really proud of Indianapolis and central Indiana and what they’ve done,” Dungy added.

And the love-fest hasn’t stopped with NBC or its various platforms. Watching the Tampa NBC affiliate on Thursday evening, I saw a story on the hazards of buying counterfeit NFL merchandise, sparked by an announcement made in Indianapolis about 42,000 items seized across the country, localized with interviews from a local government official and a store owner who sells official merchandise.

There was, of course, no information on whether any counterfeit merchandise was seized in Tampa. And statements by government officials that fake NFL gear might be made with dyes or materials which could cause rashes was passed along with no challenge by the reporter.

What the report really did, was urge the viewer to reinforce the NFL’s copyrights, pushing fans to avoid cheaper, knockoff shirts and hats to keep the league’s merchandising profits strong.

I much prefer the story Jonnelle Marte told on Smartmoney.com Monday, highlighting the 10 things you’ll probably never see the NFL or a Super Bowl partner discuss before the game.

Marte’s list included the high price of attending the game (tickets priced at $4,000 or higher and plane tickets reaching $2,000); the criminals drawn by such big events, including scalpers and prostitutes; the $10 billion wagered on the game this year and the reality that projections of local profits from such events often are overblown or unproven.

To be sure, there’s lots I can’t wait to see Sunday, from Matt Lauer’s interview with President Obama (I happen to think the “Today” show host is TV’s most underrated interviewer) to a feature story on New York Giants linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka, a kid who grew up in Indianapolis, but whose grandfather was the first prime minister of Uganda.

But it would be nice if, in the middle of all the overhyped, overblown pageantry, some corner of NBC News or NBC Sports took a little time to cast a skeptical eye at the biggest sports game in the world.

(NBC Sports Network’s “Costas Tonight: Live From the Super Bowl” town hall discussion Thursday in Indianapolis, featuring talk about concussions with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and ex-players suing the NFL, was a wonderful start).

Because, in the end, we need more than images of a great celebration from the broadcasters bringing us the Big Game.

We need honesty and substance, so that we can trust everything we see onscreen.

In the third quarter of the Jan. 22 AFC Championship Game, the New England Patriots quarterback dropped a 24-yard strike on an expertly run corner route to a man with 11-inch-wide hands, their staggering size further embellished by bleach-white gloves.

Those hands hauled in 17 touchdowns this season—a record for tight ends. And that man, Rob Gronkowski, treated Dannell Ellerbe, the Ravens linebacker tasked with covering him, as he had so many other linebackers, safeties and cornerbacks throughout the season. He cut around the smaller defender as if he didn’t exist and made the catch.

But safety Bernard Pollard—who ended Brady’s 2008 season with a blow to the knee—lay in wait.

Pollard launched himself at the 6’6” 265 lb. Gronkowski, wrapping his arms around the tight end’s waist but couldn’t bring him down until his hip landed on Gronkowski’s left heel, pushing his ankle in a direction that defied its design.

Some of his teammates felt a sense of dread wash over them, as they watched the star tight end struggle to walk.

“The last thing I want to see is Gronk go down,” Patriots wide receiver Deion Branch said. “He’s one of the key performers on our offense.”

Gronkowski crept to his feet but was unable to put weight on his mangled left leg.

“A little panic,” Gronkowski said of his mindset after the injury. “But once I knew it wasn’t broken I was more relieved.”

But a negative X-ray isn’t necessarily good news for Gronkowski. Unofficially, the injury is a high ankle sprain, which physicians say is a much bigger hindrance than a typical rolled ankle. As Pollard’s weight fell upon Gronkowski’s ankle, a portion of the ligament that holds together the two bones in his lower leg—the tibia and fibula— twisted and tore.

Gronkowski has had a noticeable limp in the week-and-a-half since, though he’d stopped wearing a walking boot as of Tuesday. He hopes to take the field on Sunday; a mere two weeks after that ligament failed him.

“Most likely, an athlete participating in sports two weeks after a high ankle sprain is still in pain,” sports medicine specialist Dr. Brock Niceler said. “How much pain and how much limitation the athlete has depends on the severity of the injury.”

The severity, however, remains unclear and the Patriots are keeping the details of the injury private. Typically, Niceler said, high ankle sprains take at least four weeks to heal, though some take months. Oftentimes, players can walk without bother as little as a week after the injury, but will experience severe pain cutting and jumping—integral facets of Gronkowski’s game.

“I’d be surprised if he can be effective two weeks after the injury,” Dr. Craig Levitz, director of sports medicine at South Nassau Communities Hospital said. “He should be able to run straight up the seam, but he probably won’t be able to make cuts downfield.”

If Gronkowski plays, he may only have an impact by running vertical routes that require minimal changes in direction. And his height advantage over Giants linebackers and safeties might be nullified by the pain he feels when jumping.

“(Playing) is my decision,” he said. “I know how much pain I can tolerate.”

Should Gronkowski step on the field, Giants defenders are preparing to face the tight end who amassed 101 yards on eight catches and a touchdown against them in Week Nine, not a player hampered by injury.

“Our whole mindset is that he is going to be 100 percent by game time, especially given a game of this magnitude,” Michael Boley, the Giants linebacker often tasked with covering tight ends, said. “I can’t expect anything but his best.”

Giants safety Antrel Rolle echoed that sentiment and expects Gronkowski to play through the pain on Sunday for the right to earn a championship.

“This is the biggest game of the year,” Rolle said. “They wouldn’t be in this position if it wasn’t for him, without a doubt. He’s going to do whatever he has to do to make sure he’s ready for Sunday.”

Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora, who missed the entire month of December—four games in all—with a high ankle sprain, said he wouldn’t have been effective if he was forced to play two weeks after suffering the oft-misunderstood injury.

“The thing about a high ankle sprain is, after about the first week-and-a-half or so, you feel like you can run straight,” he said. “But the minute you cut or try to turn around or do whatever it is that you need to do as a football player, that’s when things get really painful.”

Fuller disclosure: I hope I never have to cover a Super Bowl Media Day.

What was once an actual opportunity for working media to learn something about the players preparing to compete in the NFL’s championship game/entertainment spectacle is now an actual circus, complete with clowns, freaks and assorted crazies. All that’s missing is the human cannonball. No, wait, wasn’t that he asking Tom Brady whether he wears boxers or briefs?

Tuesday, more than 2,000 credentialed “media” descended on Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium for the chance to hear someone ask Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez if he would salsa and listen as Giants defensive lineman Justin Tuck inform the assembled masses that he was tired of answering the “same stupid questions.” New York wideout Victor Cruz responded to some questions in English and others in Spanish, while Patriots’ receiver Tiquan Underwood unveiled his new hairstyle, which featured the team’s logo shaved into the back of his head. Now, that’s team spirit!

For the first time, the NFL decided to sell tickets to the event, hoping that some people would straggle in from the cold to view the madness. More than 7,000 complied, which proves that either the Super Bowl is growing bigger every year or that the Indy 500 can’t come too soon. And, just to make the day perfect, someone tossed a bra onto the field from the stands. You can’t make this stuff up.

Someone from the TV show “Extra” was quizzing Giants players on Madonna lyrics. Actress/media personality Maria Menounos was interviewing New York team members while wearing a jersey autographed by Patriots QB Tom Brady. One media member was wearing a faux-leather football helmet, sans facemask. Another guy was dressed as a pirate. Yet another wore a superhero costume.

Of course, there was a modicum of real news. Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski did not sport the walking boot he had worn since suffering a severely sprained ankle in the NFC title game Jan. 22, giving hope to New England fans that he will be close to full strength on Sunday. Defensive back Antrel Rolle said his Giants “expect to win” the game and “know” how to stop Gronkowski. And in perhaps the biggest shocker of the day, notoriously grouchy New England coach Bill Belichick was actually in a good mood.

Media Day is a necessary evil, but its growing excess demonstrates what happens when a spectacle like the Super Bowl meets a 24/7 news cycle with an offensive lineman’s appetite. Everything in sports now gets too much attention, but the Super Bowl is a completely different animal. It’s one thing for ESPN to hype its programming incessantly and quite another for practically every media outlet in the U.S. and many around the world to descend on a city for a week-plus of mayhem. The overflow of press creates a need for a continuous flood of information, and since it’s possible to ask about this year’s participants’ rematch only so many times and ways, the media is forced to concoct other storylines.

Sometimes, that results in real news, such as Gronkowski’s walking without the boot. But most of the time, it’s a collection of pap designed to fill the space and often just a repackaging of the same stuff you heard the day before. Such is the power of the NFL. It not only attracts every type of coverage imaginable; it also forces the networks that broadcast its games to churn the topics thoroughly, the better to heighten anticipation, create greater demand and squeeze every available dollar out of advertisers, fans and corporate partners. That nitwit in the superhero costume may not know it, but his mere presence feeds the beast and guarantees that the NFL’s biggest event appeals to every sliver of the audience spectrum, from disinterested party to maniacal fan.

That’s the beauty of this mayhem. The NFL cares not one bit whether every person who shows up for Media Day dresses like Scooby Doo or wears a tuxedo. It will get publicity across such a large collection of outlets that the benefits outweigh any criticism that arises from the craziness. By allowing such a variety of media to take part, the league is able to maximize the event, knowing full well that come Sunday night, the action on the field will satisfy hard-core fans. Meanwhile, the halftime show and the interest generated by advertisements will appeal to the rest of the universe. As an event designed to finish off the season by leaving everybody wanting more, the Super Bowl rarely disappoints – even if the game is dull. The whole show takes care of the rest.

So, expect future media days to get more and more wild. It’s not unreasonable to think that, in a few years, fans will pack the stadium and have access to live feeds from each player’s interview sessions, not to mention analysis of the entire event and social media options through their phones, tablets or computers. The goal is complete saturation, and the NFL is getting ever closer to providing it. It’s going to be huge.

And pity those media members who are there to cover a football game, and not a sporting version of Cirque du Soleil. They have no idea what’s going on.

Or, more precisely, not yet.

Comparing the two New York Giants defensive ends — one a retired Super Bowl champion bound for the Hall of Fame, the other a budding star — is blasphemy, said lineman Osi Umenyiora, who has played with both.

Umenyiora played with Strahan on the vaunted Giants defensive line in Super Bowl XLII, and he’ll join Pierre-Paul on an equally imposing Giants front four in Super Bowl XLVI.

“I was here for Strahan, and he’s definitely a better player than Jason is,” Umenyiora said. “Jason is getting there … (But) just watching Strahan week in and week out just dominate people, it was something that hasn’t been seen before.”

Four years ago, the Giants beat the 18-0 Patriots with relentless, swarming pressure on quarterback Tom Brady, who was hurried on a dozen plays and sacked five times for a loss of 37 yards. Brady was brought down only 21 times in 2007, yet the Giants didn’t blitz and didn’t risk an exotic defensive scheme. Instead they relied on the four players, in a rotation of seven, who pushed, battered and ultimately broke the Patriots’ blockers.

Returning from that championship line are Umenyiora and Justin Tuck, who sacked Brady twice that game. If the Giants hope to repeat their performance, they’ll need the 22-year-old Pierre-Paul to fill the Strahan’s void.

Thus far, Pierre-Paul has met the challenge. This season, he notched a team-best 16.5 sacks, bumping his two-year career total to 21. Strahan, by comparison, recorded only 12 sacks in his first two years as a starter before setting the single-season sack record (22.5) in 2001, his ninth year in the league.

“I think I still haven’t scratched the surface,” Pierre-Paul said. “I have a lot of potential.

“I’m still studying the game. I’m being a sponge to the game. I’m soaking it in.

“Every day, I learn something new from my teammates or my coach.”

The son of Haitian immigrants, Pierre-Paul didn’t set foot on a football field until his junior year of high school. He said he didn’t even watch a Super Bowl until last year.

But even at 6-5 and 270 pounds, his quickness and strength impress Patriots guard Logan Mankins.

“You watch him and his speed, and then you watch him bull rush someone and just knock him back five yards,” Mankins said. “You’re just like, ‘Man, what do you set for, the speed or the power?’ He does all of it.”

Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said he admires Pierre-Paul’s athleticism, but he maintains that his game doesn’t mirror that of his predecessor, Strahan.

“They’re both very good, but totally different players, different style players,” Belichick said.

Those divergent styles are evident in how each last sacked Brady.

Strahan’s final sack was against Brady in Super Bowl XLII. He relied on savvy and strength to jump the snap and slap right tackle Nick Kaczur’s arms down before he could extend his block. Strahan’s maneuver opened a path to Brady.

Conversely, this season, in the Giants’ Week 9 win over the Patriots, Pierre-Paul sacked Brady with sheer athleticism. He split the Patriots offensive line and then leapt over the ducking quarterback. Pierre-Paul then landed, reversed direction, sprung backwards and smothered Brady.

Tuck, now in his seventh season, said he found a mentor in Strahan and assumed an understudy in Pierre-Paul.

 “I just want to do the same thing for him, because I know that if I didn’t have a mentor like Strahan when I came in, I wouldn’t be the player I am today,” Tuck said. “When you see a guy with that much talent, you just want to do your part to help him along.”

Pierre-Paul said that Strahan himself has encouraged him.

“Michael Strahan told me to keep on fighting,” Pierre-Paul said, “and I’m going to be a great player one day.”

What a difference a season makes.

The 12th-year defensive end will suit up Sunday for his first career Super Bowl, but with a team he didn’t think he would play for — the rival New England Patriots, and not the New York Jets.

Ellis grabbed a piece of his New England uniform and grinned.

Did he think he’d ever wear a Patriots jersey? “No, no, no … never,” he said.

“You build on so much of a grudge over the years,” he said, “and then to finally be a part of that team is definitely something. That is going to stick in your mind forever.”

Ellis, a two-time Pro-Bowler, helped the Jets reach the AFC Championship in each of his final two seasons with the team. Both years ended in disappointment, with New York eliminated in back-to-back seasons.

Wanting Ellis back, the Jets proposed a one-year deal worth the veteran’s minimum. But Ellis, who said he deserved more, made the decision to part ways with the franchise he thought he would spend his career with.

“I’m over it,” said Ellis, “It was disappointing with an organization that you spent so long with. You put all your heart into it and try to get to this point, and for them to basically close the door on you, it was tough.”

In early August, Patriots coach Bill Belichick gave Ellis a chance, offering him a spot on his defensive line and a healthy, one-year offer of $4 million.

“He appreciates guys that work hard and play hard,” Ellis said. “For him to give the call and tell me I want you to be on my team, I knew it was something I had done right over the years.”

It wasn’t a deal-breaker, but Ellis knew he was joining his former team’s archrival. Jets coach Rex Ryan, along with several players, have been outspoken in their dislike for the Patriots since Ryan became coach in 2009.

“I had to look at it as a business situation. I made that choice to come here, and it’s paid off,” Ellis added, “I had to put my feelings aside for all the years they were beating up on us.”

The trash talk against New England is different now.

“As a Patriot, we don’t worry about that. We pick out the comments, put them in the back of our mind and want to go out there and play,” Ellis said.

“I never got into words in the media. To me they’re just words. It’s what you do on the field.”

Ellis’ attitude resembles his Patriot teammates. It’s a different atmosphere from the loose, player-friendly, trash-talking mentality of the Jets.

“With the Patriots, it’s more of a working environment, a lot of mental focus, guys just concentrating on things they have to do,” Ellis said.

The Patriots are a no-nonsense type of team, he said, and it pays off.

“See why they win so many games?”

Ellis said his Jets friends are pulling for him, even if it means Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady win another ring. Win or lose on Sunday, Ellis said, he’s comfortable in New England and proud to be a Patriot.

“It’s great to put this jersey on. It symbolizes a lot of hard work,” Ellis said. “Hopefully we can put a good ending to this.”

The NFL and the Super Bowl Host Committee have created a Super Bowl Social Media Command Center to help fans experience this mega-event like never before on social media platforms. Working out of a third-floor office in a historic downtown building, a contingent of 50 people have converged to provide content, answer questions and moderate Twitter conversations.

“This will be the most connected Super Bowl in history,” said Taulbee Jackson, the CEO of Raidious, the interactive and marketing agency, who built and is managing the social media command center. Jackson, a member of the Super Bowl Host Committee, has spent a couple of years planning for this week.

The command center is split into three areas, each with a bank of computer terminals. The first area is for the content creators, those writing stories for the Super Bowl-related websites and platforms.  The second row monitors the social media conversations and crafts responses to questions.

The responses are sent to a group of editors who sit in the third row approving what is being sent out on behalf of the Super Bowl.  All three areas of the room have a view of a massive, nine-screen wall of monitors. The monitors are controlled by an app on an iPad, which can call up any of the nine screens and play the audio over speakers throughout the room.

What makes this command center different is its determination to help fans in real time. More than a marketing effort to get the Super Bowl and/or Indianapolis name out there, this week’s effort is about getting accurate information in the hands of fans.

“Its Hoosier hospitality for the 21 century, we’re making it happen online,” Jackson said. The brunt of that effort will happen via Twitter.  “When we started, our goal was to just do better than the previous Super Bowl.”

They set a goal of 5,000 followers for their official Twitter account @SuperBowl2012. As of Tuesday, they had surpassed 21,000.  “From a reach perspective, we have done really well,” Jackson said.

As Super Bowl week got going, so did the help via Twitter. Fans following the account were able get important, real-time information such as:

• When the zip line tickets sold out on Monday (3:54 pm)
• You can get $5 off your NFL Experience ticket if you wear a Colts jersey on Monday and Tuesday
• Tuesday’s media day tickets were sold out
• The park and ride location was full on Monday as of 1 pm

How do they do that? Raidious is using 16 of its employees and 30 journalism students from Ball State, IUPUI and Butler to fan across the city and be “virtual reporters” at the various fan-heavy locations.  They provide updates, tidbits of information and celebrity sightings to the folks manning the command center.

At the command centers, the group of folks watching the conversations on Twitter has a slew of search terms to monitor – and in case they forget there is a laundry list of the hash tags written on a massive whiteboard at the front of the room.

Spreading news, messages and tips wouldn’t be as easy without the viral nature of Twitter. To enhance this, a group of social media influencers from Indiana, no coincidence that there are 46 of them, have been recruited to be members of a Super Bowl social media #Social46 team.

These individuals have been identified as influencers through Klout and other, less scientific means. They come in handy to promote the @SuperBowl2012 messages (“#social46 community – please spread the word about our amazing mobile program…”) and they will be instrumental in spreading the word in case of an emergency. This effort has not come without controversy.

Some social media members have felt slighted by their omission from the #Social46. It’s a little understandable, but these reactions miss the bigger picture: the #Social46 isn’t about lifting up personalities or promoting agendas, it’s lifting up the city of Indianapolis and promoting key elements of this huge event. It seems to be a great way to use established resources who are already engaged on the medium and with the content.

So far, this massive social media initiative is off to a good start.  Mashable has posted the top 15 Twitter accounts to follow for Super Bowl updates and @SuperBowl2012 was first on their list.  Jackson did some analysis at the beginning of Super Bowl week and sentiment was 3 to 1 positive.

The amazingly mild Indianapolis weather – temperatures reached 60 degrees Tuesday – has helped fuel the positive sentiment.

But most of the fans will begin arriving Thursday and Friday, just as the temperatures start dipping and the crowds start growing.

Like everyone else, we can see how it all plays out on Twitter.

But that’s what he got.

While gathering a few household goods, Butler received a phone call he’ll never forget.

His agent told him he would be a part of the New England Patriots’ eight-man practice squad —where he spent much of the 2010 season, but was cut prior to the 2011 season–and was Indianapolis bound.

Although no practice players will play on Sunday, Butler said being on the sidelines for the game — and privy to the hype that surrounds it — is a thrill.

“When I first came back, I got a real good welcome. The guys made me feel good, and we carried on like I never left,” he said.

“I won’t step on the field Sunday, but practice players put in the work, lift weights and pay attention in player meetings. It’s our job to get them prepared.”

Anyone who has donned shoulder pads and clicked cleats against concrete has dreamed of reaching the sport’s biggest game. But the practice-squad players who traveled to Indianapolis with the Giants and Patriots this week will fall just six feet short — the width of an NFL sideline.

 “Obviously we want to get into the game,” Patriots practice-squad defensive end Alex Silvestro said. “I guess it’s a little disappointing, but I’m not mad about it or upset. I’m definitely enjoying the experience.”

Unlike most of his peers, Silvestro had a brief taste of live action for the Patriots. He played a smattering of snaps against the Dolphins in Week 16 and said he remembered running onto the field for the first time more vividly than any single play.

“I was running out there — full adrenaline — I almost completely forgot what I was doing because I was so excited I was able to play,” Silvestro said.

There won’t be a comparable surge of adrenaline for Silvestro or any other practice players on Sunday. However, they take solace knowing that they stand to win a ring identical to those that will be awarded to Eli Manning or Tom Brady.

“It’s going to be significant, lose or win,” Mike Rivera, Patriots practice-squad linebacker, said. “Either way, I’ve invested time with all these guys. I won’t be on the field, but it’s still very important to me.”

Giants rookie practice squad wide receiver Dan DePalma played at NCAA Division II West Chester (Pa.) University, and he was overshadowed by his Division I contemporaries. He went undrafted. He was cut in the preseason by the New York Jets, the first team to take a chance on him.

Despite the hurdles, DePalma will also be a mere six feet away from the game. The enormity of the moment isn’t lost on him.

“A lot of the greats never had a chance to be on this stage,” DePalma said. “To know that I have contributed even a small amount as a practice squad player is just amazing.

“I’ve had a long road to get here, overcame a lot of obstacles — a lot of sweat, a lot of blood, a lot of tears to get here. To hopefully get that ring and get to wear it makes it all worth it.”

Pro Bowl guard Chris Snee, after a hard hit to the head, was knocked out of the game with a concussion. The Giants lost, 36-25.

But Snee and the Giants find themselves in Indianapolis this week, as they prepare for their second Super Bowl in five years, a rematch with the New England Patriots.

The road wasn’t easy for Snee. Knocked out of the Seattle game, he sat out the next week against Buffalo before returning for a matchup against Miami.

“That week after the Seattle game was a tough time for me,” Snee said of his concussion. “The only time I really thought about it was that next game in Miami.”

“You always worry the next time your head’s going to get hit, he said, “and I was a little worried putting it back in there.”

During that Buffalo loss, the Giants relied upon Snee’s backup, lineman Jim Cordle, to help pick up his slack. Snee said this year’s team, including Cordle, knows that everyone always has to be ready.

“You have to rely on the depth of your team, and the credit goes to the front office for bringing in guys who can really play football,” Snee said. “On our team, it’s just the expectation that when a big guy goes out, a backup has to come in and play at a high level.”

As Snee helped carry the Giants to another Super Bowl berth, Cordle said he noticed big improvements in Snee’s game since his injury.

“That was the first time he ever sat out a game, but I think that rest helped him a lot,” Cordle said. “He’s done a great job since then playing against some really great guys. He was a Pro Bowl alternate this season, but by the end of this year and right now, he’s playing at a Pro Bowl level.”

Snee said that even with the Patriots’ low-ranking statistics — including a pass defense ranked second-worst in the league this season — it will be a huge task to fend off the New England defense.

“I think they do a pretty good job at keeping teams out of the end zone,” Snee said, “and when their offense puts up as many points as they do, that’s why they have the record they do.”

Snee said it’s crucial to protect Manning, who threw for nearly 5000 yards this regular season, and buy him enough time to make big plays downfield.

“It’s our job to keep our defense off the field, and the only way to do that is to protect Eli,” Snee said. “We prefer to methodically march down the field, and our goal will always be the same — keep that explosive offense off the field.”

Weatherford, the punter for the New York Giants, will join his teammates in Indianapolis this weekend as Super Bowl XLVI kicks off at Lucas Oil Stadium on Sunday. But for Weatherford, he’s not only playing for his team, but also for his hometown.

Having grown up in Crown Point and Terre Haute, Ind., he continues to give back to the Hoosier communities where his football dream began. It hasn’t gone unnoticed.

Daniel Tanoos, superintendent of the Vigo County School Corp., has known Weatherford since he was a junior at Terre Haute North High School. He said that Weatherford never turned his back on his hometown and has left a long-lasting effect on its schools and their students.

“I’m thrilled for the man he’s become,” Tanoos said. “He’s never forgotten his hometown or the needs of those students, whether it be clothes, shoes, or nourishment. He does things at special times just for the good of the Lord, and that says a lot about his character.”

When he played with the Jets, Weatherford came across loads of extra football gear in green that his teammates didn’t need. This season, during his time with the Giants, he’s accumulated extra equipment that is red, white and blue.

Weatherford didn’t let the equipment go to waste. It was a perfect fit for Terre Haute’s West Vigo High School — which wears green and white — and Terre Haute North and South — which both wear red and white.

Through three years of donating, Weatherford estimates that he’s sent home about 500 pairs of cleats that both he and his teammates have worn throughout the season. It’s a task that takes little time, but Weatherford knows it makes a huge impact.

He said it’s important to go to the trouble of asking everyone for equipment.

“But everybody knows why I do it — and just to be able to help so many children and so many people in need, when it only costs me 20 minutes out of my day once a month during the football season. I know those people really appreciate it.”

In addition to his teammates’ gear, Weatherford also autographs and sends his own cleats whenever he’s finished using them — usually about three pairs a season. They go back to Terre Haute to be auctioned to help support a variety of charities.

When he returns home in the off-season, Weatherford said he always checks in with Tanoos to see if there’s any way he can help the community or the football teams.

During the past several summers, Weatherford has conducted a free football camp for high school players in the Vigo County area, bringing in some of his current and former teammates. He’s also established a $500 annual grant for teachers using innovative, creative methods to teach health.

But maybe his biggest influence has been on the lives he’s touched.

“I had a kid in my office the other day, and he just talked about how he saw Steve as his role model,” Tanoos said.

“He just really has a servant’s heart, and this kid had been so excited in what he’s received from Steve. He’s just always been willing to step in to help these kids in need.”