Secondary is a primary concern to Giants

GLENDALE, Ariz. -- The way many experts see it, the New York Giants’ best chance of pulling off a Super Bowl upset today is if they can turn the 60-minute game into a frenzied rush hour.

Specifically, if their defensive line can apply extreme pressure to New England quarterback Tom Brady, the most cool-under-pressure passer since Joe Montana.

But that’s not all up to New York’s big men up front. They need time -- about three seconds per play -- to have any reasonable chance of getting to the quarterback, and that means the squeeze will be on their patchwork secondary to cover a phenomenal collection of Patriots receivers for as long as possible.

And then some.

“Those guys need to play the game of their lives, like we all do,” Giants defensive end Osi Umenyiora said. “A defensive lineman needs three seconds to get there. You have to beat your man and after you do that, find the quarterback.

“But anything more than three seconds is on us.”

Even if they get their three seconds, that might not be enough to get to Brady, who feels and reacts to pressure as well as any quarterback in the game. He also doesn’t shy from taking a hit if necessary.

Receiver Randy Moss was asked what it would take to fluster Brady.

“To put himself in a situation where he might be rattled?” Moss asked. “I think if you take the five offensive linemen out of the equation and make him snap the ball to himself and let [Michael] Strahan and them rush, you’ll probably rattle him. Six on 11 . . . you’ll probably rattle him. That’s about it.”

Responding to the suggestion of Giants linebacker Kawika Mitchell that people thought Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo was impossible to rattle until the Giants got to him, Moss said: “Tony Romo is not Tom Brady and Tom Brady is not Tony Romo. You’re talking about the MVP, in my eyes the greatest quarterback to ever play this game. Of course, defenders are going to say things because they want a quarterback to be rattled. They want Tom to throw picks, to throw them the ball. Up to this point, he hasn’t shown it.”

Paced by their top-ranked passing game, the Patriots averaged a league-high 411.3 yards a game and scored a record 75 touchdowns. Brady broke Peyton Manning’s league record with 50 touchdown passes, including a record 23 to Moss.

On paper, New York’s secondary would seem like easy pickings.

Because of injuries and shaky play, 10 Giants logged significant playing time in the defensive backfield this season, and there were changes at each of the four positions: left and right corner, strong and free safety.

In consecutive games late in the season against Philadelphia and Washington, New York started Craig Dahl and Michael Johnson -- an undrafted free agent and a seventh-round pick.

Since the playoffs, however, the Giants secondary has made an improvement akin to the one Indianapolis’ defense made in helping the Colts win the Super Bowl a year ago.

* Left cornerback R.W. McQuarters, who didn’t have an interception in the regular season, had one in each of the three playoff games.

* Right cornerback Corey Webster started the first three games of the season but played so poorly he was benched for the second half against Washington in Week 3. He was even deactivated for two games, watching from the sideline in street clothes. He bounced back, though, and paved the way to the Super Bowl -- even after giving up a 90-yard touchdown to Donald Driver earlier in the game -- by intercepting a Brett Favre pass in overtime at Green Bay.

* Smothered by defenders, Dallas wide receiver Terrell Owens didn’t have a catch in the second half of the divisional game against the Giants.

* New York limited Green Bay’s Greg Jennings to only one catch for the game.

* When rookie Aaron Ross suffered a shoulder injury against Dallas, he was replaced by Geoff Pope, who spent the regular season on the practice squad. If he was a liability, the Cowboys didn’t expose him.

* Two years after being cut by Miami, cornerback Sam Madison gave the Giants solid production. He had four interceptions during the regular season before suffering a pulled abdominal muscle against the Patriots that has slowed him in the postseason. He has been a leader to many of the younger players, however.

“The good thing is they’re all very unselfish,” defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo said of the secondary. “They understand what we’re trying to do. . . . They rally around each other.”

Their philosophy: Why stop now?

sam.farmer@latimes.com