Vince Wilfork will give Giants' offensive line a challenge in Super Bowl

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Vince Wilfork’s teammates know what Vince Wilfork’s opponents see, and they don’t envy the guys lining up across from him.

“They’ve got a load,” New England Patriots defensive end Mark Anderson said about the Giants’ offensive line. “Quick. His size, he looks like he might be slow if you don’t know him, but once he gets on the field ....”

The Baltimore Ravens could finish that thought, after the Patriots’ (generously listed) 325-pound defensive lineman took over the AFC Championship Game last week. The game was vindication for a 31st-ranked Patriots defense that had been doubted and criticized all season, deemed unfit to make the Super Bowl, even with Tom Brady on the other side of the ball.

And leading the charge was Wilfork, the “elder statesman” as coach Bill Belichick called him, with a sack, three tackles for a loss and two key plays that suffocated a critical fourth-quarter drive by the Ravens.

He lined up not just inside but also at end. He ate up double and triple teams. And he is now the problem of the Giants’ offensive line.
“I play hard every week,” Wilfork said. “Sometimes I make plays that are noticeable, and sometimes I don’t. Last week was one of those things where the plays I made were pretty good plays. But we have to turn the chapter.”

Except Belichick thought Sunday’s performance was something extra special for Wilfork, “one of his best games” in eight seasons as a Patriot — making sure to note he’s had a lot of good ones.

Belichick cited the infamous wild-card playoff loss to the Ravens in the 2009 season, when Wilfork excelled despite the outcome. Sunday, Belichick said, was reminiscent. With the Ravens in Patriots territory late in the fourth quarter, Wilfork tackled running back Ray Rice for a loss on third down, then plowed back the center to pressure Joe Flacco into an incompletion on fourth down.

It was a critical and possibly game-saving stop by the man who has been the center of New England’s defense — not just physically. Wilfork often leads by example, and he notes that he does not have a flashy sack dance (nor interception dance, though he did have two picks early this season).

But he knows how to resonate with his teammates. Anderson, in his first season with the team, said Wilfork coaches him on the field. Safety Patrick Chung recalls instances when he has given up a deep play, and Wilfork was the first to approach him.

“He has straight trust for everybody,” Chung said. “He would just say, ‘Hey, I’m trusting you,’ and that was it. He has that effect on guys where he is like, I trust you to make plays.”

It is evident in Wilfork’s reluctance to talk about his performance Sunday but yet in turn gush about what this defense has achieved. He calls the Patriots a “special bunch — and at the end of the day, it’s going to be a special team,” he said.

“Even when things weren’t going well, you could easily sit back and say, ‘You know what, screw it, they’re right. We’re just going to continue to (stink) and pack it in,’ ” Wilfork said of the defense’s ups and downs. “But these guys fought. They fought.”

Wilfork got used to winning early in his football career. At the University of Miami, his team reached the national championship game both his freshman and sophomore seasons, winning one title. Then, he won a Super Bowl as an NFL rookie. It now has been been seven years without a title.

“For me, it was like, ‘I could get used to this. I do this all the time. I’m used to winning,’ ” Wilfork said. “But a couple years went by, and I saw how hard it was to get to this level. And in ’07 of course, going and losing, that’s a tough, tough feeling. But every chance you get, a chance to be in this situation, is special. It’s very special. Win or lose.”

Much more so if you win, of course. And to do so, the Patriots need Wilfork to have a game as big as his imposing frame. Left tackle Matt Light is just thankful he doesn’t have to block him.

“Look, we hope the big man has the game of his life,” Light said. “And I’m sure he will.”


(nj.com)