For any members of the media working on a story comparing the Patriots-Giants matchup at Super Bowl XLVI with the Patriots-Giants matchup at Super Bowl XLII, you can skip right over Patriots guard Logan Mankins.
Mankins was asked at a press conference today to talk about the way the Giants’ defensive line pressured the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, and he declined to talk about it.
“That was four years ago. Next question,” Mankins said.
Mankins is blunt, but he has a point. The teams are largely different now than they were four years ago. The Giants’ leading pass rusher, Jason Pierre-Paul, was a freshman at College of the Canyons when the 2007 Giants were making their run to the Super Bowl. The way the Patriots’ offensive line matched up with the Giants’ defensive line four years ago isn’t particularly relevant to how they’re going to match up this year.