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Nick Kaczur's Road to XLII

The road to the Super Bowl has been a long one for Nick Kaczur.

The Brantford, ON, native has finally arrived at football’s ultimate contest in Arizona via a construction site, the University of Toledo, three seasons with the Patriots and now this: the madness of NFL Media Day.

The game might only be a matter of days away, but Super Bowl week is a long week.

“The training, the mini camps and all that all comes down to this game, which is what we’ve been doing all this for,” said Kaczur as the first of many microphones and tape recorders where thrust into his face.

The Patriots offensive lineman, like his teammates, was public domain for Super Bowl XLII’s record 4,786 credentialed media attending the annual free for all. Quite understandably, his eyes glazed over in response to many questions and his quiet, gruff voice occasionally dragged with disinterest. Other questions were met with raised eyebrows or shrugging and slumping shoulders.

“What is the stupidest question you’ve been asked so far?”

“Do the Giants even have a chance against you guys?”

“Does something detrimental they might say help motivate you?”

Kaczur looked towards the tunnel that come Sunday will be awash with smoke and the deafening roar of the University of Phoenix Stadium crowd.

“It still hasn’t hit me since we won the AFC Championship last week that I’ll be coming through that tunnel on Sunday,” he said. “It will hit me then.”

And as a hockey stick converted into a microphone boom stand was thrust into his hands, Kaczur looked back at the tunnel, clearly wishing Sunday was only a day away.

“How would your Super Bowl ring look if you designed it?”

Kaczur shrugged again: “Whatever they want to give me, I’ll take it. I think they do a good job just the way it is. I just want to get my hands on one!”

Casting a weary eye over the throng of reporters, who included a skimpily dressed bride who would propose to Tom Brady (and later Eli Manning as her second choice), Miss Nevada, an elementary school-aged reporter and superhero, not to mention the Mexican TV presenter who defies description, Kaczur observed: “It’s definitely a little crazy.

“But everybody’s focus is on the game and this is just part of it and makes things more exciting and intense for everybody.

When the talk turned to football, Kaczur gave his thoughts on Sunday’s opponent, the New York Giants, a team he did not face in Week 16 of the season while sidelined with a foot injury.

“They’re definitely a good team and they deserve to be here,” he said. “We knew that when we played them before and they gave it to us. We’re going to have a game on our hands.

“They have a lot of talent on that d-line and they bring a lot of pressure those four guys up front. In a way they’re unique because they rely on the blitz a lot to get pressure. When they get that pressure it helps the four up front a lot.”

Understandably, much of the media talk was of Kaczur and his offensive line mates’ protection of quarterback Tom Brady. But having already spun all the lines about how important and satisfying it is to care for the NFL Offensive MVP, the right tackle praised Brady himself for being so composed in the pocket.

“He gets rid of the ball, he knows when guys are coming and he knows when a guy has got an edge,” said Kaczur. “So you have to give him a lot of credit for not getting sacked a lot of the time. It’s not just us. He helps himself out a lot of the time.”

Then, no sooner were x’s and o’s on the table than the Media Day madness questions flowed again. This time an eager member of the New York media attempted to press Kaczur into goading the Giants with a game-guarantee or some unsavory trash talk.

“You never want to predict anything because this league is unpredictable,” responded Kaczur. “You just prepare your best, make sure you’re ready and let the chips fall where they may come game day. All you can control is how you play and how well you prepare, so to make comments on that or a statement is pretty bold and isn’t something I would want to do.

“We’ll make our comments on the field on Sunday. We’re not going to make any guarantees of wins or anything like that.”

But he did give just an inch.

“Whichever group can get control of the line of scrimmage and stand up will definitely be a big factor in the game.”