PAUL OF THE WILD
Perkins can carry Giants; it’s just a matter of time
THE DREAM scenario for the Giants is Aaron Rodgers on the sidelines, frozen with helplessness and anxiety, watching the kid run the rock over and over and over again.
On the biggest and coldest day of his young NFL life, Paul Perkins, with help from mentor Rashad Jennings, appears primed to warm the hearts of Giants fans who fondly remember Ottis Anderson and the night the Bill Parcells Giants rendered Jim Kelly and his explosive Bills spectators for 40 minutes, 33 seconds of Super Bowl XXV.
Anderson, who was the game’s MVP, rushed 21 times for 102 yards and a TD, and he believes the best way to upset the Packers is to resurrect the Super Bowl XXV blueprint.
“I wasn’t the fleet-of-feet type of a guy, but what I brought, which is what Jennings brings, is that toughness, ball security and knowing my assignment,” Anderson told The Post.
“Perkins brings that extra gear that you need to keep a team off balance. He’s quicker, he’s faster and he does things a little bit faster than what Jennings does. But Jennings brings the power, the experience and the know-itall, and you can’t beat that when it comes to playing a team like Green Bay.”
Perhaps it is an omen that Perkins registered Anderson’s exact Super Bowl XXV numbers — 21 carries for 102 yards — against the Redskins in his first career start.
“I definitely missed some holes that could have been longer, more explosive plays,” Perkins said. “I’m just gonna keep pounding on that and look for the creases.”
He hails from Arizona and attended UCLA and the coldest game he has played in was this December at MetLife Stadium. He decided to wear shorts and a t-shirt at Thursday’s chilly outdoor practice. “You have to get used to being uncomfortable. It wasn’t too bad,” Perkins said.
Perkins began preparing for the Green Bay cold Tuesday with the first of three visits to the cold tub.
“I figured it out, it’s just gonna be all mindset, man,” Perkins told The Post.
His teammates love his mindset.
“He’s a sudden player,” Jennings said. “He has a sudden step about him to get somebody to pause for a second, and he has the quickness enough to get by you.”
Perkins doesn’t expect to be as nervous as he was against the Redskins.
“Everything is slowing down,” he said. “I’m starting to get a grasp of the offense. Understanding the whys.”
He’s not a rookie anymore. His first 100-yard game as a Giant showed as much. “He ran with heart, set blocks up, made people miss,” center Weston Richburg said.
Mission Possible: Keep Rodgers off the field.
“That’s very important because he can make things happen when he’s out there,” Richburg said. “The shortest amount of time we can keep him out there the better. So we want to control the clock, control the ball and keep him on the sideline.”
“He’s a great player so I think keeping him off the field and keeping our defense fresh when they get out there and they gotta chase him around and he’s having those eight- or nine- second plays where he scrambles,” Justin Pugh said, “they’re not doing that all game long.”
“Critical,” Jennings said. “You want to keep your opponent’s great players off the field. Unless it’s an exchange for seven points. And the way to do that is to build off what we did last week.”
Pugh didn’t know the Super Bowl XXV Giants controlled 40:33 of the clock.
“Maybe we’ll look back at that tape and check it out,” Pugh said, and laughed.
Anderson recalled how the methodical assault wore down the Bills defenders.
“You saw it by the way they were tackling,” Anderson said. “It got to the point where they didn’t want to hit. You could see where they weren’t closing, they weren’t trying to go for the kill shot, they were more cautious. They were just trying to execute the play more than they were trying to take me out. We slowed the game down so bad that when they got on the field they had to play hurry-up.”
Anderson warns that the speed of the game is faster in the playoffs.
“This time of year when you get the football, it’s about ball security and trying to always think in your mind, ‘I need to get 3 yards, I need to get 3 yards or more, 3 yards or more,’” he said. “That’s the mindset you gotta have, not trying to make the big run, just trying to get third down manageable, so the quarterback can make a play and we can move the chains.” But 40:33? “Our theory was, ‘Don’t try to get the big plays, they’ll come.’ Get what they give you, and don’t be greedy. When the big plays present themselves, you gotta hit it, you gotta take advantage of it,’ and that’s what we did,” Anderson said.