The Giants will have to decide if Corey Webster’s performance after being benched early in the season was a fluke or for real when deciding which direction to go in the draft.

Webster was able to contain such wideouts as Joey Galloway, Terrell Owens, Donald Driver and then Randy Moss in the Super Bowl when Kevin Dockery and Sam Madison went down with injury, opening the opportunity for Webster to step out of the doghouse and into the penthouse.

Paul Schwartz of the New York Post looks at the options at cornerback available to them at the draft. Aqib Talib of Kansas will likely be gone by the time the Giants pick, but Antoine Cason of Arizona, Reggie Smith of Oklahoma or Brandon Flowers of Virginia Tech could all be available.

Its up to the Giants to determine which is the biggest need and who offers the most upside, along with how they really feel about the future of Corey Webster.

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Mike Garafolo on his blog for the Star Ledger reports that the Giants and Brandon Jacobs are far apart in negotiations to extend his contract. Rotoworld suspects they are offering three years, $12 million with $6 million guaranteed.

Jacobs is due $927,000 in 2008, the final year of his rookie deal.

Garafolo expects CB Corey Webster to receive an extension soon, as he is close to hitting incentives that would void the final year of his rookie deal.

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Lt. Col. Greg Gadson who joined the Giants on the sidelines and served as inspiration to the Super Bowl XLII champs is the current owner of Brett Favre’s final pass, the Associated Press reports.

Corey Webster, who intercepted the pass, gave the ball to Gadson, who Giants Football Blog profiled last month.

“That Saturday practice before the Super Bowl, I told Corey he could have the ball back,” Gadson said in quotes provided by the Giants after Favre announced his retirement yesterday after 17 seasons.

“I said, ‘Just let me know and you can have it back,’ but he told me that he wanted me to keep it, and that really symbolized to me what this Giants team was about,” Gadson said.

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Per Jay Glazer at FoxSports, after 17 seasons, Packers QB Brett Favre is retiring.

Among Favre’s QB records are: most career TD passes (442), yards (61,655) and wins as a starting QB (160).

He finishes his career with a games played streak of 253.

Congrats on a great career to Favre. Somewhere Aaron Rodgers smiles. Also, congrats to Corey Webster as having been on the other end of Favre’s last pass attempt.

…Update 2:36 pm…

The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (via profootballtalk.com) reports that Favre’s agent, James (Bus) Cook stated the following:

“I know he wants to play one more year.  I do not know much conversation there was and I don’t think anyone forced him to make that decision.  But I don’t know that anyone tried to talk him out of it.”

ESPN’s Chris Mortensen spoke to Favre who had the following to say:

“I know I can still play, but it’s like I told my wife, I’m just tired mentally. I’m just tired.”

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Sam Madison and R.W. McQuarters have been the rock of a Giants secondary that has played a vital role in each of the Giants three playoff victories. In each game, they have had a game-changing or game-deciding play.

Erik Boland in Newsday, cites younger players who credit Madison and McQuarters their ability to provide a ‘calming influence’ throughout the year where many players were either benched or hurt.

“I think it’s their presence on the field and off the field,” third-year safety James Butler said of Madison and McQuarters. “Just that veteran presence that says that they’ve been here, they’ve done that. They just bring that veteran attitude that’s a big help.”

McQuarters expressed how he relished in the opportunity to mentor his younger teammates.

“We have a lot of knowledge in this league,” McQuarters said. “Sam and I have had different coaches with different ballclubs, different defenses. Between the two of us, we’ve seen a lot. It [mentoring] makes us feel good. It sort of makes us feel like what we learned in the past, we’re passing the knowledge on down to them. That’s what we try to do.”

An 11-year veteran, Sam Madison started his career with the Dolphins in 1997, and has taken what he’s learned from the veterans he played with and passed it down.

A moment of truth came in Dallas when Aaron Ross was injured and Geoff Pope, freshly activated from the practice squad just a week before, suddenly was taking on Terrell Owens. Despite the loss of Ross, the Giants secondary limited the second highest offense in the league to three second-half points.

McQuarters was benched most of the regular season, and didn’t get his shot again until the NFC Championship Game. He marked his return with two big interceptions on at Tampa Bay and at Dallas.

Corey Webster was also benched for much of the season, but returned when Madison was injured in the final regular season game against the Patriots. Webster came up big with two interceptions, including the huge one in Green Bay that set up Lawrence Tynes‘ winning field goal to send the Giants to the Super Bowl.

Webster said McQuarters and Madison told him to keep fighting when he was benched and his opportunity would come.

That opportunity came and McQuarters and Madison could not be more proud of their young protege.

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After missing a field goal with 5 seconds left in the game, Lawrence Tynes earns redemption in overtime, kicking a 47 yard field goal to send the New York Giants to their first Super Bowl since 2000.

The Packers won the coin toss and took over on offense in overtime, but Corey Webster, who had once lost his job earlier in the season, had the huge interception soon after that set up the game winning field goal.

The Giants and Packers went back and forth all evening long but Eli Manning was able to out sling the veteran Favre. Manning did not turn the ball over for the third straight playoff game, throwing for 254 yards. The Packers secondary could not stop Plaxico Burress who had 11 catches for 154 yards. Brandon Jacobs rushed for 67 yards, but it was Ahmad Bradshaw who made the biggest impact down the stretch. He had several big runs in the fourth quarter and scored the game tying touchdown with 2 minutes left.

The Giants controlled the ball and held the edge in time of possession, 38:22 to 21:38.

The Giants who seem on stoppable on the road, with continue down the road to their 4th Super Bowl in team history.

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