Everyone knows Bernard Pollard was sent from the future to destroy the Patriots' dynasty.
That's (probably) not true, though it sometimes feels that way.
When he was with the Chiefs in 2008, it was Pollard who delivered the hit that blew out Tom Brady's knee on opening day. When Wes Welkertore up his knee in the 2009 regular-season finale, it was Pollard -- then a Texan -- whom the receiver was trying to avoid. And on Sunday, Pollard's tackle in his Ravens' AFC Championship Game loss resulted in tight end Rob Gronkowski's left ankle bending in a direction that human anatomy forbids.
You'd think Pollard would carry some guilt about all this, but no. The safety will root vociferously against the Patriots when they meet the Giants in Super Bowl XLVI.
"I really hope the Giants -- I just hope they just put a thrashing on the Patriots," Pollard said Tuesday on KILT-AM in Houston, according to SportsRadioInterviews.com. "I really do. To lose to a team like that (with) the way we played. We played a good game."
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"The dinking and the dunking, man? It's just not going to happen," he said. "They are going to have to take shots down the field. I think the Giants watch our film and watch the film of the season. They gotta take away their big-time players. Gronkowski, I think he is coming off that ankle, so I don't know if he will be 100 percent."
Ah, that ankle. The ankle that Pollard himself compromised.
So is Pollard OK with his reputation for being a Patriot slayer?
"Oh man, that is fine and dandy," he said. "Like I said to a lot of people, it is part of the game, and this is what happens. If you don't like it? So what. I am going to go out there and I am going to play me."
Something tells us Pollard won't be invited to sit on a duck boat if the Patriots parade through Boston in two weeks. Well, unless it's part of some elaborate ambush ploy.
