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Tuesday, January 16 Despite injury, Brown helps Giants to victory EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- With the clocking running down in the closing minutes of the NFC championship game, Lomas Brown felt the tears welling in his eyes. It wasn't the pain from the ribs he bruised late in the second quarter of the Giants' stunning 41-0 victory over the Minnesota Vikings. These were tears of joy from an offensive tackle who has spent the past 16 years toiling in the trenches of the NFL. After 236 regular season and playoff games as well as two-a-days, sweat and pain, Brown is heading to the Super Bowl. The second longest regular-season streak without heading to the big one among active NFL players is ending. "This is a great day for me," Brown said. "I'm getting to the BIG game, something I've wanted my entire career." The Vikings' loss prevented placekicker Gary Anderson from breaking the longest regular-season streak at 293. Anderson was not immediately available for comment after the game. Brown, who was cut by the Cleveland Browns after last season and signed by the Giants as a free agent, was holding court in the Giants locker room. "It seems like all those two-a-days and me getting up early in the morning to work out and all the sweat you put into it was worth it," Brown said. "I had never felt this in the previous 15 years. But now I see what it's all about when you put in that work and reach the pinnacle. Now I see what it's all about, I'm happy." The closest Brown had come to making the Super Bowl was in 1991 when the Detroit Lions reached the NFC title game before losing to the eventual Super Bowl champion Washington Redskins 41-10. "This makes up for all those lost years," Brown said. "It really does. To be really honest, I think I would rather have it happen this way than to have been to the Super Bowl and won it a couple of Super Bowls. This is a joy." Brown didn't think his injury was serious. Despite objections from coach Jim Fassel, he returned to the game in the second half with the Giants leading 34-0. "I've been waiting too long for this, way too long," Brown said. "There was no way I wasn't going back in." And when it was over, Brown cried, every time a teammate came up to him and hugged him and told him "they did it for him."
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