Brady wonders why Burress' prediction was just 23-17....

Just 17 points for the potent Patriots.

A certain MVP quarterback thinks that's a Super-sized diss.

Tom Brady scoffed when told Wednesday that New York Giants receiver Plaxico Burress guaranteed New York will beat Brady's undefeated New England team in Sunday's Super Bowl.

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"We're only going to score 17 points?" Brady said before chuckling about it. "OK. Is Plax playing defense? I wish he had said 45-42 and gave us a little credit for scoring more points."

Considering the Patriots set an NFL record by scoring 589 points, Brady's 50 touchdown passes were the most ever for one season, and Randy Moss broke Jerry Rice's mark with 23 TD catches, Burress might have been a bit chintzy.

The last time the Patriots played the Giants, in the season finale, New England rallied from 12 points down in the third quarter to win 38-35. The Patriots have not scored fewer than 20 points in their 18 victories, and the last time they put up only 17 was Dec. 10, 2006 - a 21-0 loss at Miami in their last regular-season defeat.

Even if the Giants' defense performs at its peak, it's still doubtful New England will score only 17 points.

"I know they have confidence. They should have confidence," Brady said. "They are the NFC champions.

"I learned a lesson early in my career: No matter what you say during the week - and God knows we say a lot this week - we're going to be focused on going out and winning this game. We're confident, but I don't think we share our thoughts with everybody."

Burress did. And when he showed up 33 minutes late for the Giants' media session Wednesday morning, there was speculation the wide receiver was trying to avoid the spotlight.

Turns out Burress was spending time with his 1-year-old son and family at breakfast, claiming he was unaware so many people wanted to interrogate him about his prediction.

Nor was he aware, he said, that a hefty fine comes with missing a Super Bowl week media session.