Antonio Pierce isn't likely to bow down to New England Patroits' Tom Brady in this Sunday's Super Bowl.

But the New York Giants' Bermuda lineback reckons Brady fancies himself as a Prince Charles-type.

When the Super Bowl rivals met at the end of December Pierce told reporters: "He (Brady) walks around like he's Prince Charles, like he's the golden boy.

"He walks around like he shouldn't get hit. You never see football players get followed by paparazzi. But he's a hell of a quarterback. I meant it as a positive compliment."

Pierce and his team-mates made a trip to London, official hometown of the real Prince Charles, last October for his team's first ever regular season game outside North America. That excursion was highly significant to the Giants, according to Pierce.

"Everybody needs to get accustomed to a different environment. I think it's good because we went to London," he is quoted on the BBC sports website.

The importance of Pierce to the Giants set-up has been underlined in an article in America's only national newspaper USA Today.

His earlier comment that "We didn't come here to hand them (Patroits) the Lombardi Trophy" has been cited as the quote of this year's Super Bowl. Pierce responded: "That was something we all were feeling as a team."

The newspaper also picked up on the role Pierce has adopted as a vocal leader when Pro Bowl defensive end Michael Strahan was unsure about committing to a 15th season.

Pierce said: "It started in training camp with Mike not being there. when the guys wanted someone to lean on, they looked toward me. When Stray came back, he's still the face of the Giants. He's been here 15 years, a Hall of Famer. Never would I step on his toes."

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