These 5 Giants do the grunt work

When the Giants and Packers face each other in Sunday's division playoff game, there will be plenty of renowned playmakers for both sides. They'll be scoring touchdowns, intercepting passes, sacking the quarterback. They might even be salsa dancing or Lambeau Leaping.

But on the field with them will be the anti-playmakers. The grunts. The guys who do the dirty jobs -- usually in virtual anonymity, unless they mess up -- that allow teams to win.

"It takes everybody every week,'' Tom Coughlin said. "Some of the things that people don't see -- the special teams plays, the blocking downfield, that type of thing -- it has to happen at the highest level to create some of the things that have happened. I think you have to have those. Somebody who perhaps no one is really aware of what they do or what their contribution is is going to have to step up and make a play to help us win.''

Here are five such possibilities for the Giants, players who go about their business without fanfare, without whom the Giants likely would not still be playing:

ZAK DeOSSIE: Proud to be a specialist

He was drafted as a linebacker, but Zak DeOssie quickly learned that his future in the NFL -- like his father's -- lie in looking at the world upside down and through his legs. DeOssie has become one of the game's top long snappers, a consistent machine at a position where one bad play comes with a warning and a second usually comes with release papers. There are no stats for a long snapper other than longevity (although DeOssie does have 10 special teams tackles). Without him, there are no game-winning field goals and no field-position changing punts. At least not successful ones.

There was a time earlier this year when the Giants were searching for linebackers. They started two rookies and even signed Chase Blackburn off his couch in late November. Oddly enough, they never thought about DeOssie. But he didn't mind.

"I'm a long snapper," he said. "That's what I do. Two years ago it would have hurt because I thought I was still playing linebacker but I signed a contract as a long snapper. I'm a specialist in this league and I'm proud of it."

DeOssie said he'll spend a good portion of Sunday's game cozying up to the space heaters and cuddling under his parka on the sideline. Other players will be on the field running around to stay warm, but DeOssie and the specialists will be stuck on the sideline until they're called upon. Interestingly, DeOssie said it's easier to snap the ball in the cold, dry weather than it is in hot, humid air, when his hands get moist and slippery.

HENRY HYNOSKI: Would rather deliver a block

Is it a coincidence that the resurgence in the Giants' running game came just as the undrafted rookie fullback was getting back on the field from a month-long neck injury? Hynoski said it was difficult to miss those games, but he feels like a different player since he returned. The Giants may have the worst rushing attack throughout the season, but in the seven games since he's been back they are averaging 109.6 yards per game.

"Just getting those games under my belt, getting more comfortable in the system had a lot to do with it," he said of his new form since the return.

Hynoski caught eyes a few weeks ago when he caught a pass and jumped over Cowboys cornerback Terence Newman. He's caught 12 passes this season but insists that he'd much rather throw a bone-crushing block than have the football thrown at him.

"That's the best feeling in the world," he said.

The one thing missing from Hynoski's resume so far is a handoff. He has yet to carry the ball from the backfield and was coy about whether or not the Giants have any of those plays at their disposal.

"We can't talk specifics," he said, "but it's something if they want to do. I'm definitely ready for and prepared for."

TONY UGOH: Waiting for that first pass

He's the only Giant who gets his own introduction. Whenever he comes onto the field as an extra blocker, he has to report to the referee who in turn announces to the crowd in the stadium and on television at home that "Number 70 is an eligible receiver."

Eligible . . . but not really. He's there as an extra blocker. He may be lined up as a tight end, but Ugoh, who is a tackle by trade, isn't going anywhere. In fact, he's at a disadvantage because when he's on the field it's basically a telegraph to the opposing defense that the Giants are going to run the ball. They don't do that 100 percent of the time, but more than just what you'd call often.

"My job is no different than anyone else's," he said. "It's to get the job done."

Ugoh, who was a tackle for the Colts and has worked with both Eli and Peyton Manning, was signed by the Giants on Dec. 7 when Stacy Andrews was put on injured reserve with blood clots in his lungs. Since then he's stepped into Andrews' role, lining up outside the tackle as the extra blocker.

Maybe one day, though, he'll get to do a little more.

"All that's left to do now is catch a pass," he said. "Any given week it could happen. You never know. [The defense] has to honor it."

Ugoh said when he was a senior at Arkansas, the team had a play for him as an eligible receiver but never dialed it up. It was a screen.

"It was in, they just never ran it," he said. "That should have been it."

LINVAL JOSEPH: Has to create the pileup

He was a second-round draft pick in 2010 so he's not a no-name guy. But he was given a thankless task this season: Replace the popular and productive Barry Cofield. Joseph had ups and downs throughout the season, but has been playing well lately. He was a big part of the two fourth-and-inches stuffs against the Falcons on Sunday and is one of the reasons why the Giants' pass rushers have been able to find sacks in recent weeks.

"It all works together," Joseph said. "We go out there and we stop the run and we let the defensive ends come out and make the plays on third down. I look at it as, we have our job."

Of course it's more than that. The role of the defensive tackle is to create multiple-car pileups in the middle that allow the ends and linebackers -- the better athletes -- to get to the ballcarriers without encountering blockers. Joseph has done that. But he's also gotten a glimpse of the limelight.

"This year I got two sacks on play-action passes," he said, describing the plays in which he was penetrating to stop a handoff and found himself face-to-face with a quarterback. "The opportunities are going to come."

Joseph, who rotates with veteran Rocky Bernard and was supposed to be splitting time with rookie Marvin Austin (on IR since training camp with a pectoral tear), may not be as polished as Cofield was or as quick. But without him, that Giants' defensive line that the league has come to fear would not be as successful.

DERRICK MARTIN: It's one intense play

What's it like to be a gunner, one of those players on the outside who runs under punts and tries to tackle the returner?

"It's a battle, it's a tough battle," said Martin, who handles that job for the Giants. "It's usually two-on-one, you against two other guys who are fast and strong also. It's one intense play. You're just trying to beat one and hopefully the second one doesn't get to you."

Often the gunner is run out of bounds and he'll have to evade a sideline's worth of players before getting back onto the field. But Martin said that's not as bad as some other predicaments.

"The worst-case scenario is getting caught between the two blockers and they got you hemmed up and you can't go nowhere," he said. "That's the worst. At least when you get out of bounds they have to let you go."

The Giants have done a good job of containing punt returners this year. There have been some decent returns, but no game-changers. And no touchdowns. Martin said a good deal of that credit goes to Steve Weatherford, the punter. But the coverage has been impressive, too.

Often, after a punt, there will be extra shoving between the gunner and the players who were trying to block him. That's natural considering that those players are normally at the bottom of the 53-man roster and have to be feisty to keep their jobs.

"It's a good battle," Martin said. "Somebody's going to get the better of the other guy, and then they always want to get that last punch in."

As long as the last punch isn't a celebratory spike in the end zone, the gunner will take it.