Aaron Ross: Can't have anyone else playing Super Bowl in our backyard

Aaron Ross was not a member of the New York Giants last year, but he can still sense the hunger this team has to win after a disappointing 2012 season.

Ross told Newsday he believes the Giants are capable of winning a third title in the Tom Coughlin era, which would mark the first time a team would win the Super Bowl at its home stadium.

"It seems like everybody has that hunger, plus the Super Bowl is going to be played in our stadium," Ross said during the Manhattan premiere of "Sanya's Glam & Gold -- a six-part documentary on "We tv" which will feature his wife, Sanya Richards-Ross. "We can't have anybody else playing in our backyard."

It's a strong statement, but Ross does have two Super Bowl titles as a member of the New York Giants.

The cornerback left the Big Apple and signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars last season. Ross' play was sub-par -- to say the least -- and he wound up getting cut only to return to the Giants. After rejoining Big Blue, Ross called his time with the Jaguars a "paid vacation."

Though he was not part of the Giants squad that went 9-7 in 2012 and missed the post-season, Ross blamed the team's struggles on a post-Super Bowl hangover.

"I've been seeing everybody has that hunger again like the two other Super Bowls,'' he said. "I'm not sure what happened last year, but a lot of mental busts and maybe a little bit of complacency set in after the Super Bowl. But this year, you can tell with coach Coughlin -- starts with him -- how hard he's pushing the team, how hard he's pushing everybody."

The Giants of course will look to return to the playoffs this season, though it will be no easy task in an ultra-competitive NFC.

In addition to the six NFC teams that made the post-season in 2012 -- the San Francisco 49ers, Seattle Seahawks, Atlanta Falcons, Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins and Minnesota Vikings -- it appears that the Detroit Lions, Chicago Bears, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints have all made big strides in the off-season.

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