"Wes Welker still remembers the old days. When the Patriots receiver broke into the league in 2005, he remembers the stigma of being a No. 3 target. As a slot receiver for the Miami Dolphins, he hardly saw the field.

He made things happen in his rare playing time, earning praise from opposing teams (Bill Belichick, his current coach, says the Pats never knew how to cover him), racking up 96 catches in three years of incredibly limited action with the Dolphins.

"When I was in Miami, I only came in on third downs, for the most part," Welker says.

Such was life in the NFL for the slot receiver. But these days, that's changed, and that will be evident in Sunday night's Super Bowl XLVI showdown between the Giants and the Patriots."