Four years ago, the Giants’ surprising Super Bowl run went through Green Bay before getting a rematch with the NFL’s best, the New England Patriots, for the title. This year, the Packers are (were) the best and the Giants rematch with them wasn’t much of a match at all.
“I thought we did an outstanding job,” said an understated Giants head coach Tom Coughlin, according to the team’s website, after defeating the 15-1 defending-champion Packers 37–20 in Green Bay.
The Packers never looked right in this one. Whether it was the distraction surrounding Packers offensive coordinator Joe Phibin, whose son died last Sunday, or the rust of not playing their starters in week 17, and then having the bye last week, the Green Bay that showed up against the Giants wasn’t the same one that ripped through the regular season.
And the Giants took full advantage.
New York, once 6-6 on the season, forced four turnovers on the day (and should have had a fifth early in the game) against the league’s second most, sure-handed team, which had coughed it just 14 times all season.
Meanwhile, the soon-to-be named MVP of the NFL, Aaron Rodgers was out of sync with his receivers all game long. The player who broke Peyton Manning’s season record with a quarterback rating of 122.5 finished 26 of 46, passing for 264 yards two touchdowns, an interception, a fumble lost, and a frustrated look as he headed to the sidelines following his final throw—a deep pass over the middle that was picked off by Giants safety Deon Grant.
This surely wasn’t the way he or anyone thought their once-perfect season would end.
Meanwhile, Eli Manning continued his quiet breakout season by outshining Rodgers at historic Lambeau Field. Manning, who threw for a career best 4,933 yards on the season went for 330 yards on 21 of 33 passing including three touchdowns.
Two of his biggest completions were to receiver Hakeem Nicks. The first, a 66-yard touchdown pass came on the Giants second possession after Nicks simply caught an ordinary slant pass over the middle, broke a tackle, and was off to the races for a 10–3 lead early in the first quarter.
The second was a 37-yard Hail Mary pass just before the half that Nicks (again) caught in the end zone for a surprising touchdown and 20–10 halftime lead. The relative ease of the completion seemed to signal to New York that this might not be such a hard task after all. No defender should let a receiver get past him on a last-second heave like that.
In any case, they let him past them and now the Giants are past the Packers and will travel to San Francisco Sunday for a chance at the Super Bowl.
