NFC Championship Game Blog

This game is insanely cold. Here’s hoping it’s a classic. We could either see a Favre v Brady, Good v Evil deal, or a rematch of last month’s classic Pats/Giants game. Can’t lose either way…
Q1

• It’s hard not to like Plexico Burress when he’s healthy. Eli picks up a couple of big first downs early by going to him. I watch Rivers, and I watch Eli, and I almost always think Eli looks like he has the higher ceiling.
• I said all season that Eli was not the problem with the Giants. I think it’s pretty clear that Jeremy Shockey was. His gutless route running was killing his QB. He went out and this team plays better. Also, Brandon Jacobs is the slowest starting RB in football.
• The Pack holds up in the red zone and the Giants take a FG. That has to be an encouraging start for the Giants. Anytime you start inside the 20 and get points, it’s been a successful drive.
• The Packers respond by going 3 and out. These flanker screens are not fooling the Giants even a little. The football must be like a brick. Punts aren’t going anywhere.
• Nice hands, Toomer. The Giants dropped over 50 passes this year. How can you judge a QB with receivers like that?
• I know it’s cold, but I’d like to see the Giants go for it here. Take control and announce you intend to win this game. Punting is an idiot option as Feagles just proved. GO FOR IT!

Q2

• You have to love the Giants D early. They have clearly given their team the momentum. The Giants have had two offensive possessions and managed to move the ball at least some. I know it’s obvious, but turnovers will decide this game.
• Watching the Giants move the ball, you have to get the feeling like unless someone does something stupid, Eli is going to the Super Bowl
• A dying Yoda whispers…There is…another…Sky…Walker…
• Aikman describes Giant RB Bradshaw as “quicker than Jacobs and just as physical”…ok, then why is Jacobs still playing at all?
• Meanwhile, the Giants offense decides to completely implode here starting with a really bad false start penalty.
• As much as I love Sam Jackson and Hayden Christensen, Jumper does NOT look good. I actually watched Episode 3 today. My 16 month old has a cold, so we watched it together. I love that movie. But Jumper…um, not so much.
• Wow, Tynes slips one through. The Packers need points in a hurry. Two scores could be too much tonight.
• Robinson muffs the kick off, and it really looks like the Pack is coming unglued. Favre needs some magic, like now.
• Lol. I’m a freaking prophet. Can you say BLOWN COVERAGE??? How do you press Driver at the line without having any safety help? Someone was asleep at the switch on that play.
• Demond IMs: Touchdowns, not field goals. Well said, bro.
• HA-UGE pitch and catch from Manning to Burress. That’s the way to hang onto a pass on 3rd down.
• That looked to me like the contact came early. The replay made it look closer than I thought.
• 3 passes and a punt will follow. Anything over 30 yards on a punt is a great effort today. Someone is going to break one of these ducks long.
• The Pack seems to have figured out that you have to pass downfield on a day like this. They’ve abandoned the screens in favor of more medium length routes. The Giants D went from dominant to back on their heels real fast.
• Good and bad Favre are inhabiting the same physical point in space and time right now. The paradox might cause the universe to implode upon itself.
• Ah, there’s some running again!
• All the good Giants had done early in the game has been undone by penalties and one major brain lock on defense.
• Tough call on 3rd down gives the Pack a first down. Aside from the one big play, they still aren’t inspiring confidence.
• Every Favre pass is alternately brilliant or terrifying. A Pack TD here before the end of the half would be crushing for the Giants. Still, they get the ball to start the 3rd quarter, so they aren’t in awful shape.
• Pierce SHUTS DOWN the screen with a man hanging off of him. Great play, and as of yet, none of the Pack screens are working well at all.
• Manning needs to come up large here and get this game down to one before the half.
• Huge pass to Burress has the Giants thinking points. There is no question, the man is tall.
• OOOOOH Burress drops the perfect pass from Manning at the 2. I’m shocked the Pack let him get open that deep.
• The line fails again, and the Giants fail to convert the big play into points.

Tough, hard fought half. I still think the Giants are playing better, but someone will have a big turnover to change this game before it’s done.

Q3

• The fans can boo those calls, but both were really no brainers. I’m still not convinced that Jacobs is an NFL quality starting RB.
• This drive shows that even if you don’t run all that effectively, the act of running can still help an offense.
• This is a great drive by the Giants, but only if they turn it into a touchdown.
• This is 4 down territory. Jacobs is a beast size wise, if he can’t get this, he shouldn’t be playing.
• Heady play by the rookie Boss to bail out Jacobs. Seriously, at this point, what is Jacobs doing for this offense?
• Thanks to a series of offsides penalties, the Giants finally got it down to a distance that Jacobs could convert…about 2 inches. Nice.
• The Giants can’t stand prosperity, and give up a big return. It seems all GB has had to hang in this game is a series of freakish big plays.
• Yikes. Sam Madison’s moronic penalty leads to a Pack TD. Seriously, Favre is alternating between near picks, and TD passes. Just about anything can happen in this game.
• The big returns continue. I suppose this shouldn’t really surprise me, since I said they were going to happen about 2 quarters ago.
• Ahmad Bradshaw illustrates why I’ve been questioning the sanity of the Giants running Jacobs so much.
• Huge catch by Toomer was just barely in bounds. If Eli and his band of misfits can do this to the Packer corners, what will Brady and Stallworth and Welker do? I leave Randy Moss off the list as he’s apparently decided to stop playing in the post-season.
• Eli is carving th
  is team up. The Giants have serious rhythm on offense now. We are a Favre pick away from this thing being over.
• Huge play (or two plays if they are smart) for the Packers as we start the fourth.

4th Q

• Favre. In Lambeau. Below zero. Down three. Fourth quarter. For the Super Bowl. Gotta love it.
• Good Lord. That’s the sickest thing I’ve ever seen.
• Favre and Brady just ooze clutch sometimes. For frick’s sake.
• Well, the Pack survived the pick, but it feels like the whole scenario gut-punched the air right out of them. Again, the screen…NOT WORKING. At any rate, we have a tie game.
• With the ball on the 40, this game is on a platter for the Giants. They’ve been the better team all night, and now they need to lower the hammer. This has been a great game, and depending on what Eli goes on to do in his career, it’ll be remembered as one of the classics.
• Tremendous hook up by Eli on 3rd down after his primary reciever got knocked down. That was a big time play. Anyone who watched these two games today can see that he is MARKEDLY better than Phil Rivers.
• What a great shot of the paint getting knocked off the helmet of Bradshaw. That was one of the coolest football shots I’ve ever seen.
• This is four down territory, but I bet Coughlin would punt. You have to go out and win these games, and not just let the other team lose them. I would not willingly give the ball back to Favre with the score tied. With only one timeout, Favre could drive them downfield and kill this clock.
• Toomer drops another huge pass AND picks up a penalty. Nice.
• Huge play by Bradshaw to set up the 4th down we just discussed. He gave them a chance.
• So here we go! Tommy grew a pair.
• HUGE play. The Giants complete the pass, and it would have been close to the mark, but a penalty guarantees the first down.
• Great play by Al Harris on the underthrown ball to Burress. He comes up limping, and the Giants should go right back at him, but instead run the ball to set up 3rd and medium.
• Tynes yaaks the kick and now it’s Favre time. I bet the Giants don’t see the ball again.
• I’ve heard the Mannings occasionally take a hunting trip together in the offseason. My bet is they go kicker hunting. Hard to kill Tynes though, that was not an easy kick in these conditions.
• The pressure forces #4 to check down on 3rd and 10. So I’m wrong, the Giants will have a chance to stun the world.
• Jacobs shortens the game with a couple of runs. The Giants seem to come up with a limping lineman on every play. The Giants MUST get this first down. I’d even go for it on 4th. I just don’t think you can give the ball to Favre at home. The refs will step in if nothing else.
• Eli picks up the first down on the sneak. Big Blue has to feel good right now.
• Or not. Three ugly plays in a row will lead to a punt. KGB blew off the line just on the count and ended the drive. Favre has 2:48 and 1 time out to cover about 55 or 60 yards.
• A false start really puts it to the Pack. They need at LEAST a first down, or they will lose this game in regulation.
• The Pack runs a give up play. Favre has come up VERY small in the fourth quarter of this game. It seems like his INT cut his heart out, even though they got the ball back.
• FUUUUUUMBLE! The Giants recover eventually, but not before they lose more than 10 yards they desperately needed.
• Wow, a potential game winning TD is erased on a hold. Again, did anyone notice Bradshaw’s burst? Why were they playing Jacobs again? The Giants will be lucky to get one first down here. There’s a pretty fair chance we are going to overtime.
• What a huge throw by Eli to pick up the first down by a chain link. Archie is dying. I’m sure he’s thinking, “Why do they always have to be like this?”
• Why does Joe Buck want this called incomplete so bad? “There’s no doubt that ball was moving!” Um, yeah, Joe. There is doubt. What is your deal?
• What a great throw by Eli again. He’s been huge all day. It’s all on Tynes now.
• Holy crap. I’m having flash back nightmares. I don’t really care who wins, other than I think the Giants have been better, but I feel sick somehow.

OT

• The Packs wins the toss. This time I won’t say that Favre will just win the game, becuase I’ve said it twice now, and he’s done jack crap. Sure enough, he’ll come out and throw one pass for 99 yards and a score.
• I just caught this link off a Cardinals fan blog. He thinks maybe they ought to cut Edge already. I hurt for him.
• FAVRE THROWS THE PICK. He has officially been AWFUL for the last 18 minutes of game time. Surely, SURELY, the Giants can put this away.
• OOOOOH! I was yelling for them to go for it, but Larry Tynes BURRIES the 47 yarder to stun the Cheese Heads. Good for the Giants. They were the better almost all night.