NFC Championship Preview

Since losing the season finale against the New England Patriots, the New York Giants have somehow turned into the team to beat by winning at Tampa Bay and at Dallas the last two weeks. They were even picked by a lot of national experts to beat Dallas last week, even though the Cowgirls had a better record and home field advantage. However, I wouldn't necessarily call either of the two teams they've beaten in the playoffs this year great teams. In fact, the Giants had a better record than Tampa Bay and Dallas seems to be in a continual state of confusion, which I attribute to poor coaching, inexperience at quarterback (not to mention a long list of distractions that became a constant media circus) and an owner that feels the need to stand on the sidelines during the final drive of a playoff game. It also never helps that your star wide receiver is a cry baby:



So now the Giants get a rematch of their week two game versus the Green Bay Packers. If you're rooting for the Giants, this may not be a good thing. That game ended with the Packers on top 35-13. The game was played in New York. So let me get this straight- the Giants already got creamed by the Packers earlier this year at home. Now they have to go to Lambeau field in the dead of winter for a playoff game? And their quarterback is still Eli Manning? Yeah, I don't see this ending well for the Giants.

For the year, the Giants rank in the lower half of almost every offensive category except for yards rushing, where they're ranked fourth. They gain an average of 134 yards rushing per game. All of their other offensive stats are scary. And I don't mean scary good. I mean scary bad, including being 16th in total yards, 21st in passing yards and 14th in points scored.

Defensively, the Giants seem to be a relatively decent unit. They're ranked seventh in total yards given up with 305 a game, eighth with 98 yards rushing a game and 11th against the pass with 207 yards a game. But they're ranked 17th in points allowed with nearly 22 a game. That probably won't be a good combination when they play the Packers, who are the fourth best scoring team in the NFL with 27 points a game.

The Packers are also the second highest rated yardage team with 370 a game and the second highest passing team per game with 271 yards a game. Their running game is a bit deceiving because they gain 100 yards on the ground per game, ranked 21st in the league, but it wasn't until nearly mid season that they inserted Ryan Grant into the starting RB role, where he gained nearly 1,000 yards over the last ten weeks and an additional 201 yards last week against Seattle.

Defensively, I have no idea what's going on with the Packers. They're in the middle of the pack (pun intended) in just about every catergory imagineable, except for points allowed with 18 a game, good for sixth best in the NFL. They give up 210 passing yards a game, which ranks 12th, but lucky for them they're playing against Eli Manning. The Packers give up 103 yards a game rushing and that would have me concerned because the Giants feature Brandon Jacods and Derrick Ward who combined for more than 1,600 yards this season.

Now let's compare Eli Manning and Brett Favre. Maybe if you're a Giants fan you want to skip over this paragraph. Manning has thrown for 3,336 yards this year by completing 56 percent of his passes, with 23 Tds, and 20 INTs for a QB rating of 74. Favre has thrown for 4,155 yards while completing more than 66 percent of his passes, 28 TDs and 15 INTs for a QB rating of almost 96. It's interesting to note that combined, Favre and Manning threw for 51 TDs this year. In case you hadn't heard, Tom Brady threw for 50. To add further insult to injury, there comes this report from a Green Bay television station saying that they won't broadcast Seinfeld, Manning's favorite TV show, so that he won't be able to relax during his vacation to Wisconsin. That story seems pretty lame but at least Manning has good taste in comedy.

The Giants do have a remarkably good road record this year, having gone 7-1 on the road. In addition, they've won both of their playoff games this year on the road, as well. I don't put much stock in their road record, though, because Green Bay is 7-1 at home this year. But if you want to add salt to the open wound or beat a dead horse, Favre has a 43-5 record at home when the temperature dips below 34 degrees at kickoff. The high temperature for the game isn't expected to go above 20.

I just don't see this ending well for the Giants once you combine the Green Bay home field advantage, their far superior passing game, a better running game at this point in the season and the fact that Manning plays for the Giants.

Green Bay 31 New York 16

And congratulations to this Green Bay Packers fan for winning the Father of the Year Award. Even though we still have 11 months left in 2008, I don't think there's much that can top this story.

Patriots-Chargers AFC Championship Game preview coming Saturday.