NFC Championship: Giants 23, Packers 20 (OT)

We're getting ready for Ice Bowl II between the Packers and Giants, for the right to meet the undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. Game time temperature is supposed to be 0.

And I have never seen anything sillier in my life than Jimmy Johnson in that stupid earmuff-headband thing he has on. Honestly, he's trying to re-live Olivia Newton-John in the "Physical" video.

An uneventful first quarter ends with the Giants ahead, 3-0. Brandon Jacobs KILLED Charles Woodson on his first run of the game. I'm impressed Woodson even got back up. Neither offense seems to want to throw the ball downfield more than 5 yards. It took the Giants a little bit to pick up on the Packers doing that, but they have shut down the Pack after a couple of initial first downs. The Packers have to stretch the field better than that, but they aren't even trying.

The Giants are running better than the Pack, which seems to be the main difference right now. Green Bay's getting pressure on Eli, but didn't really get to him till the end of their first-quarter FG drive. After a quarter, I gotta say I like what I see out of the Giant offense more than I do the Packers'.

Also, Fox sucks. Remember when Green Bay was in St. Louis and they showed 1,000 crowd shots of Packers fans? I have seen TWO tonight, when they're in Green Bay. There is no better entertainment than watching the hardy Packer fans in their orange deer hunting hats and camouflage and snowmobile suits. The guy with the dead fox on his head was awesome. More crowd shots, Fox!

Early in the 2nd, Jacobs rumbles outside left for 12. Giants at the GB45. Burress posts up Al Harris for 7. Eli Manning next hits Burress quick up the seam for a nice gain, which is lengthened when he fumbles out of bounds. Giants at the Packer 17 now. False start on Hedgecock moves it back to the 22. Bradshaw gains about 3, then Steve Smith hears footsteps on a 2nd-and-12 whiff. Confusion for the Giants forces a TO on 3rd-and-12. When we return, Eli lobs one up for David Tyree down the sideline, but he can't come down with it; Tramond Williams broke up the catch. Lawrence Tynes, like Nate Kaeding, not known as a clutch kicker, hits from 37 nonetheless to put the Giants up 6-0.

Well, the Packers have been behind farther than this this postseason, but you'd sure like them to find a gear beyond first. Koren Robinson flounders after the short kickoff like he's drunk again, and Green Bay is just lucky to recover the thing at their 10. Then, OH WHAT A PLAY by Donald Driver. Favre fakes another crap quick screen left, then finds Driver, who had flung Corey Webster to the ground when he attempted to jam him at the line, down the sideline behind the Giant secondary. Driver outruns Webster and Gibril Wilson's bad angle all the way down the sideline for a 90-yard TD.

Just like that, the Packers are winning 7-6. Keeping cool should be no problem for the Giants here; let's see if they can stay composed.

Hixon returns a short kick to the 29. Bradshaw wriggles up the middle for 7. The Packers stop him for no gain on 2nd down. 3rd-down, play-action rollout by Eli, and Burress hangs on to the 8-yard pass after taking a MONSTER hit from Atari Bigby. Giants at their 45. Eli wobbles a pass out of bounds under heavy pressure on 1st down. Eli overthrows Kevin Boss on 2nd down. Joe Buck and the Giants bench want a DPI but don't get it. Woodson breaks up a too-short pass to Toomer on 3rd down. No, Toomer dropped it. That's at least two for him. Williams nearly blows the punt but covers it up at the GB22.

Let's see if the Giant defense steps back up here. Ryan Grant gains a couple. Favre hits Donald Lee with a seeing-eye pass for 18. Jennings is wide open in the flat and dekes Wilson for 14. Favre lobs a sideline pass up for James Jones, who fights Webster to a draw for an incompletion. Packers are succeeding here, though, by stretching the field. Justin Tuck deflects the 2nd down pass incomplete and nearly picked it off. 3rd-and-10. Favre finds Ruvell Martin deep over the middle but the ball's off his hands. Ouch. McQuarters DANGEROUSLY grabs the punt after a Packer tips it down, but the Giants still have to start from their 7.

Jacob forces Nick Barnett backwards for six yards of a 9-yard run, and sweeps left again for 6 on 2nd down. No, the Giants held on the play, creating 2nd-and-9 from the 8. Delay to Jacobs gains little. 3rd-and-7. Eli fumbles a bad snap and is lucky just to get away with an incomplete pass. Feagles hits a 40-yard punt, which is a monster for him tonight, with no return.

Packers from the NY47. 4:28 left in the half. Grant gains nothing on a stretch-type handoff. After 201 against Seattle, Grant has 9 rushing yards tonight. Quick slant to Driver is WAY over his head and incomplete. 3rd-and-10, Giants blitz and Michael Johnson (not the sprinter) breaks up a pass to Driver but got a crap illegal contact call. Driver made more contact on the route than Johnson did. Blitz probably hurt NY there by giving Driver such a favorable matchup. Grant runs right for maybe 1. Packer run game isn't doing a damn thing tonight. 2nd-9, Favre gets all night and hits Driver over the middle for about 20. Draw play to Grant gains a couple, and Driver is being treated for some kind of elbow problem, at the 2:00 warning.

Jennings and Madison both go sprawling after an endzone pass that falls incomplete on 2nd down. 3rd-8. The bubble screen looked like it was going to hit big, but Antonio Pierce did a fantastic job to fight through Jason Spitz to drag Grant down for no gain. Mason Crosby hits from 37 to put the Packers ahead 10-6 with 1:30 left in the half.

Hixon's return is stopped at the 23. Bradshaw draws for 9. Eli goes up top for Burress, who makes a two-handed catch over his head for 32. From the 36, Eli goes up top for Burress again, who catches it at the two, which is where the Giants should get the ball because the fumble was caused by the ground. The call is that Burress didn't maintain possession on the way down to the ground. Huh. NY's out of timeouts, so they can't call one to inspire a challenge. With about 30 sec left, Eli has to scramble but is caught by Barnett. 3rd-8, 16 sec left, Manning can't hit Steve Smith. This would be a 51-52 yard FG attempt for Tynes. Giants go for it, and Eli gets a long time to throw, but AJ Hawk gets to him for a sack. Green Bay will kneel out the half.

=======Green Bay 10, New York Giants 6 at halftime=======

I still think Burress controlled that ball down at the two-yard line. I don't see at all that it's obvious he didn't control it as Buck and Aikman seem to be thinking.

Burress is about the only thing the Giant offense has had going for it in the first half, despite the fact that Jacobs is running like a bull when he gets the ball. I don't see any reason they can't take over this game with some good old-fashioned cold-weather playoff power-rushing football. That would also counter the fact that the Packers had to blitz more to get to Eli as the half wore on.

Like how the Packers stretched the field in the 2nd quarter; don't like how they have been unable to run the ball at all. But the Packers have the matchup advantages in the passing game, and unless the Giants do a better of job getting to Favre, there won't be any pressure on them to run.

The second half for me comes down to how well the Giants run and how well the Packers pass-protect.

Hixon opens the second half with a return out to the 31. Jacobs gains a couple up the middle. Eli hits Burress for 9, in front of Harris. His eighth catch. About a yard left for Jacobs. Eli gets all night to throw on 2nd down, but the throw is well behind a very open Steve Smith. On 3rd-9, the Giants are slow lining up and have to burn a timeout. Ouch. After the break, Al Harris picks off a sideline pass intended for Burress, who's flat on the ground, and it's no big mystery what happened there. Illegal contact; first down, Giants. Jacobs gets a couple left out to the 50, then goes up the middle for 3. 3rd-and-5, the Packers bring a delayed blitz and knock down the pass, but the blitzer was ridiculously late hitting Eli, for a pretty easy roughing penalty. Aikman questions the calll - C'mon, Troy, he took a five-step run at him after the pass! Jacobs sweeps right for 3 down to the 29. Crowd's unhappy, but this game's being refereed pretty well by Terry McAulay and crew. Eli hits Burress at the 12; Plaxico barely even got turned around on the route. Jacobs surges up the middle for 5. Jacobs goes off left guard and comes up just short of the first down. On third down, Jacobs lost the ball but Kevin Boss alertly spotted it and recovered it to save the day for New York and also get a first down. 1st-goal, Corey Williams is WAY offsides. Ball goes to the half-yard line. Then Green Bay jumps offsides again, which technically puts the ball at the nine-inch line. Jacobs bursts in for the TD to put the Giants ahead 13-10.

One thing Troy's right about, the Packers really need to find an answer to Burress. The Giants aren't doing a thing on offense outside of him. That was a super drive by the Giants, btw; took almost half the third quarter.

Yeah, I doubt Peyton Manning's latest priceless pep talk is going over very well in Indy.

Big kick return by Tramond Williams, who reverses field and brings it all the way back to the Giants 39. Quick slant to Driver for 8. Stretch handoff to Grant for 2 and the 1st. Incomplete over the middle on 1st down. Packers want defensive holding but don't get it. Screen to Vernand Morency for maybe 2. Tip ball ends up in Driver's hands, well short of a 1st, but a stupid personal foul on Sam Madison gives the Packers a free first down. 1st down, Packers, at the NY12. Donald Lee's open the whole way, and Favre lobs it up to him for the TD. Buck and Aikman idiotically question the call when Lee's feet were in bounds by five feet. Madison cost his team four points there; 17-13, Green Bay.

My God, there are women in BIKINIS in the crowd? Viva alcohol. You'll need a lot more of it after the 23-below wind chill turns your nipples black and makes them fall off. And Troy, whether or not there are bikini-clad women in the stands at frozen Lambeau Field, you're still a wuss.

Big kick return by Hixon now, out to the 42. Eight to Burress, then Bradshaw cuts back up the middle for 4. Big hole for Bradshaw on the right side for 10 or 11. Buck and Aikman are patting themselves on the back for saying Bradshaw should replace Jacobs, while ignoring the blocking. On 1st down, Toomer gets away with a huge pushoff but the pass is incomplete. From the GB35, sweet diving catch by Toomer for 23 yards, as he gets away with another pushoff. Packers barely get the challenge in before the next snap, but it looks like a good catch to me. McAulay will go under the hood. I'm still stunned that he and Jeff Freaking Triplette were picked to be head referees today.

Giants from the Packer 12. Eli rolls right and hits Toomer at the sideline at the 4. Bradshaw gets drug into the end zone by one of his linemen for the TD and a 20-17 Giant lead. Whatever happened to the assisting-the-runner penalty?

Williams lets the kickoff bounce into the end zone. Packers take over at their 20 with about 2:00 left in the 3rd. Favre fakes the quick screen and hits Robinson downfield instead for 16. Packers no-huddle. Grant hits a seam on the left side for 12, which about doubles his yardage for the night. Pack's already at their 49. Grant is stopped for no gain. Favre gets all night to throw and gets away with a ridiculous bomb into triple coverage. He overthrew everybody. We head to the 4th quarter with Green Bay facing a 3rd-and-10.

=======NY Giants 20, Packers 17 after 3=======

Man, we're already down to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers for the Super Bowl halftime show? Who's doing SB XLIII, Bob Seger?

To open the 4th, the Giants bring a blitz on 3rd-and-10 and get burned, as Favre hits the clutch Driver for 20. Don't like the blitz on that down and distance. Favre then gets away with a TERRIBLE play, a forced, off-balance throw that's picked off pretty easily by RW McQuarters, who then goes down in Giants infamy when Ryan Grant strips him on the return and it goes right into the breadbasket of a hustling Mark Tauscher. Holy cats. Packers retain possession at the Giant 19. Quick screen to Robinson gains nothing. Grant crashes off the right side for 7. On 3rd-and-3, Webster absolutely blows up Donald Lee and drops Grant for a 7-yard loss on the intended screen pass. Superb play. Good composure by Crosby, though, who hits his 2nd FG to tie the game at 20.

Boy, the kickoff coverage has been awful tonight. Hixon pops outside at the 20 and returns the kick to the 40. Eli stares down Toomer and hits him for 5. Bradshaw off right guard for 3. Giants have a lineman down. 3rd-and-3 when we return from the break. Manning rolls out and improvises a designed short pass into a sideline pass to Burress for 10, and I cannot, do not, believe he kept his feet in, but there's no challenge coming. I guess he got his left knee and his right foot down. Bradshaw sweeps right for 6, and we have a Packer injury now. Safety Collins knocked himself silly with a helmet-to-helmet hit. No flag. After that break, Corey Williams stuffs a Bradshaw sweep left for a big loss. On 3rd-and-5, Manning tries to audible and ends up blowing a timeout to prevent a delay-of-game. Back from that, it's ANOTHER drop by Toomer, who also finally got flagged for the brutal pushing off he's been getting away with all quarter. Green Bay takes the penalty to push the Giants out of FG range. 3rd-and-15, Bradshaw squirts away from a couple of tackles for 10 on a screen pass. Like the last time they were in this territory, the Giants go for it on 4th-and-5, despite Joe and Troy's surprise. Oh man. The pass for Toomer is tipped, and Steve Smith appears to corral it at the first-down mark. The spot's academic, though, as DPI was called on Charles Woodson. Fair enough call. Still, give Smith credit for an alert play, and I wish Buck would shut the hell up, again making a very close play sound like it would have been definitively short of the first down. In fact, Smith gains possession on the first down line. 1st-and-10 at the 28 now, and Harris breaks up an end zone pass for Burress. Funny that Harris didn't try more to intercept that. Bradshaw muscles off the right side for 3. 3rd-and-7 from the 35. Harris is cramping up and is off the field for this play. Green Bay now has to blow a timeout on D. Harris returns to the field, and you can bet Plaxico just told Eli in the huddle to throw it to him. Eli instead ends up trying to hit Steve Smith and misses him. That's a crucial miss, because Tynes misses the 43-yard FG attempt by about a foot and the game is still tied. Coughlin chews out Tynes all the way back to the sideline.

From his 33, Favre's first pass is deflected and incomplete. Next he throws way high for Jennings, who just misses making a circus catch. Troy stole my line there. Morency's open at the 40 on 3rd down, but that's too short. Green Bay didn't need a 3-and-out there. McQuarters returns a bad punt to the 37. With 5:53 left, I'm fully expecting the Giants to wear the Packers down here and score. The Packer D has been on the field almost the whole second half.

Jacobs runs right for 5. I hope TiVo's going to catch this whole thing. Jacobs bobs right and weaves left for 5 more. 5:05 left, but more importantly, less than 18 minutes left on the TiVo. Gulp. Jacobs got slightly less than 5; it's third and inches. Eli gets the Bush Push from a lineman for the 1st down. Ball at the NY48. Green Bay's got everything covered on 1st down and Eli chucks it to the ground. 2nd-10, they try to misdirect with a draw to Jacobs but Bigby and Poppinga foil it. 3rd-and-9. Huge jump by a possibly-offsides KG-B results in a sack. I think he just timed it perfectly, but it's hard to tell. Williams nearly muffs the punt but maintains possession at the GB17 with 2:48 left.

Favre Time.

Downfield screen for Grant is way incomplete, though probably for the best. Giants have been all over the short stuff today. Chad Clifton jumps on 2nd down to create 2nd-15. Less than 12 minutes left on TiVo. Pass for Lee is low. Favre wouldn't 3-and-out here, would he? I say go to Greg Jennings on a double-move. Nah, they go short to Lee over the middle for 5. The Giants take a TO to stop the clock at 2:30. Those were two straight fubar possessions by the Packers. What happened to going downfield?

Oh my freaking god, McQuarters fumbles the punt return, and TWO Packers have chances to recover it but let it bounce away. Dominic Hixon makes the play of the game for New York by falling on it at the Packer 48. 2:15 left. A holding penalty erases what would have been a TD run by Bradshaw. The Packer defense quit when they saw the flag even though the play was live. Lucky for them the penalty was what it was. At the 2:00 warning, Eli hits Tyree for 5.

I have certainly failed to record the end of this game; I have under 4 minutes on the TiVo. Grr. 1:59 left, Eli hits Smith over the middle for 14. 3rd and less than a yard. No, we stop for a measurement, and the Giants are awarded the first down. NOW they're going to review the catch, and the stupid damn referees are going to eat up the rest of my TiVo time. GRRR. Football games that take over 3:30 are running too long, I'm not taking the blame for this. Looks like a catch by Smith to me, which'll be the last thing I see about this game. What the review does do is move the ball back a little and force the 3rd-and-1 I originally thought there would be. Clock running inside 1:30. Bradshaw shakes and bakes off left tackle for sevenish, as my TiVo clocks out with 1:09 left in the game.

#@$!%@#%&@!!! @$^%*(%(()*!

I would have thought the Giants would have won the thing at the gun, but after Eli drove the Giants inside the 20, Tynes yakked another FG attempt to send the game to OT. Watching the highlights on NFL Network, it wasn't even close. Mike Vanderjagt didn't choke that bad when he muffed it a couple of years ago against Pittsburgh. If I'm Tom Coughlin, I'm looking for a new kicker. Right now. The Packers opened OT with the ball, but their offense continued to implode. Favre made an awful throw that Webster picked off on the second play, and Tynes, illogically after blowing two shorter attempts, hits from 47 to send the Giants to Super Bowl XLII, a rematch of their week 17 classic.

Plaxico Burress is player of the game; he dominated offensively against one of the league's best secondaries. He made Al Harris look like, well, Fakhir Brown.

Disappointing finish for the Packers, who ironically were done in by their home field advantage, the cold weather impacting their passing game and the Giants shutting down the running game you need to have in cold weather in the playoffs. The Packer offense isn't built for Packer weather; how can that be? If there's a good young DB or DE available when they draft, I'd pounce, but one way or another, they'd better get serious about establishing a running game on Lombardi Drive.

Scarily, this Giant team reminds me of the Patriots. Not the current team; I mean the Patriots that won Super Bowl XXXVI. They got hot late in the season, don't do any one thing great but play very well as a team, and won on the road in the playoffs. They just go out and win and don't beat themselves. With the Patriots doing their best GSOE impression throughout the season, it's tempting to take the Giants, who'll likely be a 2 TD dog just like the '01 Patriots were, in the mondo upset of the century. They didn't do anything today that they can't also do against the Pats in Glendale.

I just question, though, that their secondary can keep up with the Patriot WRs as well as the Chargers did, and whether a lot of their success against the Packer WRs today wasn't because of the non-pass-friendly weather. The climate control at the Pink Taco Dome will likely be the worst thing to happen to the Giants this postseason, and I expect Tom Brady and Randy Moss to thrive in that environment, though I'm definitely rooting for Eli and company.