Posted on 01/20/2008 8:17:12 PM PST by GulliverSwift
GREEN BAY, Wis. - The bone-chilling cold couldn't stop the white-hot New York Giants tonight and neither could the Green Bay Packers, a crushing holding penalty or two missed fourth-quarter field goals.
In one of the more unlikely runs to the Super Bowl in NFL history, the Giants overcame all kinds of obstacles to capture the NFC championship game with a 23-20 overtime win at frigid Lambeau Field.
The Giants, who entered the playoffs as a 10-6 wild card, won their 10th straight road game when kicker Lawrence Tynes made up for his two fourth-quarter misses with a 47-yard field goal that sailed straight through the uprights 2 minutes, 35 seconds into the overtime.
Tynes had missed a 36-yarder at the end of regulation, and when the Packers won the coin toss before the overtime, the sellout crowd roared in anticipation of a home-team victory.
Instead, Giants cornerback Corey Webster stepped in front of receiver Donald Driver and intercepted a Brett Favre pass, giving New York the football at the Packers' 34-yard line. The Giants' offense managed just 5 yards before coach Tom Coughlin sent Tynes back on the field for another chance to win the game.
This time, the kicker converted and the Giants had a ticket to the Feb. 3 Super Bowl for a game against the unbeaten New England Patriots.
The Giants (13-6) advanced to the title game for the first time since the 2000-01 season by beating Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay on the road and after going just 3-5 at home this season. They had lost to Dallas and Green Bay in the regular season.
For Favre and the Packers, it was a disappointing end to a surprisingly outstanding season. Favre, however, threw two interceptions and struggled badly in the second half.
No snow accompanied the bitter cold, but it did rain mustard-colored flags for most of the evening. Time after time it would appear one team had stopped the other only to discover the drive remained alive because of a penalty.
But the most costly penalty of the evening came just before the two-minute warning when it appeared as if Giants running back Ahmad Bradshaw had broken free for a 48-yard touchdown that would give New York the lead.
Instead, referee Terry McAulay reached into his pocket, turned on his microphone and announced a holding penalty on Giants guard Chris Snee.
The Giants were back in their own territory, but remarkably quarterback Eli Manning completed four straight passes and New York got close enough for Tynes to attempt the 36-yarder with four seconds remaining.
After a high snap, however, Tynes hit a knuckeball that sailed wide left and the NFC championship game went to overtime for the first time since 1998. It was Tynes' second miss of the quarter.
Seconds after averting a special-teams disaster, Favre and Donald Driver connected for the game's first huge play, a 90-yard touchdown pass that erased the Giants' early lead.
Tynes' second field goal of the game, a 37-yarder, had given New York a 6-0 lead early in the second quarter, and when Koren Robinson mishandled the ensuing kickoff, the Packers were fortunate that Tramon Williams pounced on the ball before the Giants could get to it.
Green Bay, however, still had terrible field position and zero momentum after gaining just 4 yards on its previous nine plays.
That all changed with one flick of Favre's wrist. Webster tried to jam Driver at the line of scrimmage, but the Packers' veteran receiver pushed the Giants' cornerback aside and ran into open space.
Favre, after a quick pump fake, hit his receiver in stride at the 29-yard line. Driver kicked into fifth gear and outran Webster and two other Giants defenders for the longest touchdown play in the Packers' postseason history: 90 yards.
The Giants, who had controlled the game until that point, lost their momentum and never regained it in the first half.
The Packers, meanwhile, pushed their lead to 10-6 with 1 minute, 30 seconds left in the half on a 36-yard Mason Crosby field goal. Credit the defense - both the Packers' and the Giants' - for that score. After forcing a Jeff Feagles punt from the goal line, Green Bay got the ball back at the Giants' 47-yard line.
A third-and-10 pass by Favre was incomplete, but the drive remained alive because of an illegal-contact penalty against Giants safety Michael Johnson. Favre took advantage of the new life with a 20-yard pass to Driver, getting Crosby into close range for the field goal.
After botching a chance to score a touchdown just before halftime, the Giants showed their remarkable road aplomb once again at the start of the second half. Manning, with the help of a third-down roughing-the-passer penalty on safety Nick Collins, took New York on a 12-play, 69-yard drive that ended with a 1-inch touchdown run by Brandon Jacobs that gave the Giants a 13-10 lead.
The Packers immediately answered with a touchdown on their first possession of the second half, but only after the Giants were flagged for a critical third-down penalty of their own.
Tramon Williams made things easier for the Packers' offense with a 49-yard kickoff return to the Giants' 39, but it appeared as if New York had forced a field goal when a pass from Favre to Driver left Green Bay 5 yards short of a first down.
After the play, however, Giants cornerback Sam Madison pushed running back Vernand Morency and was flagged for unnecessary roughness, giving Green Bay a first down at the 12. Favre found tight end Donald Lee on the next play for a 12-yard touchdown and the Packers were back in front by 17-13.
But NFL clearly meant Not For Long on this chilly evening.
Before the third quarter was over, the Giants regained the lead with a seven-play, 57-yard drive that included an incredible 23-yard sideline catch by Amani Toomer at the Green Bay 12-yard line. Two plays later, running back Ahman Bradshaw scored a 4-yard touchdown and the Giants were up, 20-17.
Green Bay got even early in the fourth quarter on a 37-yard field goal that was set up by a Favre interception. Yes, that's right, an interception.
After scrambling away from pressure, Favre made an ill-advised throw down field that was picked off by R.W. McQuarters. It was McQuarters' third interception of the postseason and it quickly became his least productive one when Packers running back Ryan Grant swiped the ball out of his hands, allowing tackle Mark Tauscher to recover the fumble for Green Bay at the Giants' 19-yard line.
The Packers settled for three points, evening the score and setting the stage for an overtime conclusion.
Cold is one thing - playing in LETHAL weather isinsane.
I would note that even the Army has limits as to when soldiers must ‘come inside’ in extreme cold wx. -70.
Doesn’t take much of a breeze to get that cold.
I like pro football, but I like college basketball instead of NBA gangsters.
Well, if we’re looking for fault, I would go with Brett. Live by the sword, die by the sword. He threw the interception and that pretty much took care of it.
I think the Packers might want to drill into their players heads that they should fall on fumbles and not try to pick them up and run with them.
Oh, and you have to give props to Eli too. He play a steady, unspectacular game. Just what the Giants needed. The kid is finally growing up.
In spite of my love for the Packers, I feel the same about college football vs the NFL.
This was only -4, “felt like” -24 (I’ve never really been fond of the whole “wind chill” measurement, the temperature is the temperature the the temperature was -4... maybe it’s because I’m a sunbelter and “wind heat” when the temperature turns a minor breeze into a giant hairdryer... but I digress), definitely cold, definitely unpleasantly cold, but not lethal. Well OK I suppose a person completely unprepared and unequipped could die in it, but that’s what the equipment guy is for.
LOL no kidding. That was an ugly, ugly play on that punt.
Yeah, really ugly.
Let's see...
The Packers had 7 Penalties totally 37 yards.
The Giants had 6 penalties totalling 50 yards.
...AND the G-Men had a long TD run taken away on a questionable holding call.
How do these stats grab you?:
First downs: Giants 24, Packers 13
Rushing yards: Giants 134, Packers 28
Time of possession: Giants 40 min., Packers 22 min.
Total domination.
” That’s up to the Giants.
They were tough the last time, just not tough enough. “
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Saw both games.
In the first NYvsNE matchup the Giants ran outta
steam in the 4th quarter. Close but unless the G-men
play outta their skin, they are the sacrificial lambs
in the SuperBowl.
NFC Championship- Either the Packers played one of their
usual hot `n cold games with the offense capable of zip
in the 2nd half and their corners being burnt like toast
or the Giants were just tougher and better.
Or a combi of both.
Bottom line, Favre`s gotta eat this one, it was his
pic that led to the winning fg in ot.
Wrong again. The Giants stopped the Packer running game cold, so instead of plugging away they abandoned it completely. ...fairly early on. That's bad coaching.
The Giants' running game started slowly as well, but they kept at it and eventually found some holes. Coughlin stuck to the game plan.
I don't like the turf and the domes. In the old NFL, each game had it's own personality.
I seem to remember a G-men drive that got a little bump from a roughing the passer call that was questionable. It got more questionable when on a Green Bay Favre (btw, how do you get “Farve” out of that?) gets hit on the same kind of play, and..no flag.
There was also a questionable interference call in the 4th quarter too. (Not the one that resulted in a GB interception. That WAS interference.)
Were the refs in it, for the G-men? Of course not. I did not watch the entire game, so I won’t argue your calls. My wife watched the game and saw the same things. However, she was actively pulling for Favre. lol
You 'conveniently' left out the long TD run by the Giants late in the game when the score was tied that was called back on a ticky tack holding call.
As the stats I posted in #49 clearly demonstrate, the Giants completely dominated this game in every respect. And it starts with controlling the line of scrimmage.
I thought the gamebreaker was that the Giants could run, while the Packers couldn’t.
Glad it’s not only me. It was getting to the point where I thought I’d inadvertantly insulted someone’s mother! LOL
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