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.
-24 on the field tonight.
It is warmer in Barrow Alaska right now. BBbbrrrrrr.
I’m no Packer fan and I don’t really care about the Giants one way or another, but the G-men need to request those same refs for the Superbowl. It’ll increase their chances a bit. LOL
YAY GIANTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This Packer fan will give credit where credit it due. The Giants were the best team on the field tonight. The Packers Offense couldn’t get in groove and they had no answer for Ahmad Bradshaw and Plaxico Burress. The Packers didn’t play their best, but they didn’t want it, the Giants wanted it more.
Once the temp numbers turn negative, it stops being about measuring and starts being about attitude.
When it passes 0 and gets to -, it’s negative alright. Nothing’s funny when it’s that cold.
Two east coast teams in the Superbowl....boring.
It will be a coronation for the Pats
They were finally able to kick a field goal. They tried and tried to give it to Green Bay.
Tough loss for the Pack tonight, but their play calling was an atrocity. Three and out with six minutes to go on their own forty, and 30 seconds elapsed.
Not championship football, especially at home when its -4 degrees.
I don't think any of the teams that played in the conference championship games -- and that includes the undefeated Patriots -- would have been any better than 9-7 in the pre-salary cap days.
A Jets fan’s worst nightmare: A Giants-Patriots Super Bowl!
R U Kidding?
The Packers were aided by an assortment of phantom calls (like on the Bradshaw TD which was called back) and no-calls (like Webster being slung to the ground on the 1st Packer TD) or the non-review of the Burris catch just before the end of the first half. (I'm not sure which way the call would have gone, but he was clearly touched down at the four yard line and then the ball came out. At some point that play has to be over.) And there were two at least questionable drive sustaining penalties called against the Giants when the Packers had 3rd and longs. It's true that the Giants got a penalty call on a play where there was an interception, but the foul was the reason for the interception.
Is this your first year watching pro-football?
ML/NJ
Look for more Peyton-Eli commercials; or is that more Eli-Peyton commercials?
That's up to the Giants.
They were tough the last time, just not tough enough.
The question is: do the Giants want to be the team that gave the Pats BOTH the 16-0 perfect regular season AND the 19-0 clean sweep?
And do they want to become a 2-2 Super Bowl team?
LOL. Why do so many people resort to insults when a reasonable discussion will do?
“Look for more Peyton-Eli commercials; or is that more Eli-Peyton commercials?”
Nooooo! Well, Eli I wouldn’t mind. Don’t see him too much. Peyton, on the other hand...enough! LOL
You’re always harping on that 9-7 thing and really it’s to your detriment. you always lose sight of the fact that most of the teams in the pre-cap era actually sucked eggs. Everybody thinks about the mighty days of the Niners and the Cowboys and the Giants and the Skins and talks about how great the games were. Everybody forgets about the Bay of Pigs games, the general suckiness of the entire AFC, the NFC Central, and most of the NFC west. Sure when the GOOD teams played each other there was some great football, but there were never more than 3 or 4 of them throughout the 80s. Power flocked to the big market teams with the fat cash.
Frankly all 4 of these teams could have won the AFC in the time of NFC dominance, where of course they’d have gotten their asses handed to them in the SB just like all the other AFC teams. But they would have done better than 9-7. And you missed some of the BEST playoff football that’s been played. It’s sad that you’re not a fan anymore, but that’s really your fault, not the league’s. The game is better now than it was back then, the more good teams, there are more contested games, there are no more boring assed super teams whopping the crap out of the league.
Spoken like a true L O S E R ! 9-7??? You are an I D I O T too!
“I don’t think any of the teams that played in the conference championship games — and that includes the undefeated Patriots — would have been any better than 9-7 in the pre-salary cap days.”
ML/NJ
Don't bet on it.
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