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.
The Pack never established a running game. Favre wasn’t on his game and made some mistakes that cost his team. Not the best showing by GB tonight.
Little Eli and the Giants are gonna get spanked by the Patriots in the SB. It won’t be as close as the last game of the season where these teams met. Patriots by double digits this time, count on it.
“The Giants stopped the Packer running game cold, so instead of plugging away they abandoned it completely. ...fairly early on. That’s bad coaching.”
I agree. If a team can’t run the ball they are doomed - especially at this level of competition. I’m not a Giant fan, but I thought they played solid, tough football against the Cowboys and now the Packers. I think they can beat the Patriots. It should be a good, close game. Both teams have great defensive teams and quarterbacks. I’m looking forward to it.
“The weather in an area was as much a part of the team as the logo and the uniform. With domes, everyplace is like everyplace else.”
Very well said. The Packers will never give up their arctic statium.
Anyone here remember that 1967 Championship game between the Packers and the Cowboys? I remember one of the announcers saying that he was going to have a “bite” of his coffee. It had frozen solid during their discussion.
That game was a heartbreak loss for this Cowboy fan. The Packers pulled out a win (led by Bart Starr) in the last couple of a minutes of the game. What a great game that was - I was only 14 at the time but I still remember Bart Starr, at the Cowboys one yard line, jumping over the struggling linemen on both sides for the winning touchdown. Wonderful memories.
I don't get NFL Network but I was in a Cigar Bar last month that does get it. The TV happened to be on the NFL Network and they were featuring the ten worst-weather games. I think the Dallas-GB ice bowl was #1. I actually attended one of the games they featured which was the Browns-Giants game in 1959 where Pat Summerall kicked a 49 yard FG in the snow to win the game for the Giants. I remember that day (Cars sliding everywhere! Jim Brown off left tackle for a 67 yard TD on the first play of the game.) much more than most of the other games I attended when I was young. Another bad weather game that may have been on the NFL Network's list (I wasn't really paying that much attention to the show.) was the sneaker game in the 1956 Championship where the Giants beat the Bears 47-7. I was at that game too. Ten degrees. I had my first cup of coffee that day.
ML/NJ
Eventually started using Bradshaw is more like it. He was really the one who gave them the shot at the winning FG.
ML/NJ
Actually the time-out with 2:36 to play was very stupid. If the Giants had gone three and out there, the Packers would have gotten the ball back with a minute and a half to play and two of their time-outs left. If the Packers had chosen to let the clock run down to two minutes before kicking the Giants still would have had a time-out left and two minutes to play which would have been plenty for them.
ML/NJ
Suuuuurrrrre. The Packers were offsides every other play in Q4, and the refs were oblivious to that
“I remember Joe Namath with the dust of the Shea Stadium outfield swirling around him...”
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I think you meant “infield.”
Anyone watch the Giants head coach on the sidelines? By midway through the 4th quarter his face was so frost-bitten that it wouldn’t surprise me if he winds up in the hospital.
“Eventually started using Bradshaw is more like it. He was really the one who gave them the shot at the winning FG.”
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IMO, he will be ‘key’ in the Soup.
Living in Stiller country now, I don’t get to see my Jints often so I haven’t seen much of him. His performances in the post-season however, have impressed me.
The fixation on "big market" vs. "small market" in pro football (and most sports) is disingenuous, because it is based on a distinction that doesn't stand up to close scrutiny. How is it that the Dallas Cowboys are a "big market" team, while the Texas Rangers -- who play in the same damn city -- are a "small market" team? And how is it that the Washington Redskins are a "big market" team, while the Washington Nationals are not? You can run through all of the major sports and find similar cases of clear inconsistency in the definition of these markets (Miami Dolphins and Florida Marlins, Oakland Raiders and Oakland Athletics, Denver Broncos and Colorado Rockies, the Montreal Canadiens and the old Montreal Expos, etc.).
I have said here on any number of occasions that the NFL's salary cap is not the problem. The problem is the way the cap is applied -- which effectively fails to reward teams that draft well and fails to punish teams that draft poorly . . . and results in the kind of massive player movement from one roster to another that makes it impossible to build a team to be a strong contender over time (and results in this fan losing interest in his team -- and eventually the NFL).
There was a time when a strong NFL team was built through wise scouting and drafting, good player development, and (occasionally) prudent trades. Nowadays, an NFL general manager simply drafts as well as he can (without losing much sleep over it, mind you), and then looks to sign good players from other rosters whose teams "can't afford" them due to the league's salary cap rules. The result is a league where continuity is non-existent, chemistry is meaningless (you see this especially among offensive linemen and defensive backfields), and the quality of play has fallen off dramatically. The abject mediocrity of the NFL is perfectly illustrated by the fact that cap-era Super Bowls have been contested by teams with quarterbacks like Chris Chandler, Trent Dilfer, Kerry Collins, Rich Gannon, Brad Johnson, and Rex Grossman. Most of these guys would have struggled to even start on an NFL team 20 years ago -- let alone lead a team to a conference title.
If you really want to get a sense of just how bad the NFL has become, just take a look at the quarterbacks in the league today. After 15 regular-season games this year, many fans of the NY Giants were wondering whether Eli Manning even belonged on the field -- and were suggesting that perhaps the team should be looking to sign or draft a new one next year. And even then he was still in the top half of the NFL among quarterbacks -- which shows you just how weak the league has become in that regard (even with all of the rules that are supposed to make it easier to pass the ball these days).
Come on! There was one questionable play, and I thought the Packer in question just timed it well. The refs made quite a few questionable calls but I think you're off base here.
ML/NJ
Super Bowl ping!
What’s really surprising about the Giants is that teams haven’t been able to run against them very well. They are the best past-rushing team in the NFL because they line up with four defensive linemen whose natural position is defensive end (defensive end Mathias Kiwanuka played extensively on this line before he was injured, and people may remember that defensive tackle Justin Tuck was going to replace Michael Strahan at left end if Strahan had retired before the season began), so they are a bit undersized.
Before the playoffs started I said the same thing. I didn't think ANY NFC team could beat either the Pats or the Colts. But the Giants are the big unknown factor, and I'm not so sure now.
The Giants are red hot right now. Eli Manning has matured and is not easily ratttled by little mistakes. The Patriots were put to sleep by poor opponents in the last two games and barely beat the Chargers, who couldn't get the ball into the end zone but still made the score close.
ok maybe not every other play, but there were at least 2 or 3 offsides not called against the pack.
Either way, the Giants dominated. Take out the 90 yrd pass play td and the Pack did nothing.
LOL...you might want to read up on the RULES as related to completions...the refs got it right.
I think it will be close. The Pats haven’t been blowing anybody out lately, like they were in the middle of the season. Teams have started to figure them out.
That being said, the Pats with their running game, seem to just find a way to win those close games.
Another case in point, the Vikes. Four Super Bowls when they played at The Met, since they moved indoors...ZIP!
Come on! Wouldn’t it be great if the NFL was like Major League Baseball? Then those of us in small markets wouldn’t have to pay attention to how our team is doing, since we’d know they were out of it by Week 6.
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