The New York Giants are hoping it’s 2008 all over again.
Technically, that was the end of the 2007 NFL season, when the fifth-seeded Giants embarked on their famous magical run to an unlikely Super Bowl title.
Now, as the fourth-seeded Giants (10-7) prepare for Sunday’s divisional playoff showdown with the top-seeded Green Bay Packers (15-1), there’s legitimate reason to believe that this year can be like four years ago,simply because the Giants are no longer like they were six weeks ago, when they narrowly lost to the Packers at home.
Since that defeat, New York has looked a lot less like the inconsistent, injury-riddled team that the Packers sent to a fourth straight defeat and a 6-6 record on December 4th, while more closely resembling the Giants team that suddenly peaked enough over a four-game postseason span to capture a Super Bowl XLII title.
Ironically, Green Bay’s first battle with New York this season ended with the NFL’s top team winning 38-35, the same score the 2007 Giants lost by at home, to the New England Patriots, in the regular season finale four years ago.
That loss to the Patriots gave New York a tremendous amount of confidence, spurring the Giants on to their championship run that followed. And, it all happened after a curious 22-10 home loss in Week 15 to the Washington Redskins.
This year, another Week 15 home loss to the Redskins, by almost the same score (23-10), has been New York’s only hiccup in a season-turning 4-1 stretch since their Week 13 loss to Green Bay.
That hot streak has the Giants once again returning to historic Lambeau Field to try to beat the Packers on Sunday, just like they did in the 2007 NFC title game, when Green Bay was the NFC’s two seed.
Although they were very competitive this year with the then-undefeated Packers (who needed a field goal as time expired to win) the Giants were one dimensional – with a proficient passing game, but not much else that New York could do well enough to beat a dominant team like Green Bay.
A month-and-a-half later though, a much different Giants team heads to Wisconsin this weekend, trying to once again take down a one seed four years after New York shocked top-seeded Dallas.
Prior to six weeks ago, New York continued to struggle on their way toward finishing as the NFL’s worst rushing team this year.
But, the Giants rushed for 100 yards against the Packers in Week 13, and behind the resurgence of power running back Brandon Jacobs, and the return of a healthy Ahmad Bradshaw (who played that week against Green Bay after missing four straight weeks), have seen their running game steadily improve ever since, all the way to a season-high 172 yards in last week’s wild-card playoff win over Atlanta.
And, that’s not all that’s changed.
The Giants have also discovered the one thing which ultimately put quarterback Tom Brady repeatedly on his back and which prevented the Patriots from achieving a perfect season in Super Bowl XLII – one of the league’s most dangerous pass rushes, with the better health of defensive ends Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora to compliment a third menacing defensive end in young Pro Bowler Jason Pierre Paul.
New York also now has some help in an area which had plagued the Giants earlier in the year – at middle linebacker, with the mid-season re-signing of Chase Blackburn, who in the Giants’ Week 13 loss to the Packers, recorded one of the very few (six) interceptions Rodgers has thrown all season.
Although a more ferocious pass rush from New York’s overpowering defensive line and a far more productive running game are the primary reasons for the Giants’ turnaround since that week, it’s more than a mere coincidence that including the loss to Green Bay, New York is 4-2 since Blackburn returned to the Giants’ roster for a second go-around with Big Blue after the Giants let their former special teams captain go as a free agent in the offseason.
While many are indeed comparing the opportunity before this year’s Giants to what happened four years ago, New York could actually be even more likened to last year’s Packers, who for even further irony, fought through a myriad of injuries to a mediocre 8-6 record last season before beating the Giants to start a season-ending, six-game winning streak (that concluded with a Super Bowl title), which they extended to as many as 19 consecutive victories this season with their win over New York.
As 7½-point favorites on Sunday, the Packers expect to beat the Giants again. However, the word out of Green Bay this week is that the Packers are a bit nervous about facing a team that reminds them a lot of last year’s version of themselves.
Like the Packers a season ago, the Giants appear to be peaking at just the right time, having overcome many key injuries on offense and defense themselves this season. With that late-season success, New York is as confident as it has been all season, in the same way that Green Bay was at this time a year ago.
Earlier in the week, Pierre-Paul even guaranteed a Giants’ win in Green Bay, not with the intention of disrespecting the Packers at all, but to exemplify his team’s collective state of mind relative to the far different feeling the Giants had as recently as a month ago.
Who could blame them?
For most of the season, the Giants were barely staying in the playoff chase largely on the strength of an MVP-esque season by quarterback Eli Manning, and his ability to significantly raise the games of wide receiver Victor Cruz and tight end Jake Ballard.
Yet, New York was able to go back to what is considered “old” Giants football to crush the Atlanta Falcons, 24-2 last week, in their playoff opener.
All of a sudden, the team that ranked last in rushing through the regular season (with just 89.2 yards per game) exploded for 172 rushing yards against the NFL’s sixth-best rushing defense and recorded their first defensive shutout of the season last week.
The Packers meanwhile, have continued to roll along, and remain the favorite to defend their Super Bowl title rather than have another team dethrone them.
Green Bay proved last year just how deep it is, by overcoming so many damaging injuries to win a championship, and now, as if they haven’t been good enough all season, the Packers have just become even better as they’ve gotten healthier.
With all of the talk about how the Giants’ upgraded health has helped their team, it’s the Packers who should have a full complement of active players on offense and defense on Sunday for the first time since they broke training camp.
Among the Packers’ most important returnees are Green Bay’s second-leading receiver, Greg Jennings, left tackle Chad Clifton, right tackle Bryan Bulaga, the Packers’ top two running backs, James Starks and Ryan Grant, and wide receiver and dangerous kick returner Randall Cobb.
Adding all of those players to the mix could actually have the effect of disrupting some chemistry and timing for Green Bay.
For instance, the return of Jennings could negatively affect the production of Jordy Nelson, who even with Rodgers sitting out the Packers’ regular season finale two weeks ago, had a career-high 162 receiving yards and three touchdown receptions, to follow up a 115-yard effort the week before, while becoming Green Bay’s leading receiver for the season with 1,263 yards.
More likely though, getting so many regulars back should make the Packers even tougher to deal with than they already were.
So should losing in Kansas City two weeks after beating the Giants, since that defeat removes the pressure the of having to chase a perfect 19-0 season – something the Patriots ultimately succumbed to against New York.
There are however, two new intangibles that the Packers might have to overcome.
One is a long three-week layoff for Rodgers, who against the Giants, will be taking a snap that counts for the first time in 21 days. That one might not be that much of a factor though. Last year’s Super Bowl MVP is so good, that even after the NFL’s offseason lockout, Rodgers’ first quarter of the Packers’ season opener was one of the best quarters in league history, as he went 14 of 15 (what, he couldn’t complete them all? Slacker!) for 188 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a perfect passer rating of 158.3 against New Orleans, all before the second period.
The other off-the-field circumstance – a very sad and unfortunate one – could have a much greater impact, however.
Michael Philbin, the son of Packers’ offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, tragically died last weekend in an icy Wisconsin river at the young age of just 21. Joe Philbin will understandably be with his family and will miss the game.
Even though head coach Mike McCarthy calls his own offensive plays, Philbin is the architect of the league’s highest-scoring offense, and he has worked very closely with Rodgers.
With heavy hearts, the Packers would probably want to push Sunday’s game back another week, but they will instead have to face the very difficult task of attending Michael Philbin’s funeral on Friday before recovering only a little more than 48 hours later to play the biggest game of their season.
Of course, that could also serve to galvanize the Packers, who have spoken this week of wanting to win for their offensive coordinator, and for tackle T.J. Lang, who lost his father to an undisclosed illness last week.
That, plus the expected boisterous home crowd at historic Lambeau Field could have the Packers revved up enough to cancel out the sudden rising tide of confidence that the Giants will bring with them to Green Bay.
However, if all else fails for Big Blue, maybe New York can rely on the first name of the ex-Giant and native New Yorker (from Suffern, NY) Grant, as a good luck charm.
After beating New York Jets’ head coach Rex Ryan, his brother, Dallas Cowboys’ defensive coordinator Rob Ryan, and Atlanta quarterback Matt Ryan over the past three weeks, the Giants will seek to make Grant the fourth straight Ryan they defeat on their way to rekindling the magic of four years ago.
Source: Yahoo! Sports