[QUOTE=Hamlet]
I don’t watch many (as in none except the times they play the Packers) Giants games, but he really impressed me. Only having newspaper accounts of games (I hate pregame talk), I had a bad impression of Manning, but last night he was accurate, smart, and only a tiny bit whiny. He looked good last night.
[/QUOTE]
Eli Manning was 21 of 40, for a whopping 254 yards. That is hardly “accurate.” What he didn’t do is throw interceptions, which is the sole reason he was better than Favre (who was 19/35, a better percentage, for 236 yards, a better average).
And this points out that the real difference between the teams was the running games. The G-men managed 134 yards of rushing on 39 attempts; the Packers managed a measly 28 yards on their 14 attempts. This, ladies and gentlemen, represents the difference in the game. It kept the Giants offense on the field more, it sustained their drives better (the Packers, recall, managed no drives of over 40 yards (the 90-yard completion is not a “drive” just a wonderfully beautiful, but lucky and non-repeatable score 
) and only one drive of more than 6 plays (which finished in a field goal)).
In short, the Packers on offense were inept and woeful, and if it hadn’t been for three fortuitous turns of events (the interception cum fumble and the long scoring pass), wouldn’t have even been in the game. And most of that blame cannot be laid on Brett Favre, who was not demonstrably worse than Eli Manning (except for that last interception). The blame goes directly to the Packer coaching staff.
Hamlet, this is in direct contrast to their game plan against Seattle. In that game, they started with a swing pass to their running back (a sweep by pass, I call it), then two straight running plays the next possession. Then the next possession, they ran on the second play of the possession. In short, against Seattle, you didn’t see deception, trickery, misdirection, etc. You saw a good, honest effort to set up a running game, utilizing a back who had demonstrated his competence for them the whole final half of the season. Where did that go against the Giants?
And Hamlet, you talk about early in the season? Here are the plays in the first possession of the game in week two against the Giants: run, run, pass, run, pass, run, pass, run, run, run. They ran 29 times that game. Yes, they only gained 83 yards, but the point is that a good passing game in the NFL usually requires that you establish the willingness to run, just to keep the defense honest about having to defend against it. It worked in week 2; again, it was ABSENT in week last-and-losing.
Packer coaching staff got beat in their heads before they ever let the team walk onto the field, deciding that they had no chance of establishing a running game. So they never tried. As a result, they were relying upon their quarterback to deliver in a playoff game played in -24 wind chill with a healthy breeze blowing. It was a stupid, fatal decision. The fact that the opponents demonstrated just how stupid and fatal it was by executing the exact game plan the Packers should have attempted only adds salt to the wounds. :mad:
:eek: 
:smack: 
:smack: