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Giant Leap Forward: NY downs GB 23-20 in OT

With their shocking overtime victory over the Green Bay Packers in the literally frozen tundra of Lambeau Field, the New York Giants have just completed one of the most improbable playoff runs of all-time.

Led by the impressive play of Eli Manning, a stout run-stopping defense, and a record setting wide receiver, the Giants ended Brett Favre and the Packers resurgent season and put themselves in position to be Superbowl champions.

Just how did they do it?  Easy as 1-2-3:

1. A Giant Leap for Manning-kind: If Eli Manning has finally won over his critics, then it is certainly well deserved.  Manning passed for 254 yards and avoided throwing an interception for the 3rd straight game.  He consistently found Plaxico Burress running free in the Packers secondary to the tune of 11 catches for 154 yards.  Perhaps more importantly, it was Eli who looked like he was at home in one of the coldest games in NFL history.  Manning’s passes were sharp, well-placed and precise throughout the game despite the conditions, and he often looked more calm and collected than his counterpart Brett Favre.

2. Giants Defense Plays BIG: The New York Giants defense has come up, well, giant in all 3 playoff games thus far, particularly the last two.  While facing two of the more vaunted offenses in the NFL, the Giants have relied on stuffing the run and playing mistake free football.  After holding Tony Romo and the Dallas Cowboys to just 17 points, they proceeded to stuff last week’s record breaking runner Ryan Grant to only 29 yards on 13 carries.  They also held the Pack to only 20 points and came up with the biggest play of the game, a Corey Webster interception of a pass by Brett Favre that set up the game winning field goal in overtime.

3. Thunder and Lightning: Nope, this isn’t a reference to any weather you thought you might’ve missed but a description of the two-headed monster that is the New York Giant rushing attack.  Big-bodied bruiser Brandon Jacobs rumbled for 67 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries while speedster Ahmad Bradshaw scampered for 63 yards and a touchdown of his own on only 16 carries.  The impressive play of these two polar opposite runners allowed the Giants to move the ball and take pressure off Eli Manning and the passing game at the same time. 

  The Giants seem to be destiny’s darlings.  They’ve won 3 straight playoff games on the road in very hostile enviroments and defeated the top 2 seeded teams in the NFC in the process. 

Of course now, all they have to do is beat one more team.  A team that is 18-0.  A team coached by Bill Belichick and quarterbacked by Tom Brady. A team that just may be the greatest football team of all-time.

But now is not the time to look ahead.  Now is a time to appreciate a team and a quarterback that have gone from punchlines on Letterman to Super Bowl contenders in the span of just one season.  Eli Manning and the New York Giants have taken a giant leap forward this year, and they did it after almost everyone had given up on them.

It’s too bad for the Packers (and the rest of the NFC) that they never gave up on themselves.

-Written by Kelsey McCarson

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