A Giant Win Against Packers Sends Eli Manning and Crew to the Super Bowl

Sunday January 20- For the third time during the game, Giants Field goal kicker Lawrence Tynes lined up to take the game winning field goal to win the game and send the NY Giants to the Super Bowl. On two previous times, including with 4 seconds left in the game, Lawrence Tynes had missed the field goal kick. However, in overtime, Tynes finally delivered, kicking the winning field goal through the uprights to stun the Green Bay Packers and propel the Giants to the Super Bowl.

The game was played in the freezing cold as game temperature was -1 degrees at game time. With wind chill, the temperature was about -23 degrees. Heaters were used on the sidelines and most players bundled up when they were on the sideline. Still, mosy players played sleeveless and braved the cold.

The NFC championship game in Green Bay was one of the most exciting football playoff games ever and the Super Bowl which will feature the Giants vs. the New England Patriots will be one of the most watched games in Super Bowl history. In this NFC championship game which was of historic proportions, Giants quarterback Eli Manning played the game of his life and his best game in the playoffs thus far with 254 yards passing and did not turn over the ball. Although the stats indicate that Eli Manning was only 21 for 40, he played for better than that and his receivers had 6 dropped passes during the game. In fact, from watching the game any sports fan would say that Eli Manning easily outplayed former MVP Brett Favre in the game which Favre was supposed to dominate. The Giants pass rush did get some pressure on Favre but the Giants secondary played one of the best games of the season as well.

With the exception of a 90 yard pass play from Favre to wide receiver Donald Driver, in which cornerback Cory Webster was knocked down on the pass coverage, the secondary played very well, picking off 2 passes from Favre.

The Giants running tandem of Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw both had good games. Jacobs had 67 yards on 21 carries and Bradshaw had 63 yards on 16 carries. The Giants defense played fantastic defense on Packers running back Ryan Grant who was limited to only 29 yards rushing on 13 carries. Throughout the entire game, the Giants defensive linemen were able to contain Grant who was traded in the pre-season from the Giants to the Packers for a 6th round pick. In last week's playoff game featuring the Packers vs. the Seahawks, Ryan Grant had 201 yards rushing.

Throughout most of the game, it seemed like the Giants were in control despite the close score throughout the game. On the Giants' first two scores which were both field goals, the Giants had failed to score touchdowns. This would come back to hurt them when the Packers had a 90 yard scoring pass. Jacobs and Bradshaw both added a rushing touchdown each for the Giants. Favre would finish the game with 2 passing touchdowns.

However, the story of the game had to be Giants field goal kicker Lawrence Tynes. In the fourth quarter, Tynes missed a field goal kick from about 30 yards. Then with Eli Manning driving the Giants down field with 2:30 left on the clock, the Giants drove to about the Packers 20 and wound down the clock to 4 seconds left before Eli Manning spiked the ball to stop the clock and send out Tynes and the field goal unit. This time, the snap was high, although the kick holder was able to get the ball down for Tynes to kick. Tynes wasn't even close on this second try, and hit it wide left.

Then at the start of the overtime period, the Packers won the coin toss, only to see quarterback Brett Favre throw his second interception on the Packers first play of the overtime. The Giants would gain a few yards before setting up the field goal unit once again, this time setting up about a 40 yard field goal, the longest try that Tynes had to attempt the entire game. With the hearts of Giants fans beating throughout the New York area, Tynes came through on his third field goal try of the game to stun the Packers nation and send the Giants onto the Super Bowl to play the Patriots. If you recall, the Giants played the Patriots in week 17 of the NFL season and were leading the Patriots for most of the game before MVP Tom Brady led a comeback to beat the Giants.