Great game by the G-men. Still, I have to wonder how much was the Giants D and how much was the Packers just playing poorly? They looked off on offense all night, between bad throws, dropped passes and fumbles it would have been terrible for the Giants if they didn't get the win. It looked like the Packers would have been better off dinged up but still with their normal timing and rhythm.
It works out well for me, because now my Niners get to play the championship game at home!
it was the Packers' performance more than the Giant's D. You look at how inneffectual the pass rush was and then the dropped passes and fumbles. It was obvious to me that there were a few factors in play.
1. The turf. I saw lots of slips on both sides that hurt the Packers more because they were unable to capitalize on the miscues. On 2 occasions I saw Woodson getting off the turf in the middle of a play 5 yards away from his obvious man.
2. The drops. I think it was the gloves. Seriously. They did not drop that many balls in a game all season. But then again I watched at least 3 drops happen because of the forgetting of fundamentals like "Watch the ball into your hands." Stark, I'm looking at you. This also seems to be the reason for the fumbles too. That leads to 3.
3. The emotions. The drowning death of Michael Philbin threw off the entire team's flow. They were distracted and off rhythm the entire game. Rodgers said he'd never been to a funeral before and that can really shake a man on a deep level.
4. The 'Rust'. 3 weeks off for Aaron Rodgers and it showed. Badly. Normally his passes are far crisper and accurate. They seemed to be over-leading his receivers too many times and on at least 4 occasions caused his receiver to have to spin to try and get a bead on the ball which of course they didn't because of point 2 or point 1.
5. The gameplan. Philbin's absence hurt. No denying it. Worse was Capers' gameplan. Too often, too few blitzed Manning, and our secondary played WAY too soft on Giants receivers. you can't give a 5 yard cushion to threats like Cruz and Nicks and Manningham. You just can't. The run game was shut down, but when you don't rush enough to get to the QB who obviously got rattled by the pressure and is known for carving up secondaries if given time and good receivers (which he had both of) you're toast.
Yes... the Giants played good football. But the Packers played the worst of the year, and their timing could not have been worse and they squandered their chances..
