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Giants (9-5) vs Packers (8-6)
On Sunday night
Green Bay had New England on the ropes. They were up 27-21 in the fourth quarter
with backup Matt Flynn filling in for Aaron Rodgers who should be back this week.
Flynn threw for 251 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, but after
falling behind, his late comeback drive ended with a sack and a 31-27 loss.
The
Giants blew a division clinching game against the Eagles. They let a 31-10 fourth
quarter lead turn into a 38-31 loss. The only way the Giants can win the division
now is with two victories and two losses by the Eagles. The wildcard is theirs
if they win this game or a possibility with a win next week in Washington. Green
Bay Packers.
In 2007, Brett Favre brought this team to
the division title and into the NFC Championship Game. That's when they lost 23-20
in overtime to the Giants who went on to win the next game, Super Bowl XLII, over
the unbeaten Patriots. In 2008 without Favre, Green Bay was a 6-10 team losing
seven of those ten games by four points or less. In 2009 they did much better
but they failed to win the division, dropping both games to the Favre-led Minnesota
Vikings who took that division title only to lose in New Orleans in overtime.
Favre once again fell one game short of getting his team into the Super Bowl.
Green Bay did manage a wildcard shot but lost their first game in a 51-45 overtime
shoot-out. This year the Packers have finally gotten Brett Favre out of their
system. They won both games against him but the division title already belongs
to the Chicago Bears with their 10-4 record. The Packers once again are
hurting themselves with close losses: all six have been all by four points or
less. They can get still get into the playoffs with must wins in
their last two games against the Giants and Chicago in Lambeau Field. Packers
Offense.
Aaron Rodgers suffered his second
concussion of this season in the game against Detroit. He was running with the
ball in the second quarter and took a hard shot when he failed to slide on an
18 yard run. Rodgers continued to play and was sacked, finished the series and
didn't return. Green Bay lost that game and then the next one without him last
week. Rodgers had thrown for 11 touchdowns
and no interceptions in the four games prior to that and is also the second leading
rusher (309 yards) on the team to Brandon Jackson (645 yards) who replaced starter
Ryan Grant (out on IR after Week 1). Rodgers leads the Packers with four rushing
touchdowns. The running game is not at its best this year, ranked 24th.
The
Packers strength is their 8th ranked passing. Receivers include 12-year veteran
Donald Driver who has caught 70 or more passes in the last six seasons. Driver
is a little low with 43 this season and his yards after the catch has been slipping.
Greg Jennings leads the team with 65 catches for 1,026 yards and 12 touchdowns.
James Jones has 45 catches averaging just over 14 yards per, and Jordy Nelson
can hurt you with his catches. He has 21 first downs on 39 of them. Packers
Defense.
They have allowed only 220 points,
which has them up there with Pittsburgh for the fewest in the NFL. They are ranked
3rd against the pass and linebacker Clay Matthews leads the NFC with 12 1/2 sacks.
The only game the defense failed to register a sack in was the one he missed against
Miami, and they lost that game. He is playing hurt, and in the first eight games,
he had 10.5 of those sacks, and in the the last six, he has just two. Frank Zombo
was out last week with a knee injury after starting the previous six games at
right outside linebacker and he may miss this game.
Defensive
player of the year, cornerback Charles Woodson, is a six-time Pro Bowler and leads
the team with four forced fumbles. Tramon Williams leads the team with 5 interceptions.
Two-time Pro Bowl free safety Nick Collins
has 13 interceptions in the last two years, but just 2 now, was knocked out of
the Patriots game with a rib injury but should play. Safety Atari Bigby played
a nice game against the Giants the last time they met, but has been hit with injuries.
He was back filling in for Collins after he left hurt. Giants
Offense.
Last week this offense put up
31 points and then couldn't bring it on their final two drives. They still had
a seven point lead with about five and a half minutes remaining, got to the Eagles
38-yard, lost ground and punted. Next time, the score was tied with 1:16 left
and the Eagles had no timeouts left. Eli Manning was three and out on two incompletes
and one sack. They failed to run the clock out and that put the special teams
unit back on the field for the Eagles 65 yard game winning touchdown on the punt
return that did use up the last 14 seconds.
Looking ahead, the passing game
has been effective for Manning and he finished with 289 yards passing and 4 touchdowns
(1 INT) and a 105.6 QB rating, but the Packers defense has limited quarterbacks
to a passer rating of just 70.3 and they lead the league in that area. They have
picked up 18 interceptions and Manning leads the league in throwing them. Mario
Manningham had a strong game last week and they'll be watching him and Hakeem
Nicks.
Last week the running game took a step backwards at a time when the
Giants needed it most. Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs yardage fell to about
two thirds of what they normally produce and that's been consistent with their
other losses as well. They need to keep pressure off Manning by doing what they
do best on the ground. Giants
Defense.
The Giants know that the Packers
don't have an effective running game and that Aaron Rodgers tends to take off.
That could be dangerous for him against this hard hitting defense. He's just coming
back after his second concussion and the Giants have knocked six quarterbacks
out of games this season. They'll be looking to key in on Green Bay's first-round
draft choice Bryan Bulaga who took over at right tackle when starter Mark Tauscher
went on IR in November. Last week Bulaga allowed his quarterback, Matt Flynn,
to be sacked for an 8-yard loss with 53 seconds left.
His guy also sacked
Flynn on the final play of the game, partly because of a quarterback scramble
by Flynn. Justin Tuck with 67 tackles and 10 sacks and Osi Umenyiora with 42 tackles,
and 10 sacks have been combining with rookie Jason Pierre-Paul with 26 tackles,
and 4.5 sacks to give opposing offenses fits. Cornerbacks Terrell Thomas with
84 tackles and 5 interceptions and Corey Webster with 47 tackles and 4 interceptions
have done an excellent job in the secondary. Best
to worst.
The best
record is held by the 12-2 Patriots in the AFC and the 12-2 Falcons in the NFC.
The Carolina Panthers won a game last Sunday against Arizona, but lost on Thursday
and they still have the worst record in the NFL, 2-13. Only one games remain to
be played by them and all the other teams in the NFC have at least 4 wins. In
the AFC, Denver and Cincinnati have 3-11 records. NFC
East.
The NFC East games are spread over the weekend. The Cowboys (5-9)
play in Arizona (4-10) on Saturday at 7:30pm. The Redskins (5-9) travel to play
the Jaguars (8-6) at 1pm, followed by the Giants playing in Green Bay at 4:15pm.
Later Sunday night at 8:20, the Vikings (5-9) will take on the Eagles in Philadelphia
(10-4). If the Giants win, they're in, but the Packers are favored to win this
game. The Cowboys and Eagles are favored to win their games and the Redskins are
not. 
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Notes.
Giants Eli Manning has been sacked just 15 times and is tied with Peyton Manning
for fewest in the NFL. Giants Eli Manning
has thrown a league-high 20 interceptions. Giants
have played only 2 regular season games at Lambeau Field in the past 25 years. Giants
Tom Coughlin was a WR coach in Green Bay for two seasons (1986-87). Giants
are ranked 2nd in the league with 42 sacks. They are 1st in the NFC. Packers
are ranked 2nd in the NFC in sacks with 40. Packers
defensive coordinator Dom Capers was Tom Coughlin’s Jaguars defensive coordinator
in 1999-2000. Packers Aaron Rodgers hadn't
missed a game since taking over as starting quarterback in 2008 until last week. Packers
are 5-1 at home with three games remaining at Lambeau Field. Packers
have won 9 of their last 10 regular-season games at Lambeau Field.
Next
Game
Jan 2 - Giants at Washington
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