Defying many expectations, the Giants used an opportunistic offense and a solid defense to upset the 15-1 Packers 37-20 and advance to the NFC Championship game.
After the teams exchanged field goals on their opening possessions, New York put the ball in the endzone when Hakeem Nicks outraced the Green Bay secondary for a 66-yard touchdown. Green Bay came right back with a touchdown of their own to tie things up at 10-10. Both teams committed turnovers on their next possessions, but the Giants got some points off of theirs; a 23-yard field goal to make it 13-10 New York with just under two minutes remaining in the first half.
And that's when the Giants made two huge plays. The defense forced Green Bay to punt and the offense came on the field at their own 31 with 48 seconds left in the half. The Giants subsequently faced a 3rd-and-1 from their 40 with 15 seconds left on the clock and no timeouts. They elected to give the ball to Ahmad Bradshaw and Bradshaw took it to the Green Bay 37 and more importantly, got out of bounds. That setup a Hail Mary that worked as Eli found Nicks in the endzone for a touchdown and a 20-10 lead at the half.
New York survived an ugly third quarter as their offense ran only six plays, but their defense only allowed a field goal to make it 20-13 heading into the fourth quarter. Michael Boley provided the first big play of that quarter as he sacked Aaron Rodgers on a 4th down attempt to get the ball back for New York. Eli drove them down the field, converting twice on third down and New York kicked a field goal for a 23-10 lead.
The defense took it from there as Kenny Phillips forced a fumble and Chase Blackburn picked it up and rumbled to the Green Bay 2. Eli connected with Mario Manningham to put New York up by 20. Green Bay scored a touchdown with just under five minutes remaining, but New York recovered the onside kick and scored a touchdown when Brandon Jacobs took it in from 14-yards out. The defense forced one last turnover and the Giants are headed to San Francisco for the NFC Championship game next Sunday at 6:30.
The Rangers were destroyed by an inferior team, losing to Montreal 4-1. Peter Budjai kept New York off the board while the Canadiens scored three times in the second period to ice the game.
