The NFC Championship game between the Green Bay Packers and New York Giants will be played in the frigid weather of Wisconsin winter. It will be a game decided upfront but the Packers have a tremendous speed advantage in the skill positions and that will make them hard to beat.
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The Giants will have to dominate the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball in order to have any chance of beating the Pack. Their defensive line led by Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora must have a big day of putting pressure on Brett Favre after stopping the Packers running game. The depleted defensive backfield will have trouble stopping the speedy wide receivers of Green Bay.
Green Bay will try to establish their running game by handing the ball off to Ryan Grant. If they are successful the game will be a rout. If they aren't able to run the ball effectively then Brett Favre will take over and attack the Giants secondary. New York will be without cornerback Sam Madison and a number of their safeties. Starting cornerback Aaron Ross will play but I don't know how long he can survive coming off a separated shoulder against Dallas. Cornerback Corey Webster did a good job against the Cowboys but his work will be cut out for him again against Donald Driver and Greg Jennings of the Pack. Green Bay has a big advantage here. I think Green Bay will have some success on the ground and that will allow Favre to take advantage of the depleted Giants secondary.
When the Giants have the ball they'll have Eli Manning handing the ball off to Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. They must control the game and run the ball down the Packers throat. They can't put too much weight on Manning or he's going to throw some interceptions. The Packers have speed throughout their defense. The linebackers can run. Middle linebacker Nick Barnett, and outside linebackers A.J. Hawk and Brady Pappinga have good pass coverage skills. You add them to the secondary of All-Pro cornerbacks Al Harris, Charles Woodson, safeties Atari Bigby and Nick Collins and you have problems for the Giants. Harris and Woodson have good size which will take away the size advantage which Amani Toomer and Plaxico Burress enjoy against most cornerbacks. Eli Manning will throwing the ball into some very tight spaces. The pass rush of the Packers led by Aaron Kampman and KGB will make things that much tougher for Manning. This is not a good matchup for New York.
All the talk will be about Brett Favre but the Packers are a very talented group on both sides of the ball. Their speed advantage on both sides of the ball will make a big difference in the game.
Both teams have good special teams units so that will be a wash.
I like the Packers 27-13.
