AFC/NFC Championship Game Predictions
Saturday, January 19th, 2008
Championship weekend has arrived, and let all football purists rejoice! Both games will be played as they should be in January; outside in the freezing cold. Unfortunately, there won’t be any snow in either New England or Green Bay, but we would have seen some white stuff if the Carolina Panthers were hosting the NFC title game (Put that in your Global Warming pipe and smoke it, Al!).
In addition, both match-ups have historical significance as well. The Giants and Packers are two of the most storied teams in NFL history, and both franchises have combined for 18 championship titles/Super Bowl victories since 1927.
Ah, but did you know that the Patriots and Chargers are two original members of the old AFL league? And that the Chargers destroyed the Patriots 51-10 in the 1963 title game? Revenge game, baby!!
Let’s take a closer look at both contests, starting with the NFC:
Giants at Packers
First, let me join a long and not-so-distinguished line of sports bloggers & writers who owe the New York Giants a big fat apology. I completely wrote them off at the start of the season & predicted they’d finish 6-10. Whoops. And how about that Eli Manning kid, huh? Talk about clutch…good to see he stopped learning from big bro.
(yes that was a completely unwarranted cheap shot on Peyton. Expect roughly 58 more before kickoff ‘08…)
Anyways, this should be a great game. Both teams have an excellent running game (assuming Ryan Grant has fully recovered from his early case of fumble-itis early last week), and a swarming front seven that can get to the quarterback. Both quarterbacks have been playing mistake-free football, and both kickers are hitting over 80% of their field goals.
But there seems to be one area where Green Bay has a decidedly huge advantage, and that’s with their wide receivers. A great deal of Brett Favre’s resurgence this year needs to be credited to Donald Driver, Greg Jennings, James Jones, and Donald Lee, who combined for 3,219 receiving yards and 22 touchdowns.
Add this to the fact that Giants cornerbacks Sam Madison and Aaron Ross are hobbled with injuries, and it should be a big game for the Packers passing game. Manning, Jacobs, and Burress should keep it close, but the Packers defense has the advantage in healthy playmakers, and that should be the difference.
Prediction: Packers 27 - Giants 17
