The Giants and the cold were just too much for the Packers today in Lambeau, and the Packers season is over after falling 23-20 to the Giants.

Besides the score, this game was about the opposite of what I was expecting. I expected the Packers to out punch the Giants, but it was the Giants who would not and did not give up, and the Packers who looked tired and cold at the end of the game. I give the Giants a lot of credit, I thought they would be beaten and tired by the time they got to Green Bay, but they never gave up, and seemed to have more fight in them than the Packers.

It was a good run for the Packers, and they unfortunately finish one game shy of the Super Bowl.

The New York Giants come the Lambeau this Sunday to face the Green Bay Packers in order to win a berth to the Super Bowl. The game time is 5:30 and the forecast is cold, cold, cold.

The Packers are the obvious favorites in this game. They are coming off a huge win against the Seahawks, they are in Lambeau, and they are healthy. One of the hidden gems of the Seahawks game was that the Packers did not have any injures, and the game was basically over at the half (28-17).

The Giants are coming off a big upset as well, but they are very banged up, and I believe are probably drained emotionally. They played a very tough, physical game against the Patriots in the season ender, then another physical game against Tampa Bay in the first round of the playoffs. The game against Dallas was a fight as well, with the Giants defense basically willing a victory out in the second half.

There are only two things that concern me in this game, the weather and the Giants running game.

Everyone knows what happened at Soldier Field in the 13th week. The Packers got beat bad, and worse, they looked scared and miserable. The game against the Seahawks was snowy, but not miserable, or even cold, it was slippery at worst. However I don't expect a repeat of Soldier Field, I attribute a lot of that to the Packers being in coast mode,and the Bears playing up to them.

The other thing that worries me about this game is the Giants running game. Brandon Jacobs is huge, he is listed as 6-4, 264. The Packers had trouble with Marion Barber and Stephen Jackson earlier in the season, and they are big running backs well. The Packers were able to bottle up Shaun Alexander last week, but he is not nearly as big, and he is more of a finesse runner; Jacobs is more of a plow ahead style runner. I think the Packers can stop the Giants rush because they are comparatively healthy on the D-Line, but I think it will be one of the keys to the game.

For the Giants to win this one, it would be a huge upset for them, and a huge letdown for the Packers. The Packers still have a hard time getting respect, and if they make it to the Super Bowl a lot of people will say they backed into it. But it is important to remember, that of the 3 teams left in the playoffs the Packers could have played, they beat two of them already, the Giants and the Chargers.

People will also say the Giants and Chargers are different teams now than they were. That is true, but so are the Packers. They Packers are really coming together, and at the right time.

Packers vs Giants prediction: 34-20 Packers. The Pack is going to the Super Bowl for a rematch against the Patriots, and its going to be sweet.

The Giants upset the Cowboys today 21-17 to advance to the NFC Championship game next Sunday. On Sunday, January 20th they will come to Lambeau to face the Packers.

In my last post I said I would root for the Cowboys just so the Packers could finally beat them there, but during the game I couldn't help but root for the Giants, I just dislike the Cowboys that much. (Probably because the always beat the Packers.) If the Cowboys had beat the Giants, I am still confident the Packers could have beat them, the Cowboys did not look that sharp today.

The Giants are a good team, but right now I do not think they are as good of a team as the Packers are, and I fully expect Green Bay to face the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

The Giants vs Cowboys game was a great game, and a great finish to a fun weekend of playoff football.

Yesterday the Green Bay Packers beat the Seattle Seahawks in Leambeau with a final score of 42-20, sending them to the NFC Championship.

The game the Packers played was simply amazing. They came out and fell flat on their faces, turning the ball over twice on their first two possessions, basically digging themselves into a 0-14 hole.

But AFTER they spotted the Seahawks 14 points, they played some of the best football I have seen in a long time. After the horrible start, they went 42-6 in the second round of the playoffs. Their defense gave up only 6 points to the third best team in the NFC. They scored 42 points on a team that was ranked 7th in the NFL in points allowed. This Seattle front four that looked so strong and fast a week ago got manhandled by the Packers line, and bullied by Ryan Grant. And that was in a blizzard!

After the Packers went down by 14, and that snow started falling, I am sure every Packer fan was nervous. 14 points is a lot to make up, but it is a ton to make up in the snow, and echoes of a Soldier field fiasco started drifting, I'm sure, into the heads of a lot of the Favre faithful. But the Packers did what they have done mostly all season, they kept coming.

I give Favre a lot of credit for not trying to get all the 14 points back at once, for sticking with the game plan, and for not turning the ball over. Coach McCarthy gets a lot of credit for most of the same reasons, and for keeping Grant in the game and feeding him the ball, and I give the defense a ton of credit for buckling down and holding the Seahawks to 6 points after that start.

After the two turnovers, the Packers played almost perfect football. I can recall only two mistakes, the running into the kicker penalty and Koren Robinson missing a block on the outside, only two real mistakes after the initial sloppy start. It is not like the Seahawks stopped playing, or came out flat, the Packers just turned it up a notch. The coverage on the Seahawks defenders was incredibly tight, with multiple passes defended that would have been caught. The Packers tackling was stellar, the few times the Seahawks did catch the ball, they were dropped on the spot (Or they dropped the ball). Oh, and did I mention the offense put up a Packers playoff record 42 points? In a blizzard?

Give me the team that showed up yesterday, and I will put them against any team in the NFL, Dallas, New England, The Colts, anyone. In fact, today I am a Dallas fan. I hope Dallas wins, so the Packers can get the rematch.

We are going to go to Dallas, and we are going to score.

EDIT I had the 5th paragraph reading Coach "Sherman". That obviously should have been Coach "McCarthy" Thanks to my Dad for pointing that out. ^^

The injury report for the Packers and Seahawks game this Saturday is out, and for the Packers it looks pretty good.

The best news was that Will Blackmon had limited participation. Will's status has been a question mark since the Lions game, but it looks like he is on the upswing. Expect the Seahawks to pass a lot, and Will should help in the nickel or dime. I want to say he has been returning punts, and doing a pretty good job of it before his injury, so that will be a bonus if he comes back.

Woodson did not practice, but he rarely does and everyone else had at least limited participation.

I expect everyone on the Packers to play except those on IR, the big three being Jolly, Williams, and Costin.

The Seahawks look a little more banged up, with 4 players DNP (Did not practice) including Patrick Kerney, their stud defensive end. I don't know how serious his injury is, but defensive ends usually play no matter what, unless they have a leg that is broken in two.

Rocky Bernard (DT), Walter Jones (OT), and Niko Koutouvides (LB) round out the Seahawks DNP. I do not think any of those 3 are starters, we will have to see if those injuries have any effect on the game.

Switch to the Cowboys for a second, and Terrell Owens still did not participate in practice on Wednesday the 9th. His team expects him to play, as do I, but it is something to watch.

I just added a forum for Packers Pundit. Follow the link to the Packers Forum.

The link currently opens in a new window until I get a link back to the main page.

There are a few other things I would like to add to this site, this is just the first step. Please stop by and introduce yourself!

The question, "Who will the Packers face in the second round of the playoffs" has been answered: Green Bay's first playoff game will be against Seattle on Saturday January 12th. Game time is 3:30 and the early weather report, well, the early weather report doesn't really matter, it's too early.

The Seahawks played a solid game against the Redskins, and it was a closer game than the 35-14 final indicated. The Redskins were up by 1 with 11:30 to play, and would have gone up by 4 if the Redskins kicker Suisham could have made a 30 yard field goal. To the Seahawks credit, they bounced back, scored the go ahead touchdown, and forced the Redskins to play catchup, a game the Redskins were not very good at.

The thing that stuck in my mind from this game was that this Seahawks team is almost a mirror image of its old self. The Seahawks offense did not seem that potent, they only scored 13 points against the Redskins until pretty deep into the fourth quarter. The Seahawks rushing game seemed especially weak. I know the Redskins have (had?) a very good rush defense, but the Seahawks couldn't get the ground game started, rushing for only 77 yards as a team.

On the other hand, the Seahawks defense is a lot better than I remember. The defensive line totally dominated the Redskins O line, at least on rushing attempts. The Seahawks defense looks very fast, and very strong.

I think the Packers match up very will against the Seahawks. The Seahawks can shut down the run, but Green Bay has shown they can win in the air, with no ground game. The Packers front four can stop the Seahawks ground game, and again, the Packers have shown they can shut down one dimensional passing teams (think the first Detroit game, San Diego game, and Giants game)

I think in general the Packers are a better team, and they match up very well against the Seahawks, so they will get the win.

Of course if Green Bay makes a lot of mistakes, they will not be able to overcome them. I will be very interested to see how McCarthy treats Favre in the opening of the game. I would expect a lot of short passes to start so Brett can get in a rhythm.

Prediction: Packers win 28 - 17

Footnote: In the Seahawks - Redskins game the Redskins kicked off, recovered their own kickoff, and ran it into the endzone, but the ruling on the field was you cannot advance a kickoff recovery. This did not seem right to me or anyone I was watching the game with, but the refs did make the right call. According to the NFL kickoff rules "Kicking team may recover but NOT advance UNLESS receiver had possession and lost the ball."

UPDATE: I installed a Packers forum recently. Please feel free to use the comments, but you can also comment or post in the forum.

Seattle beat the Redskins today, and will travel to Lambeau Field next Saturday to take on the Green Bay Packers, January 12 at 3:30.

The score was 35-14 Seattle.

In announcing very bad news, the Packers today placed O-lineman Junius Coston on IR, meaning he will not be available for the playoffs. Junius Coston injured his calf against the Lions in the Packers last game of the regular season. The Packers brought up tackle Orrin Thompson from the practice squad to replace the injured Coston.

The Packers O-line is already banged up, and while I don't believe Junius Coston was meant to be a starter, he did start 7 games this year.

Counting Colin Cole and Johnny Jolly, this is the 3rd lineman to be placed on IR this year. Not only that, two backup offensive linemen, Tony Palmer and Tyson Walter are already on IR, stretching the offensive line pretty thin.

Hopefully the rest of the line can get 100% healthy in time for the playoffs.