Keys to winning the NFC Championship: New York Giants

Ahhh, how the media can be so wishy-washy. They have for so long crucified Eli Manning ever since he pouted about being drafted by the San Diego Chargers, and over the years basically laughed at him when he couldn't win games for the Giants. And now, suddenly he's the media darling after the Giants are one of the final four standing and face the Green Bay Packers in this weekend's NFC Championship.

Traveling to Green Bay isn't easy. Even the flight routes to get there are murderous. And being in Lambeau field, it takes a special performance from a team that isn't supposed to be there. To ask a team to win a third road game in a row may be asking too much from the Giants, but there is a chance that they could do it. How?

For one, they need to blitz, blitz, blitz, and blitz some more. They have to get into the backfield every play to disrupt the rhythm that Brett Favre is so great at establishing for his team. Likewise, they need strong performances from their middle linebacking corps to stop Ryan Grant. Now, I speak to these two offensive phenoms in terms of saying "stop", but we all know that at this point that's not possible. Perhaps using the phrase "contain" is better.

By containing them, the offense will have more chances to play their own game. I believe that the Giants have nothing to lose in this game and should play that way, taking some chances offensively by stretching the Pack's secondary and rely upon mixing the play calling up to keep the defense off-balance. Manning is the X factor in this game; if he can keep up with "old man" Favre and the defense can withstand the barrage that the Packers will try to throw at them (literally), the Giants can certainly pull the upset.

This reminds me of the movie "300", where the Spartans are all around in their close stances. If they can hold, they can defeat the team that is supposed to run them over.

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Keys to winning the NFC Championship: New York Giants

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