NFC Wild Card Preview: New York Giants @ Green Bay Packers

By Joanne Kong

Twitter: @kongfu4u  AFC West Week 16

NFC Wild Card Game

No. 5 New York Giants (11-5) @ No. 4 Green Bay Packers (10-6)

Sunday, January 8th @ 4:40pm (ET) on Fox

Over/Under: 44.5

Green Bay Packers favored by 4.5

The Green Bay Packers, the Chicago Bears, the New York Football Giants and the Arizona Cardinals are the four oldest franchises in the league.  And no two teams have faced off more times in the playoffs than the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants.

The Packers have been on a hot streak winning their final six games, while the New York Giants have won 4 out of their last six games.  Can the New York Giants find some love in Lambeau on Saturday?

  • Eli Manning vs. Aaron Rodgers

Both are Super Bowl MVP quarterbacks.  But, only one can win this wild card playoff.

Eli Manning has 16 interceptions this season, tied for the 4th most interceptions with Brock “The Bust” Osweiler (Houston Texans) and Blake Bortles (Jacksonville Jaguars).  He’s thrown for 4027 yards and 26 touchdowns.  Interestingly, in the post season, Manning has as many post-season wins at Lambeau Field as Aaron Rodgers.  In fact, the last two times the Giants won the Super Bowl, they had to go through Lambeau, so this won’t be an unfamiliar situation for Eli.

After a slow start to the season, Aaron Rodgers is running HOT, finishing the regular season with 4428 passing yards, 40 touchdowns (the most touchdowns in the league) and 7 interceptions.  And in his last six games, Rodgers has thrown no interceptions, 15 touchdowns and has a QBR 121.

  • Turnovers

The Giants have turned over the ball 27 times this season.  The most in the league.

They will need to hold onto the ball if they want a chance of winning against a defense whose managed 13 turnovers in their last 4 games.

  • The RUN-game.

The Giants have improved their run offense in the second half of the season thanks to a couple of break-out games from Rashad Jennings and Paul Perkins.

In the first half of the season, the Giants averaged 68.3 yards per game.  While in the latter half, they’ve averaged 108.3 yards per game.  In week 17, Paul Perkins rushed for 102 yards in their win against the Washington Redskins, dashing their hopes for the post-season.

The Green Bay Packers have the 8th ranked defense against the run, allowing only 94.7 yards per game.  So, it might not be easy, but with the cold Lambeau weather, running the ball will be a necessity to move the ball.

According to Football Outsiders, the Packers have the 4th best weighted offense and the 5th best rush offense based on offensive efficiency.  Ty Montgomery tried to fill the hole left by starter Eddie Lacy, but only managed 457 rush yards and 3 touchdowns.  Luckily, no one has been more successful this season for the Packers run game than Aaron Rodgers with 369 and 4 rushing touchdowns.

The Giants hopefully remember…Rodgers can run.

  • The Secondary

Before the Green Bay Packers saw three of their cornerbacks get injured in week 17 – Quinten Rollins (neck injury), Damarious Randall (knee) and rookie Makinton Dorleant (knee) – the defense was responsible for 13 turnovers in the last 4 weeks.  However, a worn down secondary, with only one healthy cornerback, Ladarius Gunter, might find it difficult to stop wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr., whose caught 101 passes, has 1367 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns, and rookie Sterling Shepherd whose had 683 yards and 8 touchdowns.  Hopefully, though, they recovered from they’re Miami trip…

The Packers are 31st against the pass, allowing 269.3 yards per game and 22nd overall defense in yards allowed, 363.9 yards per game.

The Giants are the only team this season with two cornerbacks, Janoris Jenkins and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, with 10 or more pass break-ups.  When the Giants faced the Packers during the regular season, Giants cornerback, Janoris Jenkins, had 2 interceptions and defended 3 passes, as the Giants won 23-16.  The Giants have 17 interceptions (6th in the league), 17 forced fumbles (16th in the league) and 3 defensive touchdowns.  He’s looking for another great game, let’s hope he gets it (not that I’m taking sides, I just love great [Giants] defensive coverage, a.k.a. the self-proclaimed “NYPD” – New York Pass Defense).  The Packers, though, weren’t impressed.

Plus, they got these guys on defense:

  • Ben McAdoo spent 8 years on the Packers.

Before joining Tom Coughlin’s staff as offensive coordinator in 2014, Ben McAdoo was the tight ends coach for the Packers (2006-2011) and quarterback coach for Aaron Rodgers (2012-2013).  Putting pressure on Rodgers will be important for the Giants defense, and McAdoo’s  knowledge of the Packers might come in handy in a close game.

  • Giants-Magic

Yeah, it’s a thing.  We’ve all witnessed it this season.  The Giants are down at the half.  We’re certain the Giants are going to lose and “bibbidy boppidy boo” the Giants win.  It’s light a light went on in a dark room and they realized their losing and the team kicks into high gear.  It can’t be explained, and I still don’t know whether they’re a great team this year, but they’ve won 11 games, which in most divisions would have gotten them 1st, but in the NFC North gets you 2nd.

What can we expect to in Wild Card weekend?

  • Odell Beckham Jr. has a touchdown.
  • Aaron Rodgers has a interception.

The New York Giants win.

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