Hakeem Nicks caught two first-half touchdowns against Green Bay's embattled secondary (Tommy Gilligan/Creative Commons)

The New York Giants stunned the Green Bay Packers at Lambeau Field, 37-20, to advance to next week's NFC Championship game against the San Francisco 49ers. In the teams' first meeting, the Packers prevailed 38-35, but on Sunday, Packers' miscues and the Giants' explosive aerial assault combined to give the Giants the postseason victory. Here's how the game unfolded: 

The Game Was Over When: 

Kenny Phillips forced a Ryan Grant fumble with just under seven minutes remaining. At the time, Green Bay was down 23-13, but still had a chance of defeating New York until Grant turned the ball over. The Giants’ Chase Blackburn subsequently returned the fumble to the Packers’ 4-yard line. On the ensuing play, as if there was any doubt, Eli Manning slammed the door shut on any potential Packers’ comeback by finding Mario Manningham in the end zone for a four-yard touchdown pass. 

Most Valuable Player: 

Hakeem Nicks – Nicks’ 24th birthday was yesterday, but he finally got to truly celebrate the occasion tonight. In his last game against the Packers in Week 13, the third-year receiver caught seven passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns. In Sunday’s game against the Packers, Nicks improved upon those numbers in the first half alone. Through one half of play, the former North Carolina Tar Heel made five catches for 152 yards and two touchdowns. Nicks’ first half effort enabled Manning to throw for a whopping 274 yards by halftime. Nicks and Manning were well-defended by the Packers in the second half, but the young receiver’s dazzling touchdown catch to end the first half was undoubtedly the play of the game.

Honorable Mentions:

Eli Manning - The less famous Manning played superb football yet again. The main knock on the quarterback has been his propensity to turn the ball over, but on Sunday, Manning was careful with the ball. He did throw one interception, but did not fumble and on a few occasions, wisely threw the ball out of play rather risk a costly interception. On the day, Manning completed 63.6 percent of his passes for 330 yards and three touchdowns. He has now thrown six touchdowns and one interception in the first two rounds of this year’s playoffs, for an average of 303.5 passing yards per game. 

Michael Boley – After recording just one sack in the regular season, the outside linebacker sacked Rodgers twice and recorded a total of seven tackles in the game. Both of Boley’s sacks were critical plays. His first sack came in the final minute of the first half and forced the Packers to punt. It’s impossible to determine whether or not the Packers would have converted the third-down opportunity had Boley not made the sack, but it is entirely possible that the sack indirectly resulted in a 14-point switch, as the Giants ultimately scored a touchdown in that final minute of the first half. Boley’s second sack was arguably just as huge (if not, bigger), as it came on a fourth and 5 play with the Packers on the Giants’ 39-yard line and down by a single touchdown, 20-13.    

Both Teams Air It Out:

Not a single running back was given more than 12 carries, as Manning and Rodgers combined to attempt an astronomical 79 passes.

Early Controversy:

Near the end of the first quarter, Greg Jennings was ruled to be “down by contact.” Giants Coach Tom Coughlin wisely challenged the play, but it was not overturned. Although NFL plays can be tough to call, according to the various angles that were shown on TV, the referees made the wrong call. The ball was clearly coming loose from Jennings’ hands, before either of his knees was down. In addition, neither his behind nor his elbow was down. Instead of the Giants getting the ball with a chance to build on their 10-3 lead, the Packers retained possession and ultimately drove down the field to tie the game at 10. Fortunately for the Giants, the missed call did not ultimately affect the outcome of the game. 

Giants Close Opening Half Strongly:

The Packers were only down 13-10 with Rodgers facing a seemingly manageable third and 6 at their 38-yard line. The Giants finally got to Rodgers for their first sack of the game, as linebacker Boley easily overpowered James Starks. Wisely using its last timeout to stop the clock, New York was able to get the ball back for a final chance to add points before halftime. With 15 seconds left and no timeouts remaining, Ahmad Bradshaw was handed the ball. Since the Giants were out of timeouts, it was a risky move, but Bradshaw was able to get out of bounds with six seconds remaining. Finally, Coach Coughlin made another bold call, one that would again pay off for the Giants. Rather than send Lawrence Tynes out to attempt a 54-yard field goal, Coughlin asked Manning to heave a pass into the end zone. Nicks’ perfectly timed jump and catch gave the Giants a crucial 20-10 lead. The events of this final minute of the first half cannot be underestimated.    

Packers Fumble Their Way to Defeat:

The Packers lost three fumbles and would have lost a fourth had the officials made the correct call on the aforementioned Jennings play. Ironically, the Packers were +24 in the turnover margin this season (they forced 24 more turnovers than they committed), compared to -2 tonight. In addition, Green Bay had only lost six fumbles all season, yet it lost three against the Giants on Sunday. Rodgers’ lost fumble was his first in more than a year, with his last fumble dating back to last postseason’s Wild Card win over the Eagles. Fullback John Kuhn’s lost fumble was his first lost fumble of his six-year career. Although dropped passes are not fumbles in a technical sense, as long as we’re talking about “butter fingers,” the Packers dropped eight passes. Their season-high had been four.  

Aaron Rodgers’ Career Year Comes to An End: 

Rodgers definitely did not have a bad performance on Sunday night although it was slightly subpar by his remarkably high standards. Rodgers’ receivers did him few favors tonight, as he was plagued by critical dropped passes on third-down plays throughout the game, but especially in the first half. Rodgers did lose a fumble at the beginning of the third quarter when the Packers were in field goal range. He also threw an interception when the game was essentially over. Besides those two turnovers, he was fairly accurate throughout the game and would have completed two-thirds of his passes if his targets dropped four passes instead of eight. In fact, four dropped passes was the team’s season high coming into the game, according to ESPN. 

The former Golden Bears quarterback turned in a remarkable season, as he led his team in pursuit of a second consecutive Super Bowl victory. He threw 45 touchdown passes and just six interceptions. By comparison, Tom Brady, who also had a tremendous year, threw 12 interceptions; Drew Brees threw 14 picks. Rodgers completed more than 68 percent of his passes and posted a season QB Rating of 122.5. He deserves to win Offensive MVP. With that said, Rodgers and his team will not be satisfied. As the Packers said all season, anything short of another title would be a disappointment.  

Giants Advance to Face 49ers:

In a rematch of the team's Week 10 meeting, the Giants will once against travel to San Francisco to take on the NFC's best defense. On November 13, the 49ers defeated the Giants 27-20. Whoever wins the rematch is going to the Super Bowl.

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