{"id":2693,"date":"2017-01-08T09:51:56","date_gmt":"2017-01-08T14:51:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=2693"},"modified":"2017-01-08T09:51:56","modified_gmt":"2017-01-08T14:51:56","slug":"wildcard-weekend-nfc-sunday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/?p=2693","title":{"rendered":"WILDCARD WEEKEND – NFC (SUNDAY)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

New York @ Green Bay (-5.5), Sunday, 4:40 pm<\/strong><\/p>\n

Wildcard Weekend ends with the game everyone will be watching.\u00a0 Both teams enter the playoffs on the rise.\u00a0 The Giants haven\u2019t been in the playoffs in 4 years, and their defense is poised again to make another run.\u00a0 Oh yeah, and this guy.<\/p>\n

\"Money!\"<\/a>

Money!<\/p><\/div>\n

Ok one more:<\/p>\n

\"You<\/a>

You know he caught that, right?<\/p><\/div>\n

If there\u2019s any team hotter than the Giants, it\u2019s the Packers.\u00a0 At 4-6, the Pack were left for dead and everyone was wondering is this the end of Aaron Rodgers, and when will Mike McCarthy get fired.\u00a0 Perhaps folks got a bit ahead of themselves, as Green Bay won their final 6 games and clinched the NFC North and a home playoff game.\u00a0 And Aaron Rodgers threw 40 tds and he and Jordy Nelson are still a lethal 1-2 combo.\u00a0 Once again, the discount double-check is cool.<\/p>\n

\"Wait,<\/a>

Wait, that’s not the discount double-check.<\/p><\/div>\n

This game is going to be close.\u00a0 You\u2019ll hear a lot of the \u201cexperts\u201d talk about how neither team runs the ball well, but that\u2019s a bit misleading.\u00a0 Sure, no one on the Giants or Packers ran for more than 600 yards this season, but the running game for both teams has improved as of late.\u00a0 Last week, the Packers ran for 153 yards.\u00a0 The Giants ran for 161 yards.\u00a0 Establishing a running game will be important, as controlling the clock will be key.\u00a0 In that department, we give the edge to the Giants.\u00a0 Look out for Paul Perkins, the Giants rookie (5th<\/sup> round) draft pick out of UCLA.\u00a0 He could be the difference maker.\u00a0 For Green Bay, converted WR Ty Montgomery has stepped up huge in Eddie Lacy\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n

These teams played each other this year (at Green Bay) in Week 5, which seems like ages ago.\u00a0 The Packers won 23-16, but the game wasn\u2019t even that close.\u00a0 Green Bay dominated, running for 147 yards, and Rodgers threw 2 touchdowns. \u00a0But throw that out the window.\u00a0 We\u2019re talking playoffs.<\/p>\n

And while we\u2019re talking playoffs, the edge goes to the Giants.\u00a0 In each of their last two Super Bowls, the Giants won on the road in Green Bay.\u00a0 Who could forget those cheeks?<\/p>\n

\"Ain't<\/a>

That’s not normal.<\/p><\/div>\n

So who wins?\u00a0 Well, we\u2019ve talk about some of the difference makers\u2026Rodgers, Odell, Jordy, but there\u2019s one guy we didn\u2019t mention yet [cue: Superman music]<\/p>\n

\"eli-manning-playoffs\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s right.\u00a0 Playoff Eli.\u00a0 He will be the difference maker.\u00a0 The stage is perfectly set for him.\u00a0 Eli\u2019s had a so-so year, which has led many to questions whether he still has it (or ever had it), and that his role is changing to that of a game manager<\/a>.\u00a0 [sidenote: does any two time Superbowl MVP get more shade than Eli?]\u00a0 But if Eli loves one thing, it\u2019s proving people wrong, and the playoffs is where he\u2019s done that.\u00a0 Over his last 9 playoff games, here\u2019s Eli\u2019s stats:\u00a0 15 tds, 4 ints, 8-1 with 2 Superbowls.\u00a0 Oh yeah, and the Giants were after thoughts in both the \u201907 and \u201911 Superbowl runs.\u00a0 We pray, hope, stay up at night wondering whether it will ever happen again<\/span>, think that Eli\u2019s got some gas left in the tank, and he and his dad bod are ready for another run to glory.<\/p>\n

Final Score:\u00a0 Giants 24, Green Bay 20<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Who<\/a>

Who wants to build sandcastles? We can use my Superbowl rings as shovels.<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New York @ Green Bay (-5.5), Sunday, 4:40 pm Wildcard Weekend ends with the game everyone will be watching.\u00a0 Both teams enter the playoffs on the rise.\u00a0 The Giants haven\u2019t been in the playoffs in 4 years, and their defense … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2Bp3y-Hr","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2693"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2702,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2693\/revisions\/2702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bigredsportsmachine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}