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The NY Giants roll into Green Bay today, brimming with confidence they have what it takes to beat the Packers. If you listen to the NY media, Giants fans and even some players, it’s practically a done deal. The Packers, however, have other plans for New York.

Still reeling a bit from the tragic death of Offensive Coordinator Joe Philbin’s son, Green Bay will be an emotional bunch today. Philbin will be back in the coaches’ box, assuming his usual game day responsibilities. On the other side of the ball, Dom Capers had some no-holds-barred film sessions with the Packers defense this week, and reportedly, nobody escaped unscathed. Let’s hope they rise to the occasion today.

Packers’ inactives:

QB Harrell, CB House, OLB Francois, T Taylor, TE Williams, NT Green, LB So’oto

Francois is the only one scratched due to injury. Some surprises at the bottom of that list. most people on Twitter are shocked at Green being inactive, with the vaunted Giants running game coming to town. Green, however, has done very little of impact over the last half of the season. He is a huge body, but hasn’t been productive. He was handled faitly easily by the Giants OL in their last meeting. This must also mean Capers is planning on running plenty of nickel today or possibly even psycho.

So’ oto is the big disappointment to me. If the Giants are in an obvious passing situation and you’re planning to bring pressure from ROLB, So ‘oto would be the guy I want in that situation (over Walden, Jones or Zombo).  Read more... (1235 words + 3 images, estimated 4:56 mins reading time)

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Jersey Al Bracco is the founder and editor of AllGreenBayPackers.com, and the co-founder of Packers Talk Radio Network. He can be heard as one of the Co-Hosts on Cheesehead Radio and is the Green Bay Packers Draft Analyst for Drafttek.com.

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After a very difficult and emotional week, the Green Bay Packers have a playoff game to play.

With the passing this week of offensive coordinator Joe Philbin’s son Michael, the Packers had a tough go during the lead up to  a game they must win or see their outstanding 15-1 season come to an end.

Throw in the unfortunate trash talk thrown in the direction of Lambeau Field by their opponents, the New York Giants, and the Packers have had one of the most unusual weeks before a playoff game in franchise history.

Last week, the Giants defeated the Atlanta Falcons 24-2 at home in an NFC Wild Card matchup.  The Giants played their best defense of the season with the only points for the Falcons coming from an Eli Manning intentional grounding penalty while he was in his own end zone.  The Giants gained a lot of confidence from that performance and led some of their players to guarantee victory against the team that finished the regular season with the best record in the league.

Let’s take a look at New York.

Key Giants Players

QB Eli Manning Manning is a very streaky quarterback.  When he’s hot, he’s incredibly tough to beat and especially so for a struggling Packers defense.  When Manning is off, however, he’s a gift that keeps on giving to opposing defenses.  Read more... (1079 words + 1 image, estimated 4:19 mins reading time)

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The Green Bay Packers could have had an easy game against the New York Giants when they played in week 13. But their own mishaps turned what should have been a comfy win in enemy territory into a nail-biter requiring Aaron Rodgers to come to their rescue.

I happened to be at that game in person. There were three things that struck me about the Packers’ play that day. Ater watching the replay on NFL Network last night for the first time, It just reinforced what I had seen in the stadium.

The Packers hurt themselves in three main ways in that game. I’m confident that if they can “clean it up”, the Packers will be hosting the Saints or the 49ers in the NFC Championship game at Lambeau. Here are my THREE DONT’S:

1) Don’t give up the big play.

Officially, “big plays” are defined as plays of 25 yards or more.  The Packers secondary went the extra mile against the Giants, giving up 3 pass plays of over 40 yards in their first meeting. All three led to scores, a total of 17 points handed to the Giants.  This falls very nicely into something I read today in the Wall Street Journal’s sports pages (yes they cover sports – from a purely analytical view).  Read more... (670 words + 3 images, estimated 2:41 mins reading time)

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Aaron Rodgers and the Packers will take on the New York Giants next Sunday at Lambeau Field.

With a 24-2 victory over the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Wild Card round Sunday, the New York Giants (10-7) ensured themselves a trip to Green Bay next weekend to take on the Packers in the NFC Divisional Round. The game will take place at 3:30 CST and be aired on FOX.

The New Orleans Saints, who defeated the Detroit Lions 45-28 on Saturday, will travel to San Francisco to play the 49ers in the other Divisional matchup.

New York left no doubt who should be the team advancing in the NFC playoffs Sunday. They worked through a slow first half with a 7-2 lead, then poured in on the Falcons in the second half with 17 points, including two Eli Manning touchdown passes.

The Giants rushing attack, which ranked 32 in the NFL during the regular season, rushed for 172 yards on 31 carries and was a driving force for the offense all afternoon. Brandon Jacobs had 92 of those yards, and Ahmad Bradshaw tacked on another 63.

The Giants’ defense also had a standout day, limiting the Falcons to just 247 total yards and zero points. Quarterback Matt Ryan was sacked just twice but was generally under heavy pressure for most of the game, and Michael Turner ran for just 2.7 yards a carry. They did lose Deon Grant (groin) and Aaron Ross (concussion), two key players in their secondary, to injuries. That could be a big factor next Sunday if both are forced to miss.  Read more... (406 words + 1 image, estimated 1:37 mins reading time)

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Mason Crosby Game Winning Field Goal Against the Giants

Mason Crosby kicked a walk-off field goal for the Packers on Sunday. It happened right in front of me, as the picture to the right (which I took) will attest.

Crosby jogged onto the field, glanced over at me in the second row, set himself, calmly hit the game-winning field goal and then turned to give me a raucous two handed middle-finger salute.

Of course, it didn’t really happen that way, but symbolically, it might as well have.

Anyone who reads this blog knows or has heard me on CheeseheadRadio should know that I haven’t been the biggest of Crosby fans. For the uninitiated, here’s a brief history of my writings on the subject of Crosby:

August 2, 2009: I call for some training camp competition for Crosby.

March 2010: I railed about Crosby doubling his salary by reaching what must have been some fluff incentives after a bad 2009 season.

March 17, 2011: I did give Crosby a B grade for the 2010 season, mainly on his performance over the Packers’ Super Bowl run.

August 4, 2011: Here I mocked Crosby a bit  for being allowed to retake a “game winning” kick in practice with no defense.

August 8, 2011: I still believe I did a very good job debunking some Crosby myths by presenting the facts as they were before this season.  Read more... (599 words + 3 images, estimated 2:24 mins reading time)

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