NFL Football

Eli, the baby of the Manning quarterback clan, has finally arrived. Playing before the largest home crowd in Green Bay history (72,740 spectators), in the third-coldest game in league history (minus-1 at kickoff), Manning threw neither a touchdown nor an interception. Manning repeatedly put the Giants in position to win the NFC championship Sunday, and when Lawrence Tynes came through at last with a 47-yard field goal in overtime, New York had itself an improbable 23-20 victory over the Green Bay Packers at frostbitten Lambeau Field. Now comes Mission Impossible: beating the undefeated New England Patriots in two weeks in a Super Bowl matchup hardly anyone saw coming. Manning wasn't the only Giant who came through. Tynes had two earlier misses - a 36-yarder at the end of regulation following a bad snap, and a 43-yarder with 6:49 to go - before nailing his long winner 2:35 into OT. He got a reprieve in overtime after Corey Webster intercepted a struggling Brett Favre - the kind of mistake Manning often has made before his recent turnaround. The best game Eli has had in his four-year career was the season finale against the Patriots, when he threw four touchdown passes. He and the Giants are getting another shot at New England, the first team to go 18-0. The Patriots will be after their fourth Super Bowl title in seven years on Feb. 3, as well as the league's first perfect season since Miami went 17-0 in 1972.

History has been the Pat's constant companion all season, but in Sunday's AFC Championship Game in frigid Gillette Stadium, New England put this one in the win column by looking to their own storied past rather than writing another gaudy chapter in the league record books. This was the way the Patriots used to win games, long before the points-palooza of 2007 and chatter about a perfect season and running up the score became a near weekly refrain. New England didn't remotely dominate the San Diego Chargers in the AFC title game. All they did was defeat them, 21-12. Reminiscent of how the blue-collar Patriots got things done in their previous Super Bowl seasons of 2001, 2003 and 2004, when they won with sturdy bend-but-don't-break defense, a propensity for takeaways, and just enough ball-control offense to get the job done. It was old-fashioned, conventional football, and for the most part it led to wins that were narrow, with New England needing to bleed the clock in the final minutes of the game to lock things down. That was exactly the recipe for success on Sunday, when the Patriots limited the Chargers to four field goals, forced two San Diego turnovers, and held the ball for the staggering total of 9:13 to end the game. The Chargers' four best drives reached all the way to the New England 8, 5, 22 and 6 yard lines. And all that the Patriots allowed were four measly Nate Kaeding field goals. Eighteen down, one to go.

Super Bowl matchup