The NFC Title Game

So, most every place I look and listen this week, everybody seems to be firmly of the opinion that the New York Giants will do a little stomp dance on the face of the San Francisco 49ers. Or at least that seems to be the general public sentiment. The Vegas line favors San Fran, but in that Vegas-zoney way that seems to be based on making money off the rubes, and not on the actually abilities of the teams.

The New York Giants, as awesome as they looked last weekend, are a team built to beat the New England Patriots, the Green Bay Packers, the New Orleans Saints, or the Dallas Cowboys. (We'll also take Atlanta Falcons, San Diego Chargers, Pittsburgh Steelers and Detriot Lions as answers here.) The Giants are built to bring too much pressure up front with their base defense, while blanketing the other teams leading receivers - this forces high flying, high octane offenses into mistakes, and makes them rely on steady ball advancement, reducing possesions an offensive opportunity. At the same time, the Giants offense is built to exploit weak defenses, not overcome strong ones.

Look at the games the Giants lost this year - almost all of them were against teams playing the way the Giants play, disruptive pressure defense and opportunistic offense. Most of those teams do not have playmakers the quality of Eli Manning or JPP, and they still beat the Giants. I know the Giants are healthy for the first time all year, and if the Saints has beaten the 49ers last weekend, I would say they are the Super Bowl Favorite. But the Giants have to beat the 49ers, a team whose offense is used to taking what it can get and relying on the run, also a team whose defense is probably the best defense in the NFL this year. I dont see how that is a matchup that favors the Giants.