Packers to Host Giants in Prime Time
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On Sunday night, the Green Bay Packers will host the New York Giants at Lambeau Field. The prime time game will appear on NBC’s Sunday Night Football. It will feature a well-rested Packers team that is coming off a bye week and a Giants team that comes off a short week, having played the Minnesota Vikings on Monday Night Football.
It has been since 2011 that the Packers have been able to defeat the Giants. New York has won three straight against Green Bay, all of which have been 14-point or greater victories for the Giants. The New York Giant’s last visit to Green Bay was a 37-20 Divisional Round playoff victory on their way to a Super Bowl XLVI title over the New England Patriots in 2012.
The Packers and Giants rivalry has an interesting history, with the teams competing since 1928. In the 59 matchups in the Giant’s 91-year history, Green Bay holds an overall advantage with a record of 31-26-2. Seven of those games were held in the postseason, all of which were championship games or postseason games that led to a championship by either team.
It is safe to say the Giants have been a thorn in the Packers’ side in recent years. Prior to Green Bay’s 2012 home playoff loss to the Giants, their previous encounter four years earlier was another contest hosted at Lambeau Field, the 2008 NFC Championship Game.
I recall that game quite well. Following a decisive 42-20 victory over the Seattle Seahawks in Lambeau Field, the Green Bay Packers called upon fans to shovel the stands of the stadium in preparation for the championship game. I woke up at 4 am to head to Lambeau Field to become one of the 300 to take shovel in hand and clear the seats of snow, all the while receiving $8 an hour compensation. Hundreds more lined up outside the stadium, hoping to be of assistance and certainly part of the allure of Green Bay hosting an NFC Championship game.
While shoveling, I envisioned an aging Brett Favre leading his Packers to a farewell victory at Lambeau Field and on his way to a Super Bowl appearance. I could only hope that the storybook vision that I had would come true and Favre would call it a career after a Super Bowl XLII victory.
However, the Giants prevented that from happening. It was a heartbreaking loss, to say it lightly. The frigid temperatures reached into the negatives as Brett Favre played his final game in a Green Bay uniform. Despite a late field goal for the Packers, they would eventually fall to the Giants in overtime, 20-23.
The Giants used their momentum from the overtime victory, despite narrowly making the playoffs with just a 9-7 regular season record, to take on the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLII. The heavily favored Patriots were 16-0 in the regular season and 18-0 heading into the championship game. New York concluded its “Cinderella season” with a 17-14 upset over the Patriots, earning their third Super Bowl title.
Prior to Green Bay’s two most recent postseason encounters with the Giants, it was Green Bay who was a thorn to New York. Forty-five years before the 2008 NFC Championship Game, Green Bay defeated the Giants in back-to-back NFL Championships (prior to the advent of the Super Bowl) in 1961 and 1962. Green Bay shut out the Giants, 37-0, in ’61 while defending their title in a closer 16-7 victory in ’62.
In 1944, Green Bay defeated the Giants, 14-7, in New York to claim the NFL Championship that year. Going back five years from then, the two teams once again squared off in back-to-back NFL Championship Games in 1938 and 1939. The Giants were victorious in 1938, beating the Packers, 23-17, in New York. However, Green Bay would win the next year’s NFL Championship in 1939, a 27-0 shutout. The ’39 Championship was hosted in West Allis at the Wisconsin State Fair Park.
Of their seven postseason matchups, five were played for an NFL Championship. The remaining two postseason games (’08 NFC Championship, ’12 NFC Divisional) were stepping-stones for the Giants on their way to Super Bowl titles.
Sunday night’s game, albeit too early to tell what implications it will have in playoff aspirations, will feature two familiar Super Bowl winning quarterbacks in Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning. Green Bay has had two weeks to prepare for this matchup while the Giants are coming off a late Monday night game, as they get ready to return to Lambeau Field.
