It’s funny to hear the noise coming out of New York about how “we are not going to be denied at this point” according to Antre Rolle. Much is made of their winning 3 of their last 4 just to REACH the playoffs. And their wins over Atlanta and now GB in the WC and divisional rounds to reach the NFC Championship game. Beyond the fact that the refs did all they could to GET GB the win, the Giants prevailed over a distracted and very out of synch Green Bay team. Whether because of Rodgers taking 3 weeks off, or the tragedy that befell them, Green Bay looked unprepared and out of sorts. They dropped a ton of passes all day, and add the Hail Mary TD to close the 1st half, and GB was in trouble. And much is made of the ‘businesslike’ atmosphere surrounding the win. There was no jubiliation on the plane ride home. Just watching game film of the Niner win.

“We’re just white hot,” said Giants punter Steve Weatherford, who went to the past two A.F.C. championship games as a member of the Jets. “Now it’s less about the playoff run. It’s more about winning the Super Bowl now.”

The punter? Really? Sure. For all the talk of the Giants being hot, what of the Niners? Winners of 4 in a row, 5 of their last 6, and 14 of their last 17 games? Much will be made this week of what the Giants have overcome. Yippee. Bring it on. Ignore the 49ers. Again. The east coast media will buy into this hook, line, and sinker. Much like all the Brees talk before Saturday, there was no reason to play the game. The results were ordained. Until they weren’t.

Speaking of comparisons, it’s fairly easy to compare this team to the 2010 San Francisco Giants. A team the Giants fans thought would be very tough to beat if they could just GET into the playoffs. Well, they did, and they ran the table. This 49er team is also built for the playoffs. They are strong in every phase of the game. Especially defense. For all the yards NO got, the Niners shut down their offense for large stretches of game. The special teams group was nothing short of spectacular lat Saturday. The offense? Well, 2 game saving TDs in the last 2:11 won the game. Something that had never been done before.

The point being, much will be made of the determination of the Giants. I don’t think that comes close to standing up to the overall dominance of the 49ers. I thought the Niners would win last week going away. I think THIS one is the easier win. The fact remains, New York doesn’t run well. Eli can be pressured into making mistakes. The Niners just need to take care of the blocking up front. I think the Niners come out running. Gore didn’t play much in the previous game, and I think he wears down a Giants team that will have little answer to his slashing runs. With the run game clicking, the Niners go to play-action. If they can draw the LBs up to take the double-teams off of VD, then he could have another big game. The Giants did contain him most of their previous matchup, though he did get loose on a 31 yard TD. I would LOVE to see some fly pattern action with KW. Maybe even Swain. The little white dude is FAST, and the non-PI-call on his go-route could have been a game-changer. The point being, the Niners, as Merrill Hodge has pointed out, are the best team in the playoffs based on all facets of their play. 

So, I’m going with the same score this week as I did with last week. 31-20, Niners.