Giants upset Packers, head to Super Bowl

Published 12:04 am Monday, January 21, 2008

GREEN BAY, Wis. — As the ball sailed through the uprights, as his and every other New York Giant’s dreams were fulfilled, Shaun O’Hara thought of one word.

“Redemption,” he said.

That’s for every Giant, starting with coach Tom Coughlin — who needed a winning season to keep his job — down to the players who got smoked by the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers to start the season, who felt they were written off after allowing 80 points while falling to 0-2.

Sunday night, Lawrence Tynes joined the group of the redeemed. He missed two field-goal tries with an opportunity to snap a 20-20 tie, the last a 36-yarder as the regulation clock hit all zeroes. But with the help of two more Giants looking to right some early-season wrongs — cornerback Corey Webster and quarterback Eli Manning — Tynes got a third chance. And his 47-yard field goal 2:35 into overtime beat Brett Favre and the Packers, 23-20, to send the Giants to Super Bowl XLII and a date with the unbeaten New England in two weeks. The Patriots are early 131/2-point favorites.

“The thing I’m most proud of is the way we hang together and the way we never say die,” said Coughlin, who will coach in a Super Bowl for the first time. “No matter what the odds are, we keep scrapping, we keep working and finding a way to win.”

In becoming the first NFC team to win three consecutive road playoff games and the first NFL team ever to win 10 straight road games in a season, the Giants made it tougher on themselves Sunday night than even a minus-23 degree wind chill at game time could do.

But Webster picked off Favre at the Green Bay 43 and returned it to the 34 on the second play of OT. After Ahmad Bradshaw picked up five yards on two carries and Steve Smith had a quick pass crunch off his fingertips — one of a half-dozen drops in the frigid air — Tynes kicked his third field goal to end it.

With the Packers at the Giants’ 31, Favre also was picked off by R.W. McQuarters at the 8 on the second play of the fourth quarter but got a break when McQuarters fumbled on the interception return and Packers tackle Mark Tauscher recovered at the 19, setting up the Green Bay field goal that tied it at 20-20.

In between the two picks, Favre was not the greatest quarterback who ever lived. He was just another big name who was silenced by the indefatigable Giants defense, going 3-for-7 for 12 yards. There was no Lambeau magic for the 38-year-old who could do no wrong before his faithful this season.

Webster, who was dropped from the starting lineup and then the active roster for a week at midseason, had his second interception of the playoffs and a good turnaround within Sunday night’s game. He picked off Favre by stepping in front of Donald Driver, who much earlier had thrown Webster to the side during a jam off the line, caught Favre’s pass and streaked down the field for a 90-yard touchdown 3:42 into the second quarter, a play that gave the Packers a 7-6 lead.

“I just slipped, and I was really upset with that,” Webster said. “I just wanted to come back and somehow, some way, make a play to help us out.”

The Giants ran 81 offensive plays to the Packers’ 49 and held the ball for 40:01 to Green Bay’s 22:34. Brandon Jacobs and Bradshaw totaled 130 rushing yards. Each had a short rushing touchdown in the third quarter, when the Giants traded blows and the occasional horribly timed penalty with the Packers. There were mistakes on both sides, crushing flags on third downs to prolong drives or calls to set each team back.

But those were forgotten early in overtime. Tynes, whose badly hooked miss at the end of regulation came more from rookie Jay Alford’s high snap than a terribly placed kick, had another shot.

“I joked that we just needed to move the ball back for him,” Coughlin said. Several Giants went straight to Alford, the rookie who played very well at tackle Sunday night, and Tynes to say they were going to get another crack at the win.

“I said to myself (after the last-second miss in regulation), ‘If everything had been perfect, I would have been upset with myself,’ ” said Tynes, who hadn’t had even one kick to tie or win a game in the fourth quarter this season. “I knew I could do better, that we could do better.”

The snap was perfect and the kick was too, as it started toward the right and hooked well inside the right upright. Any Giant’s frosty fingers or toes became warm; any dissipated energy returned for one more celebration.

“It’s pretty crazy,” Kawika Mitchell said. “To think we started this season getting beat bad by the Cowboys, then we beat them a week ago. We got beat even worse by the Packers, and we come here and beat them. It’s unbelievable.”

Mitchell forgot one thing: This run could be said to have begun in the season finale, when the Giants took the 15-0 Patriots to the last seconds in a 38-35 loss.

“I think we know what it takes to beat them,” Manning said in the jubilant locker room.

One more chance at redemption to go.