Stars In Alignment – The Hometown View

Quoting a co-worker….”the stars are aligning very nicely” and what he was referring to was the Giants unlikely run which has them a win away from the Super Bowl. The perfect scenario weekend for the Giants began when the 49ers edged the Saints Saturday and ended 24 hours later with the G-Men stunning the reigning Super Bowl champion Packers at storied Lambeau Field. Not only does the Giants improbable run continue but their chances of winning in San Francisco are far better than if they were heading to New Orleans.

What it all means is the football season is very much alive and well for a lot of people in our area. Weeks after the long winter off-season began for the Jets and Eagles the Giants are warming the hearts of their devoted fans, who frankly never saw this coming. Was it not just yesterday that Tom Coughlin was about to get run out of town again for being an out-of-touch coach who couldn’t relate to today’s NFL players?

And every Giant fan was praying that Steve Spagnuolo would come back to run the defense because for sure Perry Fewell was getting fired. I would say Coughlin’s return is just about guaranteed and believe it or not but Fewell’s healthy and improved defense might even earn him a head coaching interview.

Even many Giant fans thought a late-season run would come to an end in historic Green Bay. Its one thing to beat the Cowboys, Jets & Falcons but this was a Packers team that went 15-1 and was picked by most to make it back-to-back Super Bowl wins. After all they had soon to-be-named MVP Aaron Rogers at quarterback and a seemingly unstoppable offense…plus the mystique of the frozen tundra at Lambeau Field.

Well the only thing frozen Sunday were Rogers and his receivers who were never really on the same page. The quarterback made more bad throws in one game than half a season and his receivers dropped passes left and right. Meanwhile on the other side you had Eli Manning and Hakeem Nicks combining to make it a miserable day for the Packers defense and even though the referees kept trying to help Green Bay stay in the game at the end of the day it was an impressive 37-20 victory for the Big Blue Wrecking Crew.

So while the Pack clean out their lockers today the Giants begin preparations for a trip to Candlestick Park where they lost to the 49ers 27-20 in mid-November. The odds makers have installed Frisco as a 2 ½ point favorite but remember...the stars are aligning very nicely for the guys from Jersey.