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New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning (10) tosses the ball back to the official after being sacked in the first half of the New York Giants vs. Dallas Cowboys NFC Divisional Playoff football game. (ZUMA PHOTO)
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01/22/2008 2:30am
Streaking Giants hope for one more super road win
The New York Giants' streak of road successes earned them one more trip -- to the Super Bowl. And they should be right at home, pardon the expression, in Glendale, Ariz., because they're designated as the visiting team for Super Bowl XLII.
"A road game," linebacker Antonio Pierce says. "That's how we're treating it. It's just a mentality."
And an improbable reality.
The Giants (13-6) won an NFL-record 10 consecutive road games this season, including three in the playoffs, to earn the NFC title, capping that run with a 23-20 overtime victory Sunday against the Green Bay Packers at frosty Lambeau Field. Their only road defeat came on opening day, a 45-35 loss at Texas Stadium to the Dallas Cowboys.
"We've been a streaky team," quarterback Eli Manning says. "We've gone on streaks before. It seems like we lost the first two games, and then you win six in a row. We'd kind of lose a little bit in and out, and now we've found it again."
Only five wild-card teams since 1970 have reached the Super Bowl. The 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers laid out the template the Giants hope to follow, sweeping three road playoff games and then defeating the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL in Detroit.
As the NFC's No.5 seed, the Giants expected to play on the road. They defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 24-14 in the wild-card round, knocked off the top-seeded Cowboys 21-17 in divisional play and beat the Packers (14-4), who had lost once at home this season.
The key to this run of success: no turnovers by the offense in the three playoff games. The only time the Giants gave the ball away against the Packers was on the fumble of an interception return by cornerback R.W. McQuarters that led to the tying field goal in the fourth quarter. The Giants fumbled five times against the Packers but lost just the one.
"If you play smart, you don't have the turnovers," says Manning, whose team finished the playoffs with a plus 5 differential in that area, best among the 12 qualifiers. "We have enough talent to convert on third-and-mediums, third-and-shorts, those types of situations. If you stay out of the third-and-longs and your defense is playing well, hey, a punt is not a bad play."
The Giants held the Cowboys, the NFL's second-leading scoring team, to 21 points and the Packers to 20 (two TDs, two field goals) while allowing only 871 total yards (290.3 a game) in postseason play. The Packers scored one touchdown on a 90-yard lightning strike from Brett Favre to Donald Driver and another after a 49-yard kickoff return allowed them excellent field position at the Giants 39. But the Packers converted only one of 10 third-down opportunities.
The Giants played in the warmth of Tampa and in the coldest game in franchise history (minus 1 degree at kickoff, wind chill of minus 23) in Green Bay and now can expect a moderate climate at the Super Bowl. But it's not so much the temperature that makes the difference.
"It's difficult in any road circumstance," coach Tom Coughlin says.
"It's difficult, all these games that we've won on the road, every place that we've gone. It wasn't easy, but we really enjoyed the atmosphere."
Once they were 0-2. Now they're in the Super Bowl. Enjoy the stratosphere.
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??? Copyright 2007 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
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