The Green Bay Packers will face either a fired up New York Giants team this weekend or a New York Giants team in disarray. Hell, maybe both.
The Giants took an epic loss on Sunday, blowing a 21-point fourth quarter lead to the division rival Philadelphia Eagles. Put the Packers in place of the Giants and the Vikings in place of the Eagles and you’ll understand the significance.
The collapse handed the division to the Eagles, but the Giants can still make the playoffs as a wild card by beating the Packers, this weekend. They can also make the playoffs by winning in week 17, but they’ll need some help.
In other words, it behooves them to win this week and safety Antrel Rolle was quick to offer a guarantee the Giants would beat the Packers.
“I don’t think it, I know it,” Rolle said when asked if the Giants would make the playoffs. “That’s because that’s what’s going to happen. I know it’s going to happen this weekend. I have no doubt. I said it’s going to happen, it’s going to happen.”
Okay, so it’s going to happen…
Wait a second, I suspect the Packers will have something to say about that.
I can’t remember the last time someone guaranteed a win in the NFL and his team actually won, but maybe this is what the team needs to get fired up for the game.
After the loss, the team was in disarray, which prompted a players-only meeting where quarterback Eli Manning addressed the situation.
“It is not the time right now to start going into the tank or slacking off or being in a bad mood,” Manning said. “Now is the time when we got to be excited and look at the bright side of things and be optimistic and say we got a great opportunity to make the playoffs.
“We’re the one who is going to decide whether we make the playoffs and what happens. It is only us.”
To say the Giants will be under a great deal of pressure to win on Sunday is an understatement, but the Packers also need to win to have a shot at a wild card berth.
With so much on the line, it will be interesting to see which Giants team shows up.
Hopefully it’s the one that showed up in the fourth quarter of the Eagles debacle.