Pigskin Doctors NFC Playoff Preview

One of the best weekends in football is gearing up as the NFC Playoffs kick off on Saturday. Here’s our look at the NFC Preview and be sure to check out our AFC Preview.

New York Giants at Green Bay

It’s hard to imagine a team beating Green Bay in the playoffs this year, including the Super Bowl, and unless that team is named the 49ers I’m going to easily count New York out of this one. The two teams met December 4th with a close Packer win, 38-35, in New York.

The surprising Giants have enough potential to upset Green Bay in a perfect world. Eli is a Pro Bowl QB and Pro Bowler Jason Pierre-Paul and defensive end Osi Umenyiora are playing strong defense. I think the Giants ‘D’ has grown since Rodgers last met them a month ago and shredded them for almost 400 yards.

The Giants owned Atlanta last week and kept the Falcons off the score board in an impressive showing. But the hit-and-miss Dirty Birds are nowhere near the perfection that is the Packers. Could this be another 2007 season repeat, in which New York won the Super Bowl?

Probably not.

Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers is having one of the best seasons for a quarterback that we have seen in decades and I don’t expect him or the Packers to let up. In fact, I expect the reigning Super Bowl champs to take it up another notch.

The Packer team is so well rounded that I believe they are a stronger team than last year. And playing at home is a huge factor in chilly Green Bay. Even if the Giants came out firing and put up 30 points again you would think that it would still fall short of the Packers high-flying offense, which could easily put up 40+.

Prediction : Green Bay 34, New York 28

New Orleans at San Francisco

So here we finally get to see if the Niners and Jim Harbaugh are the real deal.

Playing at home, San Francisco looks to be the strongest team in the small category of teams to beat Green Bay. Problem is, New Orleans is not to be overlooked.

Of all the games this weekend, the upset factor here for the Saints to pull a win out is the greatest. QB Drew Brees is firing on all cylinders and the Saints have the best passing offense in the league.

But I always will go with the stronger defense. The Niners defense is one of the best. The running defense has allowed only 3 rushing TD’s all season and the first one didn’t come until the Seattle game a few weeks back. Across the board, the SF ‘D’ is the best rushing defense on the books.

Lucky for the Saints and Brees, the Niners are not so great on the passing side. They’re still great, but not as dominant. That means the Saints will have to rely on their air attack more than any other game this season.

The biggest factor to decide the game will be the Niners offense. Their running game, fueled by a dominant Frank Gore, can take control of this game by chewing up clock time and keeping Brees off the field. Should they try to keep up and run-and-gun with the Saints, look for New Orleans to easily skate to the next round.

This matchup could result in a fantastic game, one for the ages that comes 31 years after “The Catch” in which the Niners upset a great Cowboys team, at Candlestick Park, to make their way to the Super Bowl. If you’re too young to remember “The Catch” just know it was one of the legend-making games in which we all knew who that guy Joe Montana was.

Look for this game to be one of those type of monumental showdowns. We might even get an updated version of “The Catch” this year as I see this game going down to the wire.

Prediction : San Francisco 28, New Orleans 24