How the Giants Could End the Patriots Perfect Season

I feel like I should admit that as of kickoff time of the NFC Championship Game between the Green Bay Packers and the New York Giants, and indeed throughout most of its duration, I was mentally preparing myself to write a preview for a Super Bowl that would have the Packers against the New England Patriots. I was all set to describe a classic Super Bowl that would have two future Hall of Fame quarterbacks pitted against each other. It would be Tom Brady, leading his perennial powerhouse Patriots against the Packers and their long-time quarterback Bret Favre. I was even prepared to suggest that the Packers might beat the near-perfect Patriots while being carried by the 38-year old Favre and his seemingly endless barrage of miracle plays. It would have been a long-shot, but let's face it, if someone were to beat the Patriots, it seems most likely it would take some magic, something Favre appeared to have plenty of.

He pulled off a full season worth of plays that few other people on this planet could accomplish, and he did it at a time in his life when even fewer would have the talent, endurance, or wherewithal to even step on the field during a professional football game. However, even after New York Giants kicker Lawrence Tynes gave him a somewhat miraculous second chance after his badly hooked field-goal attempt sent the NFC Championship game to overtime, Favre ran out of miracle plays three-quarters of a football field away from a trip back to the Super Bowl twelve years after his last appearance. Actual New York Giants fans aside, I think most football fans probably felt a simultaneous bit of sadness when Tynes redeemed himself with the 47-yard, game-winning field goal in overtime that ended the Packers' and Favre's feel-good season. But in the end, instead of America watching the beloved Bret Favre try to pull off one more improbable win to put the cap on an improbable season, we will watch a quarterback two-generations younger do his part to ruin the Patriots would-be perfect season.