The Giants surprised the Packers by winning the NFC championship Sunday and advanced to the Super Bowl. The Patriots did the same in the AFC and surprised no one.

First, the Giant upset at Lambeau Field. New York could have easily lost this game, but their defense was spectacular, more so than Brett Favre wasn’t. Take away the long touchdown-after-catch and the Packers’ offense was anemic. And the Green Bay defense didn’t make the stops it needed to. It seemed on several occasions the Packers looked like they were holding Eli Manning in check, only for him to throw for a first down, usually to Plaxico Burress. Green Bay’s abundant penalties didn’t help, either. Still, the Packers almost pulled this out. They got the ball first in overtime and proceeded to do nothing. As soon as that happened, you just knew their fate was sealed.

On to New England, where I believe the Patriots got their one bad game out of the way. Imagine your one bad game being a victory in the AFC championship. Tom Brady wasn’t quite the all-world quarterback he was all season, but the running game stepped up, and the defense held the Chargers out of the end zone. Unless all three of those facets of the Pats falter, they won’t lose the Super Bowl, no matter how confident the Giants feel right now.