With the advancement of technology, you can now The Giants and Packers met in Week 2 at the Meadowlands, with Green Bay winning, 35-13. Since that game, many things have changed for both teams.
The Giants turned things around after an 0-2 start, but it's actually the Packers who have been doing things differently since then as they have gone from a pass-first offense to a more balanced attack. Green Bay threw the ball 247 times in the first six weeks -- an average of 41 attempts per game. That figure dropped to 33 attempts per game in the last 10 regular-season games. For the Giants, the biggest change has been an improved running game -- they rushed for 94 yards in that first meeting but are now averaging 134 yards per game. And the play of Eli Manning has improved as the season has progressed.
You can probably make up an all-star team of unrestricted free agents from this weekend's games, and these two are near the top of the list. In Week 2, Grant was still a third-stringer and he had no rushing attempts and one reception for 21 yards in the game. In his first six games, he rushed for a total of 27 yards. In the next 10 regular-season games, he rushed for 929 yards -- and added 201 in last week's playoff win. Grant has the strength to run inside and the speed to run outside and has shown the ability to avoid tacklers in the open field. He is also a good receiver coming out of the backfield and will flank out as a wide receiver when the Packers try to create matchup problems.
Pierce came into the NFL as an unrestricted free agent in 2001 as an outside linebacker, and he was signed by the Giants in 2005 as a restricted free agent. He has started at middle linebacker the last three seasons for the Giants and has been their leading tackler. He leads by example and is very vocal. He's a smart player who is very competitive. He had 12 tackles and one pass defended in the Week 2 meeting. Pierce should be a big factor in the Giants' run defense if they are to win this game -- though he did not play all that well against the run in Dallas last week.
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