Packers' defeat proves defense matters a lot in playoffs

Apparently, you do need defense to win in the NFL.

That was the lament of a Packers fan of my acquaintance, and presumably, Green Bay fans everywhere.

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers did not enjoy anywhere near his best game against the Giants, not with his receivers dropping passes and Green Bay's three lost fumbles. But if anything, the defeat burnished Rodgers' credentials as league MVP.

As the Packers ran out to a 15-1 regular-season record, Rodgers' bold, pinpoint passing - his explosiveness and accuracy - concealed a lot of Packers flaws, most of them on defense.

As the Giants broke off big plays downfield - worst of all for Green Bay, the Hail Mary to close out the first half - and the Packers failed to ruffle New York's Eli Manning in the pocket, the burden Rodgers carried all year became more obvious.

Nobody thought Green Bay was a complete team, but when Packers turnovers created speed bumps for the offense, the Giants exposed them for just how unbalanced they really were.

Of the four teams still competing in the NFL tournament, which is the most complete on both sides of the ball?

Answer: the Giants.

That's as much opinion as fact. The next games are capable of creating fresh revelations - positive or negative - about any of the teams.

But with a defensive line at full strength again and Manning on a hot streak and their running game clicking, the Giants seem to have better balance than anybody still alive.

Giants coach Tom Coughlin's teams come back more often than bad sushi, but should we praise the job New York has done or lament that a team that was .500 with two weeks to go in the regular season is four quarters from the Super Bowl?

The Giants' record fell to 7-7 after they lost to the Redskins for the second time. The Giants were dreadful that day in East Rutherford, N.J. You'd have to be badly off your game, wouldn't you, to lose to the Redskins at home?

Maybe there needs to be a new rule prohibiting teams that lose twice to the Shanahan Skins from competing for a berth in the Super Bowl. Since there's not, the Giants are entitled to think of themselves as a team of destiny and play like one.

But we'll see about that. The 49ers, with a defense as rugged as the Giants', go into Sunday's game full of confidence in Alex Smith, until now, an unremarkable quarterback.

We're being told that Smith was transformed - by a single victory and a strong fourth quarter - into a leader worthy of the big stage.

But beware of hype that won't let the facts get in the way of a good story. When he had to be, Smith was sharp and clutch, but against a Saints defense that bears little resemblance to the Giants' defense.

The exits of both Rodgers and the Saints' Drew Brees suggest that the same fate could befall the game's other most prolific passer, Tom Brady. Two years ago, Ray Lewis and the Ravens accepted a similar challenge when they upset New England in Massachusetts in a divisional round game.

After recent playoff frustrations, the Patriots are out to prove that they can win the Super Bowl on a wing (Brady's) and with a prayer that their oft-porous defense will plug enough holes.

New England's defense, though, may not be as bad as it appears on paper. The Pats rank next-to-last in total defense in the NFL, just ahead of the Packers, but the 21.4 points per game it gives up puts coach Bill Belichick's team in the middle of the pack in that statistical category.

New England's defense is vulnerable - in today's wide-open NFL, what defense isn't? - but for a big occasion, nobody expects Baltimore's Joe Flacco to outperform Brady.

The race to the Super Bowl is not always to the best and brightest quarterbacks.

But that's the way to bet.

Bob Molinaro, 757-446-2373, bob.molinaro@pilotonline.com Twitter@BobMolinaro