The roar of a crowd, the nightfall descending upon America's sporting basilicas. The weather and elements that football so earnestly embraces. To me, the ultimate reflection of how great Conference Title Games can be encompass all these elements, played on the backdrop of my own wintry setting, bundled on a couch on my living room with every light off.
What is truly interesting about both the Giants wins in 2007 over the Packers and 2011 over the 49ers is how hanging over them was an air of 'none of this matters'. In both cases, the bid, bad Patriots awaited. You could make the argument in 2011 that even heading into teh title game either the 49ers or Giants could beat that Patriots team, but no such thought was available to comfort us in 2007. Of course, the Giants ended up doing it, but if anything the ability to escape the doom and gloom of New England and isolate your focus on the singular brilliance of these games is what makes them special.
For both games, my entry point was a bit staid. In 2007, my parents allowed me to watch the AFC Title Game with my friends at a friend's house - a game the Chargers played decently but inevitably it was not enough. I returned home and settled in to watch this game with my parents - a few years before watching football with them became something of a norm. In 2011, I of course sat through the Patriots harrowing win over Baltimore, the missed field goal, and then had to turn my attention to completing internship applications. In both cases I was somewhat half paying attention, until somewhere around the third quarter in each I realized I was watching something special.
The setting plays a part, to be sure. The media can go over-the-top on Lambeau Field, but the fact this old-school 70,000 seat stadium exists in some random dairy-cow town and has successfully hosted na NFL team for 100 years is ludicrous. It is the only 'cathedral' in the NFL - and if any other place had that honor in any recent year, it was Candlestick.
The weather played a role. I will never forget the statistics around the weather in Lambeau that night: -3 degrees, -27 wind chill. Those numbers are burned into my mind. The cold was present in the beautiful breath clouds that were rleased from 22 mouths every snap, teh dead grass, and of course Tom Coughlin's cherry-red face. You really feel cold just watching it - but that is to some degree what football is about.
Candlestick Park in January 2012 didn't have some crazy temperature figure, but the whole game was played in a misty-rain, with the droplets creating a sort of mythical atmosphere, especially as night descended on the game in the second half. Candlestick Park hosted more Title Games than any other stadium (Gillette may have topped this by now), but for my whole football watching life it was more a mausoleum. That all changed in 2011, and that years Title Game was the corwning moment of its last rebirth.
The games itself share a lot of similarities but the greatest to me seems to be the idea that this is what football is supposed to be about. We waste so much time talking about if high-scoring games are any more or less a farce than low-scoring games, but these two at 23-20 and 20-17, showed just how great football can me, from the chess-match, to the human moments, when every unit is playing reasonably well. When there is the unknown on any drive.
The other similarities are interesting as well. Both games ended with a Lawrence Tynes field goal after an OT turnover - though his 47-yard banger in Green Bay was a lot more difficult than his relatively short one in SF. Both games featured one Giatns WR going absolutely bonkers. Plaxico Burress's performance in 2007 is still etched in my mind, him beating Al Harris on every conceivable route. Victor Cruz was nearly as good in 2011, carving up the league's best defense. Both games featured the non-Giants team getting some huge plays to stay in the game, with the Giants defense winning the line of scrimmage.
The differences though are what made each game kind of special. For 2011, it was that ridiciulous 49ers defense hammering Eli play after play after play, but Eli getting up every time. There's a legendary play late in the game where Eli gets hit by Justin Smith or someone and gets up with half his shoulder-pads out and grass in his facemask. That was his day. He was sacked six times, on blitzes, on coverage sacks, on Justin Smith being super-human. I think i was seeing him repeatedly pick himself up in the third quarter when I first started thinking 'damn, this game is incredible.'
For the 2007 game, it was the cold. I know I keep coming back to that, but I never saw the Ice Bowl. This was my Ice Bowl. I will remember every play because I also remember thinking the entire time, "how they hell are they playing in this weather" which slowly graduated into "I want to experience this weather." It took a few years before I got to experience sub-zero temperatures. When I did though, I did for a solid month straight, on my first work project in Battle Creek, Michigan, in the heart of the Winter 2013/14 Polar Vortex. I still get excited if I'm ever in temperatures that dip below 10 degrees.
If you've been following, you may realize I already wrote separately about the 2009 and 2013 NFC Title Games. This six-year stretch from 2007 through 2013 featured four times the NFC had the second title game, and they were epics each time. These two were probably the best. At least to me they are the most memorable. They had the most memorable moments, memorable sequences, and for sure memorable scenery.
Football is a beatiful game, and it doesn't get better when offenses go off, but defenses do to. If you want a perfect primer to what makes this sport so god damn special, so incredibly enthralling. Defensive lines hounding QBs. Recivers and corners engaging in one-on-one battles. Kickers ruining lives and then gaining them back. A sport played in the dead of winter in the remotest, coldest parts of this fair country. Football is a beautiful game, and these two epic Title games showed why.
To add to this, my list of 'Interesting/Memorable Moments & Plays from these games"
2011 Title Game:
Interesting/Memorable Play: Kyle Williams (who I learned later is the son of White Sox GM Kenny Williams) was only the main returner for the 49ers because Ted Ginn Jr. was hurt in the Saints game, and I'm sure he, more than anyone, would've wanted Ginn to play. That said, it was his 40-yard kick-off return that set up the 49ers at the 50 for their game-tying field goal in the 4th quarter.
Interesting/Memorable Moment: Before the OT coin-toss, the game ref does a little meet-and-great with the players, telling the rules, giving them the timeout and challenge scenarios, and all that generic garbage. Well, Ed Hochuli decided that instead of being rote, he would take the time to recite Shakespeare, giving us a 1 minute 11 second long introduction to OT. The best part of the moment was the audible groan that came on the crowd at about the 0:40 mark of the speech.
2007 Title Game:
Interesting/Memorable Play: Plaxico Burress was just insane. He caught every type of pass against Harris. Quick posts, fade routes, fade stops, crossing routes, deep throws, quick outs. It was just masterful. During the game, after making his 8th catch, he went over the the Packers sideline and shouted "You Can't Cover Me! This Fucker Can't Cover Me!". And the Packers switched Woodson on him for a play, and Burress caught another one. Just an exceptional game.
Interesting/Memorable Moment: Lawrence Tynes would get his 15 minutes of fame, appearing on Dave Letterman the next week. He was, surprisingly, a good guest, quipping that after he missed the 2nd field goal he was "thinking what it would be like to live in Green Bay" in fear of what the NYC crowd would do to him.
Interesting/Memorable Moments: The cold did wreak havoc on the game, and it led to some great moments. First, was Michael Strahan's perfect speech before the game, where he stated "the past is the fucking past. This is the present. Cold is temporary, a Championship is Forever." The cold is probably best remembered, though, for what it did to Tom Coughlin's face, as he became as red and frozen as a strawberry popsicle.
Interesting/Memorable Fact: Something that really helps this game was just how aesthetically beautiful. The Packers green jersey is quite brilliant, and the Giants road uniforms (despite, oddly, not featuring blue) are the better of the two. Either way, with the uniforms, the almost white field and the dark, isolating feel of Green Bay, the game itself just looked like you were watching an epic film more than a football game.
