NFL Playoff Bracket 2012: Why New York Giants Have Toughest Road to Indy

If the New York Giants are to make it to the Super Bowl this year, they're going to have to run a gauntlet of the NFC's toughest teams to do so.

While they've managed it before, there's never been so many talented teams as those they'll have to face if they want to win their second Super Bowl of the Eli Manning-Tom Coughlin era.

First up is the Green Bay Packers, who the Giants are scheduled to face on Sunday evening. The two teams have met once before, in Week 13, resulting in a 38-35 loss for New York.

This time around, they'll have to avoid engaging quarterback Aaron Rodgers in a shootout and instead try to keep him and his high-powered offense off the field.

They'll have to employ the same strategy that allowed them to beat the New England Patriots in Week 6: keep pressure on Rodgers, cover his receivers well, force him off the field as quickly as possible and control the clock when their offense has the ball.

Those tactics have worked against the Packers just once, in Week 15 by the Kansas City Chiefs. While the Giants are surely a better team than the Chiefs, trying to stop the Packers from gaining yards and scoring points on their home field in the playoffs sounds like a nearly insurmountable task.

If they should manage the upset this week, things don't get easier for the Giants in the NFC championship game. They will either face the New Orleans Saints or the San Francisco 49ers to get to the Super Bowl, and neither team will be easy to stop.

The Saints have the best offense in the NFL, ranking in the top 10 in both running and passing the ball. They'll have to attempt to stop an elite quarterback for the second consecutive week, using similar methods.

New Orleans quarterback Drew Brees is more susceptible to pressure than Rodgers and has thrown more picks—two facts that should benefit the Giants defense.

On defense, the Saints are similarly weak in the secondary as the Packers, giving Manning a chance to make a number of big plays.

But the Giants struggled even more against the Saints in their first meeting this season than they did against the Packers, losing 49-24. They were confounded by the many offensive weapons the Saints fielded and had trouble getting into the end zone in their own right.

While the playoffs are an entirely different season in many ways, and it's not likely the Giants would be as easy for the Saints to defeat. The fact that New York struggled so mightily in the first meeting will make the second one tough to win.

If they don't face the Saints, the Giants will travel to San Francisco to take on the 49ers and their conference-best defense. If that is the case, the Niners then dispatched New Orleans in the divisional round of the playoffs, and likely did so with a major effort from that defensive squad.

The Giants will have to try a different approach against a team like San Francisco. The Niners don't boast the most electrifying passing offense in the league, averaging just 183.1 passing yards per game, but they have a top-10 running game that puts up an average of 127.8 yards per game.

While New York will have to do little more than stay strong as ever on defense to dismantle the efforts of San Francisco quarterback Alex Smith and running back Frank Gore, they'll have to play things a bit more safely with their own offense.

The Niners lead the league in forced turnovers and have picked off opposing quarterbacks 23 times. Though Manning's 16 interceptions this year are far better than the 25 he threw in 2010, he's only had five games this season in which he didn't throw a pick.

If Manning makes a mistake, the Niners defense is sure to capitalize on it. Issues with dropped passes by his receivers also make him even more prone to being picked off by the San Francisco secondary.

Bottom line is that if the Giants are to reach the Super Bowl this year, they cannot waste a moment resting. It will take unwavering focus and thorough preparation to run the table against these difficult NFC teams.

Their first major test comes Sunday against the Packers. If New York can win in Green Bay, then they're certainly strong enough to take home the NFC championship in the following week and find themselves on the field in Indianapolis come February.