NFL Playoff Picks 2012: Why Aaron Rodgers and Packers Will Crush New York Giants

The Green Bay Packers will dismantle the New York Giants.

For a variety of reasons, pundits are picking the Giants to upset the Packers this week. Aaron Rodgers won't let that happen.

The main arguments for the Giants are simple. They are peaking at the right time, Eli Manning is a clutch quarterback, especially on the road, and this matchup is reminiscent of the Giants' upset in Super Bowl XLII.

As for the Giants peaking, that's extremely misleading.

After losing four games in a row, the Giants have won four of their past five games, including their playoff game against Atlanta.

Sounds good, right?

Well, not so much. They beat the Dallas Cowboys in a shootout in which Tony Romo choked in the fourth quarter.

The Rex Grossman-led Washington Redskins beat the Giants pretty bad.

Then, the Giants beat an overrated New York Jets team, a no-show for a Cowboys team and an overrated Atlanta Falcons team.

Essentially, those were each home games.

When you really look at their hot streak, it's plain to see that the Giants aren't as hot as they may appear.

Next, Manning's clutch ability is a popular argument.

While Manning isn't an elite quarterback, he is certainly one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL. However, he is matching up against an opportunistic defense, and Rodgers is on the other side.

That's not a very good matchup for Manning. He threw 16 interceptions this year. Meanwhile, the Pack picked off 31 passes.

If Manning turns the ball over, even just once, he will put his defense (and team) in an extremely tough hole. Therefore, since the Giants are putting so much pressure on Manning, his susceptibility to turnovers could be the team's downfall.

Finally, comparing this matchup to Super Bowl XLII is absurd.

First, it isn't such a huge stage. It's easy to get psyched up for the Super Bowl, but an "us against the world" mentality is tough to muster for a divisional game.

Second, this Packers team is much more opportunistic on defense. They force turnovers, which is something the 2007 Patriots couldn't do in the Super Bowl. The turnover battle in that game was even, allowing the Giants to steal a victory.

Finally, the biggest and most important difference is that the Giants are not as good as they were in 2007.

They had a better pass-rush and running game against the Patriots. This year, their pass-rush is solid, but not great. As for their running game, they were the worst team in the league.

The Giants could beat the Packers, but that simply won't happen.

The Giants aren't on a serious hot streak. The Packers have a much better quarterback. The Giants don't have the same team they did four years ago.

Despite all these optimistic predictions for the Giants, there is no way they can live up to the hype. Rodgers is having too good of a season. The Packers are too good of a team.

This game won't even be close.