Giants, Pats set for Super Bowl clash

NEW YORK: The New England Patriots will face one more challenge in their bid for a perfect season: a Super Bowl meeting with the surprising New York Giants.

The Patriots, winners of 18 consecutive games this season, and the underdog Giants won conference championships on Sunday to advance to the February 3 Super Bowl in Arizona.

New England turned back the San Diego Chargers 21-12 a few hours before the Giants surprised the Green Bay Packers 23-20 on Lawrence Tynes' 47-yard field goal in overtime.

The victories set up a rematch of a December regular-season meeting in which the Patriots rallied from a 12-point deficit to beat the Giants 38-35.

Should the Patriots win the Super Bowl, they would join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only NFL teams to complete a season undefeated. The Dolphins went 14-0.

The victory over the Chargers, however, did not come easily.

New England quarterback Tom Brady needed to overcome a slow start and some errant passing in windy conditions to secure the win against an injury-depleted San Diego side.

A pair of second-quarter touchdown drives and a fourth-quarter TD strike to Wes Welker helped Brady make up for three stunning interceptions.

Laurence Maroney rushed for 122 yards as New England relied on a running game to move the ball and grind out the clock after taking a 14-9 lead at the intermission.

"I think the difference was the players," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said after the game.

"These guys played great. They played great all year and played great today."

"The defense played great," said Brady, noting how that squad picked up the slack for an offense that set an NFL regular- season record for points. "Eighteen-zero is a great feeling."

San Diego receiver Vincent Jackson said the loss was a case of missed opportunities.

"I think we left a lot of plays out there on the field," said Jackson. "Our defense did a great job of giving us the ball. We just didn't finish our drives."

Brady completed 22-of-33 passes for 209 yards, including eight connections to Faulk, and seven to Welker. Banged-up quarterback Philip Rivers was 19-of-37 for 211 yards.

Turner, filling in for LaDainian Tomlinson, who retired to the sidelines with a knee injury after San Diego's second drive of the game, ran for 65 yards on 17 carries.

New England can now take aim at a fourth Super Bowl crown in seven years and a perfect 19-0 season.

San Diego, led by a gutsy performance by injured quarterback Philip Rivers and without running back LaDainian Tomlinson, failed to fully capitalise on a number of drives deep into Pats territory.

The Chargers settled for field goals of 32, 23, 40 and 24 yards by Nate Kaeding after three drives, two of them in the first half, stalled inside the 9-yard line.

The Giants needed overtime and a third chance for Tynes to claim their win over the favored Packers on the frozen turf of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Tynes missed two field-goal attempts in the final seven minutes that would have won the game - including a routine 36-yarder with no regulation time left.

However, he redeemed himself in overtime, converting from 47 yards after the Giants' Corey Webster intercepted a Brett Favre pass.

"I just wanted to get out of the cold," said Tynes, who raced off the field as the ball sailed though the uprights.

"I think I was inside before it went through."

New York quarterback Eli Manning completed 21-of-40 passes for 254 yards in directing the win.

Favre passed for two touchdowns, the second giving Green Bay a 17-13 lead in the third quarter, but was hurt by two interceptions.

Manning turned in another poised playoff performance in a Lambeau ice box where few have succeeded.

"You never know when you're going to get your opportunity, when something is going to click, when you're going to get hot," Manning told reporters.

"You're just playing your best football at certain time and that's what's happened to us.

"We like to make it tough on ourselves.

"We can't make the short one and win at home but we can win on the road, make the 47-yard field goal in overtime just to make it exciting."

Agencies

(China Daily 01/22/2008 page24)