Frankly, I had dreams of seeing this year's Super Bowl be the Manning Bowl. I didn't, however, expect to see it happened. Indeed, I expected only one Manning to survive this weekend.

I was right.

And wrong at the same time.

Peyton is out.

To the surprise of many people who follow the N.F.L., the San Diego Chargers, not the Indianapolis Colts, will meet the New England Patriots next Sunday for the American Football Conference championship and the right to play in Super Bowl XLII.

* * *

The Chargers won their eighth consecutive game despite 3 touchdown passes and 402 passing yards by Colts quarterback Peyton Manning. But Manning also threw two interceptions on tipped balls, and receiver Marvin Harrison lost a fumble after a catch and run, leading to San DiegoÂ’s first touchdown. All three turnovers were in Chargers territory; two came inside the 20.

And yet the younger Manning, the NY Giants' Eli, kept his team alive with the help of a defense that simply dominated the Cowboys.

Tony Romo can go wherever he wants with Jessica Simpson now. Eli Manning and the New York Giants knocked him and the Dallas Cowboys into the offseason Sunday.

Having to wait out long, slow drives by Dallas, Manning made his few chances count, throwing two touchdown passes to Amani Toomer and getting a 1-yard touchdown run from Brandon Jacobs for a 21-17 victory that put New York into the NFC championship game for the first time since the 2000 season.

"I won't get tired of hearing that this week," Manning said. "No one's given us much credit and probably still won't. But that's OK. We like it that way."

Manning is heading to his first NFC championship game, at Green Bay next Sunday. Manning had a much better day than his brother, Peyton, whose Indianapolis Colts were stunned by the San Diego Chargers.

"I know he was watching and rooting for me," said Eli, who was 12-of-18 for 163 yards.

I know I'll be rooting for the Giants next week against the Packers -- in the hopes of setting up a rematch of the marquis game of the regular season's final weekend, when the Giants lost a hard-fought game to the Patriots. I'd love to see Eli Manning and the Giants pull that upset in the big game.

Posted by: Greg at 11:08 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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