Packers-Giants Quasi Live Blog, First Quarter

(Why the image? Because you'd be surprised what you get when you look for any kind of variation on the word Giant. It's a sick world, and I'd like to take advantage of its site traffic.)

Over/under on number of times that the cold will be mentioned today: Billions and Billions. If you think that you're going to get out of this game today without a few dozen mentions of the UberHuman Focus And Dedication and Specialness of Winning Football Players, you're dreaming.

Pack wins the toss and elect to receive. Koren Robinson elects to do a funky dance with a teammate while waiting for the catch, then has to dance some more as the wind knocks the ball off the tie. Can't the NFL invent some kind of vacuum suction tee to avoid that, really?

On the rekick, Robinson gets to the 25 as the Giants special teams look frisky. Favre on a booteg play action hits the fullback (Hill) for 12; one suspect they'll do a lot to keep the pass rush on its heels. He then does the same thing in reverse to Franks and gets 11. Grant's first carry is for 2, and the ball is at midfield. On 2nd, Jennings was wide open, but the ball stays up too long and Gibril Wilson closes and almost gets the pick. Favre has time and an open man (Driver) on third, but he misses, and they'll punt. McQuarters fair catches it inside the Giants 20.

Tonight's the third coldest game in NFL history. Jacobs destroys Woodson on a 4 yard gain; a lot of that, and the Giants are going to have some thing working on throws to Woodson's side. A quick hitter to Burres gets the Giants a first down on forward progress. Play action doesn't look good, as Toomer and Manning aren't on the same page. Jacobs goes nowhere on second, and it's 3rd and 10 with Lambeau making good noise... and Manning finds Burress running open on a slant, beating Al Harris badly. Big play for the visitors.

Jacobs gets to the corner for 3, and the G-Men are in Packer territory. Toomer for 6 on a cross-field throw that was a bit dangerous, but it was accurate. On third and short, Manning draws Korey Williams offsides for a first. Burress is wide open for 10, and I'm not sure what the Packer corners are doing in this game; Woodson played off him like he was contagious. On the ninth play of the drive, Jacobs for 3, and Manning hits Boss for 11 over the middle. For my money, Boss is a better TE than Shockey.

Jacobs is met for no gain on first. On a rollout, Bigby knocks down a ball for Boss; close to a touchdown there, and the ball was on the money. On third and 10, Manning throws into the gut of the DL, who drops it. An opportunity lost, but if nose tackles could catch, they'd be tight ends. Tynes hits from 29, and the road team is up, 3-0.

Robinson brings it to the 31, and Fox treats us to a montage of Harris and Burress exchanging love taps. As an Eagles fan, I miss Al Harris; he may not have been very good, but he liked to hit people, and that's near and dear to my heart.

Robinson for a yard on a screen; Pack seem to be throwing a lot. A gimmicky shovel pass to Grant loses three and almost gets the RB killed, as Tuck and Strahan were right there. On a big third and 12, the Giants blitz effectively, and Favre dumps it to Robinson, who can't do much with it. It's a 3 and out, and after a weak 32 yard punt with no return, the Giants will start at their 40. We're 48 minutes away from a Super Bowl that the eastern media will claim is the best ever, but that the rest of the country will just kind of hate.

Toomer with an awful drop of a wide open play, as Woodson slips. Ouch. On second, Jacobs gets nothing, and we have our second 3rd and long of the game for Manning; on the first one, he found Burress for a big gain. On this one, he finds Jacobs in the flat but he can't get the whole 10, and the Giants will punt. Troy Aikman for Fox notes that the QBs are throwing more than he thought they would, because unlike Troy Aikman, these QBs are not gutless pussies. (Well, OK, maybe Eli is, but he's faking it well.) After a terrible Feagles punt, the Pack will start at their 30, and that missed opportunity for field position could be a big factor in this next drive.

With a minute left in the quarter, Grant gets 3 despite strong penetration by the Giants defensive line; right now, they are just beating the Packers on the line. Grant gets another two yards, and that's the quarter. 3-0 Giants.