Giants fighting for life, not to mar 11-0 Packers

There's a first time for everything.

That's what the Giants have been saying -- and perhaps trying to convince themselves of -- this week as they prepare to face a Packers team that has not lost since last December and is riding an 11-0 record into MetLife Stadium Sunday.

"We understand that they are a great team, we're not taking anything from Green Bay, but they can be beat," safety Antrel Rolle said. "Just like any team in the NFL can be beat. That's the mind-set we have to have as a team and as individuals."

Coach Tom Coughlin, for one, has faith in the Giants' ability to end the Packers' streak.

"The thing I want to make sure our team knows is that Green Bay has a Super Bowl MVP quarterback -- and so do we," Coughlin said, putting Eli Manning up against Aaron Rodgers. "Hey, give it everything you've got, go out and give everything you've got. It's not that dissimilar to other situations we've been in. Play your butt off. There is a formula. That formula works. You do those kinds of things, anything is possible. That's why they play the games."

The Giants have a deep history of ruining undefeated seasons for teams. It goes back to 1934 and the NFL Championship Game at the Polo Grounds (aka "The Sneakers Game") when the Giants scored 27 fourth-quarter points and beat the previously unbeaten Bears, 30-13, for their first title. And it flows all the way up to Feb. 3, 2008, when the Giants once again staged a fourth-quarter comeback to spoil a team's chance at perfection in a title game, beating the Patriots in Super Bowl XLII.

The other memorable time that the Giants spilled fruit punch on some other team's new white carpet was in 1998, when the 13-0 Broncos came to Giants Stadium and lost, 20-16.

Like that Broncos team, this Packers squad is the defending Super Bowl champion. And like that Broncos team, this Packers squad seems to be on a direct path to repeating as champions. But unlike the 8-8 Giants of 1998 who were playing out the string, this Giants team still is very much in the mix for a playoff berth. Which is why the Giants are aware of the Packers' undefeated record but hardly are dwelling on it.

"Would we love to knock Green Bay off? Yeah," defensive end Justin Tuck said. "But we would love to win this game regardless of whether they're 11-0 or 0-11. We don't really care about the fact that we have an opportunity to knock off an undefeated team. We care about getting a win and getting our season back on track."

Added Rolle: "We would definitely be aware of [being the first to beat them], but that's not our mind-set. Our mind-set is to go out there and win a game. It's been four weeks since we've won a game and we're itching for one now."

The Giants are coming off their worst loss of the season, which also happened to be statistically their poorest defensive effort in nearly seven decades. For Coughlin, though, what better time is there to take on a team no one thinks the Giants can beat anyway?

"It's an opportunity, that's what it is," Coughlin said. "You have to look at it as an opportunity. You've got to be bold."

Coughlin dismissed ideas that this game is similar to the one that capped the 2007 regular season, when the Giants played well against the Patriots but lost as New England finished with a 16-0 record. The Giants marred that about a month later, anyway.

But that was a different situation. The Giants already had clinched a playoff spot; this time they're still fighting for one.