Giants want to out-physical Packers

The first tape many of the Giants popped in to get ready for Sunday's NFC divisional playoff game against the Packers wasn't the NFC title game they won four years ago, nor was it either of the last two regular-season games between the teams, when the Giants lost by a lot and then by a little.

No, their first instinct was to watch the Chiefs, the only team to beat Green Bay this season, and figure out how they did it.

The answer they came away with was pretty simple.

They beat the tundra out of the Packers.

"They attacked them defensively and they were very physical," safety Antrel Rolle said. "They were more physical than Green Bay on that given day and they won the game . . . They played ball. They played physical ball, they played technically sound ball and they were on point."

Linebacker Michael Boley also watched that tape.

"You can take a lot from that game," he said. "Kansas City stepped up and they did what a lot of teams didn't do. They hit them in the mouth and they made it a real physical game."

That's what the Giants are going to be attempting Sunday. Yes, there will be X's-and-O's, techniques and strategies. Ultimately, though, it will come down to a visceral engagement between men whose wills and desires will clash until one team breaks.

Mathias Kiwanuka said that won't be easy. Other than the Chiefs game, which he said was "noticeably different" from any other Green Bay game he watched, the Packers often manage to fight through whatever teams throw at them. Even in the Pack's 38-35 victory over the Giants Dec. 4 there were times when Big Blue was getting the upper hand, but the Packers did not surrender.

"It wasn't like other teams we've played where we dominated them up front," Kiwanuka said. "They definitely had a lot of confidence coming back from the sideline, they were always in the game, and that's the difference. You have to be able to take the will out of them. This is a tough team to do it to because they've had a great year . . . so they're not going to go down easy."

But that doesn't mean it's impossible.

"We have the personnel to get it done, too," Kiwanuka said.

The Giants weren't the only team talking toughness Thursday. Packers defensive lineman B.J. Raji seemingly called out the Giants' offensive line.

"Not the toughest O-line," said Raji, who will play against the Giants for a third time in the last 13 months. "Not to say they're soft, but it's not the toughest group I've been against."

None of this is new. Every week teams try to win the physical battle as part of their approach. There are no games in which a coach or team goes into it thinking that the key to success is to be less physical than usual.

The stakes in this playoff game, however, seem to be firing up the juices. Which is why defensive coordinator Perry Fewell said the Giants will have to be more physical than they have been at any point in the season.

Said Fewell, "It's the last game of the season, or the postseason, if you're not."

Fewell also watched the tape of the Kansas City game.

"I just thought that Kansas City may have wanted it a little bit more," he said. "From an X's-and-O's standpoint, there are things that we learned from the tape that we hope we can use, but I thought it came down to desire in that football game, and Kansas City played with a lot of desire."

If the Giants want the same result, they'll have to do the same thing.

"The team that wins this game," Justin Tuck said, "is the team that will be more physical."