The Playoffs Begin!

vs.

The Giants visit the Eagles in the first round of the NFC Playoffs at 4:30 p.m. tomorrow at Lincoln Financial Field in the City of Brotherly Love (whoever thought of that name has clearly not been to Philly in a very long time). The Giants basically backed into the playoffs at 8-8, losing six of their final eight games, while the Eagles won their last five games to win the NFC East.

All signs point to the Eagles handing it to the Giants, but here are my keys to victory for the Giants.

1. Get Barber more involved: When the Giants last played the Eagles, Tiki Barber was having success against the Eagles' run defense, considered to be among the league's worst. But around halftime, offensive coordinator John Hufnagel dropped Tiki from his prominent role in the offense and tried to win the rest of the game with the passing game. Now that pass-happy Hufnagel is gone in favor of Kevin Gilbride, one can hope that the Giants can have more success running the ball, which would keep the Eagles' defense on the field and getting tired, which would open up opportunities for Brandon Jacobs. The Eagles are expected to put eight players in the box to stop Barber, and challenge Eli Manning to beat them. Which leads to...

2. Manning needs to cut down on mistakes: Although his stats didn't neccessarily show it, Manning seems much more comfortable against Washington, probably he was no longer being asked to win the game himself. His passes were more on target, too. This needs to continue against Philadelphia. The Eagles love to blitz, which will probably open the receivers to man coverage. With big, physical players like Plaxico Burress and Jeremy Shockey (if he plays), this could be a good thing. But the blitz is meant to upset the quarterback's timing, make him uncomfortable and force him into bad throws. This is what Manning needs to improve on. If he can get the ball safely away, whether it's to the receiver or thrown away, the Eagles will have to adjust their defense, which will open up chances for Barber. If he's rushed into careless throws (like the one against the Eagles that was returned for a TD in Week 15), it will be a long day.

3. Keep the Eagles out of the end zone: It's too much to ask for the woeful Giants defense to shut down the Eagles offense. They need to be a bend but don't break defense. Hold them to field goal attempts, and keep them out of the end zone. The key to that will be limiting the Eagles on first and second down, and get them into third-and-long situations. Philadelphia will be able to convert a lot of third and short situations, but if they can force the Eagles into short passes in third and long, they can set up fourth down situations with better tackling than they have been having. It's very frustrating to see the QB dump the ball off to the RB on third down, and because of poor tackling, he gets the first.

Final Analysis: It's much more likely that the Eagles win in a blowout than the Giants winning in a blowout. The game should be a close one. With my heart, it's Giants 31, Eagles 27. With my brain, it's Eagles 27, Giants 21.