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History Could Favor Giants

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 7, 2009

The Giants will have history both on their side and working against them when they open postseason play Sunday at home against the Philadelphia Eagles.

With their 12-4 regular-season record and overtime victory against Carolina on Dec. 21, the Giants earned the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. The Eagles are seeded sixth and advanced to the divisional round with a 26-14 victory Sunday in Minnesota.

Since the NFL began seeding the playoff teams in each conference in 1990, a top seed has hosted a No. 6 seed 11 times.

The No. 1 seeds are 10-1, including 9-0 in the NFC. The only defeat suffered by a top seed occurred three years ago, when Pittsburgh defeated Indianapolis.

Last year, the Giants duplicated the Steelers' feat of winning three road playoff games. In the process, they became the first No. 5 seed to defeat a No. 1 in the NFC when they won in Dallas.

FAMILIAR FOES: The Giants-Eagles game will be the 36th playoff meeting between division rivals since 1990. The home teams are 22-13.

This will be the 11th time since 1990 two division rivals will face each other in the postseason after the visiting team won each of the two regular-season games. The last time it happened was in 2006, when the Eagles beat the Giants 23-20 on David Akers' field goal as time expired.

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RECORD APPEARANCE: The Giants are participating in their record 30th postseason. Dallas is second at 29.

TRAVELING TIPS: Carolina coach John Fox likened having players with playoff experience to taking a trip.

"The trip there seems a lot longer than the road home because you've done it before," he said. "So, hopefully, we can use that experience to help us."

TWO-MINUTE DRILL: In the final two minutes of the first half, New York led the league with 52 points in the final two minutes of the first half, and the Eagles finished second with 50 points.

COVER BOY: DeSean Jackson is on the cover of Sports Illustrated, one of three NFL-related regional covers this week for the sports magazine. The rookie had two big punt returns and a down-the-field catch Sunday in the win against the Vikings in his playoff debut.

Information from NFL.com

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