NFC Championship Preview

Jan. 12 -- Jason Sehorn of the Giants made an acrobatic interception last week against Philadelphia, and New York will be relying on him and fellow cornerback Dave Thomas to contain big playmaking receivers Randy Moss and Cris Carter in the NFC Championship on Sunday.

The Giants (13-4)

How they got here:Clinched AFC EastBeat Philadelphia 20-10 last week

We've all heard about Jim Fassel predicting with five weeks left in the season that his team would make the playoffs. And like Babe Ruth calling his shot, Fassel was right. The Giants are on a six-game winning streak, and if the adage is true that defense wins championships, the Giants have reason to be confident this week.

The defense, which had six sacks last week against Philadelphia, is the reason why the Giants are here. Michael Strahan had two of those sacks and forced a fumble against the Eagles, and Sehorn made a circus-like catch and ran back the interception 32 yards for a score. Ron Dixon also ran the opening kickoff back 97 yards for a touchdown on special teams.

The Giants, however, are very familiar with the Eagles' gameplan, having played them three times this season, and were aided by Philadelphia receivers who dropped some easy passes. The Giants haven't faced a team this season with the number of weapons Minnesota possesses in Daunte Culpepper, Moss and Carter — except for maybe the Rams, who burned the Giants. In addition to putting pressure on Culpepper, the Giants need to minimize the number of missed tackles, particularly in the secondary where Thomas and Sehorn will be on the hot seat to cover Moss and Carter.

True, the Giants didn't score a single offensive touchdown in last week's win over Philadelphia. And yes, seven of the Giants' 12 regular season wins came against sub-.500 teams — in fact, six of those wins were against teams with a winning percentage of .312 or less.

But the New York offense isn't as bad as it first may appear: Quarterback Kerry Collins threw for 3,610 yards, ranking him ninth among his NFL counterparts, and 22 touchdowns. Tiki Barber rushed for 1,006 yards on the season, and Amani Toomer caught 78 passes for 1,094 yards. Their passing game is ranked 13th and their running game is 10th in the league. Not too shabby.