First, it was Eli Manning's older brother Peyton, who advanced and consequently won the Super Bowl last season over the Chicago Bears.

Now, it is Eli’s turn to dance and avenge a regular season home loss to the perfect 18-0 New England Patriots, who defeated San Diego in the first half of the championship round on Sunday afternoon.

Nobody gave Eli and the New York Giants a chance in the preseason after RB Tiki Barber announced his retirement and DE Michael Strahan threatened retirement.

It did not matter.

After missing two tries in the final 6:50 of regulation, kicker Lawrence Tynes made amends in the overtime session.  He drilled a 47 yarder to lead the Giants past the Packers 23-20, to earn a second matchup with New England, this time for all the beans.

In the first 60 minutes of play, the Giants relied on running the ball efficiently and controlling the clock.  Even though they nearly doubled the Packers time of possession, 40:01 to 22:34, they only found the endzone twice, both third-quarter TD runs in addition to two three-pointers by Tynes.

On the other hand, Packers quarterback Brett Favre was held to 236 yards passing by the Giants defense, 90 of which came on a Donald Driver bomb down the right side of the field.

Driver outran the Giants safeties after CB Corey Webster fell down trying to jam him at the line.

Similar to Tynes, who twice failed to win the game for the Giants in regulation, but kicked them to the Super Bowl, Webster made that trip to Arizona possible.

After winning the coin toss, Green Bay naturally decided to receive in overtime.  On second down, Webster read Driver’s route and intercepted Favre’s final throw of the season and possibly the final of his NFL career.

The third time was a charm was Tynes, who coolly drilled his game-winning field goal, becoming the first kicker in Lambeau Field history to make one from 40 or more yards.

With the win, the Giants became the ninth wild card team to reach the Super Bowl.  They are the fourth team to reach the Bowl after starting the season 0-2.

Credit the Giants’ running game, which used a combination of speed and power to burst through the Packers defensive corpse, which entered the second meeting between these two teams allowing an average of 102.9 yards on the ground.

Brandon Jacobs finished with 12 carries and 67 yards and one TD.  Admad Bradshaw, who started the season as the fourth RB on the depth chart, took advantage of injuries to become Jacobs’ sidekick later in the regular season.

After an impressive and crucial performance in the Giants’ playoff-clinching win at Buffalo (17 carries for 151 yards), Bradshaw again showed up on Sunday.

Running behind one of the best offensive lines in the NFC, Bradshaw finished 16 for 63 yards and the other score.  He also caught one of Eli’s passes for nine yards.

Together, “Thunder and Lightning” took 37 handoffs for 130 yards, helping Eli and the passing game.

Boy, was Eli good.  Though he went 21 for 40, completing 52.5 percent of his throws, (I counted at least six dropped passes) he was efficient, calm, cool and collected.

Wideout Plaxico Burress, who, earlier this season was insignificant in the Giants 35-13 loss to Green Bay at home, made amends last night like Tynes and Webster.  He caught 11 of Eli’s throws for 154 yards, though he dropped an important throw at the end of the first half with the Giants threatening to score.

The Giants defense also deserved credit in limiting former Giants running back Ryan Grant (who was traded to the Pack for a sixth rounder) to 29 yards on 13 carries.

Although Osi, Strahan and CO. did not sack Favre, they picked him off twice.  One of those though went back to Green Bay as R.W. McQuarters fumbled away his interception.  The Giants managed to hold the Packers to a field goal after the miscue.

 R.W. almost cost the Giants the game after he fumbled a punt return near midfield with 2:15 left in the game.  But, Domenik Hixon recovered the ball and Eli went to work.

Archie’s “Other” son drilled David Tyree for four yards, rookie Steve Smith twice for a total of 25, giving Tynes a chance to win the game from 36 yards.  After a high snap, which may have thrown off Tynes’ timing, he missed the try wide left, bringing back memories of Seattle in 2005, where the Giants missed three field goals by Jay Feely, short, wide and wherever he tried.

Tynes, who also missed from 43 yards earlier in the fourth, which would have given New York a three-point edge, quickly eliminated the 2005 disaster after Eli put them in position to win, not once or twice, but three times, with a True Blue, straight down Broadway.

Now, Eli and Co. will prepare for Glendale, while Favre will contemplate retirement and the Mannings will most likely watch from the sidelines.

Eli willed the ball for the Giants, leading them to the Super Bowl behind 10 straight road victories, getting to a Super Bowl earlier (fourth season) than his older brother, who did it in nine seasons.   He won three consecutive road playoff games with a total of 602 yards in the air and, more importantly, zero mistakes (no fumbles or interceptions).

Although Peyton has many more years of experience and is a first-ballot Hall of Famer when he eventually says goodbye, America watched him last year.

Now, it’s Eli’s turn to shine.

He’s earned it.

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