Giants vs. Packers 2017 picks and predictions: Experts favor Green Bay for Wild Card Game

The New York Giants have a recent history of losing to the Green Bay Packers in the regular season and then beating them in the playoffs. In fact, the Giants are typically one of the strongest playoff teams in the league when they do actually make the postseason.

They will try to impose their will on the Packers on Sunday, in the Wild Card round of the playoffs. It’s been several weeks since the two teams played, all the way back in Week 5 when the Packers took a 23-16 victory.

It was actually a bad game from Aaron Rodgers, one of the most consistent quarterbacks in the league. He threw for 259 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but the Giants picked him off twice. Fortunately, the Packers managed 147 rushing yards and limited Eli Manning to just 199 yards passing and a touchdown.

Green Bay’s run defense really stepped up. The Giants ultimately ran just 15 running plays, and put up only 43 yards while doing it. Other than Manning’s one touchdown, the rest of the points scored were field goals.

The last time the Giants were in the playoffs was 2011, when they beat the Packers in the NFC Championship on the road, after losing to them in the regular season. This year, the Giants have played excellent defense. It’s less about Manning vs. Rodgers and more about how Rodgers handles New York’s increasingly good defense.

The Giants have allowed 10 points or fewer in three of their last four games, and are second in the league with just 17.8 points allowed per game. They rank first in the league in the red zone and second in the league on third down.

As far as experts are concerned, most seem to be in Green Bay’s corner. Over at CBS Sports, seven of their eight experts think the Packers will win, leaving just one selecting the Giants. At ESPN, the Packers were a clear majority.

Here at SB Nation, only one of the eight thinks the Giants will win.

That leaves seven, plus the OddsShark computer, picking the Packers to win it. Sunday’s game will kick off at 4:40 p.m. ET and will be broadcast on FOX. It is the final wild card game of the week, following the other three games on Saturday and earlier on Sunday.