Once again we sit here on Tuesday morning and try to determine who made the biggest impact in Sunday's NFC championship for the Giants. I thought about just giving it to the entire team and organization, and while that would have been easy to justify, it's not nearly as much fun as letting you all debate and choose. So here we are, with a few more choices than usual:

Eli Manning--We have to start here, of course, because Manning hung in there despite getting sacked six times and beaten up repeatedly. He threw 58 times, completing 32 passes, ten of them to Victor Cruz in tight spots. He threw two touchdown passes, none bigger than the one to Mario Manningham to put the Giants on top in the fourth quarter. Mostly, Eli Manning found a way to help his team win. Again.

Victor Cruz--Funny how this dude has become a folk hero over the last several weeks. Thankfully his biggest season highlight now is not when he "gave himself up" in Arizona, but rather his 99 yard TD against the Jets that turned our season around. And on Sunday, Cruuuuuuuuuuuuz came up with tough catch after tough catch, mostly on third down.

Special teams--Or, more specifically, the four-headed monster of Devin Thomas, Jacquian Williams, Steve Weatherford and Lawrence Tynes. Thomas made two critical fumble recoveries. Williams knocked the ball out from Kyle Williams to set up the winning field goal. Weatherford--in addition to punting 12 times for a 46.4 yard average--caught the snap, a bad snap, and put the ball down as best as he could to give Tynes the chance to win the game with his right leg, which of course he did. Again, in a huge situation. Just ask Billy Cundiff how difficult that can be. Williams also gets honorable mention for a huge play he made on defense deflecting a pass, and probably a few others. That kid is really emerging.

Ahmad Bradshaw--About as gutty a 126-yard performance as you'll ever see against one of the best defenses in the NFL. But no runs were bigger than the ones at the end when Bradshaw moved Tynes a bit closer for the game-winner.

Defense--It's once again hard to pick one player here. Chase Blackburn had five tackles and two assists and was a monster again. Justin Tuck had three tackles, one assist and 1.5 sacks. JPP had five tackles, an assist, half a sack (heh heh, he said half a sack...sorry, couldn't resist!), and a pass deflection. Osi and Kiwi each had half a sack, and the Giants deflected five passes as a team. Yeah, they botched a couple of coverages on the Vernon Davis touchdowns, but still limited Alex Smith's damage, allowing only one pretty much meaningless third down conversion the entire game.

The coaches--TC, Gilbride, Fewell, and even Tom Quinn. The Giants were prepared and executed as best as they could in the elements and against a very physical, powerful and also well-prepared 49ers' team.

Is that enough choices? Just like last week and the week before that, I could do this all day.

Greetings everyone. It's that time of the week again, and I love doing this post after another stunning performance by the Giants. There were so many incredible individual achievements, but mostly the upset over the Packers on Sunday was a total team effort by the coaches and players. So here are your choices for Game Ball of the Week:

Tom Coughlin--I'm sure John Mara and Jerry Reese never came close to having Bill Cowher or Jeff Fisher on speed dial, but many of us wanted them to a month ago after that awful home loss to the Redskins. Then somehow, some way, Coughlin yanked every last ounce of pride and performance out of his players, and they haven't lost a game since. Even better, though, is how they are winning games--by playing hard nosed defense, forcing turnovers, executing on offense and converting on huge third downs and big plays. For all of that and especially for knocking off the nearly undefeated Packers, Coughlin should be first on this list.

Eli Manning--I remember at one point watching Eli drop back in the pocket, and stand there like he was waiting for a bus before delivering a laser 15 or 20 yards down field. We believe in Eli, and he believes in himself and his teammates.

Hakeem NIcks--It was either Tom Jackson or Trent Dilfer on NFL Primetime that talked about Nicks and how physical he plays, and how physical and dominant he was on Sunday afternoon. Those drops late in the season seem like they were three years ago. And yes, Nicks put on a clinic Sunday, fighting for the ball, for position, and for yards. And for as amazing as the Hail Mary was, the first touchdown was even more impressive.

Michael Boley--Boley had maybe two of the biggest sacks in Giants history on Sunday--seriously. Boley also had nine tackles and played QB of the defense remarkably once again. And he gets extra credit for doing the Discount Double Check move after sacking Aaron Rodgers both times.

Perry Fewell--As much as we were calling for Coughlin's job, we were even more so doing that for PF. But once he decided to let his players play more simply and do a better job on stopping the run, defending big plays, getting to the QB, and forcing turnovers--the defense suddenly looked like the Big Blue Wrecking Crew again. And let's face it--they held the Packers to 20 points, but without a few gifts from Bill Leavy, it could have been much lower than that.

Okay, have at it.

But first, let's give a few honorable mentions:

Karma--Let's face it--we got hosed by Bill Leavy and his crew at least three times on Sunday, but no call was as blatant as the fumble that he ruled not a fumble by Greg Jennings--AFTER he went under the hood. It's hard to have respect for NFL referees and the league in general when that happens, and for whatever reason it's happened in three of the last four games (or maybe four straight--I can't remember any bad calls in the Dallas game off the top of my head). But hey, we won and got the last laugh. That's called karma, Mr. Leavy.

Ed Valentine--For posting that superstitions piece on Sunday morning. I think the combination of all the quirky things we did on Sunday added up and affected the outcome of the game. I even told two buddies who texted me congrats in the fourth quarter--"don't put the whammy on this!" right before Leavy called Osi for roughing the QB, another horrible call. I mean, the freaking Eagles taught us never to celebrate until the clock runs out.

The Chiefs--For giving the Giants a bit of a blueprint for how to beat the Packers. Thank you, Romeo

Aaron Rodgers and his receivers--For being horribly off in many instances with their timing--resulting in misfires and drops like crazy.

Finally, I'd also like to give a special honorable mention--a serious one--to Packers offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, who called the game from the booth a couple of days after burying his 21-year old son. Many of us in the BBV community are dads, and that's just an unfathomable thing to have happen to any family. Our thoughts remain with you, coach.

Well, it seems we have started a weekly ritual here--letting you all vote on the game ball recipient. That means a) we are winning, and b) there are plenty of candidates for said game ball. And honestly, we could give the share of the honor to more than half of the Giants' roster and coaching staff, but for the sake of being true to this weekly tradition, let's have at it. The options:

Entire defense--This unit pitched a shutout reminiscent of some of the best defenses in Giants' history, something that is especially remarkable considering how bad they looked at times during the regular season. This would also include defensive coordinator Perry Fewell.

Hakeem Nicks--No longer in the shadow of Victor Cruz, Nicks caught 6 passes for 115 yards and 2 scores, including a 72-yarder in which he split two defenders and raced all the way to pay dirt. When he's on, Nicks is one of the best in the game.

Eli Manning--He's almost always prominent here, and rightly so. On Sunday, Manning threw for 277 yards, 3 touchdowns and zero picks. Oh, and he was 23 of 32 for a robust 71.9 completion percentage, and a 129.3 QB rating. The dude is just money right now.

Brandon Jacobs--Jake had 14 carries for 92 yards and a sick 6.6 yards per carry average. He also had 2 catches for 8 yards to give him 100 all-purpose yards. But mostly, Jacobs just ran over and through defenders the way he used to.

Tom Coughlin--How do you like him now? TC might be old school, but he has class and dignity, and always stresses hard work and team before anything--something that is paying huge dividends right now.

That's it, cast your votes now!

Oh wait, one more thing. I want to thank Chase Blackburn for answering the phone when it rang as he sat on his couch. Boy, has that guy been a catalyst. Just wanted to add that as punctuation.

Hey everyone....so you can pick one ore more of the Giants' players and coaches to receive the Game Ball for Sunday's NFC East-clinching win over the Cowboys, and you almost certainly wouldn't be wrong with your choice. But as always, there were a few performances a bit more worthy of the game ball than others. Let's have a look and put it up to a vote once again:

Eli Manning--346 yards, 3 touchdowns, zero picks, a heads up fumble recovery and one huge momentum shifting pass to Victor Cruz in the fourth quarter. Eli finished with a QB rating of 136.7, and to be honest, it pisses me off when he's not even in the conversation for NFL MVP.

Victor Cruz--Well, duh. Six catches, 178 yards and a TD (and a ridiculous 29.7 yards per catch average) to add to his franchise record in yards for a season. NBC, NFL Network and others all wanted a piece of this guy before the game Sunday, and I imagine he will be even more in demand this week before the Atlanta game. What a great story.

Michael Boley--Seven tackles, two assists, and a potentially game-saving stop on fourth down in which he flew over the line and dragged Tony Romo down while in the air.

The D-Line--It's impossible to pick one guy over the other, because JPP, Tuck, Canty and Osi all contributed sacks and/or big plays.

Honorable mention to head coach Tom Coughlin and defensive coordinator Perry Fewell; and to Ahmad Bradshaw, Hakeem Nicks, Antrel Rolle and Jacquian Williams. Oh, and Henry Hynoski. I could do this all day.

Hey folks....so this week the Giants actually won so giving out the game ball is not only more fun but more appropriate. Still, it wasn't easy, because quite a few members of Big Blue stood out. So I'm going to let you, the readers, vote.

Do you like Justin Tuck, who came to life after coach Coughlin inspired him to dig down deep?

JPP, who once again was a loose cannon who loved the smell of the football and kept chasing it?

Victor Cruz, who single-handedly gave the Giants the spark they needed late in the second half with a 99 yard score?

Ahmad Bradshaw, who scored twice and introduced Brodney Pool to the MetLlife Stadium turf?

I could probably find a few more, but those are the four guys in my mind who were difference-makers. And I'm willing to bet it will be a close race. So who do you like? And feel free to add your own honorable mentions in the comments section. I'll start by saying Chris Canty. And Pete Morelli (oops, was that out loud??). Have at it, fellas.....

Well, this sucks. For the fifth time in six weeks, we are giving a game ball to someone from the losing team. And just like in Ed's Kudos and Wet Willies, the only player even remotely worthy of this honor is defensive end Jason Pierre-Paul, a bright spot amid lots of dark ones as the Giants were embarrassed at home, 23-10, to the Redskins on Sunday.

JPP is becoming a regular here, and Sunday he racked up 11 tackles (5 assists) and a sack--the only sack of the day on Redskins' QB Rex Grossman, and one in which JPP had a straight path to the QB and just leveled him. It's worth noting that it was also a clean hit, so, unlike many other plays in which the Giants did something good, this was a positive play that did not draw a flag. We'll even let slide that JPP lost track of who had the ball on the Darrell Young's touchdown run, because, well, nobody else, including the Fox camera crew, knew who had the ball either.

Also, it's becoming more and more evident that in only his second season, Pierre-Paul has become a force and a leader on this defense. With 13.5 sacks, JPP trails only Jared Allen, Jason Babin and DeMarcus Ware -- and even though those players all play in the NFC, Pierre-Paul still deserves Pro Bowl consideration.

Greetings fellow Giants fans. You might think giving out the game ball after our stunning 37-34 win over Dallas Sunday night would be a no-brainer. Jason Pierre-Paul, right? Eli Manning, right? Yeah, that's the dilemma--that either guy could get the game ball. So I'm sort of copping out by letting you all vote, but at the end of the day it's too much fun not to do this.

The numbers? Manning threw for 400 yards, with two touchdowns and a pick, but more importantly, he led the Giants to two scoring drives (15 points) in the final 3:14 of the game. The dude has ice water in his veins, and makes us all believe we have a chance to win even if we're trailing late in a game by two scores. (By the way, Manning is not going to win the NFL MVP, but he deserves some votes).

JPP turned in one of the single best performances by a Giants' defender maybe ever. Ed chronicled some of his best plays earlier today and those plays don't even tell the full story. I don't think it's a stretch to say that some of the plays Pierre-Paul made Sunday night were reminiscent of #56. There, I said it. Anyway, JPP had six tackles, two assists, two sacks for 12 yards lost, a safety, and a forced fumble. And oh yeah, he blocked the potential game-tying field goal to secure the win.

Just to even things out I'm also going to include Brandon Jacobs (19 carries, 101 yards and 2 touchdowns) and Hakeem Nicks (8 catches, 163 yards).

There you have it.....have fun voting and I look forward to seeing how this turns out.

Okay, I'm getting tired of giving out game balls every week to someone from the losing team, but that's the situation we've been dealt as our Giants have not won a game since beating the Patriots on November 6, exactly one month ago today. Yikes. There were several Giants who stepped up on Sunday against the Packers in what was almost a monumental upset, but I'm giving the game ball this week to wide receiver Hakeem Nicks.

Nicks caught seven passes for 88 yards and two touchdowns, including one in which CB Charles Woodson was mugging him in the back of the end zone. Even Woodson gave Nicks a fist-bump after that one. Despite the emergence of Victor Cruz, Nicks still draws the top cover guys like Woodson, and he keeps managing to either get open or make spectacular catches in spite of tight coverage.

Now let's get a win next week so I can feel better about handing out this weekly prize.