Going into their Christmas Eve rivalry showdown with the New York Jets, the New York Giants' record stood at 7-7.

They were coming off of a brutal home loss to the hapless Washington Redskins and appeared to be in danger of missing the playoffs altogether. Just before halftime of the game against the Jets, Eli Manning hit Victor Cruz on a quick out route. Cruz caught the pass, broke a tackle and ran down the sideline for a 99-yard touchdown.

The Giants have not looked back, and for the second time in four years they find themselves in the Super Bowl after a very lackluster regular season.

The Patriots' regular season was completely different. New England cruised to a 13-3 record behind another great year from Tom Brady. They won the AFC East by five games and finished with the top seed in the AFC. The only question about the Patriots was their defense, which ranked at the bottom of the league in almost every category.

So how did both of these teams get here? A combination of very good football as well as some very good fortune.

The Giants were very fortunate just to make the playoffs after they played a game of hot potato with the Cowboys for the division lead over the last month of the season. They opened the playoffs with a convincing win over the Atlanta Falcons, which led to a Divisional round match-up with the 15-1 Green Bay Packers.

The Giants played a solid, mistake free game, but the Packers absolutely laid an egg. The Packers' receivers dropped at least nine passes.

Aaron Rodgers missed a number of wide-open receivers and both John Kuhn and Ryan Grant fumbled. Kuhn and Grant had fumbled a combined one time in their career before the game. The Giants also connected on a Hail Mary at the end of the first half.

The no-show by the Packers was not the only break the Giants got in the Divisional round. The day before, the 49ers beat the New Orleans Saints. The Saints dropped 49 points on the Giants in late November and Big Blue would have needed a minor miracle to beat the Saints in New Orleans in the NFC Championship Game.

Instead, the Giants traveled to San Francisco where they basically won the game because of two fumbled punts.

This is not meant to take anything away from the Giants; they have played extremely well and they are not making many mistakes, while their opponents are making plenty of them. There is definitely something to be said for not screwing up, and that is what the Giants are doing.

The Patriots have also been very fortunate in the playoffs.

The Broncos knocked off the Steelers, so instead of playing the Pittsburgh, which had already beat the Patriots earlier in the season, New England got to play Tim Tebow and the Broncos.

The Patriots capitalized on this by destroying the Broncos 45-7. The final seconds of the AFC Championship Game might have been the most fortunate last 20 seconds of a playoff game in the history of the league.

First, the Patriots narrowly escaped defeat when Lee Evans failed to hang onto a pass from Joe Flacco. Granted, cornerback Sterling Moore made a nice play, but Evans still should have held onto the ball. Then, the Patriots won the game when Billy Cundiff missed a chip shot field goal that would have tied the game.

There is always a little bit of luck involved in getting to the Super Bowl.

These teams just seemed to get an awful lot of luck. It is often said that it is better to be lucky than good, but when you are lucky and good, which is what both of these teams have been in the playoffs, you are unstoppable. For one of these teams, the luck is going to run out on Sunday.