Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers, left, and Giants quarterback Eli Manning meet Sunday night at MetLife Stadium in New York. Both QBs have a lot of freedom to direct the course of plays. Credit: Associated Press

By of the

Green Bay - They won't be seated face-to-face at a table full of game pieces in the middle of MetLife Stadium, but Aaron Rodgers and Eli Manning will be pitted in a duel of intellectual gamesmanship when the Green Bay Packers visit the New York Giants Sunday night.

The two quarterbacks have as much freedom as any in the National Football League to determine the course of each play once it is relayed to them, and they are continually engaged in a game of hide-and-seek with opposing defenses.

They are trying to seek what the defense plans to do at the snap of the ball and hide what they plan to do after it is snapped.

"I think there has to be some gamesmanship on both sides," Rodgers said Wednesday. "We've played each other a couple times in the past year. They're a very well-coached team on defense. They don't want to just line up and play; they have to move around a little bit and that's what they do in their packages, trying to disguise some coverages.

"And we need to disguise some of the stuff we do as well. We have to do what we do, but we have to make it look a little different."

Manning would probably say the same thing, especially knowing he'll be facing a blitzing defense like the one coordinator Dom Capers will be throwing at him. Manning has started three games in two years against Capers and has showed since a four-interception debacle at Lambeau Field in 2010 that he can match wits with him.

The Giants scored 35 points in a three-point regular-season loss to Green Bay Dec. 4 at MetLife, then thrashed the defense in a 37-20 divisional playoff victory at Lambeau Field. Manning has thrown for six touchdowns and two interceptions in the last two games vs. Green Bay.

"He's real good," safety Morgan Burnett said. "He's one of those veteran quarterbacks you can't show your hand too early. You show your hand early he's smart enough to pick it up and audible right at the line of scrimmage."

In the 38-35 Packers victory at MetLife, the two quarterbacks put on an offensive show that wasn't fair to the two battered defenses that had to defend against them. Nowhere was their ability to get their team into the right play better than in the final minute.

After Manning led a drive that made it, 35-33, the Giants lined up for a 2-point conversion in a passing formation and waited to see how the Packers would defend it. Just before the snap, Manning made an "alert" call and instead of throwing it, handed off to D.J. Ware, who walked in to the end zone for the tying points.

On the ensuing drive, Rodgers came to the line on first and 10 at his own 44 with 51 seconds left and read that the Giants were going to blitz. Anticipating man-to-man coverage on the outside, he made a hand signal to the left to receiver Jordy Nelson and then lofted a pass that landed in Nelson's arms for a 27-yard gain.

Two plays later, kicker Mason Crosby won it with a 31-yard field goal.

"It gives you the best chance to win, I believe, if you have a quarterback who can get you in the right play at all times," receiver James Jones said. "This day and age the way people scout you and how much film they watch, they know which plays you're running in certain formations.

"If you're not able to audible and adjust, then you're not going to be too good. You even have audibles in Madden, so you're going to need them in real life."

According to Jones, Rodgers has the freedom to change any play at any time. The options he can go to are determined in game-planning meetings during the week, but it is up to Rodgers to decode whether he needs to change the play.

The Giants' defensive coordinator, Perry Fewell, comes from the Tony Dungy coaching tree that specializes in the Tampa-2 defense. The Giants can sit back in zone and rush the quarterback with their outstanding front line or they can pressure and play man-to-man.

What the Packers are going to get Sunday is a bit of a mystery because the Giants are coming off a bye and have had two weeks to plan for this game. At 6-4 and losers of two straight, they may feel they need to push the envelope to make sure they don't lose this one.

"They're doing less schematically this year defensively," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said. "It's not Week 1, Week 2, Week 3 as far as unscouted looks, but I'm sure there's going to be a wrinkle or two that we have not seen on video that will probably show up Sunday night."

On the other side of the ball, the Packers are fortunate Manning is in a slump, having played poorly for four straight games. But they also know that the two-time Super Bowl champion is capable of coming out of it at any time.

The prospect of playing the Packers without linebacker Clay Matthews (hamstring), safety Charles Woodson (collarbone) and cornerback Sam Shields (ankle) might have Manning and offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride feeling much better about this game, especially given the rookies and second-year players the Packers are using to replace those starters.

For guys like Casey Hayward, Davon House, Jerron McMillian and Dezman Moses, this will the first time they've matched wits with Manning.

"He's a sharp quarterback," Capers said earlier this week. "He'll call a lot at the line of scrimmage. You have to do a good job of disguising, try not to give him a lot of pre-snap reads because he is smart."

What that means is that Burnett, McMillian, Hayward and M.D. Jennings, all young, prominent members of the secondary, are going to have to play the game like veterans and not fall into the traps Manning sets for them. It means showing one thing before the snap and playing another without giving Manning a clue it's coming.

"He's going to do everything he can to try to get you to show your hand," Jennings said. "You just have to be disciplined and try to hold it and then get to where you're going."