A month ago, the Philadelphia Eagles came up the New Jersey Turnpike and dominated the New York Giants. The Eagles get another chance to do it next Sunday, this time in a much more important contest — at least to New York.

The Eagles-Giants game, which will be the first of two on Sunday, is part of an all-rematch second round of the NFL playoffs. Philadelphia and New York, NFC East rivals, split their two meetings this season while the other teams all met — Carolina beat Arizona in Charlotte; Tennessee won in Baltimore; and Pittsburgh beat San Diego at Heinz Field in the only 11-10 game in the history of the NFL.

All but the Ravens-Titans game, which is in Nashville, will be played at the same venue as the most recent contest between the teams.

The rematches include Arizona (10-7) at Carolina (12-4), and the Ravens (12-5) and Titans (13-3) on Saturday; Philadelphia (10-6-1) against the New York Giants (12-4), and San Diego (9-8) at Pittsburgh (12-4) on Sunday.

And unlike this week, when the home teams all were underdogs, things are as they should be next week — the home teams are favored.

In the AFC, the Titans are favored by 3 over the Ravens and the Steelers by 6 over the Chargers. In the NFC, the Giants are 4›-point favorites, and the Panthers by 9› points over the Cardinals.

"We're familiar with them. They're familiar with us," San Diego coach Norv Turner said.

He could speak for everyone.

AFC

Both road teams have real shots.

Baltimore travels well because any team that creates turnovers the way the Ravens do doesn't really need a home-field advantage. After all, they took the ball away five times Sunday in their 27-9 win in Miami against a team that had only 13 turnovers all season, tied for the fewest in the NFL.

They also can run, with a three-back group headed by Le'Ron McClain that can wear down defenses and take the pressure off quarterback Joe Flacco.

Flacco became the first rookie to win a road playoff game Sunday, but rookie QBs are never immune to playoff pressure — as Atlanta's Matt Ryan demonstrated in throwing two interceptions in Arizona on Saturday. In fact, most of Baltimore's points Sunday came from the defense.

The advantage for Tennessee against Baltimore is their offensive line, which allowed only 12 sacks — a remarkable feat with an immobile 36-year-old quarterback like Kerry Collins.

But Tennessee has injury problems, too.

Its two best (or best known) defensive linemen, Albert Haynesworth and Kyle Vanden Bosch, finished the regular season hurt. Haynesworth has a knee injury and Vanden Bosch a groin injury, and coach Jeff Fisher says he expects both back for next week's game. Center Kevin Mawae, who has an elbow problem, is more of a question mark.

The Titans won the first game 13-10 on a late 80-yard drive engineered by Collins. It was kept alive by a flag on a third-and-10 play for a helmet-to-helmet hit against Baltimore's Terrell Suggs. It looked more like shoulder-to-shoulder.

"Baltimore has improved in all areas since we saw them earlier this season," Fisher said Sunday. "They are built around a strong run game and a great defense, which reminds us of the classic matchups against them in the past."

The Chargers go into Pittsburgh with five straight wins.

They ended Indianapolis' nine-game winning streak 23-17 in overtime Saturday night — San Diego's fifth straight win after an inexplicable 4-8 start. The Chargers dominated for most of the game, which probably wouldn't have gone to overtime if they hadn't been caught napping on the 72-yard touchdown pass from Peyton Manning to Reggie Wayne that put the Colts ahead in the third quarter.

Yes, the Chargers will have to play in cold weather on a notoriously inconsistent pitch.

But if they were able to pressure Manning, they can probably do it to Ben Roethlisberger against Pittsburgh's questionable offensive line. Roethlisberger sustained a concussion in the Steelers' final regular-season game. He says he'll play, but under league rules, concussions remain a medical decision.

"I believe we're a lot better team now than we were six weeks ago or eight weeks ago," Turner said of the Chargers, who were a preseason favorite in the AFC but were just about out of it at 4-8 when they got hot. They also benefited from Denver's fold.

NFC

As the odds demonstrate, Arizona has less chance than Philadelphia at springing an upset, although the Cardinals were competitive in Charlotte in their first meeting with the Panthers, losing 27-23 on Oct. 26 in a game in which Kurt Warner threw for 381 yards. The Cardinals led 17-3 and took a 23-17 lead late in the third quarter after Carolina came back.

But they don't stop the run well, which means trouble with the Carolina tandem of DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart. And they don't run well themselves despite a better effort than usual in Saturday's upset of Atlanta, when the Cardinals trotted out forgotten Edgerrin James for 73 yards on 16 carries.

Moreover, the Panthers got hot late and Arizona got cold. Despite its win over the Falcons, Arizona finished 6-0 against its rivals in the weak NFC West and is now 4-7 against non-division opponents.

The Giants beat the Eagles 36-31 in Philadelphia and were cruising at 11-1 when the Eagles came to the Meadowlands on Dec. 7. Philadelphia won 20-14, the Giants' defense had trouble getting stops, and their only offensive touchdown came in garbage time.

But that came at a point where New York was probably too assured it would get the home-field advantage and was feeling comfortable. It will be primed this week after its bye.

The Giants view the Eagles as the mirror of their team from last season when they got in as a wild-card entry and won three road games before upsetting unbeaten New England in the Super Bowl.

"I think the Eagles are the hottest team in the NFL right now," Giants defensive end Justin Tuck said after Philadelphia beat the Minnesota Vikings 26-14 Sunday in the NFC wild-card game. "They may be the sixth seed, but they sure aren't playing like it."

The Eagles didn't play especially well in their win over Minnesota in the pristine conditions of the Metrodome. Donovan McNabb knows he won't pass as well in the wind of the Meadowlands, and the Giants will almost surely run for more than the 88 yards they had against Philadelphia in that game a month ago.

But it won't help that they are the favorites against a team that knows them as well as they know themselves. And vice versa.

As they proved during their Super Bowl run last season, the Giants prefer to be considered the underdog. Maybe that explains why they lost three of their final four games, winning the one that really counted — against Carolina.

That may explain last season. They win the games that count. So they probably will again.