In the Win Column

ALSO FEATURED ON THE OFFICIAL NY GIANTS BLOG AT GEAR UP FOR SPORTS

I think it’s about time for me to break out a running diary, and what would be a better occasion for it than a Sunday night game on national television against the defending NFC Champs? Just know that this live account of the game was preceded by 4 hours of tailgating and took place in the very last row of Giants Stadium on a perfectly brisk late-October night. In other words, the circumstances couldn’t be more perfect. Unfortunately, the game didn’t really follow suit. But here’s how it unfolded, for you to relive over and over again, free of charge. You’ll thank me later….10,000 words later.

4:45 p.m.: There’s always a unique atmosphere in the parking lot before night games, which is why I love coming to them. I think that having 6+ hours to drink beer and cook food, coupled with the fact that you have more than 6 hours to drink beer and eat food, is what makes it so special. Wait, did I just list the same reason twice? For the record, my buddy Dan and I are cooking chicken skewers, shrimp and bratwurst tonight. Best menu of the season so far.

5:37 p.m.: I’ve already counted 6 Cardinals jerseys here in the parking lot, which is 6 more than I saw the last time the Cards visited Giants Stadium in 2005. I guess we can chalk that up as being one of the benefits of playing in the Super Bowl; their fans are no longer afraid to leave the house without paper bags over their heads.

6:11 p.m.: Lawrence Taylor was signing autographs outside Gate C for the past hour. The line to see him was longer than the line for the port-a-john, so I had to make a judgment call. I chose to relieve myself. Chalk one up for tailgating. The score: Tailgating 1, Me 0.

7:09 p.m.: Someone is shooting off fireworks over by the racetrack and the people tailgating next to us are playing Christmas music. Oddly enough, these two separate events have me really excited for the game to start. Some things can’t be explained and other things shouldn’t have to be explained. I think this falls into both categories.

8:02 p.m.: Heading into the Stadium along with the masses. On the line waiting to get patted down by security, I hear a guy in front of me remark to his friend, “See, I told you night games are different” as four guys in Jacobs jerseys in front of them are forced to throw out the unopened beers they managed to stuff inside their jackets. Have I mentioned that I love night games?

8:26 p.m.: Tonight we are honoring the 1986 Super Bowl Championship team. Lawrence Taylor gets a standing ovation when he is introduced and I can’t help but think that this should help inspire the defense, in case they’re not already sufficiently inspired. It would be blasphemous to not play well with legends like LT, Harry Carson and Leonard Marshall watching from the sidelines.

1st Quarter

14:54 – On the first play from scrimmage, Warner hits Steve Breaston over the middle for 23 yards to the Giants 43. He’s tackled by….guess who….C.C. Brown! I’m having Vietnam flashbacks of last week and we’ve only played 6 seconds.

13:39 – I forgot to mention that in addition to honoring the ’86 team, Giants Stadium is going to be playing 80′s songs all night. We were just treated to “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins during the last TV timeout. I don’t know why this is important, but the Cardinals are now on the Giants 27 and I’m wondering if maybe I got tickets to last week’s game by accident.

13:05 – FUMBLE!!!!! Tim Hightower is stripped by Justin Tuck and recovered by Michael Johnson. The play was originally ruled down by contact, but when the replay was showed on the jumbotron it was clear that the ball was out before Hightower was down. What came next could only be described as 78,000 people yelling at Tom Coughlin to throw the challenge flag. I’ve never heard the crowd that adamant that a play should be challenged. Of course Tommy challenged it and of course it was reversed because his challenge record is impeccable. First down Giants at their own 27. I’ve changed my mind, not a bad start so far.

11:39 – Eli has come out with three straight passes to start the Giants first offensive possession, with completion to Manningham and Hixon. I can’t say I wholeheartedly agree with this, but the Cardinals are stacking 9 in the box right now and I don’t have much input on the Giants offensive gameplan anyway. Really? Nine in the box?

10:22 – Three and out. Apparently there’s a baseball game going on right now too. Judging from people around me, it’s a pretty important game. The stadium just erupted in a roar because Vladimir Guerrero got thrown out at first. Clearly, Giants fans are anxious for things to cheer about. (By the way, I’m well aware that it’s Game 6 of the ALCS, I’m just trying to go as long as I possibly can without fully acknowledging it.)

7:21 – Eli throws a deep ball over the middle and ends up trying to force it into a tight spot and, well, you can probably guess what happened. It originally looked as if Hixon came down with the pass in the end zone, but Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie won the jump ball and ripped it away from 87. Not exactly how I expected that play to end. What a tease, Eli. That was like dangling a steak in front of Artie Lange.

2nd Quarter

15:00 – I’ve sat through sociology lectures that were more exciting than that first quarter. After Eli’s interception, both teams traded punts (not even a good punt, in Feagles’ case) and now the Cardinals have the ball on their own 25 yard line. The good news is that not only is it 1-0 Angels in the 3rd inning right now, but also that we will be treated to the world’s best frisbee-catching dogs at halftime. I don’t even think that ‘ecstatic’ fully describes how I’m feeling.

14:06 – Well, our defense finally made a big play. Warner’s pass over the middle intended for Larry Fitzgerald was intercepted by Terrell Thomas. By the way, Thomas has been a ball-hawk all night so far. He has already broken up two passes and now has an interception. I feel like there are 11 of him on the field right now. That’s a good thing. Terrell Thomas is growing on me.

13:34 – Good news: Brandon Jacobs just rumbled his way down the sidelines for 25 yards to the Cardinals 4. First and goal. Bad news: The Yankees just took the lead in the bottom of the 4th. Trade-offs. I feel like I’m in Sophie’s Choice right now.

13:28 – TOUCHDOWN BRANDON JACOBS!!! Only the second touchdown of the season for the Jacobs, but it’s now 7-0 Giants and it’s enough to make me forget about the Yankees score for a second, as well as the fact that I’m losing my fantasy game to a guy that has Kurt Warner, Tim Hightower and Larry Fitzgerald on his team.

10:38 – Cardinals go three and out again. Then Eli is sacked and loses 11 yards on a 3rd and 2. Which raises the question, why are we throwing the football on a 3rd and 2? The run game has been almost non-existent tonight. I don’t know when the Cardinals bought a defense, but I certainly don’t remember them having one.

9:59 – A rare Shankopotamus just appeared. Jeff Feagles managed to boot a 28-yard gem which came off the side of his foot and wobbled out of bounds at the Arizona 44 yard line. Very uncharacteristic of Feagles.

8:18 – By the way, I just checked my fantasy team stats on my phone and found out that Vernon Davis and Miles Austin combined for 60 points today. Of course, none of that matters because both players were sitting next to each other on my make believe fantasy bench. I’m trying to remind myself why I love fantasy football so much.

7:36 - Yet another three and out for Arizona and then another three and out for the Giants. This game is getting a little out of hand. It’s going to be extremely difficult to transcribe this column with all of this constant action. And as I made that comment, Feagles punted 33 yards to our own 46 yard line. Unbelieveable. Two straight awful punts. I don’t think the Cardinals have started more than one drive from inside their own 35. It’s only a matter of time before the field position battle comes back to haunt us.

4:18 – ….And that time is up. Beanie Wells goes 13 yards off left tackle for the touchdown. The Yankees have a 3-1 lead on the Angels. I swear I didn’t just peek over the wall behind me to see how high of a jump it would be. Benefits of sitting in the last row of the stadium.

2:09 – Wow. Either the Giants just got really lucky, or they took the Broncos’ Orton-to-Stokley tipped pass and added it to the playbook. Manning’s deep pass over the middle intended for Manningham was tipped by Rodgers-Cromartie and then caught by Hakeem Nicks, perfectly in stride, who took it in for the touchdown. 14-7 Giants, 62-yard touchdown pass. Score one point for excitement.

Halftime – I missed the Cardinals final drive of the half which resulted in a 30 yard field goal, set up by a 44-yard pass from Warner to Anquan Boldin. I had to get a head-start on the line for the restroom. As it turns out, the lines were predictably long and I also missed the world’s greatest frisbee-catching dogs, which may or may not have been the second most exciting thing to happen in this game so far. 14-10 Giants at the half.

We will now fast-forward to the 13:11 mark of the 4th quarter, because the only notes I have written down about the 3rd quarter are, “ugh”, “not again”, “wow, that’s a lot of  boo’s” and “nice pass Eli”. Just to recap the third, the Cardinals scored on their first possession of the second half on a Hightower touchdown run after another Giants three and out. An Eli Manning pass that was picked off by Eugene Wilson later in the quarter led to a 6-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Jason Wright to make it 24-14 Cardinals. At this point, I was standing on my seat and hoping that they didn’t show anymore highlights from the Yankees game on the jumbotron.

4th Quarter

13:11 – Aside from the touchdown we scored off the fluke tipped pass play and the touchdown that was set up by Terrell Thomas’s interception, the offense hasn’t done much of anything tonight. Regardless, we are now set up on the Cardinals 44 yard line with a chance to cut into this lead.

9:50 – A 17 yard pass over the middle to Steve Smith and it’s first down at the Cardinals’ 11 yard line. The Giants can get a first down without scoring a touchdown, which is definitely an advantage for us and our poor red-zone offense. Although it’s still a two-score game and we need a touchdown and field goal, it’s always easier to get the touchdown first and then only need a field goal to tie.

9:05 – Third and three on the 4-yard line. I’m thinking that if they can’t pick up the first down here that they go for it on fourth down. With 9 minutes left, there’s still plenty of time left to make a stop with Arizona pinned on their own 1.

8:14 – Of course Jacobs only picks up 2 yards on a 3rd and 3 and of course Coughlin opts to kick the field goal instead of going for it on fourth down. Especially when Jacobs already converted a fourth down earlier on this drive. I guess we’ll settle for 24-17 and see if our defense can make some plays.

4:48 – Huge, huge stop for the defense. Kiwanuka comes up with the sack on a big 3rd and 3 play. Three timeouts to go, 83 yards for the touchdown. If the offense has any signs of life tonight, I think now would be the time for it to show its face. The Yankees are up 4-2 in the 8th and I’m starting to feel the first signs of OAS (Overtime Anxiety Syndrome). Amazing.

4:03 – Manning passes over the middle to Kevin Boss who makes an incredible catch for 25 yards to the Giants 42. What’s even more incredible was that he managed to hold onto the ball after he got his bell rung by Antrel Rolle. And even more amazing than that: I can actually feel NBC put up the graphic about the number of career comebacks in the 4th quarter or overtime that Eli Manning has. I hate close games.

3:52 – Well, Boss did a nice job of holding onto the ball after that catch, but guess who couldn’t hold onto the ball? Ahmad Bradshaw. After a nice 14 yard run to the Arizona 44, he loses the football and I haven’t seen the air sucked out of a stadium that quickly since the Vet was imploded. I would probably leave now if everyone else in the stadium didn’t have the same exact idea. Now I’m actually avoiding the traffic by staying.

2:52 – Can someone explain to me why the Cardinals just threw three straight passes? A 7 point lead with under 4 minutes to play and you don’t want to run the football and force the Giants to use up their timeouts? How does this make any sense at all? Actually, I’m not complaining. Improbably, we have one more chance now, at our own 9 yard line. This is it, this is what Eli does best.

2:45 – We’re going the wrong way…..

2:19 – HUGE PLAY! 3rd and 15 from our own 4, Eli completes a 34 yard pass to Steve Smith, and the hope is still alive! My eye is twitching at hyper speed right now, it’s like I have a metronome taped to my eyelid. I love overtime games.

1:20 – Pass to Manningham for 12 yards, Jacobs runs for 9 yards and then another 2 and it’s first down on the Cardinals 39. Timeout Giants. There’s that weird, uneasy, palpable buzz in the air right now that you can feel when a game starts coming down to the wire. It’s hard to describe, but it’s one of the reasons why I love football.

1:08 – A stomach punch. Talk about sucking the air completely out of the stadium, I’ve just seen it happen twice in a five-minute span. Unbelievable. Manning is picked off by Antrel Rolle on a pass intended for Steve Smith. What a somber scene right now, which is sure to be shattered in a few moments when everyone realizes that the Yankees just clinched the pennant. I can’t get out of this stadium fast enough right now.

The Giants beat themselves tonight, plain and simple. That’s what I’m going to convince myself after seeing that disappointing ending. Two opportunities to drive down the field and tie it in the final 5 minutes, two opportunities stopped dead in their tracks by two turnovers. Two awful, completely avoidable turnovers. I’m going to convince myself that we beat ourselves tonight if only because, for the second game in a row, we couldn’t get the job done against a quality team. This week it was the offense, not the defense, that left a lot to be desired. I thought we would come out and play with a little more intensity on our home turf for a Sunday night game, but that intensity was nowhere to be found. It was the costly turnovers that hurt us the most in the end, and at 5-2 now, we still have some room for improvement and luckily some room for error also, but it has to get better when we face the Eagles next week. And I believe that it will.