Win and In

28 12 2011

As you can probably guess, I had a pretty good Christmas. If you have read this blog at all in the past few years, then you can imagine how satisfying Saturday’s win was, not only for the Giants, but for me and the rest of the Giants fans fed up with hearing Rex Ryan’s overinflated ego parading around in the local media since he arrived here in 2009.

It was a sweet, sweet victory that was made even sweeter by the fact that the Giants were the “road” team in MetLife Stadium on Saturday and had the pleasure of quieting a sea of Jets fans and fire helmet-wearing cheerleaders. Although things got a little harrowing towards the end, the defense came up huge when it needed to and the safety on Mark Sanchez that aborted the Jets’ final chance at a comeback drive before it ever really started was the play that sealed the deal for Big Blue. Seconds later, when Bradshaw pranced across the goal line to make it 29-14, it was pure ecstasy for Giants fans everywhere.

But as we went to sleep on Christmas Eve with visions of Victor Cruz’s electrifying 99-yard touchdown catch dancing in our heads, there was another thought that was struggling to push its way to the front of our conscious: the Dallas Cowboys.

Now, there is one game to go and there is only one team that stands between the New York Giants and their first playoff berth since the 2008 season. For all intents and purposes though, the playoffs began last week for the Giants. The motivation and fire and intensity that was nowhere to be found against Washington two weeks ago, was definitely present against the Jets, thanks in part to Rex Ryan’s week of unabashed trash-talking. Now, it’s the second round of the Giants’ playoffs and Big Blue needs to make like 2007 and dispose of the Cowboys and the battered Tony Romo if they hope to fight another week.

Easier said than done.

It all comes down to one game, a de facto NFC East championship game. The winner will host a playoff game in round one in their building, and the loser will have to deal with an 8-8 record and a once-promising season that ended in bitter disappointment.

On December 11th, the Giants traveled to Dallas and completed a wild and improbable comeback to steal the NFC East throne from the Cowboys, albeit temporarily. With their backs against the wall and down by 12 with five minutes remaining, Eli Manning brought the Giants back from the dead and kept their playoff hopes alive.

On Sunday night, the Giants and Cowboys will have 60 minutes to battle it out on the field for the NFC East title. So while the rest of the world is making plans for New Year’s Eve, Giants fans are hoping that the real celebration comes around midnight on January 2nd, not midnight on January 1st.


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Brace Yourselves, Giants Fans

31 10 2011

In the eight years that Tom Coughlin has been the head coach of the New York Giants since he arrived in 2004 along with Eli Manning, Giants fans have become pretty accustomed to the team’s quick starts. Of the eight seasons he has been at the helm, the Giants have started 5-2 in seven of them. The one season they didn’t start 5-2? It was 2008, and they started 6-1 instead.

But just as Giants fans have gotten used to fast starts in the Tom Coughlin Era, we have also grown just as accustomed to second-half collapses. In 2004, Coughlin’s first year on the job, the Giants jumped out to a 5-2 start behind veteran quarterback Kurt Warner. Midway through that season, Warner was replaced by Eli Manning (then just a rookie) and the Giants went 1-8 in their remaining nine games to finish 6-10. This collapse was excusable, mostly because we had just handed the keys to the offense over to our freshly minted rookie quarterback and growing pains were expected.

In 2005, a 5-2 record became an 11-5 finish and a first-round playoff game at home. The second half collapse was avoided. Then, in 2006, it returned again. This time, a 5-2 start was followed by a 3-6 second half and the Giants barely squeaked into the playoffs at 8-8.

A Super Bowl title in 2007 erased the memories of past late-season collapses, at least temporarily. The following season, an 11-1 start was negated when Plaxico Burress decided to tuck a gun into the waistband of his sweatpants in a NYC club. The Giants finished that season by losing four of their last five games, including an embarrassing home playoff loss to Philadelphia.

In 2009, the second half struggles continued. Another 5-2 start was tarnished by yet another 3-6 record in the remaining nine games, including two straight losses to end the season, in which the Giants were outscored 85-16. Last season, the Giants’ second half problems were less pronounced. They are typically attributed to the fourth quarter of the gut-wrenching Dec. 19th loss to Philadelphia, a game that served as a sort of poetic microcosm for all of the Giants’ late-season collapses of the past. Nevertheless, a 6-2 start gave way to a mostly mediocre 4-4 in the second half of the 2010 season and the Giants missed out on the postseason for the second straight year.

And that brings us to the present. On October 31st, the New York Giants sit at 5-2 for the third consecutive year and currently hold a two-game lead in the NFC East over the Cowboys, Eagles and Redskins, who are all 3-4. If there was ever a time for the Giants to perpetuate their habit of folding in the second half of the season, it’s now. Big Blue faces arguably one of the most arduous nine-game stretches in recent memory and are fresh off of a less-than-inspiring 20-17 win over the 0-7 Miami Dolphins at home.

The last nine games of this season will tell you everything you need to know about the 2011 New York Giants, and it will likely tell you everything you need to know about the Tom Coughlin Era, which will either live or die with this stretch of games. Beginning next week in New England, the Giants will face five 2010 playoff teams (New England, Philadelphia, New Orleans, Green Bay, NY Jets) and will also have to deal with four crucial divisional games thrown in for good measure. Although Dallas and Washington may not scare too many teams right now (especially after Dallas’ performance in Philly last night), divisional games are always tough and the Giants have already lost to Washington once this season.

The Giants can easily fold up once again, like they’ve done before, and blame their shortcomings on the brutal schedule and bad luck. But they also have the opportunity to exorcise their second-half demons and rise to the occasion. They can choose to thrive on the adversity and Eli can continue his stellar play and the scary-when-healthy defensive foursome of Tuck, Osi, Pierre-Paul and Kiwanuka can terrorize the likes of Brady, Rodgers and Brees. The fact is, anything is in play right now, and with most of Giants nation expecting another late-season swoon, this is finally Big Blue’s chance to rise above the expectations and surprise us all.

For better or for worse though, at the end of this season, we will know what kind of team these Giants are — whether or not we’re ready for it.


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They Might Be Giants

7 12 2009

Well, I’m back. I was out of commission this past week, battling a particularly ornery case of the swine flu. Apparently, the Giants are back too. Yes that’s right, that football team from New York that’s been locked in a nosedive since early October (no, not that New York football team) wants to play with the big boys again.

Yesterday, the Giants improved to 3-1 in the NFC East with a somewhat-convincing 31-24 win over the hated Dallas Cowboys. With the win, the Giants captured their first season sweep of the Cowboys since 2004 and most importantly, capture a little bit of the momentum that has eluded them as of late. The win pushes the 7-5 Giants to within one game of the division lead, behind the Cowboys and Eagles, both 8-4.

Looking at the box score from yesterday’s game, you would most likely find it hard to believe that the Giants won the game rather decisively. But as we all know, in football more than any other sport, who wins and who loses goes far beyond what you read in the stat sheet. After all, the Giants were topped in every single statistical category except for rushing yards yesterday (they outgained Dallas 100-45 on the ground). The 31-24 final score doesn’t even tell the entire story; with less than 5 minutes to go in the game, the Giants held a 31-17 lead. The Cowboys cut the lead to 7 with under a minute to play when Romo connected with Miles Austin for a touchdown. The Cowboys soundly beat the Giants in the time of possession battle, holding the ball for more than 38 minutes, to the Giants’ 21:10. They also managed to top us in total yards (424-337), first downs (27-15), total plays (80-49), and they turned the ball over fewer times.

So how did the Giants do it yesterday? Magic. Mostly smoke and mirrors, actually. You see, they were able to suspend an entire second team, just slightly above field level, while keeping them completely invisible to the naked eye– I’m just kidding. The Giants got help yesterday from a little something I like to call The Big Play. We haven’t seen too much of The Big Play this season, mostly because Plaxico Burress and Tiki Barber were our two biggest Big Play contributors in the past, and neither wear blue anymore. And Ahmad Bradshaw, who can typically be counted on to break a Big Play every now and then, is playing on not one, but two sprained ankles. In case you’re keeping score at home, he doesn’t have any more ankles to sprain. He has sprained just about every ankle he has. That’s two. In fact, the Giants number Big Play guy so far this season has been the rookie Hakeem Nicks. The first touchdown of his NFL career was a nifty 54-yard catch and run against Kansas City and his highlight reel 62 yard touchdown catch against Arizona were two of the biggest Big Plays the Giants have seen all year. Until yesterday.

Yesterday the Giants used The Big Play, and they used it well. I mean, how else do you score 31 points when your starting quarterback completes only 11 passes the entire game (11/25, 241 yards, 2 TD)? That’s right, The Big Play. One of these big plays came late in the third quarter, immediately after the Cowboys had just recaptured the lead at 17-14 on Romo’s second touchdown pass of the game to one of their Roy Williamses. The one that catches passes (or doesn’t, if you’re going by his stats from the last two years). Anyway, on the Giants’ first play following that touchdown, Manning swung the ball out into the flat for Brandon Jacobs, who proceeded to make a few defenders miss and then tightroped his way down the near-sideline for 74 yards and a Giants touchdown. I was going to follow that with an analogy about the last time I saw Brandon Jacobs run that fast, until I realized that I have never seen Brandon Jacobs run that fast. Ever. All of a sudden, it was 21-17 Giants, and the momentum was priority-shipped right back to us, and we would never relinquish it.

After a 25-yard pass to Steve Smith (6 rec., 110 yards) and a 29-yard scamper by Bradshaw set up another Tynes field goal to extend the Giants’ lead to 24-17, the rejuvenated Big Blue defense forced Dallas to punt and the Big Play that came next, would serve as the proverbial nail in the coffin. Domenik Hixon returned Mat McBriar’s punt 79 yards for the touchdown, electrifying the Giants Stadium crowd and most importantly, letting Giants fans breathe a little bit easier on the way to victory. The punt return was the Giants first since Chad Morton brought one back against Arizona in the 2005 season opener and it was Hixon’s first return touchdown since he brought back a kick-off against New England in the 2007 finale.

As for the defense…they still allowed a ton of yards. Although they succeeded in shutting down the run game and neutralizing Dallas’ three-headed monster of Marion Barber, Felix Jones and Tashard Choice (they allowed 251 yards rushing at Dallas in Week 2), the pass defense still left a lot to be desired. Tony Romo completed 41 of 55 passes for 392 yards with 3 touchdowns and no interceptions. Jason Witten had a field day, and continued the pattern of tight ends absolutely torching the Giants secondary. His 14 catches for 156 yards were both career highs and I swear that if he converted one more 3rd and 16 with a sliding catch over the middle I was going to chug Windex and light myself on fire. The changes that the coaching staff made to the defense yesterday, starting Kiwanuka over Umenyiora, Chris Canty over Fred Robbins and Johnathan Goff over Chase Blackburn at middle linebacker, seemed to spark the defense where it mattered; Umenyiora ended up recovering a huge Marion Barber fumble at the end of the first half and returning it deep into Dallas territory which led to Brandon Jacobs’ one-yard touchdown run and the Giants 14-10 halftime lead. However, the same weaknesses that we’ve been seeing all season were still exposed yesterday, namely the middle of the field, where Romo picked apart the Giants linebackers by hitting Witten and Austin over and over again on slant routes.

The big difference though, was that the Giants defense stepped up and make stops when they had to, and because of that, Big Blue lives to fight another week. Not only is a win over the Cowboys important in the race for the NFC East, but it’s always sweeter to beat the hated division rivals, not once but twice in one season. Their schedule gets tough over the next few weeks (San Diego and New Orleans) which means that the Giants need to take advantage of this door that has suddenly been re-opened for them. A win at home next week against Philly and the week after that in Washington could put the Giants back in first place. As we all know however, winning in the NFC East is always easier said than done.


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MEGA, SUPERSIZED, COLOSSAL 2009 NFL Season Preview, Part I (Don’t say I didn’t warn you)

29 08 2009

The 2008 NFL season was one of the wackiest, most upside-down seasons I can ever remember watching in real life (as opposed to some really crazy seasons I’ve played in Madden). The 2007 MVP Tom Brady went down for the season on only the second play from scrimmage, however the Patriots still managed to finish 11-5, but then didn’t even make the playoffs. The Miami Dolphins came out of nowhere (literally nowhere) and went from 1-15 the previous season to 11-5 and AFC East Champions.

The defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants looked to be in top-form all season and were favorites to repeat until Plaxico Burress decided to shoot himself in the thigh and somehow, the NFC Championship ended up coming down to the Eagles and the Cardinals, two teams who in Week 16 looked like they didn’t even want to make the playoffs.

Oh and the Lions went 0-16.

That was your 2008 season recap. So without further adieu, here’s your 2009 season preview, all 40,000 words of it.

Since I’m likely going to roll off 2,000 words for the NFC East and NFC North, I’ll do myself and everyone else a favor by limiting the preview to two divisions per day. That way, I can do a 4-part mega special. So here’s Part 1:

NFC

East

1) New York Giants (11-5)

Even the most hardheaded diehard fans (much like myself) have to admit that there are some problems going into this season that weren’t really addressed by the front office in the offseason. For example, our star wide receiver, who caught the winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLII is now going to be doing his best Paul Crewe impression in state prison, just in time to takeover the team that Michael Vick had to leave last month. So now, instead of going out and signing a veteran WR to fill the gaping hole left by not only Burress’s absence but also Toomer’s (who left for Kansas City in free agency) Eli Manning is going to have to rely on a bevy of young wide receivers who may or may not catch 50% of the passes thrown at them. Domenik Hixon, Steve Smith, Hakeem Nicks, Sinorice Moss, Ramses Barden, and Mario Manningham. Not exactly household names, but only time will tell how they can adapt to playing professional football in New York.

As for the backfield, the Giants lost Derrick Ward, 1/3 of the famous Earth, Wind and Fire backfield to Tampa Bay this spring, turning the aforementioned trio into something that now more resembles Boyz II Men. But have no fear, Brandon Jacobs looks to be at the top of his game, coming off of a 15 TD season a year ago and Ahmad Bradshaw should be the perfect change-of-pace back with fresh legs to navigate the gaping holes created by a Pro Bowl offensive line.

Plus, the defense is 100% healthy and some analysts have remarked that this year’s Giants defensive line has the potential to be one of the best D-lines ever. So that’s something to be excited about.

2) Philadelphia Eagles (10-6)

I can’t really begin to try and understand what direction the Eagles wanted to go in when they signed Michael Vick a few weeks ago to a 2-year contract. If it was strictly a move to make headlines, then they accomplished that. Frankly, if I never hear Michael Vick’s name ever again, I won’t be upset. He hadn’t even stepped on the field in a preseason game before protesters were already outside the Linc marching for him. We haven’t even seen PETA bring out the big guns yet. How will this relationship between McNabb and Vick work out? Not well. And I don’t have to be an expert analyst to know that this experiment is not going to end well. Two superstars on one team playing the same position. Do you know what comes with superstars? Superstar egos. McNabb can talk all he wants about how he campaigned to get Vick to Philly, but when it comes down to it, and Vick starts taking snaps away from him and McNabb’s going in on plays lined up as a wide receiver, he might feel differently. And I have a feeling that it’s started already. Plus, you have to know that the first time McNabb screws up, the Philly fans will be starting a “WE WANT VICK” chant faster than they can scarf down a cheesesteak. Oh wait….that already happened the other night.

Luckily for Eagles fans, the team is virtually the same team from last year, plus the key additions of Jeremy Maclin and LeSean McCoy (who should end up being solid relief for Brian Westbrook’s old knees by the second half of the season when he’s usually as beat up as a ’74 Chevelle). The loss of Brian Dawkins and several other key defensive players may prove costly down the stretch, but the Eagles have what it takes to make another playoff run, for the most part.

3) Dallas Cowboys (10-6)

I had a different beginning for this paragraph, but I forgot it because I was distracted by all the Cowboys fans loudly trying to convince themselves that their team is better off without Terrell Owens. Sure, whatever you say. So who is going to make up those 15 touchdowns this season? Sam Hurd? One thing the Cowboys do have going for them this season is the massive behemoth of a scoreboard hanging from the ceiling of their new stadium. Now if only they can get it to block the opposing team’s end zone instead of punts, Tony Romo might have a chance to win his first playoff game.

4) Washington Redskins (9-7)

I didn’t hear a whole lot about the Redskins this offseason, which is odd considering nary a spring goes by without Dan Snyder hopelessly pursuing big name free agents and making the salary cap his bitch. Maybe the last few second-half collapses have opened his eyes to the fact that aimlessly throwing money around does not equate to wins in the NFL. Either way, Jason Campbell showed signs of maturing last season and this being the second full year now under Jim Zorn’s system, expect improvement for the Skins. Just not enough improvement to give them a chance of making the playoffs in one of the league’s most competitive divisions.

North

1) Chicago Bears (10-6)

The season is going to come down to the final week in the NFC North because (with the exception of the Lions) this is one of the most evenly matched divisions in the league. The Vikings barely squeaked away with the division title last year after a Week 17 win over the Giants, but this year is the year that the Bears return to the top. The Bears made an impressive run at the tail end of last season but ultimately fell short of winning the division. However they did improve on last year’s team already just by getting Jay Cutler in that unbelieveably ridiculously stupid trade from Denver that sent Kyle Orton to the Broncos. I can only imagine that the phone conversation between Lovie Smith and Josh McDaniels went something like this:

JM: Listen Lovie, Cutler is really starting to piss me off, I need to show this team who’s boss, I can’t come in here, expect to right the ship and let my QB walk all over me. Do you want him?

LS: (laughing) Yeah, I’d love to have Jay Cutler, did you watch any of our games last year? Do you have any clue who I’m starting this season? Kyle Orton. And my next best choice is Rex Grossman. That’s like choosing between herpes and gonorrhea.

JM: How about Cutler for Orton, straight-up?

LS: (silence)

JM: You still there?

LS: (trying not to laugh, which maniacally rubbing his hands together) Deal.

That’s like trading a mini-fridge for a 60-inch flatscreen TV. Seriously. Regardless, Cutler has no one to throw to, save for a punt-returner-turned-wide receiver called Devin Hester. The defense is as strong as ever though, and Cutler has one of the best arms in the league. Add Matt Forte to the mix, one of last year’s biggest surprises, and the Bears have a winning formula.

2) Minnesota Vikings (10-6)

I’m trying to keep this paragraph brief so I don’t have to mention the name of the quarterback that the Vikings recently signed. But by explaining this, I’m already breaking my rule of not mentioning him and look, that’s already 30-something words about someone who I didn’t even want to mention. BRETT FAVRE, BRETT FAVRE, BRETT FAVRE, BRETT FAVRE. There, it’s out there now. Honestly, his rotator cuff isn’t 100% and I see him being on injured reserve before Week 10. There isn’t a rift in the Minnesota locker room right now, but there will be. Just watch. And All Day can run for another 2,000 yards if he wants to, but you’re only going so far when you have a 41-year old quarterback who doesn’t know when to retire, and who is backed up by Tarvaris Jackson and Gus Frerotte.

3) Green Bay Packers (9-7)

Aaron Rodgers looks infinitely more comfortable in his second full season as starting quarterback and he has a number of reliable weapons in Donald Driver and Greg Jennings, who had a breakout year in 2008. Plus, drafting Boston College’s B.J. Raji adds to an already solid defense. Last season was a disappointment for Green Bay, but they have the talent and the potential to turn it around this season.

4) Detroit Lions (4-12)

They have the #1 pick in the draft in Georgia’s Matthew Stafford, but we all know how much that means (I’m looking at you, Alex Smith). Anyway, he won’t be starting the season at QB. Instead, Daunte Culpepper will get the nod, at least for the first few weeks. Expect Stafford to be starting by the midway point of the season though if the Lions start off slow (and they will). Let’s face it though, if they win 2 games, it will still be a vast improvement over last season’s 0-16 train wreck.

NFC South and West Previews coming tomorrow, stay tuned!


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