SuperFan: Giants vs. Ravens (11/18/08)

    Another Week,  Another Wonderful Win

            By SuperFan

 

            I went to dictionary.com and looked up the definition of the word “dominate,” and this is the one I felt was most appropriate:

            Dominate

          dom⋅i⋅nate [dom-uh-neyt]

         1. to rule over; govern; control. (in case you don’t believe me, here’s the          link - http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=dominate&db=luna)

 

After watching Sunday’s incredibly impressive victory by our New York Football Giants over the Baltimore Ravens, I think there’s no better way to describe our offensive line’s performance than that word – DOMINATE.  That’s exactly what they did, all game.  It was truly a sight to behold.  We ran for over 200 yards against the number one rush defense in the NFL!!!  An offensive line can’t play much better than that.  We dominated the best - bring on the rest!

            As each week passes, I’m starting to really believe that Brandon Jacobs must have been artificially created in a lab somewhere.  What he does, week after week, is beyond human.  The guy missed nearly half the game Sunday from a bruised ankle, and the MRI comes back completely negative.  Must be bionic.  Even though he’s been sharing the load with two other guys, you could make a reasonable argument for him for league MVP this season.  Wow.

            I’ve been a fan of this team for a long time, as I know many of you are as well.  This team is unlike any Giants team I can think of, ever.  Never before have I been able to watch a game, regardless of the situation, and just know in my gut that a simple draw play can probably get us whatever yards are needed for a first down.  AT ANY POINT IN THE GAME!  All we can do is watch with awe and admiration.

            Obviously, this sort of success has many fans understandably worried about Jacob’s free agency come this off-season.  I’m not worried.  I have all the faith in the world that Jerry Reese knows exactly what he’s doing, and when the time comes, will make the decision that works out best for the team (hopefully that means keeping our backfield EXACTLY THE SAME).  In the meantime, our worrying won’t change anything, so why not step back, enjoy this wave of greatness being shown every week, and cross that bridge when we come to it. 

            All this praise, and I haven’t even gotten to the defense yet!  Yes, we’ve stalled a bit in the sack column (I think we’ve managed just one in the past two games), bu the interceptions have gone way up.  Welcome back, Aaron Ross!  Nice to see you playing up to your potential once again!

            Unfortunately, I feel potentially misinformed discussing too many details from last week’s win.  I decided to watch the game at home, since it was on the local West Coast feed, which meant that I lost the game somewhere in the beginning of the fourth quarter, when CBS decided it was a blowout and that people would care more about seeing the end of the Denver-Atlanta game.  Once again, my faith in televised sports hindered my ability to fully enjoy (and see) the game.  Go figure.  First Fox, now CBS.  Going along with that, since ESPN has Tony Kornheiser in the booth and NBC has been letting Keith Olberman pretend to be able to talk about sports (again), doesn’t it seem like there’s a conspiracy with all the networks televising NFL games to try and make the experience less enjoyable?  That’s not even including the complications of a game televised on NFL Network to a person with cable!  Okay, that’s enough for my ridiculously far-fetched and long-winded rant for this week.  Whew.

            Last Sunday, our offense proved its dominance over a very talented Ravens’ defense.  This week, it’s the defense’s turn to re-affirm its intensity over a very good Cardinals’ offensive attack.  I have a good feeling that not only is the secondary going to be fine, but they’ll be helped a lot by a hungry (and very due) pass rush.

            The really good news is I’ll be back home in Jersey for the next two Sundays, so I’ll get the watch the games in the same ritualistic style as last season!  Get ready to introduce the win column to double digits, baby!  Keep sending me those e-mails, you crazed gmen-a-holics!  The address is gmensuperfan@gmail.com.  Until next week, GO GMEN!!

           

 

SuperFan: Giants vs. Eagles (11/11/08)

    One Heel Of A Win

            By SuperFan

            In week one, when the Redskins decided to throw short routes on 3^rd  and long for the whole second half to help us get the win, I thought, “Well, that’s fortunate.”  After the Bengals game, when they let the clock run out in the fourth quarter and settled for a field goal to send it in to over time, instead of going for the win, I thought, “Gee, the football gods really must wan to see us win.”   Then, against Pittsburgh, a backup long-snapper had to come into the game on a punt, and he sailed the snap into the back of the end zone, tying the game for us.  That’s when I started thinking, “hmmm….lots of stuff going in our favor so far this season, and it’s still kinda early…”  Finally, Sunday night, there was the challenge on Eli’s illegal forward pass that got overturned in our favor.  Is it too early to start saying that this may be another destined season?  Probably – but it’s still really fun to say so!  WE’RE 3-0 IN THE DIVISION, BABY! 

            If you had to pick just one team in this division to be our number one worst enemy, it would be the Philadelphia Eagles.  And we went into their stadium and, despite the close final score, completely outplayed them!  Go figure, it takes the season after we win the Super Bowl to finally take a firm strangle-hold on this division.

            This team is so good from top to bottom that, to a Giants’ fan, you’re just waiting to find the catch.  But no matter how hard I try, I can’t find one.  Sure, there are mistakes made here and there, but none that stand out enough to really be a called a “chink” in this team’s armor.  To that point, I’ve made this conclusion:  the only team in the National Football League capable of knocking the New York Giants off their current track to a second dream season is – THE NEW YORK GIANTS.

            Every close game we’ve played this season, and the one we lost, were results of the Giants making mistakes.  The Redskins game – our offense pretty much turned off in the second half, and we settled for a bunch of field goals..  The Rams – we beat handily.  The Bengals – we settled for field goals most of the game, and didn’t challenge a pass to Plax in the end zone that should have been a touchdown.  The Seahawks – we beat handily.  The loss to the Browns – stupid penalties, turnovers, and every time the Browns would lose yards on a penalty, we’d let them come right back with a huge yard-gainer. The 49ers game – well that one was just ugly.  The Steelers game should have been a blowout, the Cowboys game should have been a BIGGER blowout, and last Sunday’s final score was only deceptively close.  Just imagine what would happen in a game if every aspect of our team was clicking at 100% - we’d be heads and shoulders above every other team in the NFL. 

            While there was one bad change last Sunday (no sacks for the defense), I noticed a great improvement – managing the play clock.  No timeouts were wasted to save us from a delay of game penalty (this time, the other team got that penalty).

            I know a lot of people are talking about how unbelievable it was to give the ball to Westbrook on 3^rd and 4^th and short at the end of the game last Sunday.  Really?  The game’s on the line, and they put the ball in their playmaker’s hands!  (Anyone who thinks McNabb is more of a playmaker for that team than Brian Westbrook is clearly hasn’t been watching that team very closely.)  If you can’t trust your offense to be able to gain ONE YARD on the ground in two tries, then you don’t deserve to win that game, and don’t deserve to be considered an elite football team.  It was the right call.  Period.

            Hey, after such a historic election, if you’re still in the voting spirit, why not go ahead and vote some G-men to the pro bowl?  They certainly deserve it! 

            Well, that’s all I got for this week.  Time to go get ready for the vengeful slaughter we’re gonna lay on the Ravens this Sunday (even though there’s only one guy from that Super Bowl team still on our roster).  If you want to e-mail me, the address is gmensuperfan@gmail.com.  Until next week, GO G-MEN!

           

 

SuperFan: Giants vs. Cowboys (11/4/08)

            Business As Usual

            By SuperFan

          As a Giants fan, when you find yourself thinking, “man, we should really be up by more than twenty-one points,” during a Dallas game, things are going pretty well.  What a sweet spectacle Sunday’s slaughter was (nice alliteration, I know).  It’s one thing to win a game you’re supposed to win.  It’s another thing to win it handily.  And it’s a whole different beast when you win it handily against the Cowboys.  Let’s face it – with the exception of a few big plays in the first quarter, our offense didn’t play that well on Sunday.  Turnovers, penalties, bad clock management (I’ll get back to that later), and we still racked up thirty-five points.  Imagine what the score might have been had the offense really been clicking! 

            What I loved most about Sunday’s win was that our defense showed no mercy or sympathy, regardless of who they threw in at quarterback.  I got the feeling that people thought (for whatever reason) that our pass rush was going to ease up against a back-up and otherwise banged-up Cowboys offense.  WHY WOULD ANYBODY THINK THAT!?!?  Do you really think guys like Antonio Pierce and Justin Tuck are going to underestimate the Cowboys simply because Romo isn’t in there?  Hell no!  Our defense came even harder, to the point where Jerry Jones might have been looking for Cowboys fans in the Meadowlands who could step in under center.  You can’t really blame Bollinger for playing the way he did – he came in in the middle of the game, to a defense that was scorching hot, and had to try and make some plays.  I’m surprised he didn’t lose any limbs back there.  That’s something positive the Dallas coaches can focus on during this week’s film sessions – all their quarterbacks made it out of the Meadowlands alive.

            I can’t wait until Week 15 when we play Dallas again, in Dallas, with Tony Romo as their quarterback.  This is such a great rivalry, and it’s so much more satisfying when you beat a rival when both teams are at full strength (well, as close to full strength as a team can be in week 15).  I’ll admit, I was a little ridiculous last week when I wrote about Brad Johnson being just as capable a quarterback as Romo.  Not to say he isn’t a good quarterback (I still say he is), but his style of play doesn’t work at all with a high-powered Cowboys offense.  However, I’m sure our defense is equally as capable of giving Romo the sort of fits they gave his fill-ins the other day.

            When you’re a championship team, you’re supposed to look at mnistakes being made each week and correct them.  Yet, it seems like every time our offense walks up to the line, Eli has all of five seconds left on the play clock to read the defense, make any necessary adjustments to the play, and snap the ball.  I can’t remember the last time we played a full game where Eli didn’t have to burn a timeout because the play clock was running out.  What’s going on there?  Are the plays not getting into the huddle right away?  Are they sharing life stories in the huddle instead of calling a play?  I really don’t understand why this team can’t seem to fix it’s problems with clock management.  This isn’t a new problem – it’s been an issue for a couple of seasons now.  Unbelievable.

            By the way - if this were college football, we’d be miles ahead of the Redskins in the rankings.  We’ve beaten every team that’s beaten them!  (Plus, you know, we’ve beaten them.)  Of course, if this were college football, it wouldn’t matter because we already have one loss – all hope would be lost.  Damn Elvis-loving computer ranking systems! 

            As a football fan, the NFL Network in many ways is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to this league.  Sorry to get distracted, but as I’m writing this, I’m also tuning in to “NFL Replay Real-Time.”  It’s you’re entire Sunday’s worth of football crammed in to one hour!  That’s like the instant gratification of instant gratification.

            Back to the G-Men.  We’ve beaten each team in our division we’ve played so far – all that’s left is Philly this Sunday night.  Sunday Night Football against our biggest rival, on the road.  This team’s quarterback is going to play, and looking pretty healthy from what I’ve seen so far.  This will be a real test for our defense, and I can’t wait for them to pass with flying colors.  If Plaxico can start hanging on to the passes thrown his way, he should have a big game (I’m going to keep saying he’s due until he has one).  Hopefully, our offense’s greatest secret weapon will get a chance to come out of hiding and actually play more than 4 downs!  Seriously – use Bradshaw like you’re supposed to, or get rid of him – it’s really not fair to him or the team.

            I’m continuing to love all the e-mails you guys have been sending me (even you bitter Dallas fans), so keep them coming!  The address is gmensuperfan@gmail.com.  Get ready for Philly baby, and GO G-MEN!!