Tuesday, September 22, 2009

SuperFan: Giants vs. Cowboys (9/22/09)

Nice Pick, Jerry

By Superfan

Wow. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: there should be an antibiotic for being a New York Giants fan. Still, you gotta love being a fan of this team. To go into Dallas, as they opened a new stadium which, according to NBC’s lead-in (probably at the request of Jerry Jones), was comparable to the Taj Majal, and WIN – doesn’t get much better than that in Week 2. I think they should get a snapshot of Jerry Jones’s expression at the end of that game, place it alongside a picture of him on the sidelines after we beat them in the divisional championship a couple years ago, frame them, and hang them somewhere in the new stadium when it opens next season (oh, I almost forgot to include the picture of him ring-deep in his nose after we made a pick of our own). Because I just love seeing his face after we beat them. He must hate the Gmen so much, and few things could make this Giants fan happier.

And what a crazy game it was! This team continues to prove people wrong week in and week out. Going into this game, there were several reasons why we wouldn’t win. “Our secondary was beaten up and too slow for Cowboy receivers.” They picked Romo off three times, with one getting run back for a TD (shoulda been two, but I’ll get to that later). “The receivers were unproven and too young to perform well enough in the spotlight.” Really? Two receiving touchdowns and nearly three hundred yards receiving between Steve Smith and Mario Manningham beg to differ. “The Cowboys defensive line were all over Eli last season, recording 12 sacks in the two match-ups.” And? They hardly laid a finger on the guy all game. Once again, the best offensive line in football showed everyone why they deserve that title.
As a character study in just falling short of being elite, Eli Manning might take the cake. I can’t understand it. For half of the game, you hate the guy, and the other half you love him. He’ll make a great play to get out of a sack, scrambling out of the pocket beautifully, only to miss a wide open receiver by twenty feet. But there’s no one I’d rather have behind center to lead a comeback drive in the fourth quarter. If he could only get over that little hump of inconsistency that’s plagued him his entire career, there’s no question he’d be one of the top three or four in the league. He’ll seem to show these flashes of brilliance at times on the field that make you wonder how someone with so much natural ability, intelligence, and toughness can, at times, make your insides churn. Maybe he’s past all that, and what we’re seeing are early-season jitters, simple timing mistakes that will take care of themselves as he spends more time with these young receivers on the field throughout the season. One thing’s for sure – he’s led us to two big divisional wins, with a pretty nice QB rating of 103.2 to show for it.
It’s funny how proud I was of our defense, despite giving up thirty-one points. Although they gave up that field goal just before the end of the first half, and let Dallas run all over them in the second half, they were still able to overcome the 105,000+ fan-fueled homefield advantage Dallas had going for them and successfully got in Romo’s head. Even though they didn’t sack him, they knocked him down quite a bit, and picked him off three times. And they did this even though it sure looked like the referees were doing everything in their power to not throw any flags on the Cowboys. It was almost as bad as those Big Ten referees that call the games in Notre Dame when a team from said conference come into town to play them. The first holding penalty called against Dallas didn’t happen until the 3rd quarter, and it was on their defense. Come on. And what Flozell Adams did to Justin Tuck was inexcusable. He shoulda been tossed from the game. The guy’s been playing like this his whole career, and all he gets for it each time is a little tripping penalty. If you get beat on a play, be a man and deal with it, but don’t cheat. Guys get hurt from cheap plays like that. Props to Justin Tuck for being the bigger man and not retaliating. It doesn’t hurt to show those other guys what true class is all about.
And how about these young receivers of ours! Steve Smith and Mario Manningham have done an excellent job stepping up in the clutch, and you can see the trust that’s developed between them and Eli. When Eli throws their way, he knows they have the playmaking abilities to catch the ball and do something with it. If only our game-plan could include Kevin Boss a little more, especially in the red zone, then we’d really be dominant passing team.
Lastly, I can’t forget to mention Lawrence Tynes, who always manages to step up and redeem himself when we need him most. Way to show up Wade’s ridiculous freeze attempt by striking it clean through the second time around.

Despite all the greatness that comes from such a huge win on the road against a division rival, there is room for cynicism (or as they say in the post game interviews – “improvement”). Once again, I’m going to have to repeat myself: if we continue to play scared in the red zone, we’ll never become a great team. Just like last week, when the team was driving early and getting the ball well into scoring position, we refused to throw the ball into the end zone, and had to settle for field goals. Which meant that for the second straight week, we barely scraped out a victory which in fact should have been a blowout. Coach Gilbride – you have to at least give the offense a chance to make something happen in the red zone.

This game was especially enjoyable to watch for me because I was back home in Jersey. All the old familiar faces came, and it was like a G-Men viewing reunion. My dad, my brother, my buddy Jon, and a few family friends were all over to watch it. Just like old times, the house was rocking Sunday night, and the nostalgia made for a great combination of joy and indigestion.
The game was made even better by the comments I received during the game from those of you I’ve now friended on facebook. I obviously can’t repeat any of the comments here, but they were quite hilarious and entertaining. If you haven’t yet, feel free to look me up under “Gmen Superfan.” Also, I love hearing from you via e-mail at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, so keep those coming.
While there is still room for improvement, as a Giants fan, you should be feeling pretty good. Can’t wait to invade Tampa Bay next Sunday! Until next week, GO G-MEN!!!!

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