SuperFan: Giants vs. Raiders (10/13/09)

Taking Care of Business

By Superfan

Another week in the books, another impressively dominant victory for the Giants over a team they were clearly far superior to. That’s a significant indicator of a great team – dominating the games in the schedule that they’re expected to dominate. As a Giants fan, you couldn’t have asked for a better situation leading up next Sunday’s big match-up in New Orleans. With Eli hurt, what we really wanted to see was a chance for him to show that he could play through the pain, keep himself fresh by getting in a few successful series, and have enough of a cushion for him to be able to leave the game early and rest his heel. I half-expected him (if he did start), to at least play the entire first half, but our offense’s productivity allowed him an earlier exit than expected.
And when I say dominated, I really mean it (more so than any of the other games we’ve played this year). If it weren’t for a phantom “forward progress” whistle in the first half, we would have shut them out and finished with a 50-spot (after watching CBS replay the fumble recovery with the audio, I never heard a whistle blow until one of the referees did so indicating the runner was down by contact; that would have made the play reviewable, and would have given us a fourteen-point swing).

To be honest, for the first time in as long as I can remember, I didn’t watch the game live. My roommates Ryan, Paxton, and I had been planning to take a trip up in Big Sur for a weekend before camping season ended, and collectively figured if I had to miss a game live, it might as well be against the Raiders. Fortunately for me, I was right. I somehow managed to get cell service up there in the Redwood Mountains, however, and was bombarded by scoring updates (what seemed like) every five minutes. On the ride home, I knew it was going to be a fun beating to go over with my DVR.
Still, after watching that game (I could only watch most of the first half – it was such a bad blowout that CBS switched over to the Detroit-Pittsburgh game on the West Coast with a decent amount of time left in the 2nd quarter), you can’t help but feel sorry for Raider fans. After living in California for nearly two years, there’s no question that Oakland (like Cleveland) has some of the most unfortunately loyal fans in the league. I can only imagine how depressing it must be to watch your team play each week, knowing more often than not that they don’t stand a chance. I honestly feel that a well-coached Division 1-AA team might actually have a reasonable chance at shutting down Oakland’s offense. Al Davis has to just step down already, before he’s completely blackened what was a historically, well, historical reputation. Bottom line is, as long as Al Davis is the owner of the Oakland Raiders, they will not be successful. In January of 2007, he watched a reasonably talented (certainly not spectacular) LSU quarterback completely pick apart a far weaker, smaller, and slower Notre Dame defense in the Sugar Bowl. And because of that one single performance, Mr. Davis decided he had to draft him number one. So, disregarding all the advice from his scouts, Al went out and picked Jamarcus Russell with the first pick in the 2007 draft. The thing about working in Oakland is, unfortunately, if a staff member ever has a different opinion than Al Davis, they get fired – no matter how valuable they are to the franchise or how right they might be (i.e.: Bruce Allen, Jon Gruden). What’s worse for the fans of the silver-and-black is that Jamarcus Russell doesn’t even seem to care about how bad things have become. This franchise put a lot of hope and responsibility on Russell’s shoulders when they drafted him in 2007, and he obviously isn’t doing his part. Jamarcus, your laziness doesn’t only affect you, but it also reflects badly on a once-great franchise and an incredibly devoted fan base.

Okay, enough of that. Back to the G-men. More specifically, my man, Mr. Ahmad Bradshaw! Given the way he’s been playing all season, you gotta think teams must now prepare for him about as much as they do for Brandon Jacobs. How about these numbers through five games:
• TOTAL RUSHING YARDS: 375 – 6th overall
• YARDS/GAME: 75 – 9TH overall
• RUSHING FIRST DOWNS: 20 – tied 3rd overall
• 20+ YARDS RUSHES: 4 – tied 2nd overall
• RUSHING TDs: 2 – tied 14th overall
Not bad for the number two running back on the team! It won’t be long until
Derrick Ward is a distant memory, not to take away from what he brought last year. But since stepping into the number two slot, Ahmad has done nothing but produce tremendously week after week. Remember that whole “boot situation” everyone was freaking out about the other week? Yeah, me neither.

Another group of this Giants squad that I haven’t praised enough yet this season is the injury-riddled secondary. Aaron Ross hasn’t played a down yet all season, we all know the Kenny Phillips situation (out for the year), and Kevin Dockery has played just one game. Yet, the depth of our defense has really made its presence felt, as indicated in these statistics:
• PASSING COMPLETION %: 52.4% - 1st lowest overall
• NET PASSING YARDS: 524 – 1st lowest overall
• PASSING YARDS/GAME: 104.8 – 1st lowest overall
• TOTAL PASSING TDs: 4 – tied 6th lowest overall
• TOTAL INTERCEPTIONS: 5 – tied 8th most overall
• OPPONENT PASSER RATING: 60.4 – 2nd lowest overall
Maybe we shouldn’t call this secondary banged-up. Maybe we should simply call them versatile. Of course, we’ll know for sure how they fare (whoever ends up in the lineup) this weekend against New Orleans’ extremely high-powered aerial assault.

Which brings me, at last, to this week’s game. While there are other good rivalries and competitive match-ups going on this weekend, I can’t find a single one that looks to be as exciting as our New York Football Giants going into New Orleans to take on the Saints. Before the season began, everyone knew what kind of threat both the Giants’ defense and the Saints’ offense posed to their opponents. However, the Saints’ defense has been suspect the last few seasons, and the Giants’ offense had serious questions coming in without Plaxico Burress, Amani Toomer, or Derrick Ward. Low and behold, here we are in Week 5 of the 2009 NFL season, and both of these teams have been playing outstanding football on both sides of the ball. Check out these match-ups (with overall league rankings in parenthesis):
• GIANTS OFFENSE (2nd) vs. SAINTS DEFENSE (6th)
• SAINTS OFFENSE (3rd) vs. GIANTS DEFENSE (1st)
• GIANTS PASS OFFENSE (9th) vs. SAINTS PASS DEFENSE (11th)
• SAINTS PASS OFFENSE (11th) vs. GIANTS PASS DEFENSE (1st)
• GIANTS RUSH OFFENSE (4th) vs. SAINTS RUSH DEFENSE (7th)
• SAINTS RUSH OFFENSE (2nd) vs. GIANTS RUSH DEFENSE (15th)
Not too many people realize that the Saints rushing attack has been doing better than their passing offense this year, although that one game against the Jets (and Drew Brees’ two-game touchdown-less streak) must be taken into account. There’s also the fact that the Saints have played one less game this year than the Giants. And I hadn’t realized how mediocre we’ve been against the run – that’s going to have to change on Sunday. All that aside, those are some pretty enticing match-ups listed. Whether or not you even have a team to root for, the potential for this game to be a great one has to make any football fan’s mouth water. I have no doubt that it’s going to be a fun, tense, emotionally draining, heart-churning, ulcer-inducing sixty minutes of football!

Here are some random musings of mine from around the world of sports/entertainment/wherever:
• I can’t emphasize enough how excited I am about the way the Yankees have played so far this October. That sweep of the Twins was exactly what every Yankee fan needed to see to regain post-season confidence with the franchise. The starters pitched very well, all the Yankee veterans are playing top notch, A-Rod finally remembered to bring his bat to a post-season series, and Mariano did what Mariano does – finish games. Also, it was very comforting seeing Joba working out of the bullpen. It’s funny how easy it’s become for me to forget how angry I was at the beginning of the season when the Yankees decided to shell out such an obnoxious amount of money to get C.C. and Texiera. So far, they’ve both been a pretty sound investment. Can’t wait for the ALCS to get here (might try to see if I can find some tickets for one of the games played in Anaheim). GO YANKEES!!
• It’s official – I’m on the Denver bandwagon. How can you not like what’s transpired for this franchise? It’s the epitome of an underdog story (so far). They replaced one of the NFL’s most legendary coaches and a superstar-on-the-rise with a first-year coach and a well-known “game manager.” AND THEY’RE 5-0??!? That’s pretty incredible, if you ask me. These guys are beyond legitimate – they’re borderline elite. I hope they can keep this up – it’ll make for a really exciting Thanksgiving match-up against our G-men.
• Is it just me, or does it seem like each season of “Entourage” just keeps getting shorter and shorter? I couldn’t believe the other weekend was the season finale already! And don’t get me started on the storyline – not only did nothing really seem to happen for Vinnie Chase (AGAIN), but I haven’t seen any evidence that Eric or Ari are the least bit good at their jobs. Eric used his friendship with Vince to get a meeting with Bob Saget (he’s still alive??) and Ari yelled at people. That’s about it. Why am I supposed to care about these guys again? It’s becoming harder and harder to defend as a fan of the show, that’s all I’m saying.
• If you live on the West Coast, I strongly recommend making the trip to see the Redwoods in Big Sur. It’s awesome. The trees are the biggest you’ll ever see, and some of their bases alone are big enough to fit the entire Giants’ offensive line inside them comfortably. Remember the Ewok scenes in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi? They were filmed in California’s Redwood Mountains. Which also makes me wonder, wouldn’t it be cool if a bunch of families with little kids went up there, dressed their kids in little Ewok outfits, and scattered them randomly throughout the forest? It’d be pretty hilarious for unsuspecting visitors to go on a hike and suddenly find themselves among a bunch of little Ewoks! If anybody wants to help me plan this potentially epically hysterical situation, I’m down!

Well, I’m glad I got all that off my chest. If you have anything to add or comment on, or have any questions or comments at all, you can contact me via e-mail at gmensuperfan@gmail.com. You can also find me on facebook, under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Enjoy the rest of your week, football fans, get ready for the Saints, and keep bleeding blue. Until next week, GO GMEN!!