SuperFan: Giants vs. Eagles (11/3/09)

This Joke Stopped Being Funny a Long Time Ago

By Superfan

I’d like to consider myself an optimist. Stay positive each week, win or lose. Heck, it’s a long season. And I especially don’t like to feel as though it’s time to panic before the bye week even occurs! But after three miserable losses, ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. It’s like the saying goes, “Once is a mistake, twice is a problem, three times is a trend.”
Now it’s time to get worried. I don’t think embarrassing is a fair enough term to describe the Giants’ performance last Sunday in Philly. Abhorrent would be more appropriate. There’s absolutely no excuse to play the way the Gmen did, and every fan out there has every right in the world to feel a sense of panic begin to creep in. Where do I even begin…

How about the play calling and personnel? In the fourth quarter, it seemed liked the Giants couldn’t decide whether they wanted to throw in the towel or try for a miraculous comeback. They kept Eli in the game, yet they had no sense of urgency (the play clock seemed like it had less than 10 seconds left every time they approached the line of scrimmage), and ran mostly runs and screens! Of course, that was also the case earlier in the game. In the third quarter, it took the Giants over four minutes of game clock (nearly to the end of the quarter) to drive 28 yards. Not to take away from Ahmad’s touchdown run, but when you’re down 33-10 in the third quarter of a football game, you can’t waste over FOUR MINUTES to go 28 yards! Inexcusable.
Going back to the end of the game, it took until the final four minutes (beyond us having a chance) to finally go into the no-huddle. Then, when we did, we ran the ball! Gilbride – you have to at least call plays that give the offense a chance.

I refuse to believe Eli’s heel injury is the reason he’s been playing so poorly the last few weeks, but it just might be. How does a quarterback go from playing so well to start the season that he’s in everyone’s “potential MVP” list, then suddenly start overthrowing passes to wide open receivers as bad as Dave Brown used to. The plantar fasciitis is only supposed to cause pain in the heel, which is something I figured could be toughened out by Eli, or at least aided with the help of pain relievers. Maybe its affecting him more than we all thought. Or, maybe his heel has nothing to do with it. Perhaps there’s something else going on that we don’t know about. There’s also the possibility that he’s just having a really bad slump. Regardless, with the way the rest of the NFC contenders are looking, something has to be done. We can’t expect to win many games given the schedule we have coming up when our quarterback can’t get the ball to wide open receivers.

Let’s move on to the secondary. I knew it was a big loss when Kenny Phillips went down, but I didn’t realize how big. Yes, we’ll improve when we get Aaron Ross back in the lineup, but Terrell Thomas has played pretty well in his place. I hate to do this, but I have to call out C.C. Brown. One of the main reasons we’ve had such big deficits to battle back from during the last three weeks is because nearly every deep ball that’s been thrown against us has been completed. They’re burning the safeties week after week, and you can’t win in this league if the secondary Can’t Cover! Not to mention the myriad of missed tackles.
For the first time in a long time, I fear for the worst every time the opposing offense tries anything up the middle. The linebacking core (another huge issue that for some reason people don’t think to talk about) has really softened up. Boley can’t get back soon enough.

Another worry is both lines regarding the rushing game. Our rushing defense has been letting absurd gains that they never used to (like the first down run on THIRD AND 11 in the first quarter, or letting a fullback run all over you the entire game), and our rushing offense has been pretty non-existent, with the exception of a few big gainers, which came from broken tackles and tough running more than anything. I suppose this could help explain part of Eli’s passing issues, since it’s hard to keep a defense honest when you’re unable to establish the run against them.
Even our kickoff coverage was incredibly lousy. How can any team lead a successful comeback when the opposition gets incredible field position each time we kick it off to them?

Not that it excused our performance in any way last Sunday, but that “forward pass” call from the replay official was completely bogus. You could clearly see Fred Robbins making an extra effort to turn his right shoulder backwards in an effort to make sure his lateral went behind him. That would have made the score 33-14, instead of 33-10, and could have been a huge momentum shifter. Of course, “could” doesn’t mean a thing in professional sports, and for the Eagles to have 33 points on the board that early in the third quarter is inexcusable.

Well, that was all very unpleasant. Kind of like my experience watching the game. For starters, my buddy JJ wasn’t around on Sunday to watch the game with me. On a weekend featuring Halloween, two huge world series’ games and a crucial divisional match-up for the gmen on the road against their arch-rival Philadelphia, he’d somehow gotten himself forced into having to go to Las Vegas with the girlfriend (since all her friends were there), leaving his boys in the dust. Ouch. Bros before, err, women, dude! At least he was around for the Yankees game Sunday night, but still. Very uncool.

Also, for whatever reason, my roommate decided to move all the furniture around to sweep and mop the floor IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME!!! I have no qualms about cleaning the place (it was especially dirty), nor do I mind helping, but during the game?? Seriously – what’s that about?

Needless to say, it was a pretty miserable experience in front of the TV, that is until game 3 of the World Series began that night. But even that incredible victory didn’t help my spirits as much as it should have. That was, without question, one of the ugliest Giants’ losses I’ve seen. On a magical fall weekend that should have consisted of a clean New York sweep of Philadelphia, the Giants spoiled the party.

All this negativity is really bringing me down, so I’m just gonna cut it short there for now. Let’s move on to some random thoughts from around the world of sports:
• I realize I’ve spent a lot of time in these articles the last several weeks talking about the Yankees, but that’s only because, well, it’s the post season! Hopefully, by the time this goes up, the Yankees will have secured World Championship #27!!! How great it’d be to win the World Series at home in the first year of the new ballpark. GO YANKEES!
• I understand it was a big deal for Favre to be playing as a Viking in Green Bay for the first time, but there’s got to be some sort of limit as to just how overboard TV analysts are allowed to go. For example, here’s how Terry Bradshaw recapped highlights at halftime of the Vikings-Packers game: “Favre hands off to Peterson here for the TD, and it’s 7-3, Favre over the Packers.” Really? FAVRE over the Packers?? You just recapped a RUSHING touchdown, Terry. I suppose the other 21 guys on the field shouldn’t have bothered to put on their uniforms on Sunday. Ridiculous.
• I’ve come to the conclusion that Halloween is the most successful social experiment of all time. It’s amazing how something as simple as wearing a costume (creating a new identity) can make even the most introverted people extremely outgoing. Eat your heart out, Carl Jung.

Thus concludes another week of Superfan. The Gmen’s schedule doesn’t get any easier from here, but at least we get a bye week after this week’s match-up against the Chargers. Our secondary better get some serious conditioning work in before facing Rivers, Jackson, and company. But hey, we’re 5-3, and one can only hope that the chip on our shoulder has been wedged deeper, causing a reaction to finally take place. If you want to rant on the Gmen’s issues, share some awesome Halloween stories, or whatever, e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com. You can also contact me on Facebook, under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Until next week, GO GMEN!!