Superfan: Giants vs. Cowboys (10/26/10)

It’s Jerry’s World, and We’re Just Winning In It

By Superfan

I don’t know about the rest of Giants nation, but I haven’t stop smiling since I woke up this morning. To take control of the NFC East, and all but end the Cowboys season, in the same night? A dream come true. I was really excited yesterday, anticipating a huge game all day, knowing when the Cowboys and Giants meet on Monday night, its usually anything but ordinary football. But nothing could have prepared me for what transpired last night. Forget about how close they made it at the end – I’m unbelievably proud of how Big Blue came back from an early deficit, and did pretty much whatever we wanted offensively against the (formerly) 3^rd-ranked defense in the league for most of the game.

And after watching the post-game video of Coughlin addressing the team in the locker room several times last night, I really want the “Bring in Cowher” talk to stop. Seeing him get down on one knee to be at eye level with the other members of the team, seeing him with his players, and seeing the looks in the players’ eyes as he spoke to them, I don’t want another coach. And the players don’t either. They want to play for him. They want to win for him. And he wants to win for us. As a football fan, could you really ask for anything more? I’ll get into the amazing coaching job he did last night in a little bit.

First, let’s go over the wild ride I experienced watching last night’s game:

Monday Night Madness

There’s no worse feeling than having your favorite team playing Monday Night Football during a workweek when you live on the West Coast. That’s right – I was at first for the first quarter and change. I managed to find a decent live streaming feed online, which didn’t last long. Unfortunately, ESPN isn’t as fan-friendly as NBC, and therefore its very difficult to watch live NFL Monday night games online, unless you have Time Warner Cable, with your account number and statement password handy. Yeah, because that’s what I want to do while I’m trying to watch a game online at work – worry about finding and reading my cable bill. Way to continue to find ways to connect with your audience, ESPN.

Needless to say the 1^st quarter was all over the place, with me half watching streaming video online, half running into the one office in the hall with a TV, and half getting text and AIM updates from friends and family. Very stressful, especially given how we started the game off. Near the beginning of the second quarter, my co-workers seemed to notice that I was doing probably more harm then good by being there and stressing out about how best to watch the game, and they let me take off early. I got into the car just as Romo got knocked out, and didn’t get back home until half time. So the crazy comeback happened in traffic, in the car. Southern California traffic during rush hour is bad enough – imagine having to fight through it while trying to get home to watch your team make a remarkable comeback on Monday night! Aggravating, to say the least.

Eight illegal lane changes, three cars cut off, and several honking horns later, and I was back home by halftime. JJ made it back in time to see the second half kickoff. The whole third quarter we were in disbelief about how great we were playing, and how bad the Cowboys were playing. In fact, we were so impressed that we almost didn’t notice most of the Cowboys late comeback in the fourth, up until the end. The game was over at that point, even if they did cut it close. I wasn’t thrilled they actually had a chance pending the final onsides kick attempt, but once we recovered it, the worry evaporated quickly. It was a great night, and JJ and I relished in the post-game recap and highlights for about an hour before he finally headed back to his place. Now we just have to figure out what we’re going to do about watching football during the bye week.

A Huge W in Big D

Let’s start from the top. Like most other Giants’ fans out there, I was pretty peeved when we spotted them that 10-0 lead. I felt bad for Eli, that he had two more tipped passes turn into interceptions (although that first pass was pretty high, and there was an earlier pass in the drive that should have been intercepted in the first place). But our defense held strong. Can’t really get too upset with them for giving up a touchdown against an offense that started five yards from pay dirt. And holding them to a field goal on their next drive, which also started in the red zone, was huge.

What impressed me more than anything about our offense last night was that they kept at it. Even down 20-7 in the second quarter, after an abomination by our punt coverage allowed Dez Bryant to return one for a touchdown, the offense never abandoned their game plan. They kept plugging away with the run, and Eli remained confident in his ability to pass downfield, despite two early interceptions. And boy did it pay off. Eli stayed cool under pressure, our O-line did nothing but push the Cowboys around, and Ahmad and Brandon ran the ball very well (although I think they each need to visit the Tiki Barber school of fixing fumblitis). Fumbles aside, Ahmad Bradshaw is the NFL’s leading rusher through seven weeks of football. How about that. And since I rag on him when I feel he deserves it, I’ll certainly give him praise here. Kevin Gilbride – GREAT PLAYCALLING MONDAY NIGHT!

Tom Coughlin is a really good football coach. As much as I dislike relying on statistics to prove a point, they absolutely do that here – 2 for 2 on two HUGE challenges. He knew when to challenge, and when not to. And even though it turns out they called in a challenge from upstairs in the 2^nd quarter, negating Coughlin’s timeout call, it still would’ve been a great idea, if for no other reason than to give the guys upstairs time to realize the call (Witten’s fumble) was incorrect and should be reviewed.

Our defense is scary. Very scary. You almost think opposing quarterbacks have to take out new insurance policies before lining up against our pass rush. We’ve knocked 5 quarterbacks out of games this season, and have knocked seven out for at least one offensive possession. There were moments in the game, especially early in the 3^rd quarter, where I felt like I was watching a scene from The Waterboy, with Jon Kitna running around like a high school quarterback, scared for his life. IT WAS AWESOME.

The only real negatives I took away were: 1 – we had to burn timeouts to prevent two potential delay of game penalties; 2 – turned the ball over way too often; and 3 – our inability to put the game away in the fourth quarter. Fortunately those are all correctable mistakes, and we have the bye week to work on them. If Eli can play every game like he did in the middle two quarters of last night’s game, there’s no question in my mind he’s one of the top five quarterbacks in the league. Still, nothing can make a Giants’ fan happier than knowing the Cowboys’ hopes for playing in a Super Bowl that they’re hosting ended at the hands of the Gmen. In Dallas. What a great time to be alive and rooting for the New York Football Giants.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

• I’ve never seen such a highly touted lineup play so poorly in October until I watched the Yankees this month. Embarrassing. And one of the rare times a starter actually had a decent start to a game, Girardi decided to pull him in the ninth. Glad its football season!
• Maybe it’s just me, but does anyone really care that the NBA’s starting back up? Really? I know I don’t. There are real, more entertaining sports on.
• You think anyone at Fox is happy about a Rangers-Giants World Series? Me neither. I think a new episode of Glee might net them better ratings than any of those World Series games will. And I’m not just saying that out of bitterness. We’ll let the numbers speak for themselves.
• Amazing past weekend of football. One of the best seasons I’ve seen play out in a long time. Cleveland over New Orleans, Oakland putting 59 up in Denver? Good luck making any predictions this season.
• Very excited about The Walking Dead, which premieres on AMC this Sunday (Halloween). Finally, a TV show about zombies!!! Yes!!!

Awesome Facebook Comment of the Season (so far)

Posted by Brian Pugliesi: “Can you really save 15% or more on your car insurance by switching to Geico? Is lining up at QB against the NY Giant Defense a bad idea?” I think they should start airing that commercial next weekend.

That’s all for this week, sports fans. Loneliest weekend of the season coming up next week (the bye), then it’s smooth sailing until January. A lot to be happy about while we wait to play Seattle in two weeks. To talk all things Gmen, send me an e-mail at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, or find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Happy Halloween everybody, and until next week, Go Gmen!!

Superfan: Giants vs. Lions (10/19/10)

Feelin’ Streaky

By Superfan

Three wins in a row. To quote Major League II: “Ok, guys. We've won two games in a row. If we win tonight, it’s called a winning streak. IT HAS HAPPENED BEFORE.” Now obviously our Gmen are in a far more optimistic situation than the sequel’s fictitious tribe was in the latter scene, but I’ll take any excuse to use that quote. The film wasn’t exactly the greatest of sequels, but people tend to forget it still had some great one-liners. Similarly, last Sunday’s game might not have been the prettiest we’ve played this year, but there were certainly a lot of positives to take away from it. I’ll get into those a little later.

As much as I hate to give credit to anyone associated with anything Boston, there’s a quote of Bill Belichick’s that always stands out to me as defining how champions should treat the game of football: “Stats are for losers.” To winners, the only numbers that matter are those in the win-loss column. Fantasy football, rankings, and individual accolades aside, in-game stats are little more than a crutch for people to talk about how a player or team has performed, without having to really watch them. Statistics in football serve the same purpose as statistics in the real world – a reliable way to predict trends based on past performance, nothing more. They’re not the same thing as a fortuneteller. Once everyone accepts that, they’ll be able to observe and enjoy games the way coaches, players, and true NFL minds do, knowing what to really focus on. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.

But enough about that. Let’s get to Sunday’s big win over the Lions.

A Packed Tavern

JJ and I went back to Rick’s Tavern in Santa Monica to check out the game this week. For a Giants’ fan, it’s a safe bet to be an enjoyable place to watch the game. The one issue I have with it, and this isn’t really the bar’s fault, more the fault of it’s location, is that it’s parked on a street that requires you to feed the meter, even on Sundays! That’s just not right. What’s worse – it’s 2-hour max parking, meaning at some point in the game you have to go out to your car to add more change. But in retrospect it’s really not that big a deal. Man was Rick’s crowded last Sunday. The back area was all Giants fans, but I was still surprised how many non-Giants fans were there to watch their respective games in a New York sports bar. The front of the bar was lined with Saints, Patriots, and Ravens fans. As a matter of fact, despite the fact that I never really saw her, I almost fell in love with a particularly loud Saints fan. In a packed house, her yelling stood out far among the rest. What’s best, she actually knew her football! When she yelled at the TV, she was making legitimate arguments, not just screaming profanities with no arguments to support them. If only she was watching the Giants game…

The fellow G-maniacs sitting around us were very enjoyable company, which really added to the experience. There was only one (almost) issue, and it was more my superstitious nature than anything anyone else did. There was a medium-sized group of fans at a table near us, and at some point near the end of the third, beginning of the fourth quarter, they had a couple friends show up. When they came, two of the guys got up, and their seating arrangement (which had worked well for the G-men so far) got all rearranged. Shortly after, nearing the thirteen-minute mark of the fourth quarter, Calvin Johnson beat Terrell Thomas and Antrel Rolle for an 87-yard touchdown pass. I was almost tempted to lean over and ask them to go back to their previous seating arrangement, but I held my tongue. And the G-men held their lead, while adding to it later on. So it all worked out.

Almost Too Close for Comfort

For the first 2-and-a-half quarters, the game progressed pretty much as I thought it would. I figured it would be a very close game for most of it, and then we’d pull away towards the end. The latter never really happened.

Offensively, we looked good when we needed to. Eli had a couple of touchdown passes, and more importantly, zero interceptions. Ahmad and Brandon ran the ball very well. Ahmad got the yards we needed on the ground, and Brandon forced his way in on two tough touchdown runs that book-ended the game. And congrats to Travis Beckum on his first career touchdown reception! Only two aspects of our offense really worried me. The first was a few throws that Eli let get away from him. On our first offensive possession, Nicks was wide open deep down the middle of the field, and had Eli not overthrown him it would have been an easy six. There was another throw he missed short to Mario Manningham early in the second quarter, which was overshadowed by an illegal hands-to-the-face call against Suh. Way to take one for the team, Shaun O’Hara’s face! If Eli can simply settle down and make all his passes (granted that previous example was also forgotten due to a great deep TD pass to Mario later in the drive), there’ll be no reason not to include him among the league’s elite passers. The second concern I have is, once again, the play calling. Maybe it’s just me, but I feel like this offense could easily be one of the most dynamic big-play offenses in the league (we certainly have the necessary skill players), if only their play calling allowed for it. We have to have the guts to put teams away late, instead of always playing so conservatively. I’ve heard of a prevent defense, but it sometimes looks like we’re playing with a prevent offense once we have the lead. Can’t make that a habit.

Our defense did its job pretty well, minus Calvin Johnson’s big game and making Drew Stanton look like Willie Beaman. We knocked a quarterback out of the game for the third straight week, completely shut down Jahvid Best and their running game, and had some great hustle plays. The Deon Grant fumble recovery, for one, was HUGE. The recognition and recovery was 100% on Deon, and it shouldn’t go unnoticed. It came late in the fourth quarter, with us holding on to a slim four-point lead, and the turnover led to our final score, which really put the game away for good. Final note on the defense, you can’t say enough about how well Osi’s played so far this season. He’s looking faster, stronger, and smarter than he did a couple years ago when he supposedly “peaked.” Excited to see what more he has in store for us this year.

Again, our special teams were kind of all over the place. Matt Dodge had a rough start with the fumbled snap, but did a great job the next time he had an opportunity, pinning them deep in the shadow of their own end zone. For the most part, Darius Reynaud returned the ball pretty well. Didn’t love what I saw out of Shayne Graham on the kickoffs however. There was one, near the end of the first quarter, which would have been an illegal procedure against any other team. Luckily, we were playing the Lions, and their returner decided to jump and grab the kickoff before it bounced out of bounds. Good thing there’s a bye week coming up soon.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

• Man is Cliff Lee good against the Yankees in the post season. When it comes to facing the Bronx Bombers in October, Cliff Lee makes Curt Schilling look like Byung-Hyun Kim.
• That being said, don’t sleep on the Yankees. There are plenty of games left in this series, and I’ve got all the faith in the world they’ll pull this one out. Go Yankees!
• Regarding how best to upgrade the penalties for helmet-to-helmet hits after this past weekend’s head-hunting fiasco, I really like what hockey fans are proposing – if a player makes an aggressive cheap shot, you eject him from the game and make his teammates play one man down for at least the remainder of the quarter. That should force the issue. To expand a little on what Rodney Harrison said Sunday night on NBC, these players make too much money for fines to really change the way they approach the game. What really matters to them is the ability to play and help their team out on the field. So those are the areas that need to be addressed when it comes to issuing penalties that will get their attention.

Back to Business in the Division

It took a while to get here, but the Gmen finally have their first divisional match-up coming up next week in the form of a huge Monday night showdown in Dallas. I hope everyone talks all week about how Dallas will be extremely dangerous since they lost their most recent “desperation game,” which would I guess make this one a “super duper double-secret desperation game.” You think that stuff really matters when it comes to a divisional game in primetime? Not even a little bit. When we play Dallas on Monday nights, it’s always a wild ride, and both teams always show up to play. Just can’t wait to see our Gmen kick them while they’re already down, thus pulling even further ahead in the division.

Big week ahead of us, Giants’ fans! To talk all things Giants (or even a little Yankees, since we’re in the midst of playoff baseball), you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, or find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Look out, Jerry. We’re coming for you. Until next week, GO GMEN!!

Superfan: Giants vs. Texans (10/12/10)

Warning – Domination Can Be Habit-Forming

By Superfan

Another big test for our Gmen, another dominating victory. This one had all phases clicking very nicely. With the exception of a third quarter where we stumbled a little, the Giants looked beyond impressive throughout the entire game. It was beautiful to watch.

Funny what a difference a couple of weeks makes. Two weeks ago, I was getting e-mails from fans wondering whether or not to push the panic button, if Brandon Jacobs still belonged on the team, and a few suggested building a “Cowher Countdown Clock” next to the scoreboard in the new stadium. Now, all the fans are wondering what the new super bowl rings are gonna look like on our players’ hands next February. One week at a time, folks. Don’t fall victim to the Trey Wingo disorder, where every final score defines the playoff picture and every significant statistic suddenly has a place in Canton’s football lore.

I’m not going to lie, I was starting to fall a little victim to it myself immediately following the loss to the Titans. It’s amazing, when I took a week off from watching football analysis shows and stopped listening to NFL radio for a few days, how much better I felt about the Giants. Even before they kicked off against the Bears.

But enough about the more “distant” past. Let’s instead relive the glorious performance from our most recent past, against the Texans last Sunday.

A Home-Field Atmosphere

I kind of had an inkling that last Sunday’s game would be a big one, since my buddy Jon was coming to visit from the East Coast for the weekend (the same Jon that I usually go to all the home games with when I’m back in Jersey). To get ready, we decided to spend the Saturday afternoon before watching the NFL Films video recapping the Giants run to Super Bowl XLII. Man that was an awesome season!

Since the game wasn’t on locally, Jon and I, with my buddy JJ in tow, decided to watch the game at Rick’s Tavern, a New York sports bar located in Santa Monica. It was so nice to watch a game in Southern California and feel like we were watching it 3,000 miles away with a bunch of fellow Giants’ fans. JJ’s brother Ian met up with us to complete the foursome. What a great game to watch in the company of so many fellow G-maniacs! JJ’s brother really helped keep the New-York-sports’-fan-authenticity alive, complaining about insignificant mistakes all throughout the game, even when we were up 34-17. Talk about Great Expectations. Some of the other fans, myself included, had to remind him we were winning. By a lot. Gotta love New York fans – always animated!

Even though the newest good luck charm, Justine, wasn’t able to make it to the bar, we kept her in the loop and made sure to celebrate with her after the win (can’t let a four-leaf clover go to waste).

Assuming next week’s game isn’t locally televised, you can be sure I’ll be right back in that booth near the back of Rick’s Tavern!

Taking Our Show on the Road

I can’t get over what an impressive win that was. I think most people seemed to chalk up our blowout of Chicago (yes, a 14-point win can be considered a blowout when it goes down in that fashion) to bad decision-making, poor offensive line play, and a refusal to try the running attack on the part of Chicago. The country assumed this would be a huge road test, and a game that would be very difficult for the Giants to win, especially with Brian Cushing back on Houston’s defense. Not only did we win, we won big. Hakeem Nicks continued to light up scoreboards and fans’ fantasy rosters (12 catches, 130 yards, 2 touchdowns, wow). Even though it may have paled in comparison to Nicks’ gargantuan numbers, Steve Smith finally had a big day receiving (6 catches, 89 yards, 1 touchdown). Our defense was once again huge, holding the league’s number one rushing attack to a microscopic twenty-four total yards. Matt Schaub had a sub-.500 completion percentage, threw for less than 200 yards, zero touchdowns, and one interception. We held the ball nearly twice as long as they did. My boy Ramses Barden had a big reception in the first quarter. Even Matt Dodge had a pretty decent game!

Glad to see the message has gotten through to our offensive line. Obviously Eli had a great day passing, but also Bradshaw and Jacobs combined for over 100 yards on the ground. And you know whose names were hardly mentioned during the telecast? Mario Williams and Brian Cushing. Lots of kudos to our big guys up front for neutralizing Houston’s biggest defensive threats.

If I had to toss out a couple criticisms, it would be regarding our return game (or lack there-of), and our play-calling/clock management. Darius Reynaud isn’t really getting the job done, and fumbling another punt return just added to a laundry list of concerns he’s created for us this season. When you’re hoping the return man will simply call a fair catch before the punt’s even in the air, you know he’s probably not the guy. Let’s hope I’m wrong. Regarding the second issue, what were we thinking calling so many pass plays and sweeps with a big lead in the second half? We’re trying to kill clock! And Jacobs isn’t a “get-around-the-corner” type of back – he’s finally getting into a rhythm of running straight ahead and breaking tackles. Let’s not mess with that now that it’s working again. Finally, more time-outs wasted and delay-of0-game penalties called because of the play clock winding down. I think a peewee football team would have this issue corrected by now – why can’t the G-men seem to fix it?!?!

That’s really all the criticizing I have for this past week. In retrospect, the preceding paragraph is longer than I thought it would be. I hope it didn’t seem like much – it really was a game where the positives very heavily outweighed the negatives.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

• This season is showing the most parity among the teams as any NFL season I can remember in a long time. Some people out there seem to be overly pessimistic, stating that it’s a sign of “average football.” Clearly, they’ve never played football. Teams scoring 50 points on lesser teams, divisions being clinched in week 12, THAT’s average football. This season is simply competitive, and I’m LOVING EVERY MINUTE OF IT!!
• Brett, you love nothing more than being in the spotlight. You can’t start crying and getting all upset now that you’re in the spotlight for the wrong reason. Get over it, you big baby. You’ve made your bed – now sleep in it.
• HOW ‘BOUT THEM COWBOYS! HA! Can’t wait for October 25^th to get here.
• As I write this article, the Rays-Rangers series has yet to be decided. Not to shy away from competition, but if as a Yankees fan I’d rather face the Rays. Cliff Lee is no fun to face in the post season. Especially in this case, because if they win it’s off of Cliff Lee’s second start in that series, and both will have been victories. Then again, we’ve beaten him before. And the Yanks looked so impressive in our Minnesota sweep that it really shouldn’t matter. GO YANKEES!

I know the Monday night match-up against Dallas is a huge game, but let’s not overlook our game this week against Detroit. We saw what their offense is capable of (albeit against the Rams), and last thing we need is a huge letdown at home after a big road win. As long as the Gmen keep playing the way they’re playing, we should absolutely take this one! To chat about all things Giants, you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, or find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Let’s keep this momentum going, Giants’ fans! Until next week, GO GMEN!!

Superfan: Giants vs. Bears (10/5/10)

Re-establishing Our Identity

By Superfan

What a way to kick off the greatest sports month of the year! Not since Tom Brady in February of 2008 have I ever seen a professional quarterback so scared for his life in the pocket as Jay Cutler looked to be Sunday night in the Meadowlands. What an impressively dominating win. Don’t let the final score fool you, that win was complete and total domination. As a Giants fan, its exactly what you want to see from your team. The fashion in which we played and won should be what all fans hope this team will establish as its identity moving forward – aggressively endless blitzing and the ability to pound the rock when we need to. And that’s exactly what the Gmen did against the Bears. And it was awesome.

There’s a certain swagger you feel creeping back after a game like this. Incredibly proud of your team, and the way they played. But most importantly, they gave the fans and the legends in attendance what they wanted – a physically dominant game. When I talk about that being the kind of Giants’ football we’ve grown to love, I mean it. When opposing quarterbacks view their upcoming schedules, they should be circling a match up against the Giants, scared already for the pain they know they’ll endure at the hands of one of the scariest, most intimidating defensive lines in football. There should be extra ice in the trainer’s rooms in anticipation of the beating their team’s quarterback will be taking. It should simply be expected, as it was on a regular basis during the 2007 season.

So, where do we begin?? How about my new viewing spot? It sure worked this time around…

A Comfortable Viewing Experience

That’s right, there’s no place like home! And that’s exactly where I was this past Sunday night, comfortably settled in my place in Santa Monica. Unfortunately, JJ couldn’t be there, but I’ll get to that in a bit. But no worries - in his stead, my good friend Justine (a friend from back home in Jersey, who recently relocated out west, of course) came over to watch the game. At first she was only planning to stay for the first half. But with the score as unexpectedly close as it was, I couldn’t take the risk. She stuck around. By the fourth quarter, she was having a ball watching our Gmen dominate. Needless to say, I hope you had fun the other day Justine. It looks like you might have to watch the games with us more often. Don’t mess with a good luck charm!

Now, back to JJ. JJ couldn’t make it. He had a dinner with his girlfriend’s parents. DURING A HUGE PRIMETIME SUNDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL GAME!!!! It’s the west coast man – you could’ve moved that dinner back and been just fine. And while some might say, “It’s not appropriate to ask your girlfriend’s parents to reschedule a dinner where they’re supposed to get to know you because of football game,” I say in response to that – you’re a die-hard Giants’ fan, right?? Shouldn’t they just get to know the real you?!?! Ah, I’m just giving you a hard time, buddy.

He did call in the middle of the third quarter, having gotten back from dinner. Just after Ahmad Bradshaw scored to give us a ten-point lead. On the phone he said, “Dude, I just sat down and turned the TV on, and we scored! Should I come over?” My response, “You just sat down and they scored. That means you have to stay exactly where you are, in the exact sitting position you’re in, and keep watching from there. Things are clicking right now!” Needless to say, he didn’t make it over for the game. It was strange, but the system worked, and I got a little extra jab in there for him missing the first half. No worries JJ – you’re coming over next weekend for sure. But don’t expect me to let you live that one down any time soon. Moving on…

A Nostalgic Performance

Perhaps it was the presence of so many Giants’ legends in attendance for the Ring of Honor unveiling, but there certainly seemed to be an ominous feeling in the air during the game. I’m sure the Gmen Alums were more than pleased by the performance they were treated to Sunday night. But let’s get the ugly out of the way first.

Our special teams play has been nothing short of an abomination since the season started. I understand Matt Dodge is new, and he’s trying hard, but that can only get you so far. Punters aren’t like quarterbacks – there’s no one-to-two year grace period where they’re allowed to play poorly as they adjust to the speed of the game at the professional level. I’d honestly be surprised if he’s still on the team when we line up against Houston next week. You all I know how I feel about Lawrence Tynes and his inconsistency. More importantly, I almost feel like it might be worth it to sign another kicker if for no other reason than to be used on kickoffs. Although with the way our coverage team’s been playing, it might not even make a difference. All in all, that entire group needs a whole lot of work. Special teams typically don’t stand out much unless things are going wrong (minus a punt or kick return for a TD). This year, our special teams have stuck out like a sore thumb. Let’s hope they address the issue.

Our offense, while it wasn’t great, wasn’t horrible either. The first couple drives, while they only produced three points, had good play calls and execution. We just fell short on a couple of key third downs. When we needed it, our rushing came was huge, totaling almost 200 yards on the day. That’s the kind of in-you-face, down-your-throat aggressive running attack Giants fans remember from the earth, wind, and fire days. Sans the wind. Or the fire? Couldn’t always decide which elements Bradshaw and Ward were, respectively. Two big concerns stand out to me regarding our offense – dropped passes and time management. Too many tipped and dropped passes this season - let’s not start making a habit of them. Speaking of bad habits, another game in the books, and another series of plays barely getting off before the play clock ran out. I wonder if we’ll ever address that problem.

And to the defense – WOW. WHAT A GAME. If the ten sacks and two knocked-out quarterbacks weren’t enough, how’s this for a stat – with 4:30 left in the fourth quarter, the Bears had made ZERO third down conversions. Wow. This is what we want to see week in and week out. Remember, back in 2007, it took a few games for the defense to really start clicking under Steve Spagnuolo’s direction – looks like the same thing is happening for us this year under Perry Fewell, and I’m loving it. I saw many defensive looks where we had 3 defensive ends playing on the line. That’s awesome – imagine what that must be like for an opposing quarterback. They (Jay and Todd) must have changed pants several times throughout the course of the game. To give you another eye-opening stat from Sunday night – our defense had more sacks of Jay Cutler (9) than he had completed passes (8). Just amazing. But enough about our awesome team. Here are a few thoughts from outside the Giants’ box.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week

· Can’t believe Randy Moss is a Viking again. Great for Brett Favre, great for Vikings fans. Terrible for Packers fans, even worse for Bernard Berrian.

· I was going to say something this week that I meant to write last week about the Michael Vick over-hypage, but it seems wrong now that he’s hurt. All I’ll say is this – yes, he looked great in the 10 quarters he was in there. But don’t forget he played a half against a Packers team that had game-planned the week before to face Kevin Kolb, and his next two opponents were Detroit and Jacksonville. Not exactly like he played full games against any top-ten defenses. When he’s healthy, let’s see him really get tested before crowning him this generation’s Muhammad Ali.

· Time for playoff baseball, baby!!!! Let the games begin!!! GO YANKEES!!!

We’ve got a lot to look forward to, Giants fans! A huge win last Sunday, let’s follow it up with a big performance next Sunday in Houston. You can reach me via e-mail at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, and you can find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Until next week, GO GMEN!!