Superfan: Giants vs. Eagles (11/23/10)

Love and Support, Through Thick and Thin

By Superfan

The True Measure of a Fan

I learned a lot about our team these past few days. Good and bad. Not necessarily the coaches or the players, but the fans. We’ve lost two straight divisional games. Lots of key players are getting hit with the injury bug, Hakeem Nicks being the latest addition to that list. I get it, things look dark. But I never thought I’d see so many people, who consistently claim to be “die-hard fans,” be so quick to throw away the season with our backs against the wall. If history’s taught us anything, shouldn’t we know that this team plays best in times of their greatest adversity?

For those of you who know me on Facebook, you might think I’m going to be a bit of a copycat, since I’ve already used the following as a “post.” But I still think it’s worth repeating. Here’s a little Giants’ history lesson:

• First, in 1990, one of the greatest quarterbacks in our franchise’s history, Phil Simms, went down with a knee injury just before the playoffs began. Not our star receiver or running back, our starting quarterback. And for those of you who remember that post season, our playoff run was one of the hardest stretches any team’s ever had to face. But then, an unknown backup with confidence in his ability, his coaching staff, his teammates, and his awesome moustache stepped in and led us to victory in Super Bowl XXV.
• Nearly a decade later, in 2000, the picture once again grew very dark for the New York Football Giants. People were losing faith in the team left and right, and no one thought we had a chance to do much of anything. Jim Fassel, our head coach at the time, made his famous “all-in” speech, rallying the players and the fans all the way to the Super Bowl where we unfortunately couldn’t quite finish the dream season, losing to the Baltimore Ravens in Super Bowl XXXV.
• In 2007, under head coach Tom Coughlin, we had more peaks and valleys than the old Route 66. We let up a combined 80 points in the first two games (two very ugly losses), and the sports world was convinced our then defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo didn’t have what it took to lead this defense. We then tore off six straight wins, and life was good again. However, in the second half of the season we had a few really ugly losses to Dallas, Minnesota, and Washington, and again all hope was lost. Plaxico hadn’t been able to practice all season, Eli wasn’t playing well, and Shockey’s health status was almost always in question until the day of the game. Despite all the cynicism, we pulled off a comeback win on the road in Buffalo and fought very hard in a close loss to end the season against New England. Obviously, the rest is history.
• Right now, after ten games, we’re 6-4. We’re 2^nd in our division, 1-2 in said division (with three more divisional games left to play), and 5-2 in the conference.

What’s the point of reliving all this, you might ask? It’s simple – to put this season in perspective. We’ve seen this movie before, yet there are a lot of fans out there that think there’s no reason left to hope. If we’ve learned anything from years of being Giants’ fans, it’s that we play best when things are at their worst, when it looks like there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.

So, fellow fans, I implore you to have some faith in your team! Yes, we’ve shot ourselves in foot as of late, and brought many of our losses on ourselves. One fan wrote to say, “Well, good teams don’t ever make mistakes to let close games slip away.” Another wrote, “Bottom line, we don’t have the talent on the field to match up and maintain while Hakeem and Smith are out.” Really? On the same day as our ugly collapse, the great and powerful Peyton Manning threw the Colts’ game away on a bad interception late in the fourth quarter. In that same game, a New England team who, besides Tom Brady, was made up almost entirely of players who for all we know could’ve been on some team’s practice squad last season, beat them.

So to those so-called “fans” who seem to be doing nothing but looking for reasons to think this season’s hopeless, keep it to yourself, or go offer to write for the New York Post or some other obnoxious tabloid. But don’t declare your depressing hopelessness for the public to read about on some social networking site. I was thinking yesterday, what would happen if Coughlin came into work, found out about Nicks, and thought, "well, that's it - let's pack it in?" Or anyone on the team thought that? It'd be ludicrous. As far as I'm concerned, the fans are the 12th man. Therefore, we have the responsibility to carry ourselves with the same hope and optimism as anyone employed by the team. We're an extension of the New York Giants, and represent them with our public "outcries," so to speak. I'm proud of it, and we all should be. I'd like to think most of us are, we just gotta get those stragglers back in line.

“Who are you to judge a person’s level of fandom?” Me? I’m nobody. Just a guy who really loves the Gmen, yet won’t even use his real name, hiding behind an alias every week (although I mean come on, it is a damn cool alias). In my opinion, a fan is simply defined by their love and loyalty for their team. How they choose to represent it is entirely up to them (some buy jerseys, other simply scream out "GMEN!" at the top of their lungs in random, public places). What I think people have a serious issue with is how so many people are so quick to harshly overreact when things go bad and abandon all hope, instead of having faith and love in their team through thick AND THIN. But fans who one Monday talk about a coach being a legit Coach of the Year candidate decide two weeks later that he should be fired because of consecutive ugly losses and simply forget about how great he's been for us (got us a ring!) over the years pisses most true fans off. Of course Coughlin's just one isolated issue, it ranges from late-season collapsing to Eli’s poor play these last two weeks to a number of other irrationally harsh statements about our beloved GMEN. Real life isn't Madden, people - you can't just one week decide people stink and a quick replacement will change everything, and that all good teams go 16-0 and win every game by 21 points. All teams go through tough times, and all teams suffer injuries. Only the true fans can appreciate and respect the fact that the season is unpredictable, and all you can do is love and respect your team! Who’s to say Derek Hagan won’t step on the field this Sunday and have an absurd 200-yard receiving day with three touchdown receptions? Is it likely? Probably not. Is it possible? ABSOLUTELY. Cinderella stories have to happen somewhere – why not East Rutherford, New Jersey? We’re a family. While we sometimes might want to replace our siblings or parents when they’re bothering us, we know deep down that’s not the correct way to handle it. We have to bear with it, and know that in the end, they care about us as much as we care about them, and will do everything in their power not to let us down. I believe we owe it to our team to show them the same courtesy and admiration.

Whew, rant over. On to last Sunday’s miserable viewing experience:

A Bad Start, Even Before the First Whistle Blew

JJ and I should’ve known we’d be in for a long, arduous night from the get-go. We decided to watch the game at O’Brien’s Irish Pub in Santa Monica. From what we’d heard, it was the marquee “New York Sports Bar” in the area, and we figured we’d need to be amongst many of our own kind for this game. Well, despite a lone Giants helmet on the wall, I don’t really know if I’d call O’Brien’s and New York sports bar. There were certainly a lot of Giants fans there mingling about, but nothing about the bar showed any sort of New York personality. Which brings us to the service, or lack thereof. We also went there to grab some quick dinner before the game started, but there was only one guy working the tables, and it took him nearly thirty minutes from the time we sat down (IN FULL GIANTS DECORUM!) before he finally asked us what we’d like to drink, and we felt it necessary to throw in our food order at the same time, in case it took another thirty minutes for him to come back. Still, not too bad an experience so far. Then, the kicker.

Nearly two minutes before kickoff, your typical Southern California parent, exuding responsibility, thought it wise to bring his wife and toddler inside for a pleasant family dinner. Seriously, the kid had to be about two or three years old. Of course, they were seated in the booth next to us. The game started, and of course every play was followed either by very loud cheers or very loud jeers. JJ and I were certainly among those yelling, not letting one father’s dumb decision derail our viewing experience. Needless to say, after Eli threw his first pick, there were some angry expletives being shouted, and people continued screaming at the TV long after the play ended. JJ and I, lost in the game and not worrying about those around us, joined in. Of course the father had the nerve to lean over and say, “Do you mind? I’m trying to eat dinner with my wife and daughter over here, and you guys are being very loud.” REALLY?!?! I promptly turned to the guy, without hesitation, to let him know it might not have been the wisest choice to bring his wife and toddler into a (supposedly) New York sports bar on the night of a primetime Giants-Eagles game with first place in the division on the line for a casual family meal. Let me just preface – this place isn’t a restaurant that happens to have a bar area. This is a bar that happens to serve food and has tables to accommodate the viewing crowd. And this guy has the nerve to call out two Giants fans, in a New York sports bar, for cheering loudly for the Gmen? His best defense – “Well, they have a kids’ menu.” Wow. Then, the unexpected occurred. The guy who was seating tables, working for a (supposedly) New York sports bar, came and told MY FRIEND AND I to keep it down. It’s not like he then turned to the family and said, “This is a New York sports bar, and when there’s a Giants game on, it tends to get a little loud. Another night might be better, but we’ll see what we can do.” Or something at least unbiased and reasonable. No, he turned to us, and asked us to keep it down, saying nothing to the other party involved. I understand there was a kid, but is it our fault the guy was irresponsible? That’s like bringing your child to a jam band concert and complaining about the smoke. A little logic goes a long way. Needless to say, we cancelled our food order, paid for our drinks, and got out of there. Certainly not going to that place for any New York sporting events any time in the near future.

We got to my place with plenty of time left to go in the second quarter. It was up and down the whole way through, but ultimately ended in a very disappointing loss. Obviously what happened at O’Brien’s had nothing to do with how the game turned out, nor did we think it did, but there’s never any room for bad mojo while watching a crucial divisional match up in primetime.

We all know how the game played out, and I don’t want to spend time reliving the painful details. Some positives to take away were the blocked field goal at the end of the first half, our defense’s ability to contain Vick, our defense’s ability to create turnovers, and the likes of Travis Beckum and Derek Hagan coming up with huge touchdown receptions in the clutch. One thing’s for certain – Michael Vick’s arm and legs didn’t beat us on Sunday night. Our own mistakes at crucial times in the game are what did us in. Those mistakes are correctable, although guys like Bradshaw fumbling every game and Eli refusing to learn how to slide correctly better hurry up and correct themselves soon. We have to believe that they will. The breaking news Tuesday morning was that the Giants would be signing Michael Clayton, fresh off a few weeks playing in the UFL. I don’t know what to expect, but hopefully he’ll serve his purpose in our offense adequately until we get Smith and Nicks back.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

• Caught the newest Harry Potter over the weekend. Wow. While watching it, I thought back to how I saw the first couple films form this franchise with my immediate and extended family during the holiday season in years past. Don’t get me wrong – the film was amazing, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time – but in no way can you call this Harry Potter film “fun for the whole family.” That much is for certain.
• Love the new ad campaign for the Windows phone (“a phone to save us from our phones,” or whatever the tag line is). However, two things bother me: first, the whole point is that the phone essential lets you “check what you care about most” quickly so you can get on with your normal life, or something to that effect. Is that really what we now care about most? That’s kind of sad. Second, the same people who laugh at the commercial and how ridiculous it is (like a father getting pelted in the head with a baseball because he’s too consumed with texting to pay attention to the catch he was having with his son – loved that one) are the same ones who are repeat offenders of those same exact actions. We love to laugh at ourselves, but never seem to learn from it. (Ooooh, ooooh, I should make that my Facebook status! Be right back J ).
• Not to kick him too hard while he’s down, but karma’s a bitch, isn’t it Mr. Favre? Glad to see Aaron Rodgers put Brett in his place on the road in Minnesota, and even happier to see what a classy guy he was about it, exchanging what seemed like words of respect and admiration for the guy he used to play behind.
• Richard Seymour – what did you think was going to happen? Really?
• Bud Adams, you can’t expect a great coach like Jeff Fisher, who has loads of self-respect, to get along with an immature baby like Vince Young. I realize no one likes to admit the fact that they have to move on without their number one draft pick, but it’s not worth losing such a great coach simply because you feel its necessary to give an overgrown child endless chances. Cut ties, move on.

Putting it in Perspective

All right, its time to move forward. It looks like we’ll be without Smith, Nicks, O’Hara, and Diehl for the next two weeks. Nicks, specifically, closer to 3 weeks, if not more. These next two weeks we play Jacksonville and Washington, both at home. Those are winnable games, even with our injury-depleted roster. If we can make it past those games, and keep it close against Minnesota, we should have nearly our full roster intact just in time to host the Philadelphia Eagles on December 19^th. I have faith that we can do this, and everyone else should too. Must believe in our Gmen, baby! To talk all things Giants, you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, and you can find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” I hope this week’s article motivates most fans, and everyone can remember why we love this team so much, and the magical moments this franchise is capable of producing on any football weekend. This Thanksgiving, I know I’ll be thankful for my health, happiness, the well-being of those close to me (INCLUDING MY G-FAM, OF COURSE), and the NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS. Have a great holiday weekend everyone, and until next week, GO GMEN!!

Superfan: Giants vs. Cowboys (11/16/10)

Sit, Stew, Get Over It

By Superfan

If this were any other sport, Sunday’s horrible loss to the Cowboys wouldn’t have been a big deal. In baseball, it would’ve been a bad game, and we would have already played another one to put it in the past. In golf, we’d simply take a mulligan, or at least try to make up a few strokes on the next hole. But this is the NFL. Seventeen weeks, sixteen games, with a week between games to scrutinize each and every performance. Of course, when it happens to New England, and they get embarrassed by the Browns, it’s just an “off week” that everyone dismisses as soon as the final whistle blows, realizing there’s still plenty of football left to be played. Not with the Giants. With us, it means everything we’ve done well so far this season is for not, and we might as well give up on the rest of the season. After all, we lost to the struggling Cowboys, playing their first game under an interim head coach on the road with a backup quarterback. And Michael Vick went crazy Monday night against the Redskins, so he’s the hands-down favorite for league MVP. Clearly there’s absolutely no hope for the Giants anymore. Clearly, a bad performance one week dictates how the rest of the season will play out. Or at least that’s how ESPN and the other shortsighted sports writers around the country will describe it this week. Next week, it’ll be another story, and everyone will complete contradict every bold statement they made this week.

If you haven’t gotten the point of my obnoxious sarcasm yet, its this – don’t let one bad performance send you into panic mode. Most of the “experts” around the country need something to write about to fill in the sports pages each week between games, and aren’t football-savvy enough to write about teams and their respective matchups on a week-to-week basis. Instead, they decide to formulate an uneducated “best-guess” prediction for the season based on what they saw most recently, not taking each team’s season-long performance as a whole into consideration. Henceforth bringing to fruition Tuesday morning’s front-page headline on espn.com: “McNabb due just $3.75M if released.” This coming the day after he got a 5-year contract extension. Oh, the hype machine is at it again! But enough about all the unnecessary mumbo-jumbo, let’s get to our New York Football Giants.

A Tough Game to Watch

Need I say more? JJ came over to my place to watch us get demolished by the Cowboys. We tried switching seats on the couch several times, but never to any avail. Just an all-around frustrating day to be watching a football game.

We never really felt we were completely out of it until the last quarter, but also couldn’t help but notice how much Troy Aikman must have been LOVING to call the game on Fox. You could hear the smug satisfaction in his voice all game – he really shouldn’t be allowed to call those games. At least when Phil Simms does Giants games, he goes out of his way to not favor the Giants in any way to avoid an unfair bias being perceived. Of course, Phil Simms is a professional. Troy Aikman’s just annoying. To quote him late in the second quarter, after Nicks made a great catch, “Hakeem Nicks is Dallas’ version of Dez Bryant.” Well, Troy, at least you tried.

At least the new Meadowlands Stadium had some pity for the fans watching. It got so hard to believe, the power went out so they didn’t have to show the game on TV for a short while until they got things up and running again. Unfortunately, the newly re-electrified stadium didn’t provide the comeback “spark” the Gmen so desperately needed (pun intended).

Grave Reflections

Instead of going back over the ugly performance from last Sunday’s loss, let’s instead think about what good can be taken away from it. For starters, let’s hope this means the Giants will be the underdogs again in the public’s mind from this point on. Nothing seems to stir up trouble with this team more than perceived greatness. As soon as people think we’re the best team in the league, we’re doomed. I’m perfectly fine being called “almost the best,” if it means we win more games.

Secondly, we had a nice, large piece of humble pie to feast on. There were fans out there thinking the Giants were going to take this Cowboys team lightly. I responded that there was absolutely no way the Gmen would ever take a divisional opponent lightly, especially a team as desperate for a win as the Cowboys were. Yet, watching the game, it sure looked like that’s what happened. The secondary played very poorly, there was virtually no pass rush, and they almost seemed surprised to see Felix Jones getting as many touches early as he did. Don’t be surprised, be prepared! Of course, you have to give the Cowboys their due credit – they came ready to play, and hungry to compete. We didn’t.

Finally, the depth chart got chipped away at further with Ramses Barden’s fractured ankle. He played pretty well in the few opportunities he got the other day, but now it looks like he’s gone for the season. In the meantime, it looks like we went out and signed Derek Hagan to shore up the receiver position a little bit while Smith continues to rest up. And it was hard not to notice the affects of all the injuries to our offensive line lately. Here’s to hoping for faster recoveries for Diehl, Boothe, and O’Hara.

All in all, there were dumb penalties, sloppy play, a rough day for Eli passing the ball, very little out of our running game, bad tackling, and worse coverage. So overall just a really bad day. The players and coaches definitely must watch the tape to see what went wrong and what needs fixing, but after that we’ve got to flush this game away and focus on Philly this Sunday night.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

• The new ad campaign for the Toyota Highlander makes me sick to my stomach. Some obnoxious kid bragging about how cool his parents’ cars are, while other kids hide in shame from their parents driving older, used cars. Really? We want to teach kids in grade school that its okay to judge other kids based on what kind of cars their parents drive? And advertise it nationally in football games? This is why the rest of the world hates us, America.
• Nothing like having a Harry Potter marathon on all weekend to keep me from being productive. However, it did provide me with a nice distraction after the Giants took that beating on Sunday. Can’t wait to see the new flick this weekend.
• I miss Mad Men. A lot. The first episode of The Walking Dead was kind of entertaining, but it’s been horrible since. I want Draper back!

We have a huge game coming up Sunday night. Our first game against the Eagles, to decide first place in the division! Does it get any bigger than this in November? We need a huge bounce-back game, and what better place to have it than in Philly? To talk all things Gmen, 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!!

Superfan: Giants vs. Seahawks (11/9/10)

Soaring Over Seattle

By Superfan

We had just come off the bye week, and (almost on cue) the hype machine was well under way. On many sports websites, we were being ranked as one of the top five teams in the league, and arguably the best team in the NFC. Even Sports Illustrated, in their midseason report, had us reaching the NFC Championship game but losing to Green Bay. Most Giants fans understand that this sort of chatter typically spells absolute and unequivocal doom for us. All we needed was a segment in one of the Sunday studio pregame shows dedicated to the G-men’s resurgence as a dominant NFC team, and the recipe for disaster would be complete. Alas, despite all that, we still went out there in a very tough environment on the road and came away with a huge blowout victory. How ‘bout them Giants!

It might not have seemed like it, but from a superstitious/recent history perspective, we had a lot of reasons to think something bad would come out of this game. For starters, we were coming off the bye. Second, we were playing in Seattle (where we hadn’t won since I believe 1981). Lastly, like I mentioned earlier, we typically don’t play well once the rest of the country believes we’re really good. Alas, come kickoff, none of that stuff mattered.

The Curse of Jerry’s House Finally Ended

Despite the fact that the last two times we were invited to watch games at his place the Giants and Chargers (he’s a die-hard fan of the latter) lost, Jerry still invited JJ and I to come over last Sunday, and we obliged. Normally, I’d be worried, what with all the previously listed reasons going against the Gmen. But for some reason, I had a great feeling about this one. In fact, when we arrived around halftime of the early games, I leaned over to JJ and said, “You know, if we force a few 3-and-outs, get a couple scores, and take the crowd out of it early, this might end up being a blowout.” JJ (and I don’t blame him, in fact I probably would’ve reacted the same way had it been the other way around) promptly looked at me in bewilderment and told me to shut up. To paraphrase, “Dude, you’re like that guy in the dugout who feels it necessary to remind the pitcher he’d throwing a perfect game in the fifth inning.” Guess who had the last laugh there? Although, if the game had even been the least bit close, I’m sure JJ would have been ALL OVER ME for it until the final whistle blew.

As always, the setup was awesome, and the food was delicious. Since we got there around half time of the Chargers game (and wow was that a tense living room to walk into), we missed breakfast. Between games lunch was served, which consisted of delicious twice baked potatoes. The gathering of fans kind of parted ways as the late games began, since half of us really wanted to watch the Giants-Seahawks game, and a few of the Chargers fans were all about the Chiefs-Raiders match-up. There were no Gmen haters around, however there were quite a few of us who were going up against Eli, Nicks, and/or Ahmad in fantasy (myself included). I was more than happy to take the hit that Eli’s huge numbers provided my opponent in my fantasy game, however there were others who weren’t so thrilled about it. They really made it known how angry they were that Eli was not only still in the game, but also still throwing passes near the end of the third quarter. For the record, I managed to squeak out a one-point win this week (thanks Arian Foster, sorry Jerry), so everything worked out just fine. After half time of the Giants’ game, Jerry served dinner, which was flank steak with peppers and onions, with two kinds of rolls (soft and hard) to make sandwiches with. Yum.

Things went so well for the Gmen that JJ and I left near the top of the fourth quarter, when the back-ups began shuffling in, and listened to the rest of the game in the car (we took the gourmet brownies he had for dessert on the road). Jerry – as always, we had a blast, the food was great, and the company was even better!

Silenced in Seattle

The most encouraging thing about the huge win last Sunday was that the Giants did exactly what an elite team is supposed to do against a lesser opponent – dominate them from beginning to end, with plenty of time to let the back-ups get some reps in. With the exception of Kevin Boss’s fumble on our first drive, our offense was nearly perfect in the first half. Almost every skill player on offense had at least one or two big plays, and if I remember correctly I don’t think we even punted the ball until the second half. Ahmad continues to look better each week, and Brandon’s finally getting back to being a bruising, dominant runner. I think its also worth mentioning the moment in the first quarter where we scored fourteen points in fifteen seconds of game clock, thanks to a huge forced fumble by Travis Beckum on a kickoff which Goff recovered inside the red zone. Two touchdowns, fifteen seconds. Not a typo. Beat that, Reggie Miller.

The defense was just as good. Sure, we didn’t have any sacks and our consecutive games streak for knocking quarterbacks out of games came to an end, but I’ll gladly trade that while allowing the opponent less than 200 total yards offensively all game, with a pair of interceptions to go along with it. To be completely honest, Charlie Whitehurst looked very much out of his league out there, however I think his production (or lack thereof) showed everyone just that.

The special teams looked pretty solid as well. The kickoff coverage was outstanding, taking their biggest threat (Leon Washington) completely out of the game, and I was very encouraged by what I saw out of Will Blackmon. One more huge positive was the way our second-teamers were able to hold the ball for nearly all of the fourth quarter on one drive, where we took over with thirteen minutes and change remaining and finally gave it back to them with under a minute left. Very impressive.

Also, can we take a moment real quick to give some serious props to our secondary this season? At the end of last season, the Giants were a middle-of-the-pack team, allowing 214.1 passing yards per game. This season through eight games our passing defense is ranked second in the league allowing just 169.8 yards per game through the air. Webster, Thomas, Ross, Grant, Rolle, Phillips, and Johnson – WELL DONE!

The only thing that bugged me about our win (well, ‘bugged’ is a strong word – how about ‘irked’) was our inability to score touchdowns in the second half, instead settling for two field goals. The game was already well in hand, but if you have to nit-pick a nearly flawless performance, that’s what you’d have to point to.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

• Caught Avatar (several times) on HBO over the weekend. Forgot how much I loved Dances With Wolves-- er, I mean Fern Gully-- er, I mean Avatar.
• I don’t understand why people are so amazed by Wes Welker’s ability to successfully kick an extra point in the game against Cleveland. Did everyone forget he took care of the kicking duties on more than one occasion while playing in Miami?
• Is it really a big story that Dallas fired Wade Phillips? Its not going to change anything about this season, and it was a move that was going to happen regardless, whether it was now or at the end of the season. And for all intensive purposes, the season’s over in Dallas, so it’s essentially the same thing. Secondly, let’s stop being so flabbergasted that their season ended up the way it did. No one except hype-convinced pundits assumed Dallas would make it to the Super Bowl the year they were hosting it. Finally, you can’t blame this on Romo being injured. Their defense flat-out isn’t very good this season.

Can’t Look Past Dallas

To truly contradict my previous comments, the header basically says it all. We have a huge Sunday night match-up against Philly coming up on the 21^st, but first we have to make sure we take care of business at home this Sunday against the visiting Cowboys. By the way, how great is it that this season’s played out so that a November game against Dallas can be viewed as a possible “pushover”? This has been such a great season to be a Giants’ fan so far.

That’s it for this week. Can’t wait to embarrass the Cowgirls, and then look to do the same thing to the Eagles the next week! Going headfirst into the divisional part of our schedule! To talk all things Giants you can reach me via e-mail at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, and you can find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Keep on bleeding blue, and until next week, GO GMEN!!

Superfan: Bye Week (11/2/10)

A Successful Bye Week

By Superfan

A football Sunday where veteran coaches make horrible mistakes, the teams from the NFC East that actually do play lose to bad teams (with their front offices having near-meltdowns in the process), the Jets gets shut out by a World Series’ score in the Meadowlands, and the Gmen don’t even have to play? THAT’S ONE SUCCESSFUL BYE WEEK IF YOU ASK ME!

As is the case every year, despite the good that came out of it, the Sunday of a bye week is the loneliest Sunday of the year for a football fan. To make it worse, my roommate and I didn’t get a single trick-or-treater come to our apartment all day (which I had hoped would at least take my mind off things for a bit). On the flipside, it also meant we had huge bags of fun-sized candy leftover. They were all but empty by the fourth quarter of the Steelers-Colts game. Sugar crash, anyone?

To go on a brief tangent, I’m getting pretty sick and tired of all the football pundits saying the AFC is clearly a more dominant conference than the NFC, and the top five teams in the league always have to come from there. When, pray-tell, did this become the case? Let’s put their respective divisions head-to-head. For argument’s sake, let’s say the AFC West and the NFC West cancel each other out, because they’re both horribly uncompetitive conferences (right now), where it looks like the least depressing team will scrape it’s way into the playoffs, instead of the dominant team earning its way in (the Chiefs and Seahawks lead those divisions, respectively). The NFC and AFC Easts look like they have 2 clear-cut favorites to take the division, with a third team right on the cusp, and a fourth that’s out of the picture. The AFC and NFC Norths each have two teams on top with winning records, and two teams on the bottom at 2-5. Lastly, the NFC and AFC Souths have three teams jockeying for a legitimate shot to take the division, with a fourth team not only lost in the shuffle, but on the brink of becoming LA’s newest addition next season. From that perspective, I’d say the NFC and the AFC are relatively even conferences. Let the disputing begin!

Looking Ahead…

We have a huge game coming up off the bye next Sunday in Seattle. The Giants have been a little shaky after the bye week in recent years, and we can’t let that reputation hold true this season. I really don’t think we will. I think this team is mature enough to handle any praise and high expectations it’s received recently. I don’t see Perry Fewell putting the brakes on our pass rush at all, and hopefully if there’s inclement weather it will give Ahmad and Brandon more opportunities to run all over Seattle’s 10^th ranked rushing defense, which Darren McFadden showed everyone was more than possible the other day. As for the passing game, I’m sure Nicks, Smith, and Manningham are all well aware that they’re going up against the league’s 29^th-worst passing defense, and should expect to have a big day on Sunday, even if the weather forces a skewed ratio of running plays versus passing plays.

Regardless, if we don’t show up to play, it won’t matter. And don’t think the players who were there several years ago forgot what happened the last time we visited Seattle, when we outplayed them but unfortunately lost on a missed field goal. Let’s work on finishing the game this time around.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

• I hope everyone made it a point to get out and vote on Tuesday! On that note, not to sound too political, but I really enjoyed what Jon Stewart had to say at the end of his “Rally to Restore Sanity” last Saturday. It was a frank, straightforward heart-to-heart with those watching and in attendance about the state of things in our country, and urged us to be more optimistic and to panic less. I hope the country listened to what he had to say.
• Watched AMC’s “The Walking Dead” on Sunday, and I loved it. I just hope the rest of the country is still as into zombies a few weeks after Halloween as they were the day of, so this show can stay on the air. I don’t want to ruin anything in case you missed it and have it DVR’d, but based on how the pilot ended, I really hope we see some HORSE ZOMBIE ACTION next week!
• As a football fan, I’m thrilled that the Raiders-Chiefs rivalry is relevant again! What a storied history between two great franchises, finally getting themselves (seemingly) back on track.
• Congratulations San Francisco on a very impressive World Series’ victory. Very happy to see a Giants’ team breaking the hearts of Texas fans all over the country, regardless of the sport.
• Did everyone else see the kid dressed up as Ron Washington for Halloween? EPIC.
• It might just be me, but it certainly looks like Brad Childress is doing everything he can to destroy the Minnesota Vikings’ short-term and long-term hopes of success by any means possible. First he put Brett Favre before the team in the off-season, and now he’s letting his personal feelings cost the Vikings one of the best receivers in the game (don’t talk to me about receiving numbers – what Moss brings to the field, both talent-wise and simply with regards to how defenses face him, is priceless) and a third-round draft pick in the process. Here’s to hoping his next head-coaching stop is Dallas!

That’s it for this week. No game this past weekend, so not too much to talk about. The rest of the season is upon us! Gotta keep working hard straight through to January. You can reach me via e-mail at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, or on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Until next week, GO GMEN!