SuperFan: Giants vs. Eagles (9/26/11)

A Giant Victory in Philly

By Superfan

Hey, Philly, you like apples? We just shocked you on your home turf - how do you like them apples? As Brandon Jacobs said, “they can continue being the Dream Team and keep dreaming.” What a huge, huge victory for our beloved Gmen! Our owner, John Mara, admitted this was the team’s biggest regular season win in a while. And it really was. So many important things were confirmed and realized for our squad after the win, both physically and mentally.

To take another quote from a member of the Giants’ organization, here’s what Justin Tuck had to say about the W: “I do believe in them and I did before we won this game, but now there’s no doubt whatsoever that when we play our style of football, we can beat anybody.” I get chills writing that. All true-blue Giants’ fans can stand up and grin proudly. For the haters, worriers, excuse-makers, and doubters, go find another reason to complain about the Giants. This win is for those who believed in the Gmen, regardless of the injuries. Who knew that when the time came for guys to step up, Jerry Reese had built a deep enough roster with players who would step up in a big way. Pat Hanlon probably won’t stop grinning from ear to ear until kickoff next Sunday. Good for us. Let’s get to it:

The Home Crew, together at last…

Fortunately, the west coast Fox affiliate was carrying the Giants-Eagles matchup as their early game. So I got to watch the game at home, which is a huge deal when it happens to start at 10:00 am. JJ was there, as was my roommate Joe, and his dog Vandy. The full crew was together at last, and the results were great. And despite Tony Siragusa (or as I like to refer to him, the most useless person in all of televised sports), I knew it would be a good day when Fox opened their telecast at “the Linc” with Kenny Albert and Daryl Johnston in the broadcast both as opposed to Troy Aikman and Joe (do I really have to be here?) Buck.

It was a great, overwhelmingly stressful viewing experience from start to almost finish. Wouldn’t have it any other way. I was screaming at the top of my lungs even before game time, sure I was waking up our upstairs and other nearby neighbors, and not caring one bit. I had the old “Proud to Be (a New York Giant)” song cued up on my iTunes for every time the Giants scored. Remember, the awesome song they used to play before kickoff at all the Giants’ home games, with different members of the team singing along on the video boards? Don’t know why they stopped doing that. The song still gets me amped. And I got to play it a whole lot on Sunday.

I must admit that JJ had a bit of a scare on Sunday. It’s not easy for everyone to be on time for such an early game on a weekend morning, and JJ was a little bit late. Also, Joe had to run out to the store for a bit, so for most of the 1st quarter it was just Vandy and me. When the Giants picked Vick off early and scored on the next possession, I couldn’t help but think that so far this season Vandy really had been giving JJ a run for his money. Fortunately we scored again just after JJ arrived, so any notion of there being a luck discrepancy vanished with that play, and our very well-played second half. Now for the nitty-gritty from Sunday’s big win:

Big Blue in “Cruz Control”

Several things had to happen on Sunday for the Giants to come away with a win. We had to protect Eli, avoid turnovers, hit Vick hard and often, and the young guys had to step up. Those things happened, and we won. Not a coincidence.

Offensive game ball - Victor Cruz. Talk about a young guy stepping up when he had to. Everyone (myself included) thought that with all the injuries to our receiving corps, we would have to run the ball extremely well to even stand a chance in this one. I don’t think anyone saw this coming, and what a great story for the kid. Growing up in Paterson, N.J. right near the Meadowlands, I felt like I could have easily been watching an old high school buddy playing out there. It’s so cool to see a hometown hero develop right before our eyes in such a huge game. In the first quarter, he broke three tackles for his first career NFL touchdown, in the meantime fooling Nnamdi Asomugha (yes, THAT Nnamdi Asomugha) so badly that I think the guy had to run back onto the field in the middle of halftime to grab his jock. To add insult to injury in the fourth quarter, Cruz made a tremendous leaping catch in heavy coverage on the goal line for the go-ahead touchdown, pulling the ball away from, among others, Nnamdi Asomugha. What an incredible performance. The determination in his eyes, willing himself to break tackles and score on the first-quarter touchdown catch, captured the thought in every Giants’ fan’s heart - if we wanted to win this game, we were going to have to go out and TAKE IT. (Honorable mentions - Ahmad Bradshaw, Eli Manning.)

Defensive game ball - Jason Pierre-Paul. This guy is a BEAST. Every game we’ve played, he’s been huge in. And never more so than this past Sunday. In the first quarter, he made a huge sack that got our offense the ball back to let us take a two-score lead. In the second quarter, with the Eagles knocking on the end-zone’s door, he made a big play by tipping a pass which Kenny Philips almost turned into an interception. At least we held them to three instead of giving up six. One of many clutch red zone stands. He capped off his incredible game with another sack in the fourth quarter, after which he left the field with an injury. Fortunately, it turned out he only had a cramp, and is okay. When Michael Vick closes his eyes to go to bed, the look on Jason Pierre-Paul’s face while coming after him should be the image that haunts his dreams for weeks to come. (Honorable mention - Aaron Ross. After two tough weeks where he faced harsh criticism from a lot of people, myself included, he bounced back in a huge way with two key interceptions.)

Despite only giving out two game balls, this was absolutely a complete team effort. Our pass rush was all over Vick, so much so that he felt the need to cry about it in his post game press conference. Things got pretty chippy there in the first half, and seemed to continue throughout. Which I loved. It’s great to show the other team you’re not going to back down, and put it in their heads that when they play you, it’s going to hurt. We just have to be smarter about it and avoid stupid unsportsmanlike penalties. Antrel Rolle, even though Celek was equally at fault during your little scuffle, we’ll NEVER get those calls in Philly. It’s a fact of life that all Giants fans and players simply have to accept.

Eli had a great game, which (ironically) is exactly why he’s so frustrating as a franchise quarterback. It’s why we get so mad after he has bad games. Against arguably the best secondary in professional football, he threw four touchdowns and ZERO interceptions. We all know he has the potential to be one of the top quarterbacks in the league. If he could ONLY BE CONSISTENT! It also helped that Victor Cruz alone accounted for 113 of his passing yards thanks to great running after the catch and an insane reception in ridiculous coverage. But throws like the one he made to Brandon Jacobs for our first TD of the game? That was a PERFECTLY thrown ball. When the guy has time, and the play-action works, there aren’t many quarterbacks in the league who are better than him. It also looks like, after a few tough weeks, he’s finally getting more in sync with his young receivers, running backs, and protection. Let’s hope things keep improving in that respect.

Like the Saints the year they won the Super Bowl, our defense can allow yardage in between the 20s all they like so long as they continue to harden up in the red zone where it counts. You know, the old “bend but don’t break” adage. As long as we don’t break, and hold them to field goals instead of touchdowns, our offense has shown it’s good enough to take care of the rest. Taking a look at the numbers so far this year compared to last year (thanks to teamrankings.com for the info):

· Opponent Red Zone scoring percentage, NY Giants:

o 2011 - 38.46%

o 2010 - 53.19%

Very, very nice. Keep that up, and it’ll be a fun season!

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· As much as I kind of selfishly hate you for stealing our spotlight this week, kudos to the Buffalo Bills for their shocking upset of the New England Patriots. It’s hard not to root for those guys, especially considering who else there is to cheer for in that division. Ryan Fitzpatrick is definitely for real.

· Congratulations to Joe Lacava for being selected by Tiger Woods to be his new caddie. You may not know much about the former caddie for Freddie Couples and Dustin Johnson, but there’s something you should know about the guy - he’s one of the biggest Giants fans on the planet. And I don’t toss stuff like that around lightly. He also happens to be a really good guy. In case you needed a reason to root for Tiger Woods, there it is. Big Blue getting represented on the professional links - gotta love it!

· I have to call out my buddy, ‘Teach,’ for what had to be a very disappointing Sunday. He’s a huge Patriots and Red Sox fan, despite growing up in New York. Unfortunately my Yankees couldn’t completely put him out of his misery, splitting the double-header in 14 innings, but with another native New Yorker blowing him out in fantasy football, the Bills handing it to his Pats, and the Yankees nearly ending the Red Sox playoff hopes, it had to be a tough day. Serves you right! GO NY!

· I saw something this morning that made me more homesick than I’ve been in a long time. Something that you would only see in Southern California. Not only would you never see this in New York City, but I doubt you’d see this in the yuppiest of New York suburbs. I stopped at a gas station on my way to work. While waiting, I noticed someone at a neighboring tank also filling up his gas tank. Except he was standing there, amidst the pumps, eating sliced strawberries off a plate. Not even a plastic or paper plate - a porcelain plate. It’s a gas station, not a farmer’s market, guy. MAN UP.

Final Thoughts:

Yes, it was a huge win and we shocked the world. We deserve to be riding high right now. But we have to make sure we don’t take this win for granted. Arizona might not seem to be as daunting an opponent as Philly was, but we’ve had worse let downs before. Remember the Monday night loss to Cleveland in 2008, after destroying the Seahawks the week before? We can’t afford to let that happen. Hopefully some guys will get healthy in the meantime, and the rest will continue playing with the same drive we saw Sunday. If we can keep playing this hard every week, we’re going to be a very dangerous team to face later on. To keep talking all things Giants, you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com and find me on Facebook under the alias “Gmen Superfan.” Huge win, gotta keep the momentum as we head back to the site of our Super Bowl 42 victory, University of Phoenix Stadium. Until next week, GO GMEN!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Rams (9/20/11)

Big Win Under Bright Lights

By Superfan

You don’t get style points in the win-loss column. You get wins or losses. Last night, we got a win. And it was a huge win. It was our home opener, under the lights on Monday night, and we were honoring the twenty-five year anniversary of winning Super Bowl XXI. We didn’t look great the whole night, and there was much left to be desired, but we sure put on a show.

I’m going to cut right to it and get it out of the way early. It’s great that we won, but with all the injuries to our secondary, I really think we might need to bring someone in from the free agent market. I’ve been as big of an Aaron Ross fan as anybody, I’m really excited he’s healthy finally, and I’m sure at some point he’ll get back to his first-round form, but we need something in the meantime. We got beat up and down the field by the Redskins and the (Danny Amendola-less) Rams. The receiving corps is supposedly the weak spot on those teams. So if they can leave our secondary in the dust, what’s going to happen when we line up across from the Eagles receivers? Hopefully, we can work something out in the near future. But about last night…

Primetime Football Stinks on the West Coast

It’s supposed to be in the fans’ best interests when their team is featured on Monday Night Football. Except when you’re on the West Coast. Then that means an awkward, anxious afternoon at work looking at the clock and wondering how much you’re really needed there, when it’s okay to leave, if it’s okay to leave, and searching desperately for some website streaming the game since ESPN hates everyone and won’t stream it themselves.

Once 5:30 crept around, I kinda-sorta-but-not-really made sure it was okay to leave, got to my car, and raced home. Fortunately Sirius XM NFL Radio had the national broadcast, so that kept me filled in until I made it back around halfway through the second quarter. For a Monday Night game on the West Coast, getting in front of a TV before halftime was nothing short of a miracle.

Unfortunately, JJ was not so lucky. He got stuck at work until late in the fourth quarter, so I guess he had to watch the game on his computer via gamecast. I know, Deion, that’s not the game, it’s numbers. We’ve all seen the commercials. But guess what? In real life, football fans that get stuck in tough spots don’t get to have Hall of Fame fairies fly around and magically give them NFL Sunday Ticket on their phones or tablets. Until that day comes, visits from the Deion fairy will have to remain an unfulfilled fantasy.

So the second half viewing took place at home with my roommate Joe and his dog, Vandy. Joe was only there for a bit before heading off to the gym, so it was me and the Welsh Terrier. Vandy was a good fan. He also happens to be an awesome dog. He sat with me while I cheered, and when he noticed I was upset, stayed away. Although he is a curious little guy, which made it difficult when it came time to heat up a frozen pizza in the oven. But he’s a good boy. And, with him in attendance at the viewing party, the Gmen won by double digits. On the season, Vandy’s company is 1-0, while JJ’s is 0-1. I know it was work-related and you couldn’t help it JJ, but buddy, you might have to watch your back if Vandy’s presence keeps bringing wins.

Not Good the Whole Time, But Good at the Right Time

I think the above sentence pretty much sums up Monday night’s big win for us. From what I could hear in the car, it sounded like we started off well running the ball, and had a great drive going until Eli threw the pick. Also, the way they were talking about it on the radio, it seemed like our corners were playing WAY back on the wide-outs. But it also sounded like we managed to capitalize on their mistakes, which is huge. That’s one thing that’s always hampered us in the past, which we did well on Monday night.

Trailing by three early in the first quarter after a disappointing three-and-out (one of many), Steve Weatherford punted to Rams rookie return man Greg Salas, who muffed the return, and the fumble was recovered by a hustling David Tollefson. Six plays and one huge pass interference penalty later, Nicks made a great adjustment to reel in a poorly-thrown Eli Manning pass for our first points of the game, putting us up 7-3. We never relinquished the lead from that point on. And it was very important that, after a tough start offensively, which included an intercepted Manning pass by (who else) Quentin Mikell, we got six on that drive. Not three, six. Good teams shouldn’t have to settle for field goals in the red zone. And we didn’t.

Another huge mistake we capitalized on was the failed screen pass from Bradford to Cadillac Williams which turned out to be a lateral, and Michael Boley was smart enough to grab that ball and run it all the way into the end zone, having not heard any whistles. That gets an ATTA BOY! Once again, good teams capitalize on other teams mistakes. We scored fourteen points off of two turnovers. I’d call that capitalizing.

And for as bad as our secondary looked, our defensive line looked great. Jason Pierre-Paul has been on fire since week one, and boy was it great to see Justin Tuck back on the line. Despite the secondary letting the Rams move between the 20s seemingly at will, once they got in the red zone, the defense stepped up big, with a few huge goal line stands. If they’d scored touchdowns instead of settling for field goals in those situations, we’d probably me stewing over a loss right now. So great job on the defense’s part in tightening up when they needed to.

Speaking of looking good when we needed to, Eli and the offense reeled off a tremendous drive in a two-minute drill just before halftime, which ended in a touchdown. This is now two weeks in a row we’ve done this. Monday night, it meant some great quick hits to Mario Manningham with our no-huddle offense, capped off by a circus touchdown reception by Dominik Hixon that has to be one of the best I’ve ever seen. It’s great having him back, too.

Leading 21-6 at the start of the third quarter, our defense let them drive down the field but then held them to only a field goal. On the ensuing drive, Eli led us down the field thanks to some timely penalties on the Rams’ part, which ended with a very good-looking nine yard touchdown run by Brandon Jacobs. He’s been running very hard so far this season, which is another refreshing sight for sore eyes. We went up 28-9, and held them to just one more touchdown, capping off a clutch 28-16 primetime victory. One more positive to take away from Monday night was the way Pascoe and Cruz stepped up to make plays in the second half, when we were without both Hixon and Manningham. As I write this, initial reports are they should be available to play Sunday, but I don’t know for sure yet.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· Congratulations, Mariano Rivera, on setting the all-time saves record with #602. If there were any people who doubted whether or not Mariano Rivera is the greatest closer in baseball history, this should shut you up for good. If you still disagree, you simply haven’t been paying attention.

· Got forced into watching the season premiere of Two and a Half Men last night. The show already wasn’t funny when Charlie Sheen was on it. Now, just, wow. How can people watch this stuff over and over? Really?

· Also caught the new Ryan Gosling flick “Drive” over the weekend. I was really looking forward to this one, and was sorely disappointed. There were about four very cool action scenes, but that’s about all. And he barely drove! Look, I understand what they were going for here, but still. Taking a cool idea, not executing it, and then adding a terrible score with terrible title songs doesn’t make something “art house,” it just makes it crappy.

· Did we find out who the guy was that Michael Boley nailed in the face with the ball after returning that fumble for a touchdown? Didn’t look like it felt very pleasant. Way to take one for the team…

· Chris Collinsworth, just ask Michael Vick out on a date. Seriously. The way you were raving about the guy during the game, you’d have thought he was a three-time Super Bowl MVP. Take it down a notch. Vick still hasn’t played a full season in the NFL in quite a while, and we’re only two weeks into this one. You made it sound like a quarterback having the ability to throw in the pocket is a super special trait that makes him invincible. All it means is the guy’s finally learning how to play the position the way everyone else does - the right way. Just took him longer than most.

Final Thoughts:

IT’S PHILLY WEEK! I know what I said earlier about our secondary and Philly’s receivers, but it IS a divisional game. And when that happens, you throw the stat sheets out the window. Vick might not play, but I kind of hope he does. Because hopefully our D-line will make his visit to Atlanta feel like a summer at Camp Bumblebee. Eli needs to sharpen up with the guy he has, and when he has receivers open, he HAS to hit them in stride. Especially against the Eagles. We have to capitalize on every opportunity. And if our running game can exploit their much maligned defensive front, then we have the ability to dominate the clock. When the Giants do that, they start playing good football, and it usually results in wins. We have a very, very big game ahead of us! And I have faith we’ll be ready! 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.” Until next week, GO GMEN!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Redskins (9/12/11)

Our Own Worst Enemy

By Superfan

I’m sorry it’s on such a grim note, but welcome to the 2011 NFL season, everyone! I really didn’t think that was going to happen. I heard the same things everyone else did about our team heading into week one - that we had too many injuries, too many young guys playing, that we lost too many good players, etc. I thought it would all become a distant memory after a masterful performance on the ten-year anniversary of 9/11.

That didn’t happen.

Instead, we had faint glimpses of what our team could be, lost in an overall miserable week one performance. It was hard to watch, and it’s going to be even harder to forget about, I can only imagine, after what the Jets did at home Sunday night. But we’re going to have to.

The Viewing Party’s New View

As always, when on the west coast, I watched our Gmen open up with my buddy JJ. He just moved into a new place with NFL Sunday Ticket, and that’s, well…that’s just the bees knees. Unfortunately, his roommate and his roommate’s buddy are huge Chargers fans, and hey had dibs to the living room. So we were stuck watching the game on the TV in his room. Still, not bad.

I always find it really funny when I go to watch a football game in front of people who’ve never met me, and have no idea what kind insane fan I am. I doubt his roommate was used to someone jumping up and down and screaming every time his team got a first down. Well, he knows now. His buddy’s dog was scared out of its mind, but I have to think that was partly to do with the fact that they were watching the end of the Eagles game when I got there.

Like I’m sure was the case for everyone else watching, it was a lot of fun during the first half, and absolutely miserable during the second. JJ’s room had a bed and two chairs, so we tried our best switching seats around, from one chair to the foot of the bed to another chair, trying to change our luck. We must have attempted four or five different seating arrangements. The best we got out of that in the second half was a blocked field goal attempt.

I also had on new threads for a new season. I had just gotten my brand new “official” Justin Tuck #91 home jersey in the mail from NFL pro shop. If we’re friends on facebook, you know how I felt about the “officialness” of the jersey. For those who aren’t, allow me to explain. The last name is stitched right onto the mesh, as opposed to the blue nameplate that’s supposed to be under it. The “NFL” logo wasn’t on a red flap immediately above the “v” of the collar, like it’s supposed to be. Instead, it’s stitched right onto the collar. “It’s what the pros wear.” Yeah, maybe in a home electronics commercial. What a rip-off.

Regardless, it’s early in the season. We’ll get our routine down pat, hopefully sooner rather than later.

I Hate You, Troy Aikman.

I don’t think I can make myself any clearer. The only thing in the world worse than watching the Giants lose to a division rival is having that damn homer call the game. Even when we do well, he looks to point out reasons why the pitfalls of our opponent helped make our success possible. And he didn’t have to do much of that on Sunday. Also, is it just me, or does Joe Buck sound like he never wants to be in the booth when he does a game? For football or baseball. Like everyone should just feel lucky he bothered to show up to work that day. Please tell me someone else is seeing and hearing this, too. But about that game…

Like I mentioned, it started off great. The ceremony before the game was very well done, and as most expected it would be, quite emotional. Hard to tell between sweat and tears as they panned across the players and coaches on the sideline during the national anthem, but I’d like to think it was a little bit of both. I know I got teary-eyed on more than one occasion on Sunday, well before we kicked off.

From the opening kickoff, our defense played strong. They started with a quick three-and-out, including a nice job by both Kiwi and Boley putting Rex on his back early. Our running game and O-line looked good to start the day. So did Eli, at least from the get-go. They did a good job moving the ball down the field, save for Cruz’s big drop on third down on our first offensive series. After that, he wasn’t heard from again for the rest of the day as far as the offense was concerned, though he did make a nice rebound tackle the play after dropping the third down pass, flying down the field and making a nice tackle on the ensuing punt. I thought for sure after Eli ran it in for the first touchdown of the game, and then the Redskins missed a field goal on the following drive, that we would use our growing momentum to run away with the game early. We looked good for a while, but that intentional grounding call really hurt us, and we stalled from there, letting them tie it early in the second quarter. As the second quarter wound down, we had one of the most impressive drives of the day, for any team. Eli moved the ball around, Bradshaw and Jacobs both ran hard, we ran off a lot of clock, and finished with a touchdown. Then the coverage let them drive right down the field to tie the game right before halftime.

It was downhill the rest of the way. The secondary fell apart, and the play calling was terrible. I still can’t for the life of me figure out why we don’t put Jacobs in there on short yardage plays. Especially on a fourth down conversion! Isn’t that why we resigned him? To have a huge, beastly presence in the backfield that could plow through the middle at will? I just don’t get it. I hate to blame refereeing, but there were some horrible (non) calls. There was a blatant hold on Michael Boley that wasn’t called on the Skins first touchdown. In the third quarter, when our punt returner was BARRELLED INTO after calling for a fair catch, not only did that not get called, but somehow WE got a flag on the play. Finally, if a receiver wasn’t touched after making a catch and falling to the ground, and is getting up to run with the ball, how can we be called for hitting a defenseless receiver? This used to be a man’s game.

One positive - Steve Weatherford punted the ball very well. Our coverage didn’t always do its job, but as far as punting was concerned, Weatherford did just fine. I can’t understand why Lawrence Tynes is still our kicker, and I will never be happy about it. That field goal was blocked because he kicked it low. It was a great snap and hold, but he booted it right into their outstretched arms. Very frustrating.

And that was that. Before we knew it, all our optimism was dashed with a brutal 28-14 loss. A real stinger. But enough about reliving all the pain…

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· I know it’s only week one, but man the Packers looked scary good Thursday night. Aaron Rodgers is something else.

· Didn’t get to see any of the Bills game, but the recap was quite an eye-opener. Ryan Fitzpatrick, with FOUR touchdown passes? Sans Lee Evans? Wowsa.

· I should really get into Breaking Bad, because the lack of Mad Men is killing me. I’m in serious withdrawal, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait until 2012 to get my fix. WHAT WOULD DON DRAPER DO? I guess I’ll pour myself a highballer of scotch and think that one over…

· Never thought I’d say this about a Ryan Gosling movie, but I’m pretty excited about seeing “Drive.”

· After watching the ND-Michigan game Saturday night, I have a couple of observations. First of all, BIG FAN of the throwbacks on both sides. Even the refs got in on the action. Second, there isn’t a doubt in my mind that Brent Musberger has long passed his prime, and is now nothing more than an insane old man with a microphone. Half of what he says is presumptuous, and the other half simply has nothing to do with what’s happening on the field. He kind of reminds me of Bill Hader’s character, “Herb,” on SNL. Regardless, it’s entertaining.

Final Thoughts:

It’s a good thing we play a sixteen-game season, instead of just one. It’s a bad thing we have to wait until next Monday night before we play again. One thing I noticed, as is usually the case, is that we weren’t outplayed. We were our own worst enemy, with the real trouble existing between each player’s ears. But we have the talent. In the meantime, let the doubters doubt, and let the haters hate. Ignore the recap shows if you have to. Justin Tuck and Osi will hopefully be playing next week, and if not, certainly by month’s end. And Prince will be back in there before we know it. The exhaustion was very readable on our defense’s faces, so hopefully getting a few guys back will help us stay strong through all four quarters. We have to eliminate stupid penalties like delays of game and false starts. We as fans have to also realize that (granted all the teams are in the same boat here) we had a shortened off-season with no OTAs or mini camps, and we have a very young roster, so it will take a little time to get all the kinks out. But I have faith in the young talent on this roster. It stinks to lose the first game, especially since it was against Washington on the anniversary of 9/11. But despite all the goings-on surrounding the game, the bottom line is it was only one game. We still have fifteen more to play. And it’s not like every team that was supposed to win on Sunday had a great day. Just ask Steelers or Falcons fans. But they also understand that it’s a long season, only made more stressful with a full week of speculation filling the time between games.

So, relax! To steal from Harvey Dent (and/or Christopher Nolan), “The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, that dawn is coming.” Stay positive, fans. You can get bogged down in all the reasons why we should panic, or you can sit back and have faith. We’ve had far worse starts before, which ended pretty well, if I remember correctly. We have a huge Monday Night match-up coming up against the Rams, and we’ve gotta be ready for it! To talk all things Giants, you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, or you can find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Until next week, GO GMEN!!