SuperFan: Giants vs. Dolphins (10/31/11)

A Tricky Treat

By Superfan

Welcome back from the bye week, Giants’ fans. I hope everyone had a fun (and safe) Halloween. And what an appropriately scary win we escaped with on Sunday! The day was chalk full of twists, turns, and potential ulcers.

But before discussing the game, I’d like to rant for a minute. We’re through eight weeks of the season, resting comfortably atop the NFC East at 5-2, with a very difficult schedule ahead of us. Names like Jake Ballard and Victor Cruz are growing into household names throughout the tri-state area. So I’d like to take the time to address all those so-called “Giants’ fans” that did nothing but cry, moan, and criticize the team and its front office even before a regular-season snap was taken. Steve Smith went to the Eagles, Kevin Boss went to Oakland, Terrell Thomas went on the IR, and some folks were ready to clear house and forfeit the season. Now that we’re riding high, those same people are cheering like crazy. And you know what? They shouldn’t be allowed to. They should be singled out and cast-off to Philly. I think it’s time for all those pre-season haters to show Jerry Reese, Tom Coughlin, Pat Flaherty, Eli Manning, and the rest of the team the props they’ve deserved all along for making a 1^st place team out of a very tough situation. Glad I got that off my chest. Back to business…

A Chilling Atmosphere

The game was aired on the west coast, so JJ and I were able to watch it at my place, with Joe and Vandy to keep us company. Things weren’t right from the get-go, and I mentioned aloud that perhaps the seating arrangement was different than usual, to which I was chastised mightily by my roommate. “Man, where we sit has got NOTHING to do with what happens in the game.” Joe, logic and reasoning has got NOTHING to do with how die-hard fans watch football games. Get over it. In the second quarter Joe got up from his seat, and I pressed JJ to take his spot. He did, Joe came back and sat in the seat JJ had just vacated, and (go figure) we score a clutch TD just before halftime. Can’t make this stuff up!

Things were still a little too close for comfort in the second half, and despite the midpoint of the day growing closer, the temperature was still unusually cool for Southern California (not quite a blizzard, and boy did I hear some crazy stories about branches falling all over the northeast). I decided, for luck and warmth, to change the shirt under my Tuck jersey from gray short sleeves to blue long sleeves. I know, who cares, right? Well, I made the change in the fourth quarter, and we ended up scoring ten unanswered to seal the victory. I’m not saying, I’m just saying…

Frightful Football

We played well enough to win. Period. Yes, a win is a win, and in the end they all mean the same. And yes, you don’t get points for style. But we have top stop playing down to the level of our competition. I don’t know if these teams simply “turn it on” when they come to play us or what, but after Seattle and now Miami, I’m fairly unsettled. First it was the mix of Tarvaris Jackson and Charlie Whitehurst. On Sunday, it was Matt Moore. As I stated on Sunday, it seems like (this year at least) the Meadowlands is the place to come for bad quarterbacks to look like pro-bowlers. I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s driving me crazy. This effort won’t cut it with the schedule we’ve got coming up, that’s for certain.

The first half on Monday, save for our terrific half-ending touchdown drive, was ugly. Granted he had spectacular numbers and a terrific game overall, I’ll nit-pick and point out that Eli missed a couple big plays off the bat. He missed a few passes on the opening drive, and later on had some drops hurt him. That was all for him though, the rest of the day he was lights-out. We made stupid penalties that shot us in the foot, including a horse-collar on Antrel Rolle and an unnecessary roughness on Linval Joseph. There was one play early in the second half where Michael Boley looked like he thought he was playing two-hand touch football and let Reggie Bush slip right past him to help set up a field goal to put them up by seven. The drops by Hakeem Nicks and Jake Ballard also erased what would have been huge gains, even touchdowns. So the opportunities were there to blow them away, we just didn’t execute. But we made the plays when we had to, and snuck away with the win.

Offensive Game Ball - Eli Manning. The guy’s a stud, even if he does have the occasional errand throw. With David Baas missing some time with an injury (he did return quickly), guys dropping passes, and taking some really brutal hits (remember the hit where he almost got halved by two defenders?), he still finished the game with nearly 350 yards passing and two touchdowns, with ZERO interceptions. Among all NFL quarterbacks through week 8, he ranks in the top five for completion percentage (64.7), passing yards per game (303.9), and QB rating (102.1). He also has fewer interceptions (5) than both Tom Brady (8) and Drew Brees (10). We’re only eight weeks in, but still. Hard to argue with that.

Defensive Game Ball - Mathias Kiwanuka. Five tackles, two assists, one and a half sacks. Since the “incident” against Vince Young and the Tennessee Titans years ago, there’s been nothing but great things to say about the guy. He came up clutch when we needed him most on Sunday, providing a huge sack of Matt Moore on the Dolphins’ last drive of the game after Osi had one of his own, followed by a clutch open-field tackle to set up a fourth and forever for Miami. Webster picked off the pass on that play, and the game was ours. But the pick was set up out of desperation due to bad field position on fourth down, thanks to Kiwi.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· Most ridiculous thing I heard over the Halloween weekend: Some 49er fan, hopefully very drunk (for his sake), argued adamantly with my roommate that Alex Smith is a better quarterback than Rich Gannon. Right. Not to downplay Alex Smith in any way, but let’s see if the guy at least finishes a full season as a starting quarterback before we put him in the same league as a pro-bowl quarterback that led his team to a Super Bowl.

· There’s the Tim Tebow everyone who knows football knew they’d see out there. To those who were surprised or disappointed in the performance, shame on you for not expecting it.

· Apparently “Homeland” is a really cool show that I need to check out. On a similar note, I checked out “Grimm” after game 7 Friday night, and was pleasantly surprised. Fun, creepy twist on what truly were horrifying fairy tales, if you’ve read the real versions as written by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm. Interested to see where they go with it.

· Best costume of the weekend - a group of Eagles fans dressed up as “Angry Birds.” Love it because it’s true, regardless of Sunday night’s outcome.

Final Thoughts:

To reiterate, we’re going to need to shore up a lot if we want positive results the rest of the way. No way there’s a harder remaining schedule this season than that of the Gmen. But I think we’ll be up for the task. This team has a way of doing very well when they’re the underdog every week. Besides, so far this season we’ve played badly against poor teams, not good ones (KNOCK ON WOOD). And it looks like we’ll be getting Prince Amukamara and Ramses Barden back in the next couple of weeks. To talk all things Gmen, you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com and find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Oh, I also caved over the weekend and created a Twitter feed, making me possibly the biggest hypocrite of all time. If you’d like, you can follow me on Twitter under the name @gmensuperfan1. Here comes the crazy part of the season, so get ready Giants’ fans. Until next week, GO GMEN!!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Bills (10/17/11)

The Battle of New York, In New Jersey

By Superfan

Welcome back to New York Giants football. There’s that rushing attack we’ve been waiting for all season! Granted if we cut out the ridiculous mistakes it would’ve been a lot less stressful, but I’ll still take a win like that any day.

The roller coaster that is the 2011 New York Giants was on full display. The previous week we lost a ‘gimme’ game at home against the Seahawks, then on Sunday we played a red-hot one-loss team in Buffalo that no one gave us a chance to beat, and we won. It’s not a stretch to say that the Bills were the best team we’ve beaten so far this season. Just another reason to be happy going into the bye.

Grilling At Jerry’s

The Chargers had the bye, so my friend Jerry invited JJ and I over to watch the games. It’s his favorite week of the year, because (as he puts it) “it’s the one week of the season where Norv Turner can’t possibly screw anything up.” I hear you, buddy. And don’t worry - you’re not alone in thinking the guy’s very underserving of his “greatest offensive mind of our time” reputation. I don’t see it either.

Anyway, Jerry’s place (as usual) made for an incredible football viewing experience. There were a few others in tow, including another die-hard Giants fan, Tom. And it’s always great to watch the game with another Giants fan, especially on the west coast. The new perspectives are always appreciated, especially with Jerry hating on us all day since he was going up against Ryan Fitzpatrick in fantasy. I’ve never seen a non-Giant fan so passionately hate on our defense out of frustration than he did yesterday. Quite a sight to see. Of course I could only be so sympathetic. First, I mean, the Giants are my team, and we won, so I couldn’t be that upset, despite how sloppy they did play most of the time (still gave up 24 points and got beat more often than not, saving themselves by making big plays when it mattered most). Second, I got destroyed in fantasy because my opponent had all his guys playing, while I had both Vincent Jackson and Beanie Wells on the bye, with Julio Jones and Andre Johnson out with injuries. And if I can’t have a good day in fantasy, NO ONE CAN! Just kidding. But my sympathy will only stretch so far while I’m in the midst of taking a torrential butt whooping.

The food, as expected, was phenomenal. Started with some good ol’ fashioned doughnuts and margaritas for breakfast, followed by chips and the choice of either jalapeno and artichoke dip or suicidal salsa. I mean it, the salsa was insanely spicy. I sampled a drop on the very edge of a tortilla chip, followed by a tall drink of water and plain chips to quench the burning, and it still took several minutes for my throat to stop feeling like a hole was burning from the inside out. Late lunch consisted of a great spread of tri-tip, macaroni salad, garlic bread, and baked potato with broccoli. And this time I remembered to grab a doggie bag to bring home some leftover tri-tip, which made my roommate Joe VERY happy. Thanks again for everything, Jerry! And good luck next week against the Jets. Chances are they’ll be flying high off a big Monday night win against the Dolphins (I’m writing this Monday morning, so that’s all speculation. Although if the Chargers end up playing the Jets after losing to MATT MOORE, I’d be even more worried).

Circling Their Wagons

Can’t stress enough what a big win that was. There is SUCH A HUGE DIFFERENCE between going into the bye week 4-2 and going in 3-3. We needed this one in a big way - now we can enter the bye week not in a panic, but sitting in a good position on top of the division, with only the next game and getting guys healthy to worry about.

We opened the game pretty up and down. Our first drive was severely hurt by a first down holding penalty, but our defense held strong the next series. We had a great drive which ended in a clutch rushing touchdown by Ahmad Bradshaw, only to give the points right back on the first play of their next possession thanks to an 80-yard run by Fred Jackson. Of course the touchdown was helped by awful tackling and even worse pursuit by our secondary. The offense got the ball back, but after Eli overthrew a wide-open Hakeem Nicks running downfield, they got the ball back and scored again on a big play, this time a 60-yard touchdown pass from Fitzpatrick to Naaman Roosevelt.

It was very back and forth the rest of the game, with the Giants holding on to a seven-point lead going into the fourth quarter. If not for a bonehead encroachment penalty on 3^rd and four, we might’ve added to that lead. Instead, they got a second chance and went on to score the game-tying touchdown on a nine-yard pass to Stevie Johnson.

With the roller coaster on full display, it was the very same secondary that let them move the up and down the field seemingly at will most of the game which saved us big time when we needed them most. It was Corey Webster’s clutch interceptions, as well as a masterful late fourth quarter drive that ran the clock down under the two-minute mark and ended in the game-winning field goal, that sealed the deal. Speaking of clutch, let’s give out some game balls:

Offensive Game Ball - Ahmad Bradshaw. There’s the fiery running back we’ve been hoping to see all year. He fought for every one of his 106 yards, and really came through when we needed him to. With Brandon Jacobs inactive on the sideline, it was Ahmad who came through with three big-time goal line touchdowns. What used to be a hindrance for the Gmen in the past (pushing it in from just a few yards out) was our strong point on Sunday. Well done, Ahmad. A lot has to be said for the o-line’s job in run blocking as well, especially when we convert from that close.

Defensive Game Ball - Corey Webster. It was Corey Webster’s second crucial interception, which also drew a key face-masking penalty that put our offense on the twenty, which was the turning point in the game for the Gmen. Simple as that. How could you not give the guy a game ball?

Honorable Mention - Eli Manning. Hard to force Ahmad to share a game ball with anyone after that performance, but I do want to give props to Eli Manning. While he did miss a few open receivers (Hakeem Nicks, Victor Cruz in the first half), and almost got caught tossing a game-ending interception on our final scoring drive, all-in-all he protected the ball and didn’t turn it over against the defense which had led the league in that department going into the game on Sunday. Eli protects the ball, the Giants win. A simple formula.

Non-Gmen thoughts of the Week:

· Thoughts and prayers go out to Dan Wheldon’s family and friends this week. You never want to see that happen to any person in any sport, and when such a tragedy occurs it really puts into perspective how much those racers risk for the competitiveness of their sport. Way too young, and far too talented to be lost at such a young age. He will be missed.

· Watching highlights of the rest of the games from Sunday, and there’s one thing I have to say: Cam’s the man.

· On a contradictory note, it’s nice to see the game leveling out. The passing numbers are coming back down to earth, and the running backs are finally starting to make an impact in their games. I’m sure the league’s defenses will show up sooner or later.

· Got the Hollywood Horror treatment on Saturday - saw Poltergeist at the Hollywood Forever cemetery, followed by a trip to the LA Haunted Hayride and the In-Between Maze up at Griffith Park. Always good to get a whole night of scaring in once in a while. Lots of fun. Oh, and there may or may not be a sound bite of me screaming like a baby coming out of the maze. In my defense, they had this huge fake spider with a fan blowing behind it so it looked like its legs were moving all over the place. I HATE SPIDERS. I still feel like there’s one on me…

Final Thoughts:

Enjoy the bye week! Hopefully we can have a very productive one that sees Tuck, Jacobs, and Prince Amukamara back and ready to host the Dolphins. 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.” Enjoy a stress-free weekend of games, and until next week, GO GMEN!!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Seahawks (10/10/11)

Wake-Up Call

By Superfan

“We played poorly. When you don’t deserve to win, you don’t win.” - Coach Coughlin

I think that sums up Sunday’s travesty at the Meadowlands pretty accurately. This should have been a statement game. We’ve already had our sloppy wins over lesser teams. This time we were supposed to come out and dominate on both sides of the ball. We had better matchups on offense, defense, and special teams. It shouldn’t have been close. Unfortunately for us, it really wasn’t.

I don’t know why the Giants seem to always play to the level of their opponent. And why they always have to defy expectations. Are we afraid of consistency? Maybe. Are we afraid of success? I hope not. But it seems that when our backs are against the wall and we have no shot the Gmen play their best, and when we’re expected to play well and win easily, we do just the opposite.

Home for the High Holidays

I was back east for Yom Kippur, and was able to make it to the game at the stadium on Sunday before flying home. I figured if there were ever a safe bet for a pleasant flight home, it would be after this game in particular. Not so much.

I went with my buddies Jon and Ethan, my brother, and my dad. The place was rocking. Our section was nearly all Giants’ fans, with only about two or three people wearing Seattle gear. That was the good start. The bad start was when we were driving into the stadium. We were blasting “Proud To Be (a New York Giant)” through Ethan’s car’s speakers from “an” ipod. The ipod was set to random, and “someone” forgot to set it to repeat. So as we were pulling into our parking spot, what song randomly comes blasting out when “Proud To Be” finishes, with our adrenaline pumping and voices screaming? You guessed it - the Backstreet Boys single Everybody. For whatever reason, “some person” had that song on their ipod. Maybe if it had been ‘N Sync this would be a different story, but let’s not split hairs. We should’ve known the Gmen were doomed from the start. “Our” bad.

Anyway, we got to our seats and melted immediately. I never thought I’d have a legitimate reason to take a jersey off during a game (except out of shame, perhaps), but I did on Sunday. That had to have been some kind of record heat for a game in October. Fortunately, the shade came around to our side, but we didn’t really get to enjoy it because of what was happening in front of us. Let’s all take a deep breath and examine the misery that was:

Getting Roasted by the Birds

This really was a punch in the gut, and a huge wake-up call. Maybe it’s a good thing, but I’ll save the naïve optimism for later. I don’t want to hear about us being hampered by injuries, because excuses like that are for losers. We have far superior coaching, management, and talent, but lost to a lesser opponent, plain and simple.

The secondary was a joke. Sure they kept our inept offense in the game, and forced turnovers, but they did so at the expense of many lost opportunities. And let’s be honest - they made Charlie Whitehurst and Doug Baldwin look like Tom Brady and Randy Moss circa 2007. Pathetic. Our D-line made some plays and brought some pressure, but unfortunately they can only do so much - the other seven guys have to hold up their end, which includes converting more than just one out of three or four interception opportunities. Just ask Seattle! And for the third straight week our run defense got thrashed. I promise you Fred Jackson won’t be any easier next week.

Now for the offense. It was very noticeable how much we missed not having David Baas at center or Brandon Jacobs to come in as a change of pace behind Bradshaw. The offensive line gave our running game very few opportunities, but to be fair, the running backs weren’t breaking many tackles. And Eli played poorly. Sure, he threw for over 400 yards. A lot of that had to do with the fact that Victor Cruz and Jake Ballard were BEASTS and refused to go down or drop passes. But most of Eli’s best passes were touch passes, and when he needed to step into a throw and get some power behind it, he didn’t. On 3^rd and three, when he had a lane to run and slide for the first, he opted to scramble around and throw an incompletion into coverage. And he wasn’t helped at all by everyone’s favorite play-caller. I’ve said this many times before, and I’ll say it again. Our players have shown tremendous play-making ability, and it always seems like if not for our poor play-calling, we’d be a much more productive offense. We try the whole first three quarters to force the running game despite it not being there, which I agree with (you have to try to to establish the run in this league), but in the fourth quarter when we had three timeouts and time to kill, he opted to call short intermediate routes near the end zone. When we had the ball backed up inside the five, with Ahmad on the sideline, he called a sweep with an unproven third-stringer in the backfield which resulted in a safety, instead of trying something straight up the gut to be safe, or at least a play action pass. No, we instead go with the play everyone in the world knew we were going to run. And we still managed to put up twenty-five points. Imagine how good we’d be if we didn’t have such predictable play-calling!

It’s frustrating because we have the talent and potential to be an elite team, but we’ve been playing like one that’s rebuilding. Maybe when the rest of the starters (not on IR) get healthy things will be better. Or maybe we just needed this wake-up call.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· I would like to thank everyone in my fantasy football league for refusing to trade me any of their quarterbacks for Ben Roethlisberger, who’d been playing just so-so with a terrible offensive line and a new foot injury. Five touchdowns on Sunday! Thanks again for looking out, competition.

· Not to sound too much like an obnoxious Yankees fan, but with that payroll and lineup, I do think it’s a failure not to make it past the ALDS. The team’s like a video game fantasy roster with all the rules turned off. Inexcusable. Also, Coach Girardi, why do you insist on pitching C.C. so much in April and September? We had the playoffs locked up early. The year the Yanks won the World Series (2009), you rested him for nearly the entire month of September. Why change a routine that worked?

· At least Philly lost. A Giants loss is always easier to swallow when Philly loses. Especially the way they have been lately.

· A little late on this one, but VERY EXCITED about the announcement of the upcoming fourth season of Arrested Development. There’s always money in the banana stand!

Final Thoughts:

The last two seasons we’ve had great starts that ended terribly. Maybe there’s a silver lining for this season. We’ve had a rough start, but maybe that means we’ll have a strong finish. We’ve started slow before and bounced back well, losing to seemingly lesser teams in the process. Why not do it again? We have a very tough game coming up against the Bills. A great opportunity to go into the bye on a positive note with a big W. We have to learn from this one, flush it away, and get ready for Buffalo. 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.” It’s a long season, and it’s not like any other team in our division is running away with anything just yet. I’m not giving up hope, and you shouldn’t either! Until next week, GO GMEN!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Cardinals (10/3/11)

A Quarter of the Way Through

By Superfan

The first quarter of the 2011 NFL season is behind us, and the New York Football Giants sit with the Washington Redskins atop the NFC East at 3-1, with Dallas at .500 and the Eagles kicking dirt at 1-3. Is this great or what? Sunday’s road matchup in Arizona had trap game written ALL OVER IT. But the Giants came out and showed what winners do in trying times - they claw, scrape, and continue fighting until the final whistle, and we escaped with what was overall a pretty ugly win against the Arizona Cardinals. Believe me, all wins don’t have to be pretty, and if the past is any indication, most of ours aren’t. Still, like I said earlier this season - you don’t get style points for a win. So let the rest of the NFL be put on notice - despite all our injuries, roster shuffling, and whatever other excuses people have made for why the Giants should stink this year, this Giants team is for real.

Before I get to the game, there’s something I want mention. Without Kevin Boss or Steve Smith on the roster this year, in the preseason most people simply wrote off our passing attack for 2011. I said at the time we would need guys to step up in their absence, and for Eli to be smart with the ball. Just because the rest of the country hasn’t heard of someone on a team’s roster doesn’t mean that someone won’t produce. Everyone is a no name at one point in his career. Be it early in college or early in the pros. That has been the case in the first quarter of the season for both Victor Cruz (we’ll get to the non-fumble play later on) and Jake Ballard. While those judgments were happening, people were also jumping all over Eli for having confidence and saying he was in the same elite class as Tom Brady. Which, by the way, every starting quarterback should say! I don’t want my starting quarterback to not have confidence in himself. Anyway, taking all that stupidity and cynicism into account, the Giants’ “non-existent” passing attack has Eli Manning currently sitting with the 3^rd best QB rating in the NFL, behind Aaron Rodgers and Tom Brady. Find something new to complain about, haters.

Familial Surroundings

For the first time in a while, the Giants game was not airing on cable out west. But, for the third straight week, no Troy Aikman or Joe Buck! Not really wanting to watch the game in JJ’s room again, we went to my cousin Larry’s to watch the game on NFL Sunday Ticket for the first time this season. Unfortunately his son Charlie (another one of the biggest Giants fans I know) was out and about, but several of his friends were there to keep us company.

The first half consisted of JJ and me watching the game downstairs, with Larry upstairs for most of it switching between the Giants and the Yankees, each party shouting updates to the other, respectively. It was near the end of the first half that his friends arrived, and we all watched together downstairs. Not to downplay the Yankees by any means, but this also meant switching between the two games on the downstairs TV. I’m sorry, but on average you can miss up to an entire drive in the course of a few pitches to one batter. And as the second half got underway, the atmosphere seemed off. The Cardinals drove down the field pretty easily, ending their drive with Webster getting trampled by Wells on a TD run. Just like that, Arizona was on top. We then got stopped on a 3^rd and one, and despite the defense holding after we punted away, our first offensive play resulted in an ugly Eli sack-fumble that Arizona recovered. They scored on the next play.

Something had to change. JJ and I decided to move into the kitchen to watch the rest of the game and let them watch all of the playoff game they wanted. And the rest, as they say, is history. We had a wild fourth quarter comeback, and what kind of a Giants’ win would it be without some controversy accompanying it, anyway? All in all, it was a successful trip to Larry’s. Thanks for the hospitality, and the win. It also now evens the score between JJ and Vandy. Each has one victory with without the other’s company.

Raising (blood pressures in) Arizona

There must be something about playing at the University of Phoenix Stadium that makes Eli play so well in the fourth quarter. Not to put this most recent victory anywhere near the stratosphere of our 2008 Super Bowl victory, or the one from 2008, but still, Eli’s showed great composure every time he’s visited, including throwing at least one TD pass in the fourth quarter each time.

Like I stated before, this one had trap game written all over it. I expected this one to be ugly early, considering we were on the road across the country after a very emotionally draining road win last week in Philly. So the sloppy play early on was frustrating, but not too surprising. Fortunately Osi made his presence felt with that strip sack, and our defense held in the red zone yet again, keeping the Cards to only 6 first half points despite their getting the ball in great field position after the Bradshaw fumble and a successful fourth-down conversion in the second quarter. The offense woke up in the second quarter a little bit, with Eli leading us down the field nicely while taking a lot of time off the clock, finding Nicks and Cruz in the process, and letting Ahmad finish with a great long touchdown run. The o-line held strong when we go the ball back for what was basically the final drive of the first half, and we drove down the field and ended with a strange, but successful, field goal try.

The third quarter was a mess, but thankfully Eli held strong and led us on a clutch drive that spanned into the fourth quarter. Jake Ballard made a great play on what was initially ruled a touchdown reception, but when the TD was overturned Jacobs righted the ship by pushing it in from a yard out. The fourth quarter was great and shaky all at the same time. Rolle had a great pick once we narrowed the deficit to three points, but bad play-calling on the ensuing drive (including two failed screen passes in a row which led to an un-makeable third and forever) gave them great field position to go on and take a ten-point lead. A quick touchdown on the ensuing drive took only two minutes off the game clock, and brought the Gmen right back to within three.

Then, the turning point. Our defense was huge on their next drive, and though they helped by throwing the ball twice, we forced a three and out and gave our offense the ball back with only about twenty seconds having eclipsed on the game clock. We got the ball, started driving, and then the Victor Cruz play happened. According to the rules, a person doesn’t have to slide to give himself up. Personally I thought he should’ve played it safe and made absolutely sure someone touched him down before hopping back up, and I’m sure next time he won’t be so absent-minded, but I’m not going to believe that call by the refs gave us the game. Nope, we went out and got it ourselves on the next play, with Eli hitting Nicks on a beautiful touchdown pass to take the lead. Our defense held strong on the next drive, and thanks to a dumb challenge on Arizona’s part that left them down one timeout, they were forced to rush a fourth down attempt that Webster had covered beautifully, and we made out with a 31-27 victory. Now, for the game balls:

Offensive game ball - Eli Manning. The guy’s just clutch. It’s strange that our backs have to be against the wall for him to step up, but isn’t that exactly what you want out of your starting QB? Two straight weeks without an interception, giving him an 8:2 touchdown to interception ratio for the season. Without favored targets from previous years, including Hixon going out for the season and Manningham missing last week’s game, he’s played lights-out the first quarter of the season. No minicamps, no OTAs, no problem. He’s found a way to get on the same page early with guys like Jake Ballard and Victor Cruz, and is quietly looking very good in the process. His o-line’s meshing well, he’s getting time to throw, and he’s finding the open receivers. Gotta keep this up!

Defensive game ball - (tie) Osi Umenyiora and Antrel Rolle. For all the whining he did in the off-season, Osi’s play certainly spoke for itself on Sunday. First game back, two sacks and one forced fumble. And on his return to his former stomping grounds, Antrel Rolle was a force to be reckoned with. Despite what Beanie Wells did on the ground, he absolutely blanketed their receivers all game, finishing the day with one interception, six tackles, and two passes defended. Without those two on the field, I don’t believe the comeback would have been possible.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· JJ and I played each other this past week in fantasy football. He destroyed me. Of course I had to sit Beanie Wells since he was facing our Gmen, while JJ had three different Giants starting against me. I should’ve made him sit his stud as well, just to make things even.

· Tony Siragusa, no one cares what you think. Ever. Take note of this please.

· Tom Jackson, stop adding to unnecessary controversy. During Sunday NFL Countdown on BSPN, he said (I’m paraphrasing) that Vick will be singled out every Sunday because referees are also dog lovers. Really? Haven’t we moved past this? The “experts” prove year in and year out they don’t know what they’re talking about. And they get paid. A lot. So frustrating.

· As a Yankees fan, last week was one of the greatest things I’ve ever experienced, and never have I been so happy to see the Yankees lose to the Rays. Oh, Boston, your consistent floundering never ceases to bring a smile to my face.

· The same goes for Philadelphia. And Dallas. Minus the Yankees’ loss, yesterday was a great sports day.

Final Thoughts:

Gotta keep our momentum going. I’ll be home this weekend for the Yom Kippur holiday, and will therefore be at the game on Sunday when the Seahawks come to town. Time to roast some birds for the third straight week! To talk all things Giants you can, e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com or find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan.” Until next week, GO GMEN!!