SuperFan: Giants vs. 49ers (1/23/12)

Super Bowl Redux

By Superfan

“You can’t count out a Giant. You can’t count out our heart.” - Justin Tuck.

It’s Monday morning, I have no voice left, and the fact that our NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS are going to the Super Bowl is still sinking in. We’re there, baby!! That same team who (others had said) was dead in the water just over a month ago, who had to replace their head coach and defensive coordinator (okay I’ll eat some crow on the latter), who’d be lucky to sniff a .500 finish - that same team is REPRESENTING THE NFC IN SUPER BOWL XVI!

Before I say anything else - Lawrence Tynes, you’ve done it twice now. For the second time in four years, you have kicked us into the Super Bowl. I am sorry for calling you out, and all Giants’ fans are indebted to you. Thank you - there is no doubt your name has been secured in all-time Giants’ lure.

That wasn’t a pretty game by any stretch of the imagination. But, as the players and analysts were preaching all week, it wasn’t supposed to be. It was supposed to be a bloodbath; an ugly, rainy, scraping, clawing, sixty-minute football war. As Adam Schein and Rich Gannon mentioned Monday morning on SiriusXM’s NFL Radio (I got my satellite radio back!), and I’m paraphrasing, “When you have two teams play such an evenly matched game, chances are the game will come down to one or two big plays on special teams.” And that’s EXACTLY what happened. I didn’t feel comfortable for a second watching that game Sunday evening. I woke up with only cuticles for fingernails. And I wouldn’t have it any other way.

The View from Home

Joe was back in town, but his new job found him working both days of the past weekend. Which meant, like last week, it was just JJ, Vandy, and me watching at the duplex on McClellan Drive.

From the time I woke up Sunday morning, I tried my best to do everything exactly as I did the week before. I got up and went to the gym, then grabbed breakfast and took Vandy out (kind of lucky that Joe’s being at work enabled me the opportunity to take Vandy out and keep things consistent). It also meant catching ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown, where I greatly enjoyed watching Chris Berman pick the 49ers to win. So far, so good. Then it was catching plenty of the early game before heading to NY Bagel and Deli for my weekly Giants’ Sunday special - a toasted everything bagel with cream cheese, lox, and capers (and onions during the playoffs).

JJ made it a close call, almost getting to my house after kickoff. He watched the early game at Q’s, a local sports bar, where he said that “a 49ers fan was hitting on me, so I talked to her.” He then mentioned that he “lost track of time” because he was getting her number. At least he made it over on time, or there would’ve been trouble. But in retrospect, it was a nice little pregame metaphor of things to come, a Giant (fan) getting the better of a 49er (fan) at the last moment.

The game was crazy, and JJ and I found ourselves watching Eli battling many a third and long early on. In previous years, this would’ve been excruciatingly frustrating. But this past season and especially these playoffs, third and long is a SMALL THING TO A GIANT. You always know when things get tough, Eli will find the open man. In the first half, that open man was Victor Cruz - a lot. And we were going nuts in the second quarter when Eli found the tight end with one of the coolest (and most appropriate for a New York Giant) names in sports - Bear Pascoe, for our first touchdown of the game. Then once more, as the first half was winding down, Eli took us on an impressive scoring drive, finding Cruz three times before ending the half with a clutch Lawrence Tynes field goal.

Joe made it home for a majority of the second half, just when things got their sloppiest. I started pacing back and forth, unsure of how to regain momentum. But I had faith, and our Gmen didn’t let me down. By the time that kick went through the uprights in overtime I was back outside, like I had been many times before in these previous weeks, running around in circles screaming at the top of my lungs. It quickly dawned on me that the 49ers are a California-based team, and I was in California, as more than one person had the decency to open their windows to share their two cents on my celebratory antics.

Despite my experience there last season, and thanks in part to several convincing e-mails from Steve Ohsie (the head of the Giants’ fan club) of great fan celebration videos, JJ and I went straight from my place to O’brien’s to celebrate with other members of the Santa Monica/Brentwood G-Fam. It was awesome. Driving past the place, all you could see was a sea of Giants’ jerseys standing on the sidewalk outside jumping and screaming. As soon as we parked I ran like a madman to the first guy I saw in a jersey, screamed, and hugged him. JJ was close behind me, and I was so crazed all I could do was point him out to the stranger I was hugging and mutter, “Him too! Go giants!!” The night was capped off when JJ and I went to Poquito Mas for dinner and some 49ers fan approached me, recognizing my jersey, and simply said, “Good win.” I’ll call that a day.

A Familiar Sight, A Familiar Feeling

NFC Championship game. On the road. Coughlin, Eli, and company. Taken to overtime. NO PROBLEM! I can’t stress enough how well our defense played. Or Eli. Or special teams, coming up with HUGE PLAYS when it mattered most.

Starting with the offense - to throw the ball nearly sixty times in bad weather, while getting knocked down about twenty or so times (six of them sacks), and have no interceptions? Unbelievably clutch. Guys made plays for him, the offense was patient, and while running game wasn’t too successful, and we did throw a lot, we didn’t completely abandon the run game. And doing that to keep San Francisco honest made a huge difference as the game went on. They all knew a big play opportunity would present itself eventually, and when it did, they capitalized. That’s all you can ask for in such a big game.

Defense was on point. Except for two big plays to Vernon Davis, San Francisco’s offense didn’t do a thing. Gore was held to less than one hundred yards. Smith was sacked three times and never got into a rhythm.

Special teams won us the game, plain and simple. Without them, we’re watching San Francisco play in Indy in two weeks. Time for game balls:

Offensive Game Ball - Eli Manning. For being the toughest guy in football right now. (Honorable mention - Victor Cruz, for catching almost every third down pass thrown his way.)

Defensive Game Ball - Jason Pierre-Paul. He had five tackles, one assist, a half-sack, and several tipped passes. Never takes a play off when he’s out there. Can’t wait to see what he does under the bright lights of the Super Bowl.

Special Teams Game Ball - (tie) Lawrence Tynes and Devin Thomas. Lawrence Tynes for the reasons stated earlier in the article. Devin Thomas for recovering both fumbled punt returns, and being very smart about it the first time, knowing it went off Williams’ knee despite the initial on-field ruling.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· Want to send my thoughts and prayers out to JJ’s uncle, Donnie Schechter. His cancer relapsed and he’ll have to battle through chemo once more. Also to JJ’s mother, Terry Epstein, who will once more have to undergo a very tough procedure to help her brother. I’ve met Terry and have heard plenty about Donnie, and from what I’ve seen and heard, they are about as tough and strong-willed as they come. You both are in my prayers, and hopefully now the prayers of the rest of the Giants’ family as well.

· On a lighter note, JJ’s brother Ian just found out on Monday that he’s going to be a father! Uncle JJ! Congrats!!

· R.I.P. Joe Paterno. The last few months of his life were no doubt filled with controversy, but as a football coach and a mentor, the man was a legend. Thoughts and prayers to the Paterno family and the Penn State community.

· Finally, to Gary Carter. Such a sad turn of events for the guy. Even as a Yankee fan, I have the utmost respect for what he did as a Met both on the field and off.

Final Thoughts:

Time to look for flights to Indy! We’re one game away Giants’ fans! Rematch of Super Bowl XII! It’s a little strange that the whole “revenge tour” aspect just flipped from the Giants to the Patriots, but I’m okay with it. The Giants still know what needs to be done, and are more than capable of taking care of business. Enjoy the week off, and to talk all things Giants’ while we wait for the Super Bowl to get here, you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan,” and follow me on Twitter under the user name “@gmensuperfan1.” I’ll talk to everyone after the Super Bowl! Until then, GO GMEN!!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Packers (1/16/12)

Return of the Road Warriors

By Superfan

Anybody out there still have his or her voice? Didn’t think so. How about those NEW YORK FOOTBALL GIANTS!!! THE ROAD WARRIORS ARE BACK!! It’s been sinking in in tiny increments since the game ended on Sunday of just how dominating a victory that was in Green Bay for our Gmen over the preordained repeat Super Bowl champions.

I want to get this out of the way early. I don’t want to hear any more whining and excuse-making about how the Giants didn’t win this game, but that Green Bay lost it. BULL. First things first, we beat not only the Packers but the refs as well. Bill Leavy and his crew should be ashamed of the job they did Sunday. I’ll get to the absurdity of the “no-fumble” call in a moment, but there were a plethora of other missed calls throughout. There were some missed roughing-the-passer calls against Eli that weren’t only blatant but dangerous. In the fourth quarter, for example, Eli completed a clutch third down pass to Cruz and was hit extremely late by Clay Matthews IN THE FACEMASK! And we shouldn’t have even needed that, since Charles Woodson should’ve been called for pass interference against Jake Ballard on the previous play. On the flipside, they called a roughing the passer penalty on Osi Umenyiora for hitting Rogers in the head even though he used perfect form to AVOID just that (as the replays clearly showed). I could go on, but it’s too infuriating. And every team has drops. Jake Ballard had a few key drops of his own to hurt our offense. That didn’t cost them the game. In my humble opinion, the missed fumble call alone more than made up for the Packers’ missteps. HOW IS THAT NOT A FUMBLE? What could he possibly have seen that led him to believe he was down by contact? Okay, I’ve said my piece on that. Moving on…

The View From Home

Joe was in San Diego for a few days, leaving me in charge of taking care of Vandy. Which was awesome. It also forced me to be up in time to catch NFL Sunday Countdown (West Coast time zone), which meant seeing Boomer (and everyone else) pick the Packers to win. You know it’s going to be a good game when Chris Berman picks against the Gmen.

With Joe gone and Justine having family-in-town-hosting-duties, it was just JJ, Vandy, and me watching at the McClellan Drive Duplex. I figured (hoped) that losing one guy and one girl meant would offset any bad juju, and therefore wouldn’t be too damaging to the viewing system.

The game itself was insane. Just incredible. Our voices were gone by the second quarter (making it very hard actually to order a pizza after the game). By the end of the fourth quarter I was well into my rounds of running through the street outside, screaming with whatever was left of my voice. The rest of the day involved watching and re-watching the highlights and analysis, over and over again, until it was time to fall asleep.

I also want to give some props to Joe Buck. I give the guy a lot of slack for how monotonous, emotionless, and condescending he can be as a play-by-play guy. He was anything but on his call of the Hakeem Nicks Hail Mary touchdown reception. Surprisingly exuberant and exciting. Still, he’s no Bob Papa.

Two Down, Two To Go

Like I said earlier, we completely dominated the Packers on both sides of the ball on Sunday, and on special teams (except Lawrence Tynes…again). How about some credit to our secondary? All those rushing yards Aaron Rodgers gained were really wins for the Giants’ secondary. He had to run, because he wanted to go deep but no one was open. They’re a big play offense, and we never let them get any big plays. Our pass rush started a little slow but got going as the game went on, finishing with four sacks (one of them a forced fumble). They flew all over the field and created turnovers (despite one or two being taken away), never letting Rodgers or that vaunted Packers’ offense find any sort of a rhythm. They were exactly what they needed to be, and the results proved it.

As for the offense, I’d like to explore what’s happened with Eli Manning. Typically quarterbacks peak around their third or fourth year in the league. They’ve been around enough to master the offense, master reading defenses, and it’s sink or swim from there. Eli had a small turn around that time, which happened during our Super Bowl 42 run. From there he was good but inconsistent, and only really showed up late in games once in a while, though still a bit of a question mark. This year has been his true peak. No longer is he just a good quarterback with potential to be great. It’s been an entire season now. He’s great. He’s elite. He’s top five. Go watch the fourth quarter touchdown pass to Mario Manningham. On the replays shown from Eli’s POV, not only did he fit the ball perfectly into a tiny hole, but he threw a LASER through that defense to get it there. It really was a thing of beauty.

Much props to our hands team on those onside kicks. Two plays that could have allowed the Packers back in it, but we came up huge both times. And while he made two field goals, Lawrence Tynes continues to worry me. Yes his missed field goal was blocked, but it was also a low kick on a 40-yard attempt. Most kickers don’t need to kick low for that distance. And to have any kickoff go out of bounds in the NFL, especially in the PLAYOFFS, is inexcusable. Let’s hope the rest of the team can continue to hide his mistakes, even though they shouldn’t have to. Now for some game balls:

Offensive Game Ball - Hakeem Nicks. Not to take anything away from the guy delivering his two touchdown catches, but Nicks really was the difference maker on Sunday. His first touchdown came on a HUGE play after the catch, including bouncing off a vicious hit delivered by the Packers’ Charlie Peprah. And boy did he make going up for that Hail Mary jump ball look easy. I don’t think it would’ve mattered if Green Bay had all eleven guys in the end zone with him; Hakeem Nicks was the only guy coming down with that ball.

Defensive Game Ball - The Entire Secondary. They’ve gotten slack (much of it deserved) most of the season for their inability to stop the big play. But they were all over the place on Sunday. They kept one of the best receiving groups in football covered all day, enabling the front four to finally get in and knock Rodgers around. Looking over my game notes, I’m seeing Phillips, Rolle, Grant, and company written all over them, this time in great context. Deon Grant made a great play on the fumble that wasn’t, but got his moment back on the game-sealing interception. On a day where we needed our secondary to play its best football, it most certainly did.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· Facebook Comment of the Week - “Giants-37; Green Bay-6, Refs-14.” - Timothy Mcintyre. Chances are the league will send a letter of apology to the Giants about the poor refereeing. I know the perfect place for them to put that letter.

· Forgot to mention this last week, but I’ve been growing a playoff beard that is now going into its third-plus week. Last week the beard was looking very Billy Mays. This week, with the added growth, it’s a bit more like Liev Schreiber. If all goes according to plan, when it’s all over I’ll look like I belong in ZZ Top.

· Haven’t gotten Sirius Radio installed in my new car yet, so instead of listening to NFL Radio like I’d hoped, I was stuck with the Jim Rome show, with special guest host Jason Smith. And he had this 10-minute rant about Eli Manning being the new Brett Favre-style quarterback that actually made my brain hurt. It’s like it new these crazy noises were just making me dumber for having listened to them. Favre was a scrambling passer who relied on pure skill instead of cerebral performance. Eli is a quarterback who does most of his moving within the pocket and -- you know what, NO, I’m not going to dignify myself with a response to that lunacy.

· So glad Californication is back. Still have to wait until March and April for Mad Men and Game of Thrones though.

Final Thoughts:

I’m noticing something about this Giants’ team now though that’s making me believe. Crazy things are happening in our favor. Against the Falcons it was them going for it on those fourth downs. This week it was the Hail Mary completion for a touchdown before halftime. Teams of destiny have those things work out in their favor. I’m just saying what I’m seeing, and I’m seeing something special in the works. That being said, celebrate this win, but don’t overdo it. We still have two more games to win, and as we saw on Saturday, San Francisco is just as hungry as we are. We won’t have the luxury of being the hopeless underdogs this week, but we need to act like it anyway. Go in there with something to prove. Keep the Road Warrior mentality! That was a huge win, but it’s not over yet. To talk all things Giants, you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan,” and/or follow me on Twitter under the user name “@gmensuperfan1.” Enjoy the recap shows and the flurry of anticipation as we head to the NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME!!!! Until next week, GO GMEN!!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Falcons (1/9/12)

Hitting Our Stride At Just The Right Time

By Superfan

Playoffs, baby. The tournament of tournaments. Win and move on, lose and make tee times. Nothing else matters but what lies ahead. If there’s ever a time for a team to play its best, most complete game of the season, why not have it be the first game of the playoffs? That’s just what happened Sunday when our Giants dismantled the visiting Falcons at the Meadowlands. And that’s exactly why people call the playoffs the “second season.”

Home field advantage aside, the only thing that matters from the regular season is making it to the next round. Everything else gets completely reset. No rushing attack in the regular season? No problem - we got it going on Sunday. Soft defense? Not on Sunday. With the NFL, as we’ve seen nearly every year for the past few seasons, it’s not about being good all the time, it’s about being good at the right time. We’re hot at the perfect time, and it looks to continue to be quite a ride!

The View From Home

Back in LA, the stage was set at the duplex on McClellan Drive. Joe, Vandy, Justine, and JJ were there in attendance. The viewing party got off to a shaky start though since JJ didn’t show up until after the first few series. And the Giants had a shaky start in those first few series. Come on, JJ, you knew what time the game started, set your alarm clock to give yourself time to get ready. It’s the playoffs - not the time for tardiness! But I digress…

Around halftime Justine and I changed things up a bit. She stood up to the left of the couch, and I stood up in place. As we did this, the scoring began pouring on. Joe went back and forth to his room, so it was great to have Vandy come sprinting out to greet us every time we’d cheer for the Giants. He knew what was going on - I think it’s safe to say that dog has officially become a Giants’ fan. It was a great environment. For the first time in a long time, we got to watch a game that the Gmen comfortably had in hand for the fourth quarter. Such a great, unfamiliar feeling.

Bird Roast

Like I mentioned, that was without question the best the Giants have played as a team all season. As it was in the 2008 postseason, they understand that now is the time to peak, and they’re doing just that. Before I forget, let me take a moment to congratulate Eli Manning on his 11^th postseason touchdown pass, moving him ahead of Phil Simms for most all-time in Giants’ franchise history. If any fans out there still doubt Eli’s qualifications to be the leader of the New York Football Giants, they are clearly haters who know nothing about football and have no business rooting for this team.

It was a shaky first quarter, I’ll admit that. Most Giants’ fans I’m sure were especially heated at two times in particular. First was our third offensive possession of the game when Gilbride called a run to D.J. Ware on third and nine. THIRD AND NINE?! The second came late in the second quarter, before the half, where bad offense met bad coaching after a bad spot. There was a second-down pass to Nicks that seemed to be a first down based on forward progress. They marked it short by a yard, and instead of asking for a measurement or calling a timeout, we relied on the folks upstairs to bring it to light for us. Granted they should have, but they didn’t. Instead, we hurried to the line and tried a poorly called deep pass that fell incomplete, and we were forced to give it right back. Fortunately our defense held strong to take us into the locker room, but that should have been more points. Mistakes like that won’t fly in Green Bay.

Be it our suffocating defense (both run defense and pass rush), explosive running game, or pinpoint passing attack, we completely dominated the Falcons for the entire second half. Corey Webster had a great day in pass coverage. How about that final sack of the day from Osi of Matt Ryan, taking him down OVER THE SHOULDERS OF AN OFFENSIVE LINEMAN?!?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?? Let’s hand out some game balls:

Offensive Game Ball - Hakeem Nicks. Eli had an incredible day. No turnovers, and a huge run in the first half to pick up a first down. But it was Hakeem Nicks who stole the show, especially on that 72-yard third quarter touchdown catch and run. Our running game helped set it up, and Eli did a great job finding him, but man on a day when we needed big players to make big plays, Nicks did just that.

Defensive Game Ball - Defensive Line. For the second week in a row, it was our pass rush that completely shut down our opponent. On the first play of the second quarter, Linval Joseph got back there to stuff them on fourth and short. In the third quarter, it was Chris Canty who made the big play to stuff them once again on fourth and short. And I haven’t even mentioned Tuck, Osi, or JPP in this. They just get better and better each week. GOTTA LOVE IT! (Honorable mention - Corey Webster).

The lone black spot - Lawrence Tynes. Again his poor kicking was overlooked due to the huge win, but as things progress I feel missed field goals like that could certainly come back to hurt us. He has to get his stuff together, and fast. This is not the time of the year for our kicker to start missing easy field goals.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· Facebook comment of the week: “Now THAT was BIG BLUE WRECKIN CREW FOOTBALL!!!!” - Geoff Amerman. Yes it was. It really was.

· Saw “The Artist” late Sunday afternoon. Amazing film. Really loved the dream sequence and the final shot(s) where they selectively include sound where necessary. Very effective and enjoyable, and just a very charming film overall.

· Aunt Cindy, Uncle Robert, Jordan, Jared, and Tootsie - I’M CALLING YOU OUT! As family of the Gmen Superfan living near Green Bay, Wisconsin, it’s time now for you to look deep within yourselves and get your priorities in line. I know it’s fun to root for the Pack out there, but Giants’ nation needs as many Big Blue fans out there as it can get. I’m counting on you to do what you know is right!

Final Thoughts:

We know what happened earlier this season in the Meadowlands. We know what happened in Green Bay back in 2008. Forget all of that! This is an entirely new game! We’re arguably the hottest team in football right now, and need to keep that going! Only we can stop ourselves, and we can’t let that happen! Get pumped, fans! One down, four to go for the ultimate goal! To talk all things Giants you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan,” and follow me on Twitter under the name “@gmensuperfan1.” Until next week, GO GMEN!!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Cowboys (1/3/11)

Second Season, Here We Come!

By Superfan

Happy 2012 G-Fam! And what better way to kick off the New Year than with our New York Giants taking the NFC East crown at home over the rival Cowboys? Several weeks ago Giants’ nation had questions regarding the toughness and pride of our beloved team. I think most, if not all, of those questions were answered Sunday night. And as “mediocre” as the previous week’s win over the Jets might have appeared, that’s how dominating a performance we gave last Sunday against Dallas (sans the third quarter).

Those who needed to step up did so in a BIG way. I’ve given Antrel Rolle a lot of slack this season, but he had a huge role in that playoff-clinching victory. We found ways to run the ball near the end of the first half, which we had to do. The pass rush was in Romo’s face all night. Eli was Eli, and Cruz was Cruz. Nicks finally looked like the number one receiver he’s expected to be. The third quarter aside, the only real black spot was the return game and Lawrence Tynes. Let’s relive that incredible night:

Ringing in the New Year with Big Blue

I had two more stops to make before heading back west. There was the Winter Classic in Philly the next day, but more importantly there was the Giants-Cowboys game Sunday night. JJ made the flight back east for both as well, and accompanied my dad and me as we got to the stadium around 6:30. Plenty of time to soak in the moment. Everywhere we looked there were hoards of Giants’ fans ready and waiting. Waiting for the game to start already. No one cared that it was raining - we already knew it was going to be a very special night. We had the towels to prove it.

In the seats were JJ, myself, and two of my brothers’ friends. My brother and dad sat upstairs. I also had two tickets for my buddy Jon, and he and our mutual friend Rick were across the field. Eight of us total spread all over the stadium. From pretty much the first play everyone in was standing. There was just too much energy and excitement to sit down. And with all the scoring we did, who would want to? Things kept up at a great pace until halftime, when my brothers’ friends went out to grab food I think. It took them a while to get back, and JJ and I watched as our offense stumbled out of the gate and our defense let them drive down the field for the score. Those two came back shortly after, in time for our first field goal and their second touchdown. It was a rough third quarter, but the fourth more than made up for it.

We stayed through to the bitter end, and it was awesome. As great as it is to see thousands of Jets fans moping, it’s even better to celebrate with thousands of fellow Giants’ fans. What a huge win. The playoffs, baby! And we broke the hearts of millions of Cowboys’ fans all over the country! Running on only about twenty minutes of sleep and pure adrenaline from the New Year’s festivities the night before, I got in my dad’s car with JJ and a friend of my dad’s and we headed south to Philly for the Winter Classic. The parking lot was a madhouse to get out of, but I don’t really think anyone minded. For the first time in a long time, people had reasons to honk in celebration. A fantastic atmosphere.

NFC East Champs, And It Feels So Good

This game had everything riding on it. And the Giants’ showed up in awesome fashion. You always want to be the team with the most momentum heading into the playoffs. And this year, the Giants are that team. Through countless injuries and seemingly questionable off-season moves, this team fought through all sorts of controversy to take the division. Fewell finally got this defense looking elite the last two weeks. Our offense, especially the passing game, has carried us all season. How about the Giants’ doctors? Can they get some credit for absolutely knowing what they were talking about regarding Steve Smith’s injury? Philly thought he’d be fine to play, and he ended the season on their IR. Victor Cruz is insane, and this was only his first season as a starter! The only time I had my doubts Sunday night, outside of the third quarter, was when we passed out of the shotgun in the fourth quarter instead of running the clock out, but that was quieted pretty fast when Eli completed his final touchdown pass of the night to Nicks. Let’s hand out some game balls:

Offensive Game Ball - (tie) Victor Cruz and Eli Manning. Watch the highlights from Sunday night’s game - these two make up about 75% of them.

Defensive Game Ball - (tie) the entire defensive line. Knowing Romo was playing a little hurt, these guys exploited him all night, bringing him down six times in all. I haven’t seen our pass rush play this electric since, well, the first game against Dallas last season. When Osi, Tuck, Canty, Kiwi, and JPP are all reasonably healthy and in the game, our defense has to be considered one of the best in the league. It was a sight for sore eyes. (Honorable mention - Antrel Rolle.)

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· Facebook Comment of the Week - “Rex Ryan last week. Rob Ryan this week. Matt Ryan next week.” - Dillon Thiele

· The Winter Classic was a lot of fun, especially seeing a New York team win in Philly. But man do I hate to be in Philly. It was cool though driving up to the hotel at around 2:30 in the morning and seeing three or four people in Giants’ jerseys walking around and cheering with them. Don’t get to do that there too often.

· Got the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Everything about it is great except despite my service being Verizon, it’s a “Google phone,” making it pretty much the only Verizon smartphone that DOESN’T run the NFL Mobile app. For shame, Google. For shame!

· Philly fans are just the worst. I know I already talked about my trip to Philly, but I just can’t say that enough. By far the worst fans in the country. I pity them all, and if their city were one day gone, I wouldn’t miss it.

· Spent New Year’s Eve at Central Park in the city. There was a forty-minute fireworks display when midnight hit. FORTY MINUTES! Talk about an epic way to ring in the New Year. Plus it was relatively warm for NYC; everyone was out and about and in a really good mood.

· Now the third person has told me I HAVE TO see The Artist, so I’ll try and see it this week. I hear the dog is especially good in it.

Final Thoughts:

If there’s one team I’d like to play in our house in the first round, it’s Atlanta. Matty Ice hasn’t shown much in terms of post-season play, and it’s always tough for a Southern-based dome team to play outdoors in a cold weather city. Let’s home for wind and snow. A GIANTS’ HOME PLAYOFF GAME! Doesn’t get much better than that! Enjoy the week and celebrate aplenty, but remember we still have four more wins before the ultimate goal is met. To talk all things Giants send me an e-mail at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan,” and follow me on Twitter under the name “@gmensuperfan1.” Happy 2012 once more Giants’ fans, and until next week, GO GMEN!!