Next Men Up
By Superfan
We saw the
truest definition of a team effort displayed in primetime last Thursday night
in Charlotte. A team defines itself when
the chips are down, faced with tremendous adversity. We were on the road, in a crucial early
season conference game without our starting wide receiver, running back, or
offensive lineman (among others). With
the rest of the teams in our division getting off to competitive starts, it was
imperative that we get ourselves above .500 before heading into our second
divisional game of the season. We were
playing a very talented Carolina Panthers team in their house, on a very
shortened week, and would have to rely on players most fans have never even
heard of to scrape out a W.
But there was no scraping necessary. We blew the Carolina Panthers out of the
water, and it wasn’t even close.
Breaking in a New
Spot
Being
without NFL Network on Time Warner Cable (last week at least) resulted in the
first game watched at JJ’s new place.
What a great win to kick the place off with! Fortunately the workday was a light one and
ended relatively early, so I was able to race back to the west side from
Burbank in time for kickoff. Despite
extreme heat and a slick, unbroken-in leather couch, that opening drive by Eli
and the offense helped us get over the inconveniences and get into what
mattered - the game.
As halftime approached, more friends
of ours came over to watch - Jeremy (who we call J-ron) and Alex. What was great about this was the fact that I
played J-ron in fantasy this past weekend, and he and I had Cam Newton and Eli
Manning as our teams’ quarterbacks, respectively. I also had to bench Steve Smith for the sake
of the gmen, and thanks to an outstanding job by our defense, it didn’t come
back to bite me in the least. Our matchup proved to be a wild one, coming down
to the wire in Monday night’s game - but I’ll get into both of those items (my
fantasy matchup and Monday night’s debacle) later on.
For the rest of the night we
laughed, we cried, we cheered, we sang, we ordered an okay-at-best half turkey
sausage/half anchovies deep dish pizza (the anchovies were all me - don’t ask,
I acquired a craving for them a couple years ago; it hasn’t gone away yet), and
finally, we celebrated a dominating Giants’ victory. All-in-all, a great night of football.
Starters? We Don’t Need No Stinking Starters!
Every year,
just when us Giants’ fans start to forget how great we have it with Jerry
Reese, a game like last Thursday night’s victory happens. The depth on our roster is incredible. Granted I will take this opportunity to
remind everyone that I’ve been raving about Ramses Barden’s potential for years
(if only the guy could stay healthy), but not to this extent. He and Eli seemed to have a chemistry that
looked like Eli’s been targeting him for years.
And what Pat Flaherty did with a makeshift offensive line on what was
basically a three-day workweek? Amazing. And Andre Brown, this season’s Ahmad Bradshaw
circa late-2007, tearing through every hole that patchwork o-line opened up for
him? Phenomenal. While he was a starter from week one, how
about Reese having the wherewithal to repair our injury-depleted TE position
with an offseason acquisition like Martellus Bennet? A touchdown in each of his first three games
as a Giant - not too shabby. And on the
defensive side of the ball, how about rookie Jayron Hosley stepping up and
making plays with the rest of our secondary hurt? Jerry Reese and the Giants staff are the best
in the league at acquiring players they know they can make ready to play. And they prove it time and time again.
The difference between good teams
and great teams is that good teams are only good when they have everything
going for them, while great teams play well no matter what road blocks get
thrown in their path. Given the
adversity this team has faced, and the way it’s dealt with it in this early point
of the season, there’s no question that this year’s team isn’t one to be taken
lightly, no matter what the circumstances.
That week one Dallas loss, in my opinion, happened to a Giants’ team
that hadn’t fully made the transition from training camp to the regular
season. They have now. And the 2012 Giants have the makeup of a
great team.
Offensive Player of
the Game - Andre Brown. Is it even a
question? This guy, now famously known
as having been cut numerous times since we drafted him in 2009, stepped into
Ahmad’s shoes and ran the ball like a top 5 fantasy pick. Over 100 yards and two rushing
touchdowns? Not that Ahmad’s job is in
jeopardy (yet) whenever he returns, but if I were him watching the game
Thursday night, I would’ve been 80% happy for the backup, 20% worried for my
job. Maybe even 70-30…
Defensive Player of
the Game - Michael Boley. Five
tackles, one assist, a half-sack (which he shared with JPP), and a pick. That makes it a pick for Boley in each of our
first three games this season - so much for our linebacking corps being a
weakness (Spencer Paysinger also stood out with a forced fumble and ensuing
recovery). Our offense was supposed to
be good going into this season, but with the exception of our pass rush, our
defense was not. Keep playing the way
they did last Thursday, no doubt that’ll change.
Special Teams Player
of the Week - Lawrence Tynes. Don’t
usually give this award out every week, which means either someone ran a kick
or punt back for a TD or one of the kickers had an amazing game for me to be
giving it out this time. That was the
case for Mr. Tynes, who after three weeks has forced me to securely plant my
foot in my mouth. The guy’s 100 percent
on the season for both field goals (8) and extra points (5). Last Thursday, he made all five of his field
goal attempts. Atta boy, Lawrence!
Non-Gmen Thoughts
of the Week:
·
Jimmy Traina, of SI.com’s “Hot Clicks,” made
several great points in a terrifically articulated rant Tuesday morning. I highly suggest you check out Tuesday
morning’s “Hot Clicks” to check them out, but basically he called out Roger
Goodell on all that was wrong with the current replacement referee situation,
without sounding like an ignorant, pissed-off fan.
·
Speaking of the referees, it’s obvious they have
no business working these games. Thank
God what happened in Monday night’s debacle had nothing to do with the Giants,
or my head would’ve exploded. But what’s
most worrisome is that the replacement refs aren’t entirely at fault here. The guys working the replay booth upstairs
ARE NOT REPLACEMENTS! And those guys
were watching the replay of the Hail Mary touchdown-that-shouldn’t-have-been
right along with the replacement refs, yet didn’t help them make the right
call. Just a bad time for the league
right now. Come on, Roger - all that
talk about the game’s dignity and player safety and doing what’s right - time
for you to back up those words with actions.
Fix this mess. NOW.
·
As despaired as I was last week in fantasy, this
week’s result has given me hope. Things
looked good for me after our game Thursday night (I had Eli and Martellus
Bennet), but fell to pieces on Sunday.
Thanks again ESPN Fantasy Projections for failing to mention Kevin Smith
wouldn’t start until after the early games were underway. And the damn Lions D giving up 44 points to
Tennessee?!?! What?? Despite all that, after terrific performances
Sunday night by Dennis Pitta and Ray Rice, my matchup with J-ron went into
Monday night’s game with me up by 2 points and no one left to play. He still had Jordy Nelson, and his victory
was a foregone conclusion. But alas,
Jordy only managed 2 reception for 19 yards, netting him one point. One more receiving yard, he would’ve gotten
J-ron the two points needed to tie. I
won by one yard. Pretty awesome. Hopefully they won’t all be such nail-biters.
·
Despite the poor refereeing over the weekend, I
hope aspiring defensive backs out there learned a thing or two about defending
the Hail Mary after what happened in Detroit and Seattle. Don’t go for the tip or the pick, just SWAT
THE BALL DOWN OR AT LEAST OUT OF BOUNDS.
·
Great bit from Peter King in this week’s MMQB,
remembering Steve Sabol. He collected
different comments from various folks around the league about their admiration
and fond memories of the NFL legend. The
league lost it’s greatest fan, and arguably it’s most influential worker. Steve, you will be sorely missed.
·
After four weeks of college football, my Notre
Dame Fighting Irish are 4-0 and ranked #10 in the nation. USC is 4-1 and ranked #13, and Michigan has
been knocked clear out of the rankings.
Just stating facts, people. Good
to see Brian Kelly finally discovered what Charlie Weis was too arrogant to see
- top college football teams don’t need a stat-padding quarterback to be
successful, they need GOOD DEFENSE.
Enjoy the Irish relevance while it lasts - who knows, it might even
stick around awhile this time. South
Bend must be a fun place to be this month.
GO IRISH!
·
Come on Yankees, don’t fall apart now. Are last year’s notorious collapses really
such a distant memory? Learn from
Boston’s horrific recent past! (Sorry,
can’t help taking a shot at the Red Sox whenever possible. But seriously, did anyone think the Bobby V
move was a good one? Really?)
·
NFL Network and the Red Zone channel are finally
on Time Warner! WAHOO!!
Looking Ahead…
Big game
Sunday night against the Eagles. Third
primetime game in our first four weeks of the season, and I’d just assume we
keep shining bright. Tie to remind
everyone who the boss of this division is.
Philly week! Here we go!! To talk all things giants, you can send me an
e-mail at gmensuperfan@gmail.com,
find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan,” or follow me on Twitter at
the user handle “@gmensuperfan1.” Until
next week, GO GMEN!!
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