Are You an Idiot? No, Sir, I’m a Dreamer…
By Superfan
I was
watching an old episode of Scrubs recently, and the above was an exchange that
I felt fit perfectly for any and all Giants fans. Pretty accurate, right? How else would you explain any sane person
“expecting” the outcome the Gmen gave us last Sunday against the Saints? Didn’t really surprise me.
In fact, I thought we should’ve
beaten them by more. Despite the
analysts ragging on our defense at halftime for not being able to stop the run,
the fact was they only gave up six offensive points the entire first half - the
touchdown was scored on an interception return.
We blowout the Packers one Sunday, get embarrassed by the Redskins the
following Monday night, and follow that with another blowout of a top tier
offense? Yeah, you’d have to be an idiot
to have as much faith in the Giants as we do.
I won’t speak for everyone else, but I’ll come out and say I’m fine with
looking like an idiot most of the football season. Our team isn’t usually pretty, but we absolutely
win when it matters most.
The View From Home
Started out
as a great Sunday gameday in sunny California.
Went out and bought my usual - an everything bagel with cream cheese,
lox, capers and onions from N.Y. Bagel and Deli to enjoy while watching the
early games. Got off to a great start in
both my fantasy and picks leagues (Ray Rice and Anquan Boldin alone could’ve
carried me to victory, it seemed, and for the moment I stood alone atop my
picks league’s rankings).
Then, just before kickoff of the
Giants game, the picks side of things fell apart. In the span of what felt like only a few
minutes, the Cowboys, Redskins and Eagles all came from behind to win in the
last seconds of their respective games. It
also meant the Gmen had no option but to win this game. JJ was over just in time to watch those
collapses. But, like me, he was
surprisingly calm.
Joe had plans, so he was gone
shortly after kickoff, leaving JJ, Vandy, and myself. Vandy has a thing for jumping on the lap of
whoever’s sitting in the black recliner (where JJ was sitting). JJ and I know, from past experiences, that the
Giants don’t play well when Vandy sits on JJ’s lap if he’s on said
recliner. But Vandy was persistent, got
up there anyway, and Eli threw a pick six.
I’d also had my wallet out on the table (it’s usually in my room). So as soon as this happened I tossed my
wallet onto my bed and JJ put Vandy on the couch next to me. JJ leaned back, I sat back down, and Vandy
perched himself like a cat near me on the couch. Just in time for David Wilson’s game-tying
kickoff return for a touchdown. Despite
the Saints making a game of it in the third quarter, that first quarter kickoff
return for a touchdown erased the Saints lead for the rest of the day.
They’re Still the
Saints…
In case
some time traveler is reading this for whatever reason, that’s a good thing now
(and has been for a few years). These
aren’t the ‘Aints again, despite what some have said. I get that they have an interim coach and a
lot of their players have been in and out of league-issued suspensions (you
know, where “guilty until proven innocent” still reigns supreme). I don’t care.
They still have Drew Brees behind center, and are still capable of
putting up A LOT of points in any game. And
we beat them into submission. What’s
better, we beat them without our pass rush playing very well at all, forcing
turnovers however we could get them.
What’s better than that, we actually scored points off those
turnovers. Win the turnover battle,
score points when given opportunities, have somewhat decent referees who aren’t
hungry for TV time, win the ballgame.
Simple.
Then again,
I am a die-hard Giants fan. Which means
even though we won handily, there’s still plenty to nitpick about. For starters, despite his pretty good
numbers, Eli had a bad game. He threw
two picks, which would’ve been four or more if the Saints corners had better
hands. He’s not supposed to be making
such bad decisions this late in the season.
There was one throw that stood out, late in the game, when we should
have been running the clock out. Eli
threw it to Cruz in the end zone, who was double covered. Somehow, the ball landed incomplete. But what could Eli possibly have been
thinking there? Let’s hope he’s just
getting this stuff out of his system.
Another
week, another bad miss on a very makeable field goal for Mr. Tynes. Don’t let the fact that we won distract you
from this fact.
As great as
our defense played in the first half, they really started to worry me near the
middle to end of the third quarter. As
soon as we put up 35, it was like they were trying to make a game of it. First play after that kickoff, Drew Brees
hits a backup receiver for 62 yards. Two
plays later, Sproles runs 13 yards for a touchdown. After they got the ball back from a
mind-numbing Eli pick, they promptly drove 68 yards on six plays for another
touchdown. What looked like a blowout
was suddenly a one-score game.
Luckily for
us, we had David Wilson and Stevie Brown dressed to play. And they both went bananas. And we won the game handily (50 SPOT!),
52-27.
Offensive Player of
the Game - David Wilson. All
anyone’s talking about this week is how electric he was returning
kickoffs. But he also rushed for 100
yards and a touchdown, lifting our offense mightily with Andre Brown out and
Ahmad battling a bad knee most of the game.
Glad he’s out of the doghouse.
Defensive Player of
the Game - Stevie Brown. Stevie
Brown has put up some incredibly impressive defensive numbers this year. His two interceptions on Sunday gave him a
total of seven for the season. Just one
behind the league leader, Chicago’s Tim Jennings. Don’t forget, Stevie Brown only moves into
the starter’s role when Kenny Phillips can’t fill it.
Special Teams Player
of the Game - David Wilson. Yeah,
there’s a reason to give this award out this week. WOW!
We finally have ourselves a dominant kick returner (this millennium). This guy’s gonna be fun to watch for a long,
long time I hope. Mr. Wilson, welcome to
the spotlight.
Non-Gmen Thoughts
of the Week:
- · I forgot to mention this in my anger last week, but my league’s fantasy playoffs have begun. I didn’t make the cut. However, like all good elementary sports leagues that enjoy giving everyone a participation trophy, we have a “consolation ladder” to keep us losers happy. Normally, I wouldn’t care. However, I was matched up against my roommate. And having lost to him head-to-head in my last regular season matchup, I really wanted to win. For our league, the playoff rules are weird, where it’s a combined two-week score to determine the winner for each round. He’d outscored me 89-86 in the first week, and I really, really wanted to beat him at least one time in the last 2 seasons. I did, big time, the final combined two-week score being 206-175. Go me!
- · I’ve really gotten into the BBC show “The Hour.” It’s basically The Newsroom meets Mad Men with some early Cold War espionage thrown in. Stars Ben Wishaw (Skyfall) and Dominic West (The Wire). Has anything I’ve mentioned so far not sounded awesome? Exactly. Definitely worth a viewing.
- · As a Giants fan, I have to say Silver Linings Playbook was AWESOME. It doesn’t hurt that I’m head over heels in love with Jennifer Lawrence (in a totally not crazy stalker way, I promise). Her and Bradley Cooper are great in it, but De Niro steals the show as a die-hard OCD-riddled Eagles fan with a gambling problem. Never bad for a Giants fan to watch a film whose protagonists spent most of their time miserable about how badly the Eagles suck (**SPOILER ALERT** most of said misery brought on by our very own Gmen). Chris Tucker also made a pleasantly surprising appearance in the film.
- · CAN’T WAIT for Zero Dark Thirty to come out.
Looking Ahead…
We maintained
our one-game lead in the division. We
have three to go. The next two are on
the road in very hostile environments, before ending with the Eagles at
home. Seems to me like it’s about that time
for the Gmen to take Sunday’s victory and stretch it into another magical late-season
run. To talk all things Giants, you can
e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com,
find me on Facebook under the user name “Gmen Superfan,” or follow me on Twitter
under the handle “@gmensuperfan1.” Until
next week, GO GMEN!!
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