Turff Talk

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

2012-01-23T22:00:00.001-05:00

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)

2012-01-16T14:44:00.002-05:00

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)

2012-01-09T17:25:00.002-05:00

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)

2012-01-04T12:54:00.001-05:00

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!!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Jets (12/26/11)

2011-12-26T12:47:00.001-05:00

Kings of New York

By Superfan

What a way to celebrate the holidays! You didn’t really think the Gmen would make this stress-free, did you? That’s not their style. Think about it - Christmas Eve Day, against the Jets, with the playoffs on the line. There was no way that game would be the least bit relaxing. But it was a win, a HUGE win, against the Jets. Our fate is in our hands, and the playoffs are ours for the taking.

While some of what was said was misinterpreted and taken out of context, I wasn’t thrilled about the talking we did with regards to a certain Jets’ island property-owner. Darrelle Revis is a stud. A king bear. Don’t poke the bear. Fortunately he dropped a few picks thrown his way, but the fact that he was motivated I’m sure had more than a little to do with why Eli wound up going 9 for 27. But I’m getting ahead of myself. The real story is that we came into our house as an away team (for the second time in as many regular season meetings by the way - apparently there’s a formula involved based on the previous season’s rankings instead of good-old-fashioned one away game and one home game - what’s up with that?), as the underdog, and outplayed them on both sides of the ball to get the clutch win. Like Coughlin preached to the team before and after the game - that was the first playoff game. We won, and now advance to round two. Win this one, and we’re into the second season.

Away at the Meadowlands

It was a family affair last Saturday as I went to the game with my dad and little brother. After navigating the always-more-confusing-than-helpful Meadowlands parking attendants, we found ourselves parked and throwing a football for good measure by 11:30. No drops, which was the first good sign of the day (can’t say we had the same luck last week). The next bit of luck was our ability to get out onto the field for pregame. After saying hi to some friends, I was inspired to see Justin Tuck come sprinting out of the tunnel for warm-ups. One of the most encouraging sights of the day was seeing #91 gather the rest of the defensive front in a huddle in the end zone for what looked like one hell of a pep talk. He admitted he wasn’t 100 percent, and probably won’t be the rest of the season, but he was still out there playing and giving his all. And I have to say it sure makes a certain other defensive lineman on the last year of his contract seem a little iffy for sitting out with an injury. Putting himself before the team to make sure he’s healthy enough to sign a big offseason contract perhaps? Doesn’t sound like a true Giant to me. That guy could learn a thing or two about heart from Mr. Tuck.

Several moments after the inspiring defensive huddle, we watched the team head off to the locker room for the last time before kickoff. The last two to leave were Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs, jogging off together. Seeing them leave the field, the determination in their eyes, the confidence in their swagger, it assured me that Saturday would be a great day.

The game started terribly of course, and the stress levels were off the scale for the remainder of the game. We were in a section completely split between Jets and Giants fans, but it was still all sorts of fun watching. In the second half even the Jets’ fans agreed how insanely biased the refereeing was, and how any time a play was up in the air it would no doubt go in the Jets’ favor. But despite playing both the Jets and the refs, our team finished the day victorious. Nothing better as a Giants’ fan than leaving that stadium and passing thousands of dispirited Jets fans. Gotta love it!

A Road Effort for the Home Crowd

I had mentioned after last week’s loss how disappointing it was to root for a team that seems to play down in front of their home fans. This made Saturday’s matchup quite interesting, since we were the away team in our home stadium. And it seemed to work. Maybe the Giants’ should start wearing white at home. Just a thought…

While we did outplay them, we got lucky that the Jets faltered on more than one occasion. We certainly didn’t play our best football on Saturday. There’s ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE for taking a delay of game penalty on the first offensive drive of the game. While Eli’s currently having the best season of his career, these last two weeks have seen his decision-making fall off a bit. The delay of game is one example. Another is throwing the ball to Ramses Barden (our third or fourth receiver) three times when covered by Revis one-on-one. None of those throws were completed, obviously. Finally, there was the interception in the fourth quarter. At first everyone was livid (myself included) at Kevin Gilbride for calling a pass in that area when all we had to do was run the ball. But listening to the post game interviews, we learned that there was a run called that Eli checked out of when he saw eight men crowding the box. Honestly Eli, it’s okay to get stuffed on a run there. We were up by seventeen points with less than nine minutes to go in the game at our own twenty-yard line. The clock was our friend, and we needed to keep it moving. So that one’s on Eli, not Gilbride.

Though I still wasn’t thrilled by Gilbride’s play calling throughout the game, especially when he’d call pitches and tosses on second-and-manageables which turned into 3^rd and longs. If we’re gaining yards on the ground up the middle, KEEP AT IT! There were times when Jacobs or Ahmad were starting to get on a roll, but our play calling suddenly diverted before they could really break a big one. Our biggest play happened not because we had a well-executed drive, but because Victor Cruz is an incredible athlete who made their entire defense miss for 99 yards.

Our defense played great, although there were several times where they’d make a great drive-ending play that wound up getting nullified by either a penalty or a bogus overturned challenge, then simply gave up when they went back out on the field. Things didn’t go our way, and their drive isn’t over - GET OUT THERE AND STOP THEM AGAIN! They forced turnovers, but again, one was because Sanchez threw what was the equivalent of a punt to Kenny Phillips in the middle of the field and another was a fumbled snap at the goal line.

What I did take away from the game was that our team has a whole lot of heart. I love a guy like Brandon Jacobs (on occasion). We had a huge win, he had a decent game, but he also said what everyone in the tri-state area (and the country, for that matter) who isn’t a Jets’ fan is thinking - SHUT UP, REX! It’s one thing to talk your team up once in a while to keep them motivated. It’s another to do it all the time. When it’s all you talk about, and it’s all you do, it’s no longer motivational, but annoying and laughable. At least we won’t have to hear him speak for a while now. And everyone’s been reminded whose stadium that really is. Don’t let the name fool you - IT’S GIANTS STADIUM!

Offensive Game Ball - Victor Cruz. All the guy does is make plays. In one play he saved our season and maybe Coughlin’s job. He might as well be featured in every Giants’ highlight from this year.

Defensive Game Ball - Jason Pierre-Paul. It was a tough call between him and Justin Tuck, but with four solo tackles, one assist, and two sacks I had to give it to him. Just another day at the office for JPP.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· Facebook Comment of the Week: “Jets embarrassed, Romo hurt and the Eagles eliminated. BEST. CHRISTMAS. EVER!” - Ian Etheridge.

· What a crazy football weekend to have Fantasy Football championship games. It’s hard enough when you have players playing on different days. But because of Christmas landing on a Sunday this year, we had four - yes, FOUR - separate days of football to comprise week 16. Thursday night, Saturday, Sunday night, and Monday night. I’m not complaining - the more football the better - I’m just saying it’s crazy, is all.

· Good for Detroit. That’s one heck of a football city, and their fans truly deserve to see their team in the playoffs again. Cleveland, on the other hand, will still have to wait a while.

· Saw MI: 4 in IMAX, but unfortunately it wasn’t showing the Dark Knight Rises prologue, which I heard was AMAZING. It did have the new trailer though, and that’s also pretty amazing. Seeing Heinz Field completely obliterated like that, with Hines Ward himself running across it? Nolan might just have outdone himself yet again. CAN’T WAIT! Oh, and MI: 4 was pretty good too.

· As was The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. I’ve seen both the American and Swedish films, and they’re both great in their own way. Loved Noomi Rapace, but that doesn’t take away from Ms. Gmen herself, Rooney Mara. She did a great job in her turn in the role of Lisbeth Salander, bringing great flare and intensity. And the opening credit sequence is epic - think Fight Club meets James Bond.

Final Thoughts:

This is it! Last game of the year, hosting the Jerry Joneses-- err, Cowboys, with the winner earning the NFC East title and a trip to the post season. Does it get any better than this?! To talk all things Giants, send me an e-mail at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan,” or follow me on Twitter under the name “gmensuperfan1.” Hope everyone had a great and safe holiday, I wish Giants’ nation a healthy and happy New Year, and until next week, GO GMEN!!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Redskins (12/19/11)

2011-12-19T16:40:00.001-05:00

You Can’t Be Serious

By Superfan

That was beyond appalling. While it probably isn’t true, from the stands it sure seemed like the players and coaches cared less about the outcome of our matchup with the Skins than the fans did. No sense of urgency, no sense of pride, no sense of the PLAYOFFS BEING ON THE LINE. There are some who will look at the bright side and think well, our backs are pressed as far against the wall as they’ll ever be, and that’s when we play our best, right? I suppose, but I expect better. We shouldn’t have to be the team who only plays well when no one expects us to, and when our season is riding on the outcome.

The View from the Meadowlands

I flew home for the holidays and therefore was able to go to the game on Sunday. With my buddy Jon in tow, we got there and parked around 12:30. With a CD playing “Proud to Be (a New York Giant)” on repeat, we pulled in amped as ever for the game to begin. It was imperative we beat Washington to keep pace with the Cowboys after their dismantling of the Bucs Saturday night. Jon had actually mentioned to me on Saturday that he felt this game might be tricky. Washington was a team who had nothing to lose, and was probably riding high after taking New England down to the wire the week before. True, but so what? This was a new Giants team, ready to shake off the stigma of playing down to the level of their competition. Ready to start beating the teams they’re supposed to beat, and looking like a legitimate contender in the process.

Unfortunately, it turned out Jon was onto something after all.

Things started off great in the seats. Good atmosphere, good vibes, no Redskins fans anywhere near us. The first play from scrimmage, Corey Webster made a great play to intercept a deep pass from Rex. Everyone was going nuts, sure Sunday would be a great day. Unfortunately, the next offensive series were three incomplete passes and a punt. Wasted opportunity, but still okay. A good punt pinned them at their own 30, but they drove down the field and settled for a field goal. Not great, but manageable. We only gave up three. Time for the offense to shine.

First play, seventeen-yard rush for Ahmad Bradshaw, followed by a decent four-yard gain. Then it happened. On 2^nd and 6, Eli threw a perfect ball to a wide-open Jake Ballard that he dropped. Not only would it have been a first down, but maybe a huge-gainer as well. Then, on 3^rd and 6, Eli went deep down the middle to Hakeem Nicks who had beaten the defense. It was a perfect ball that landed (for a moment) right in Nick’s outstretched arms, until he DROPPED IT! We were already celebrating the touchdown in the stands. No chance a number one receiver, with the playoffs on the line, could possibly drop such a perfect opportunity. But he did just that. Our defense got us the ball back right away though with a clutch interception by Kenny Phillips. When we got the ball back we got into a 3^rd and 2 but thanks to a false start by Jake Ballard (what a day for him so far) we got pushed back to a 3^rd and long and wound up having to punt the ball back again. Halfway through the first quarter, our offense had zero receptions while our defense had two. But after we punted back, the defense let up.

Jon and I switched seats many, many times throughout the game, to no avail. It was an ugly shocker, and made for a very quiet ride home. Yet again, with high hopes, I went to the stadium and was let down by the team I love so much. I’m sure the other 80,000 fans in attendance felt the same way.

A Disturbingly Familiar Sight

A bad team with nothing to play for comes to town against us, after we get a huge win to put us back on track, and we embarrass ourselves in front of the home crowd. This is getting ridiculous. Our defense is so bad it’s hard to watch. Seeing the secondary bicker with one another both on and off the field is like watching a Junior Varsity High School football team. Missed assignments, fingers being pointed at one another, zero accountability, a coordinator with no control over his players, and no shortage of undeserved trash talking (yes I’m talking to you, Antrel - until you start earning the obnoxious amount of money we’re paying you, keep your mouth shut). I started to feel that Coughlin should maybe start fining players for playing that badly. If you think about it, it’s like any profession. You get paid to perform. If a player isn’t earning his paycheck, either missing assignments or tackles, he should give some of it back. If a guy gets fined for being late to a meeting, why not fine him for leaving a receiver wide open? I also think that the defensive (and offensive, after Sunday) should be told not to talk to the media this week unless they’re apologizing. I know it seems extreme, but man I’m getting sick of this. Something should be done to wake these guys up.

Sunday was also some of the worst coordinating I’ve ever seen. Ahmad returned this week but only carried the ball ten times. Despite being down by twenty rather early in the 3^rd quarter, we didn’t go to the no-huddle until the fourth. Our secondary gave their receivers huge cushions on every third and long. The middle of the field was once again completely open. Eli finally came back down to earth and threw three interceptions, two of them coming on pretty bad decisions. Can’t completely fault him though, because his star receiver kept him from having a great start to the game. Hard to play quarterback and have any confidence in your receivers when no one can make a clutch reception. On the interception he threw to the back corner, Mario should have turned around and caught the ball in front of the defender. Instead, he watched Josh Wilson go up and catch it before making a very feeble attempt at swatting it out of his hands. Coughlin made a horrible decision on his challenge in the first half. Bottom line, no one played well.

It’s a game worth forgetting. No game balls. Let’s just flush it.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· Had a doctor’s appointment on Monday morning. Saw some medical equipment that read, “delivered by Tony Gamboni.” You know you’re back in Jersey when the medical supplies are being delivered by a guy who sounds like a made-up character from a Sopranos parody.

· Nice win for KC, finally handing the Packers their first loss of the season. On the same day, the Colts got their first win of the season. Good for both cities and Romeo Crennel. Bad for Todd Haley and Tyler Palko. Needless to say I did very poorly in my picks this past weekend.

· Loved the Tim Tebow sketch on SNL this past weekend, but upset that it was the last sketch of the show. Means a lot of people probably missed it. Very, very funny.

· Saw Hugo, loved it. Still need to see MI: 4 and Sherlock Holmes 2 before this holiday is over. Still think The Muppets is the best film I’ve seen this year (so far).

Final Thoughts:

Crazy as it sounds, we still control our own destiny. Have two incredibly important games coming up against the Jets and Cowboys. We win them both, we win the division. Have to forget all about this loss and move forward. If we can get hot these last two weeks, we have a chance. I’m not giving up hope, and you shouldn’t either! Just ignore all sports media outlets this week (except giants.com, of course!) and you’ll be amazed how much less the loss stings. To talk all things Giants, 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.” Have a great holiday weekend everyone, and until next week, GO GMEN!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Cowboys (12/12/11)

2011-12-12T18:17:00.003-05:00

On the Run

By Superfan

Nothing like going into Jerry’s World and pulling out a late-game stunner like that! Always provides for great images of Mr. Jones stunned in shocked disgust and disbelief. Finally, after four grueling weeks of losses, we got the W. The season so far has been a lot like most of our games - we put ourselves in really tough situations yet somehow find a way to scrape ourselves out of them. Or, in the cases of San Fran and Green Bay, almost out of them.

I think we can all agree that being a Giants fan will shave ten to fifteen years off a person’s life. They should go ahead and make that a medical fact. Sunday night’s huge comeback win on the road against the rival Cowboys was far too close for comfort, but it was absolutely worth it. As John Mara said after the game, “The best thing is we got our season back tonight.”

The View From Home

It was very nerve-racking all the way through, but fortunately nothing got broken. We have a ritual where, for every game, I have the “Proud To Be (a New York Giant)” song cued up on my iPod to play every time we score a touchdown. It played loud and often Sunday night, and hopefully the song could be heard around the block. It’s such a ridiculous yet awesome and catchy song. I would give about anything to have them play it again at the stadium during pre-game warm-ups. If you remember going to games in the late 90s, then you know what I’m talking about.

It was a packed house in the bottom half of the McClellan Drive duplex Sunday night. JJ and I (and Vandy) called on Justine to come back over, since she was there the day we beat the Patriots, and hadn’t been back since. Joe made it home by the second quarter. Nothing but good vibes for the primetime matchup.

There was only one brief moment of uncertainty with the viewing party. During the first quarter (before Joe returned), Justine inexplicably and without consulting anyone decided to move from the catch over to the recliner. During the Pats game she sat between JJ and me on the couch. During the beginning of the first quarter, when we got the safety and the huge completion to Nicks that set up a field goal, Justine was seated in the exact same spot. She got up for some reason, and when she returned, she went over to the recliner. Dallas scored a touchdown to take a 7-5 lead. We had her move back to the couch. It didn’t happen again (her moving, not them scoring, obviously).

Despite the aggravating stress during the back-and-forth contest, we were relieved and ecstatic in the end. There was much rejoicing. All was right with the world once more, at least for this week.

Home Away From Home

That new stadium in Dallas kind of is a home away from home for the Gmen at this point, isn’t it? In fact, it’s even more so. Since Jerry opened that obnoxious shrine to his own greatness last season, we have won each of the three contests we’ve played there. And boy does Eli shine under those Dallas lights. In his three regular season games played there, he’s got 1,036 passing yards, eight touchdown passes, and just one interception. That one interception came Sunday night off a tough screen pass that was tipped at the line by Victor Butler, deflected off the pads of an offensive lineman and into the waiting hands of Sean Lee. And the only reason Eli had to throw that pass was because despite converting a 4^th down previously, a dumb call for a shotgun draw on second and long (once again) forced Eli into a tough 3^rd and long. Being right outside their 20-yard line, I suppose Gilbride felt the screen would be a safe bet to at least set us up for a field goal to then get within two once more.

Bottom line, Eli ROCKS in that stadium. And in the fourth quarter. And this season in general, despite the secondary doing everything it could Sunday night to keep our losing streak alive. I don’t want to hear anything about us having five DBs on IR. Guess what? Antrel Rolle is a starter. Kenny Philips is a starter. Corey Webster is a starter. Aaron Ross wasn’t necessarily a starter, but was a first round draft pick intended to one day be a starter. Same goes for Prince Amukamara. It’s not like we have guys that were picked off the street playing in the secondary. Yes the middle’s depleted as well, which might complicate assignments, but we signed Chase Blackburn and had Michael Boley in there. So we had veterans as well as rookies in the middle. No excuses for injuries - it’s the responsibility of the backups to step in and perform at a high level. I’m tired of our secondary being such a huge liability. When your offense scores thirty points there should be no question that your team will win. We’ve scored over thirty points the past two weeks, and both games came down to the final play. Inexcusable. Someone in the secondary has to take some pride in his work, instead of counting on the pass rush to force bad throws or relying on dropped passes or missed opportunities deep downfield.

Kudos once more to the offensive line. Eli had time back there, and despite Ahmad missing the first half for violating team rules we still had a great rushing output from Brandon Jacobs, and eventually Ahmad later on. When Jacobs runs that powerfully, our offense is hard to stop. But once again, we could’ve and should’ve had a lot more points than we did, but we had dropped passes and missed opportunities near the end zone. That also won’t fly if we make it to the second season. Victor Cruz, I love your dance, but you have to catch those two balls late in the second quarter! And Mario, with the game on the line in the fourth quarter, YOU MUST HAVE THAT CATCH IN THE END ZONE! We still won, but if we didn’t, that’s all anyone would be focusing on right now. Jake Ballard also had a great game, redeeming himself for some rough play the few weeks prior. If we can just shore up the sloppy play, we’re unstoppable.

Offensive Game Ball - Eli Manning. No one in the league comes close when the game’s on the line. All he does is drive that point home week after week.

Defensive Game Ball - Jason Pierre-Paul. Are you serious with this guy? I should just make him the automatic selection for this every week, because he almost always seems to be. I’m noticing something very special going on with him. He’s going to be a Giants’ legend before all is said and done. I mean like in the same conversations as Lawrence Taylor and Michael Strahan. What a playmaker.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· Facebook comment of the week: “You can’t spell Elite, Reliable, or Believe without ELI!!!!!!! GO BIG BLUE!!!!” - Matthew Johnston.

· I hated him and everything he stood for (as a quarterback, his faith has nothing to do with anything) when the season began. When he went in for Orton, I thought it was bush league and nothing more than the coaches acting in an effort to please the fans. After he won a few, I chalked it up to dumb luck, fortunate circumstances, and conveniently weak competition. But I have to say, after what transpired Sunday afternoon, I’m officially swept up in Tebowmania. HUGE that they beat the Bears for us. How can you not enjoy this story? It’s absurd, but in a kind of awesome, fun way. Excited to see how long this “fated” team can last. With that insanely good defense, looks like it might be for at least a little while longer. And props to John Fox for making the best of a bad offensive hand.

· Just saw the teaser trailer for season 2 of Game of Thrones. AWESOME! With new Californication, Mad Men, Game of Thrones, and films like The Dark Knight Rises coming out, 2012 is going to be an amazing year. Also enjoyed the new MIB 3 trailer. Hate me if you must, but the Men In Black films are fun.

· Good for you, T.J. Yates. Good for the entire city of Houston. Clinching your first playoff birth and your first division title in such exciting fashion, with the third-string quarterback and no Andre Johnson. What a great story. Kind of like a modern-day Jeff Hostetler story, minus the awesome moustache.

Final Thoughts:

Let’s hope this win after last week’s close-yet-confidence-building loss was the official start of an epic run to and through the playoffs. We’ve got Washington, the Jets, and Dallas left on the schedule, all at the Meadowlands (despite one being an “away” game). Let’s keep this momentum going! To talk all things Giants, e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan,” and/or follow me on Twitter under the name “gmensuperfan1.” Until next week, GO GMEN!!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Packers (12/5/11)

2011-12-05T16:48:00.001-05:00

Hope To See You Again Soon

By Superfan

Like the win over the Patriots several weeks ago was eerily similar to the win over them in the Super Bowl in 2008, our loss to the Packers last Sunday was in turn eerily similar to the game we lost to the Patriots to end that fated 2007 regular season. Toe to toe with the best team in the league (looking to remain undefeated), making them sweat until the very last play - and reminding them that not every team they play will go down easy. Certainly not this one.

I don’t believe the better team won on Sunday. We were not outplayed, but instead beat ourselves. If Eli doesn’t skip the ball to a wide open Ramses Barden on third down on our second drive of the game, if he doesn’t make a bad decision and not see Clay Matthews before throwing a pick-six, if Coughlin doesn’t lose timeouts on poorly-decided challenges, if Aaron Ross doesn’t completely forego his coverage responsibilities in the end zone against Donald Driver near the end of the second quarter, it’s a totally different ballgame. The point is, we missed opportunities to take this game for ourselves, and it still game down to a game-winning field goal as time expired for the undefeated Green Bay Packers to squeak by us with a win.

The View From Home

Missed the beginning of the game, including Eli’s touchdown connection to Travis Beckum on our first drive of the game (looked great on the replay, so why’d Travis disappear after that play?) thanks to the Denver-Minnesota game going a little long. I guess when Jesus is working his magic for another big-time fourth quarter comeback, all else gets put on hold. Fortunately the game didn’t go into overtime, and Fox picked the Giants’ game up just in time to see the defense force the Packers to punt it back to us on their first offensive series.

With JJ and I the only ones at my place watching, the seating became almost a new experience. Joe and Vandy were in San Francisco for the weekend, and didn’t make it back until the fourth quarter was well under way. JJ moved from the couch to the recliner, and it certainly seemed to work well. The defense played really well in the first half, while the offense seemed to (relatively) stub its toe a little bit near the end of the first/beginning of the second quarter. So I suggested maybe JJ try sitting in the recliner when we were on defense and try the couch while on offense. He wasn’t thrilled with the idea of moving around every time there was a change of possession, but being the awesomely die-hard Giants’ fan that he is, he figured if it helped give the Gmen a shot to beat the Pack, why not try? So he did, and on the first play of the second quarter, Eli threw a pick-six to Clay Matthews. Experiment over. So, yeah, that score was kind of on me - sorry.

If you’re still with me on the superstition side of things here, you’ll love this next part. After giving up the lead with less than two minutes to go, our offense got the ball only to give it right back on an Eli Manning fumble. They drove a little ways and got into field goal range, which given their starting field position meant a relatively good stand by our defense. While lining up, JJ turned to me and said, “Those Meadowlands’ winds are really swirling. This field goal isn’t a given.” Then - WIDE RIGHT! Good call buddy!

The excitement really got amped up when Eli led that fantastic drive ending with a Nicks TD reception and a successful run by DJ Ware for the 2-point conversion. He’s just SO GOOD when we need him to be on those late-game drives. And while the excitement and exuberance left us as soon as it arrived, the pride was still there.

Toe to Toe with the Champs

Thirty-five to thirty-five, fifty-eight seconds left on the game clock, the Packers with only one timeout left. They drove the field and kicked the game-winning field goal as time expired. No way anyone can say the offense didn’t do its job. Yes we could’ve killed a little more time on our final drive, but you also have to realize it’s not like we were settling for a field goal. Touchdowns aren’t easy to score in the NFL, so when you can score them, you have to take the opportunity. What really irks me is that, despite the pass rush working all game to keep Aaron Rodgers in check, we stopped doing that when it matter most. Fifty-eight seconds left, and Perry Fewell sends out a defense comprised of eight defensive backs and three pass rushers. PREVENT DEFENSE DOES NOTHING BUT PREVENT TEAMS FROM WINNING!

I’ve never been soft-spoken about the way I feel about Aaron Ross - he’s not a starting NFL cornerback. Despite the many interceptions he’s made this season, I still think he’s cost us more than he’s helped us. There’s no clear stat that measures how often a defensive back gets burned throughout the season, especially if it’s a missed assignment. But I’ve taken notes on nearly every game this season, and looking through them there’s at least one or two moments in every game where I have something written about Ross letting a guy get behind him in coverage or falling down or missing an assignment or biting on a play-action or something. And it’s every game. Having one or two plays each game where you watch and think, “hey, nice coverage, good job,” shouldn’t be enough. It should be expected that you do your job and play tight coverage all game. The same goes for Will Blackmon, Antrel Rolle, and the rest of our secondary. To have eight guys back there with less than a minute to play and still give up 24- and 27-yard completions on their first two plays from scrimmage? Then on 2^nd and 11 from the 30, when they were still far enough away that the Meadowlands’ winds could maybe send their kick wide, we give up an 18-yard completion to Jordy Nelson! They call timeout with three ticks left, and the rest is history.

Secondary aside, our most effective defensive weapon all game was our pass rush. We were roughing up Rodgers all game and throwing off his accuracy. Then to simply take the threat away? A three-man rush against the best QB in the league, giving him all the time in the world to find open receivers? Really think that’s the best idea, Perry? You publicly challenged your defense last week heading into this game, which I supported, citing their lack of effort the past two weeks. Then they come out and show a great effort and punch the best team in the league in the mouth for fifty-nine minutes, and you take away their opportunity to finish? Guess someone should start challenging YOU publicly.

I don’t like to blame the referees for a loss, especially since bad calls typically even out between both teams, but I’d hardly call the refereeing on Sunday even. Early in the fourth quarter, Green Bay driving, 3rd and ten, and you call back an awesome sack by Tollefson and JPP because of an illegal contact by Jacquian Williams? He barely touched him, and it had nothing to do with the play! Granted we eventually stopped them and forced a punt, but we got the ball back at our own 13-yard line. Three and out. Had they not called back the sack on that 3^rd down earlier, they would’ve been punting from their own 25-yard line instead of our 46. Reminded me of the play during Super Bowl XXXV when Jessie Armstead had a pick-six early in the game called back by a very questionable “hold” by Keith Hamilton. You never know what sort of momentum that might’ve carried on throughout the game. And allowing the Greg Jennings third-quarter “touchdown catch” to stand, even though he clearly didn’t have possession throughout the play, which is supposed to be the rule for a reception in the end zone? Then again I’ve never been particularly fond of Jeff Triplett as a referee - just a bad guy that loves irritating the home crowd.

Done with that rant. Not blaming the refs, but couldn’t recap the game without at least bringing them up. Certainly not one of the best-called games of the year.

Great to have Ahmad back, that’s for sure. I think the offense (especially Jacobs) feeds off of his intensity. He didn’t have mind-boggling numbers, but between him, Jacobs, and Ware our rushing game accounted for one hundred yards and one touchdown. Takes me back to the days of earth, wind, and fire - don’t need one stand out, just enough from everyone to force opposing defenses to respect the run, which in turn helps the pass tremendously. And as Eli’s numbers will show you (23 of 40, 347 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT), they certainly did. Also have to give the offensive line a ton of credit - no Baas, no Beatty, no problem. Well done. When your team scores 35 points on offense, you can be sure that side of the ball wasn’t the reason they lost.

Offensive Game Ball - Victor Cruz. All the guy does is make plays. He’s turning into what Amani Toomer used to be and what Steve Smith looked like he was starting to become - Eli’s go-to-guy. Whenever Eli’s in trouble, he always seems to look Cruz’s way, and Cruz more often than not seems to come through. The guy makes great catches at clutch times, and always seems to find a way to get open. Despite Nicks matching his jersey number in receiving yards and reeling in two TD catches in the process, it was Cruz whose name I kept hearing and chanting all game. Seven catches for 119 yards. All game we converted just five of eleven third downs. One of them was on a one-yard rush by Jacobs. The other four were converted through the air - one to Ballard, one to Nicks (on our last offensive drive to score a TD and put us within two), and two to Cruz. And he only targeted Cruz twice on 3^rd downs. Talk about clutch when he has to be.

Defensive Game Ball - Jason Pierre-Paul. Like Cruz, he didn’t come away with the best stats from the game on Sunday, but if you were watching then you’d know he was the most dominant presence out there. Chase Blackburn obviously gets a mention here with his incredibly clutch interception in his first game since being resigned by the Giants, but JPP still had the better overall effort. Even the two weeks prior, when we played horribly, JPP was the one guy who never showed the slightest hint of giving up. He only came away with three tackles, and had no sacks, but the guy was in Rodgers’ head all game. He played a great series on the Pack’s second-to-last offense drive of the first half, including a backfield tackle and a tipped pass, but unfortunately the secondary didn’t match his effort and let up a TD.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· A cousin introduced me to the site “Damn You Auto Correct,” which focuses on accidentally hilarious texting conversations made by the iPhone’s auto correct feature. I don’t own an iphone, and have never used auto-correct, but I think it’s dumb for people to blame auto-correct. Stop being so reliant on technology to do everything for you. Are you so lazy that you can’t finish your own texts, or are you not able to turn the feature off? And are you not able to check what’s filled-in by the auto-correct tool before sending the message? While it is hilarious and I’m happy the site exists to make me and other people laugh, don’t think for a second any of the idiots this has happened to deserve any sympathy. Just another scapegoat for what’s become an unbelievably lazy and impatient society.

· Facebook Comment of the Week - “Somehow I keep thinking that before this season is over and done with, the ’72 Dolphins are going to owe Big Blue one more time!” - Rob Lender.

o Haven’t done this in a while, mainly because most of the comments aren’t exactly PC, but when I read one that gets me this amped up, I have to feature it. Well put, Rob - hope you’re right!

o I know, it’s Gmen-related. But it’s less team- and game-centric, more big-picture epic-ness. Good enough for me.

· Fighting for my fantasy football life tonight during the San Diego - Jacksonville game. Playoffs on the line, fighting for that 6-seed, currently down 91-79 with only Vincent Jackson to play. He’s out of players for the week. On a side note, don’t you hate it when one of the guys in your fantasy league is completely out of it and decides to trade a bunch of his good players to a contender just to have players from the team he likes? That happened, and that “contender” is the one I’m jostling with for the last playoff spot. BUSH LEAGUE.

· Finally Tim Tebow gets a win and finishes the game with respectable quarterback numbers. Not the guy or the team to pick against right now, that’s for sure.

Final Thoughts:

Fortunately for us everyone we needed to lose last weekend lost. We’re very much still in the driver’s seat, and on Sunday looked like the hotter team than this Sunday night’s opponent, the Cowboys. I’ve been saying for weeks now that if we take care of the Cowboys, the division is ours. Time to make that happen! DALLAS WEEK! GET PSYCHED! To talk all things Giants, e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan,” and/or find me on Twitter under the name “@gmensuperfan1.” Twelve games down, four to go! Let the epic run begin! Until next week, GO GMEN!!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Saints (11/29/11)

2011-11-29T17:18:00.001-05:00

Limping Into The Fourth Quarter

By Superfan

I’m getting sick and tired of this. I’m getting sick and tired of the Giants playing a decent-to-good-enough September and tearing through October, getting everyone’s hopes up and their imaginations running wild about what the rest of the season might hold. Then getting into November, closing in on the final stretch, and falling apart. It’s as though the team thinks they only have to show up for half a season and their good 1^st-half record will somehow magically carry them into the playoffs. Then they show up without any heart, without any discipline, without any toughness, without any pride, and they drive us fans crazy. The only consistency I’ve seen out of the New York Football Giants the past few years is their inability to play at a high level for a full season.

All that being said, there is still over a quarter of the season left to play, including two against the Cowboys. Plenty of time and opportunities to make the second season, but if we keep playing the way we’ve been playing, that won’t happen. Let’s rehash the worse of our past two miserable losses.

Not Worth The Effort

Monday Night Football on the West Coast. A football fan’s worst nightmare. After an entire day of dropping not-so-subtle hints at work about that night’s game, my bosses let me take off around 5:30, which allowed me to listen to the first quarter in the car.

JJ met me at my house and we turned it on just in time to watch the Saints effortlessly drive the field to take a 7-0 lead to start the second quarter. It wasn’t much better from there, as we listened to Mike Tirico, Jon Gruden, and Ron Jaworski all but crown the Saints victorious just before halftime, when they took a commanding 21-3 lead. Aside from a comical moment that they provided us with the teleprompter (if you DVR’d it, go to the 11:20pm EST mark, you’ll be glad you did), there was little else about the broadcast worth writing home about. Nothing like watching your favorite team get their behinds handed to them in front of a national audience. Then again, that’s turning into a trend for us these past couple of weeks, isn’t it?

Bayou Beat-Down

There was a time, not too long ago, when our defense was one of the most feared defenses in the league. And I don’t want to hear about injuries. We’ve gotten our top draft pick back, so we have one cornerback and two veteran linebackers on IR. If that makes us unable to play any kind of respectable defense, then it simply means we didn’t do our job building depth at key positions. And what happened to our pass rush? They were supposed to be the ONE THING that wouldn’t falter! Drew Brees had ridiculous time all night to find his receivers. There was one play were it looked like we might get a sack in the middle of the third quarter, but Brees got away from two guys and scrambled out to his right. Despite there being two defenders closing in on him as he approached the line of scrimmage, Antrel Rolle decided to abandon his assignment watching the short route to come after Brees as well, leaving Pierre Thomas wide open to receive a short desperation pass to convert a first-and-fifteen. To top it off, Coughlin decided to challenge the play thinking it was an illegal forward pass, but anyone who watched the replay could clearly see it was a bad decision.

Eli came away with good numbers, though a lot of that was garbage due to their defense playing prevent with a huge lead. But I don’t put this on him. He had one bad throw in the first quarter that was picked off. But it’s not his fault his star wide receiver, Hakeem Nicks, had several significant drops. Not to mention Danny Ware and Victor Cruz. Ramses Barden made some nice catches on balls thrown his way, but had a strange play where he seemed to fall down without being touched and could have gotten up to run with the ball but didn’t. Jacobs ran with a little bit of fire, and got a rushing touchdown, but with the huge deficit most of the game there were hardly any opportunities for him to do much.

The one positive from this game was Da’Rel Scott. He has some potential it seems as a return man. If he could’ve managed to keep his legs from outrunning the rest of his body Monday night, he would’ve had some great chances to break big returns. I feel he will in time with more experience.

No game balls this week. Just a bad game all-around.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week

· Saw The Muppets over Thanksgiving weekend. LOVED IT. Thank you, Jason Segel, for bringing them back to us and doing it right. Just a fantastic movie-going experience. The soundtrack is also great.

· As bad as it feels to be a Giants fan, at least we’re not Chargers’ fans. So much for Norv Turner being an offensive guru. They looked really, really bad. I can’t fathom this whole Tebow thing. Someone has to show up against them and show them what a real defense looks like. Detroit’s the only team who’s done it so far…

· Speaking of Detroit, wow Suh. Dirty, dirty, dirty. On Thanksgiving, no less. I know you were upset about Nickelback. We all were. Still no excuse.

· Ever since I joined Twitter I’ve noticed all these Tweets from Giants’ receivers talking about appearances they’re making for autographs or whatever at malls and stores and stuff. I understand if it’s something the whole team is doing or sponsoring, especially if it’s for a charity, but I have a problem if it’s just their agent or manager scheduling separate events for profit. Maybe they should worry less about making public appearances and more on CATCHING THE FOOTBALL AND PREPARING FOR THE NEXT WEEK’S GAME!

· It’s official - Jermichael Finley is the biggest fantasy draft bust I’ve ever made. One really good point total all season, single-digit points nearly every other week.

Final Thoughts

It doesn’t look likely, but there are some things to think about regarding this week’s matchup against the Packers. In 1998, with Kent Graham at quarterback, an undefeated John Elway-led Denver Broncos team came into our house, and we beat them. They went on to win the Super Bowl that year. In 2008, after losing by just three to them to end the regular season, we faced the undefeated Patriots in Super Bowl XLII, and beat them. The way we’re playing right now it doesn’t seem likely, but based on recent history, if anyone can keep the Packers from going undefeated this season, it’s the Gmen. Something to think about.

To reiterate, we’re 6-5, not 4-7, despite how things may seem. Our fate is in our hands, with both games left against the Cowboys to take the NFC East. But we have to wake up out of this funk - we’re beating ourselves. If we want this stigma of late season collapses to go away, WE HAVE TO MAKE IT SO! To talk all things Giants, e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan,” and follow me on Twitter under the username “@gmensuperfan1.” Until next week, GO GMEN!!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Eagles (11/21/11)

2011-11-21T14:47:00.001-05:00

A Preseason Effort

By Superfan

As proud as I was to be a Giants’ fan the Monday morning after beating the Patriots a couple weeks ago, I’m that much more embarrassed today. To not even show up in what was supposed to be the “soft” part of the currently hellish ordeal that is our second-half schedule is INEXCUSABLE! Just because everyone picked us to win and expected us to do it rather handily didn’t mean it would happen on its own accord. We gave a preseason effort out there, and the result reflected just that. I can’t for the life of me understand why we feel it’s necessary to consistently play down to the level of our competition in games we’re supposed to win, AT HOME no less! This was a horrendous output and a game we’ll have to simply put out of our minds for the rest of this season.

But before we do that, let’s talk about it for a while longer right now. That’ll be pleasant…

The View From Home

JJ, Joe, Vandy, and I watched in the living room, the same place we watched the Giants beat the Eagles earlier in the season. Aside from being appalled and very, very angry most of the time, little else happened.

Save for one tangential argument about the difference between animals acting on instinct in relation to whether or not they’re aware of death. I tried explaining that WE (humans) are the only animal species capable of said awareness, which is kind of what separates us from the rest. Just what I wanted to be having during such a painful viewing experience - a stupid, unnecessary debate about a popularly accepted biological fact.

The one genuinely uplifting moment from the game (Cruz’s TD reception) came as JJ was answering the door for the delivery guy. Good thing Joe grabbed Vandy, because the way we reacted, with the door open, that dog would’ve been LONG GONE.

Angered by the Birds

I can’t believe we let a limping, 3-6, Vince Young-led team into OUR HOUSE and beat us. Just pathetic. Even when we did make big plays, we never managed to take advantage of them. It would’ve been really nice to welcome back Prince Amukamara by converting his clutch first quarter interception into points. But we didn’t. Eli gave it right back with an interception thrown off his back foot.

In the big picture, no one really played a complete game. The offensive line was horrible in run and pass blocking. And unfortunately our offense made no attempt to adjust to their glaring weaknesses. When your line’s giving up constant pressure, and everyone’s dropping everything (Jake Ballard’s going to be in for an especially tough film session this week), you have to call passing plays that give your offense a chance to get back on its feet. Quick-hitters. You don’t continue to call all-or-nothing passing plays that involve long routes that take time to develop. Yes, occasionally we hit a few of them that were caught for decent gains (and plenty more that were dropped). But the problem with those plays is that they leave no room for safe results. If the primary target isn’t hit, Eli is back for so long that he’s forced to take the sack or throw it away. There’s no middle ground there.

The rushing game continues to be tragically non-existent. Brandon Jacobs, you are six-foot-four inches tall and you weigh (according to all official sites) two hundred sixty-four pounds. YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO GAIN ONE YARD ON THE GROUND WHEN WE NEED YOU TO! THAT’S THE REASON YOU’RE HERE!!

Any time we started to build anything on offense, we’d immediately disrupt our own progress with dumb penalties. Just a horrendous game offensively, and still, we had a chance in the end. Imagine if the offense decided to show up for four quarters!

Unfortunately the myriad of injuries to the defense really showed up in glaring fashion on Sunday. We played hard and held them in check for the first half, but that also had a lot to do with the fact that we were playing a rusty QB who was missing a lot of open receivers and making bad reads. As he started to get settled in, suddenly everyone noticed just how open the middle of the field was for him to work. While it’s a great story for the rookies and they tried hard on Sunday, we really missed Michael Boley. The guys in there were terrible in pass coverage. And don’t get me started on the defense letting STEVE SMITH score a touchdown. Where’s the pride?

On a positive note, Steve Weatherford for the most part looked great. I don’t blame him for the one big return by DeSean Jackson - we had opportunities to tackle him before he broke his big return. Other than that, Steve did a great job pinning them deep most of the game. And Ramses Barden - one pass thrown to him, one catch made (and a good one, too). That’s a far better percentage than any other receiver Sunday night.

Offensive Game Ball - Victor Cruz. Kind of by default. Six catches for 128 yards and a touchdown, it’s hard not to give it to him. Especially since everyone else looked so bad. But it doesn’t excuse the drops.

Defensive Game Ball - Prince Amukamara. He didn’t play as well in the second half as he did in the first, but with five tackles and an interception in his first game as a Giant against the hated rival Eagles, he certainly deserves it.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· Love that new Modern Warfare 3 commercial starring Sam Worthington and Jonah Hill (with a guest appearance by Dwight Howard). Go get ‘em, noob!

· Not necessarily team-related, so I don’t feel too bad including it here - did anyone else pay close attention to the way the word “MetLife” was lit up at either end of the stadium last night? It looked like it had a greenish tint. The Giants, also known as BIG BLUE, had a home game against the Eagles, whose primary team color is green. WHY WAS METLIFE NOT CLEARLY IN BLUE? That kind of irked me a little.

· On a related note, I was a little perturbed by the premature Christmas holiday coloring of the Empire State Building during the game last night. A little bit of red and a WHOLE LOT OF GREEN. Come on, be aware of the situation, save any and all green coloring for when the Eagles have LEFT TOWN! WHERE’S THE HOMETOWN LIGHT SUPPORT?

· Congratulations to my cousin Zoey on her Bat-Mitzvah this past Saturday - it was a beautiful occasion and you did a great job! Mazel Tov!

· At said occasion I had the privilege of meeting the one and only Larry Merchant - what a great guy to spend some time with. So much great wisdom to share, and how can you not love a guy who had Floyd Mayweather thanking his lucky stars for an age discrepancy?

Final Thoughts

Okay, this was a miserable game. Don’t listen to sports talk radio or watch any recap shows this week. Just put the game out of your mind and move forward. We’re tied with Dallas on top of the division, with two games against them still left to play, and in control of our own fate. We seem to play down to lesser teams but rise to the occasion when we play good ones. Let’s hope that’s the case these next few weeks, starting in New Orleans next Monday night. To talk all things Giants you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, find me on Facebook under the username “Gmen Superfan,” and/or follow me on Twitter under the name “@gmensuperfan1.” Have a great Thanksgiving everyone, and until next week, GO GMEN!!

SuperFan: Giants vs. 49ers (11/14/11)

2011-11-14T16:18:00.002-05:00

Missed It By That Much

By Superfan

“Too little, too late. Not enough - whatever you want to describe it as…” - Coach Coughlin

That was a really tough loss to swallow. I’ve had a little time to sit on the loss and think it over, and I’m glad I did. After the game on Sunday I was really, really upset, as I’m sure the whole Giants’ community was. But things aren’t as bad as they may seem. Fortunately, Philadelphia and Washington continued spiraling. Dallas looked very good, which was a little unsettling (only a little, Buffalo didn’t exactly look great). And we weren’t outplayed. We lost a close game to a very good team mainly due to our own mistakes, shutting down their all-pro running back yet falling just short in the end. We’re still 6-3, and we’re still ahead in the division. All that being said, let’s rant and rave and relive Sunday’s loss.

The (Partial) View From Home

Another “Fox Game of the Week,” another game available on the West Coast with Joe and Troy. Well, at least that’s what JJ, Joe, Vandy and I thought until the Falcons-Saints game went into overtime. We didn’t get to the Giants game until after the Giants took a 3-0 lead in the middle of the first quarter. We should’ve gotten to it sooner, but once the Saints made the game-winning field goal the Fox affiliate had to go to a local break. And they say TV has no impact on games…

When we finally did get the game on, it was just in time to see the 49ers drive right down the field to tie it up at three apiece. The first half was very similar to last week’s. Long drives, no touchdowns, tough D near the end zone. Except we could, and should, have opened it up early. On our great opening drive of the second quarter, after the first drive of the game lasted almost the entire first, we were looking very good. Eli hit Cruz for a first down right off the bat. Then a few plays later Eli made a great throw to Mario who made a great catch. What’s even wilder - TROY AIKMAN COMPLIMENTED ELI MANNING! I know, I know, hard to believe. Hey, there are only so many combinations of words in the English language; you had to think Troy would say something nice about Eli at least once in his broadcasting career.

But of course, once we got near the end zone, Eli dumped it off to the underneath route which EVERYONE saw coming and once more we had to settle for three. This is becoming a bad habit. On the ensuing defensive drive several good plays were negated by an absurd cushion we gave them on 3^rd and forever, allowing them to attempt and make a game-tying field goal. Then the onside-kick occurred, which honestly was just a good play on their part, and we held them to three again. After a tough Victor Cruz drop on our next offensive series which led to an Eli interception on the very next play, we got our first big break of the game when a tipped Alex Smith pass led to a Corey Webster pick, allowing us to sneak into halftime only down by three.

Joe left during the second half, and try as we might with different seating arrangements, standing up and sitting down, JJ, Vandy and I could do nothing but watch as the Gmen fell just short in the second half.

Tough Fight, Tougher Flight

As I mentioned earlier, we beat ourselves. Defense held strong in the third quarter, getting two big stops after giving up an initial field goal, and we went into the fourth quarter with our third lead of the game, 13-12. But they also started the fourth quarter with great field position as a result of a bad shank punt by Steve Weatherford. From there, in just over a minute of game clock, the niners tore straight through us to score fifteen unanswered points that included a really ugly interception by Eli and a successful two-point conversion. Yet again, we put ourselves in that hole. It’d be hard for most teams to fight as hard as we did all game, go into the fourth with the lead, immediately watch it slip away in a matter of minutes, and just give up.

Not the Gmen though. Despite helping put us in the hole we were in, Eli stepped it up and led a brilliant drive right down the field, which ended with a great touchdown pass to Hakeem Nicks and featured two clutch receptions by Jake Ballard. Only down by a touchdown. Defense needed to step up, and they did, getting us the ball back with plenty of clock. Here’s where things were great and awful all at the same time. All game (and for many of the games this season) the Giants had no problem moving the ball between the 20s. It was what was called once we were in the “green zone” that I think baffles most Giants fans.

The drive had all the makings of a classic Eli-lead fourth-quarter comeback. Two HUGE fourth-down conversions. DJ Ware made plays to gain crucial yards. Eli was on fire. Then, third and two, Gilbride calls a SHOTGUN DRAW to DJ Ware. First of all, if you’re going to run the ball for critical short yardage near the goal line, why run a draw? Second, why run it out of the shotgun formation, which means only more ground for your tailback to cover before even reaching the line of scrimmage? Third, why use DJ WARE?! Nothing against the guy - he’d played hard all game and had a good drive. But with the game on the line, you don’t take it out of your playmakers’ hands! Don’t know what was wrong with Jacobs, but why not at least let the bruiser try for the yards? Personally I would’ve let Eli keep it and finish what he started. The next fourth down try failed when Eli’s pass was tipped at the line, and the game was lost. We’d already made two huge fourth-down conversions, and it looked like (based on the play call on 3^rd down) Gilbride was more than willing to test our luck on a 3^rd fourth down conversion attempt. That third play call was a joke. I know a game can’t be measured by one play, and there were many instances where we could have done things differently for a better result, but that call still really stung. Like I’ve always said, we have all the weapons (and depth) to be one of the most feared offenses in the league. The fact that we play as well as we do despite the horrible play calling says mountains about our talent. If only we called plays that showcased our offensive strengths instead of limiting them, we’d be unstoppable. Yet another case of beating ourselves.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· Happy belated Veterans Day, and of course thanks to all the veterans and current men and women in service for everything you’ve done and continue to do. Obviously it goes without saying, but it’s still nice to have those few days a year where we put the trivial stuff aside and recognize those who ACTUALLY MATTER IN THE WORLD. On that note, did anyone catch the Wal-Mart commercial that ran during the games last week? With the mother of the two kids who surprises them (during story-time) when she arrives home unexpected after time away on service? Amazing ad. Hard not to get teary-eyed.

· Anyone else really miss the NBA right now? At all? Me neither.

· Having lost a friendly wager to a co-worker regarding Sunday’s match-up, I find myself today forced to sit at my desk with eye-black on and a football in my hand. ALL DAY. I’m not about to sit here and lie to you all and tell you I don’t feel a little bit cool. Come on, eye black makes guys look cool. Admit it.

· Turns out Billy Crystal will host the Oscars in April. That’s cool, but I was REALLY excited about the possibility of the Muppets hosting. HOW COOL WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN?! I hope they at least save two balcony seats for Statler and Waldorf.

· Sunday was a bad day. The Gmen lost, I lost the eye-black bet, got destroyed in fantasy (Julio Jones, Darren Sproles, and Vincent Jackson - TWO POINTS COMBINED), and of fourteen games played I only picked right on THREE of them. Really bad day.

Final Thoughts:

Our situation isn’t as bad as it feels. It only seems that way because we’ve been playing so well lately, and it always stinks to lose. We’ve got plenty of football left to play, and so far we’ve split the toughest part of a schedule anyone has to face in the league this season. But do I have the slightest thought of Sunday’s loss being the start of another epic second-half collapse? ABSOLUTELY NOT! I have faith in the Gmen, and we gotta keep on fighting! IT’S PHILLY WEEK! They’re really going to be looking to put a hurting on us after their last two losses, so we have to be ready for them this Sunday at the Meadowlands. Redemption for last season! To talk all things Giants, e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan,” or follow me on Twitter under the name @gmensuperfan1. Until next week, GO GMEN!!

SuperFan: Giants vs. Patriots (11/7/11)

2011-11-07T14:58:00.001-05:00

Doing it Twice is Just as Nice

By Superfan

How’s that for a statement victory?! I can’t begin to express how proud and AMPED I am to be a Giants’ fan this morning. I remember after we won Super Bowl 42 everyone was saying, “Nine out of ten times the Patriots would win this matchup. This was the one time the Giants managed to pull it off.” Well, now we’re two-for-two against them. Care to change that assessment? We did it against all odds - on the road, the first of many really tough games in a really tough stretch, in big, bad New England where opponents simply couldn’t win, with Troy Aikman and Joe Buck doing the game on Fox (maybe the toughest hurdle of all), and we STEPPED UP TO THE CHALLENGE. That was as complete a team victory as you could ask for. We needed guys to step up in the absence of others, and they did! Eli is the comeback kid, plain and simple. Wouldn’t want anyone else behind center when the game’s on the line.

Yes it was eerily similar to that wonderful game in the desert back in February 2008. In both games we had the lead, lost it late to Brady, then marched right back down the field to get it back again. In both games points were few and far between in the first three quarters, then came in bunches in the fourth. And in both games, we came out on top. As Eli said in an interview after the game, “I’d rather be down by three with 1:30 than up by four with 1:30 with Tom Brady and their offense on the field.” At this point, we as fans expect Eli to drive the field and score a touchdown when the game’s on the line. If that isn’t a perfect definition of what makes an elite quarterback, then I don’t know what is.

The View from Home

Being the Fox game of the week was more advantageous than tedious on Sunday. Despite being stuck with the worst team in all of sports commentary, these were the same two guys who voiced our incredible Super Bowl victory over the same opponent. Also, it meant the game was on regionally on the west coast, so JJ, Joe, Vandy, and I all got to watch from the living room. We had another person join us, Justine, who’s a good friend and a good luck charm from previous seasons. She showed up just as the Pats missed that first half field goal, so any suspicions anyone may have had of her showing up and throwing off our good vibes were immediately vanquished.

The game was awesome, but during it was insanely intense and stressful. It was kind of funny because while JJ, Justine and I are going crazy watching on the couch, Joe was off to the side on his laptop, throwing out random tidbits from his Google food searches. They quickly went to pie facts, and every minute or so was a new tidbit about a variety of pies.

These pie facts need their own paragraph. I SWEAR TO GOD he dropped this nugget on us right in the middle of the fourth quarter, after we forced the Patriots to settle for three and take a 13-10 lead:

“So, if a boysenberry is a raspberry crossed with a blackberry crossed with a loganberry, and a loganberry is just a raspberry crossed with a blackberry, then why does a boysenberry need a loganberry in the mix? How is a boysenberry not the same as a loganberry?”

We all kind of sat there, looked at each other, and couldn’t respond. I feel a little bad because at the time I was so into the game that I didn’t appreciate the ridiculousness of it all, but looking back on it, it was pretty funny. Never a dull moment, Joe. Good stuff.

Back to the game, when Eli did come in at the end and lead us down the field to glory, I ran right outside and screamed at the top of my lungs. There was almost no one around except one guy way down the road across the street with his dog, who just glanced over and shrugged. But I like to think a little bit of the Gmen magic made it’s way to him and his dog and made their day just a little bit better.

Return of the Road Warriors

As I was saying earlier, that was a complete, bar-setting victory. Everyone who needed to step up and make plays stepped up and made plays. How about Brandon Jacobs? Without Ahmad Bradshaw, he stepped in and played great. He had the one drop and didn’t run for a hundred yards, but he did what was needed of him for us to be victorious. Every yard he gained was a tough yard that wore down whoever tried defending him. He’s the kind of back who needs to get one or two decent gains off the bat to get rolling, get his confidence up, and then he’s a hard man to stop. His first rush was for eight yards. From there, he gained positive yards and broke tackles all day. Not to mention what he did for the passing game. In the third quarter, after Deon Grant made a great play to pick off Brady, Jacobs did a fantastic job in blitz pickup to allow Eli time to find Victor Cruz for a key gain. That drive led to a field goal, the first points of the day for either team.

Eli was great, save for the pick he threw in the end zone (although you have to give credit to Kyle Arrington for making a very good athletic play to bring that one in). Without his center or star wide receiver he played incredibly well. He found all sorts of receivers to help us move the chains on our scoring drives. Jake Ballard had a game he’ll never forget. Ramses Barden was welcomed back from injury with a couple key receptions, including a huge reception in the fourth quarter which led to Eli’s touchdown pass to Mario a few plays later. Da’rel Scott saw some time, and had an important first down run in the second quarter. And how about Kevin Boothe stepping in for Baas, and except for a couple missteps had a very good game overall, keeping Eli upright most of the time.

Defense also was never short of playmakers. Antrel Rolle had a huge third-down tackle on the Patriots first drive of the game to force a punt, which I believe had a large impact in preventing them from getting any early momentum. Kiwi was all over the place with six tackles and a huge interception on the first play of the second quarter off a Michael Boley tip. Michael Boley also made a huge play with a strip of Brady in the third quarter that stunted a potential scoring drive. Even guys like Michael Coe and Mark Herzlich had huge days, with a big tipped pass and a clutch special teams strip, respectively.

Offensive Game Ball - Eli Manning. He’s elite. No more needs to be said - I’m glad he’s our quarterback.

Defensive Game Ball - Michael Boley. See above.

Non-Gmen Thoughts of the Week:

· ESPN’s fantasy “experts” are idiots. I’m playing in an ESPN fantasy league this year, and their “point projections” are almost always wrong. To the point of having to do the opposite of what they predict to be successful. I hope they don’t get paid for their expertise.

· Given the events of the last month or so, I have no doubt in my mind that the “Madden Curse” is real. Not only that, but it’s getting worse - not only does it force the player featured on the cover to miss significant time of the season with some sort of injury or illness, but it now also turns him into a bad person.

· Just keeping everyone up to date, in case you forgot how mad and hopeless people were when Kevin Boss left for Oakland -

o 2011 Receptions: Jake Ballard 23, Kevin Boss 8.

o 2011 TD Receptions: Jake Ballard 3, Kevin Boss 1.

o 2011 Receiving Yards: Jake Ballard 395, Kevin Boss 160.

o I know it’s Gmen-related, and this is the Non-Gmen Thought of the Week, but I had to throw this in here somewhere. Front office vision! Props!

· Did anyone catch footage of the Cowboys post-game locker room celebration yesterday on Fox? If you look “closely” (it’s hard to miss) there’s a lovely shot of a shirtless Rob Ryan in the background. That’s for you, ladies.

Final Thoughts:

Enjoy the week, but remember this is just the first of many tough games ahead of us. We have a real doozy coming up, where we’ll be traveling to the West Coast for another “game of the week” showdown, this time against the 49ers. It also means another week of Troy and Joe. I might make the trip up north just to avoid having to listen to them call the game. That really was a huge statement win, but let’s hope our bandwagon doesn’t get too crowded - always prefer the underdog card. Gotta keep this momentum rolling here, show everyone we’re a team to be reckoned with week after week. To talk all things Giants, you can e-mail me at gmensuperfan@gmail.com, find me on Facebook under the name “Gmen Superfan,” or follow me on Twitter under the username “@gmensuperfan1.” HUGE VICTORY! 6-2 ATOP THE DIVISION!! Until next week, GO GMEN!!

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

2011-10-31T14:58:00.001-04:00

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)

2011-10-17T15:49:00.001-04:00

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)

2011-10-10T14:56:00.001-04:00

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)

2011-10-03T15:34:00.001-04:00

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!!

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

2011-09-26T17:06:00.001-04:00

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)

2011-09-20T16:11:00.001-04:00

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)

2011-09-12T14:47:00.001-04:00

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!!