Bye-Bye Bye Week

The most painful week of the football season is finally over. It's time to buckle down and get ready for some more New York Giants football baby. The 0-7 Dolphins are coming to town and there's no way in hell they're winning this game.

Following the bye the Giants have only gotten stronger. Chris Snee, Brandon Jacobs, Justin Tuck, Ramses Barden, and Prince Amukumara have all had time to nurse their injuries. Snee and Barden will definently be back on the field against Miami and Jacobs and Tuck are listed as questionable and will likely play. Unfortunately the Fresh Prince Amukumara was ruled out for this weeks game and will not be ready to make his Giants debut. Hopefully next week against New England he'll be ready.

This Dolphins game is one the Giants will win. Miami may be desperate, and all you pessimists out there may say this is a "trap game." But I'll be damned if the New York Football Giants allow an 0-7 joke of a team to come to our house and walk out with a victory. Matt Moore? Jason Pierre-Paul's already licking his chops. I wouldn't be surpised if this was Tony Sparano's last ever game as a Miami head coach.

Believe it or not Brandon Marshall promised a victory against the Giants via twitter. If anything the Giants should be encouraged by this cause Marshall is a complete idiot. He guranteed a victory last week as well. It's called being a sore loser. I guess when you're 0-7 you have to try and do something to stay in the spotlight.

Can't wait to watch the Gmen bury the Dolphins. And more importantly thank the football gods that the Giants bye week is over. Time to bring your lunch pail and get back to business for the rest of the season. And it starts with a party at the Meadowlands against Miami.

Old School Win

After Bradshaw rushed for his third touchdown and the Giants defense held the Bills to 7 points in the second half, it was conclusive the Giants had just won the game in typical old school Gmen fashion. The Giants legends of the past beamed down upon the Meadowlands as New York Giant pride was re-established heading into the bye week.

This game was won thanks to the clutch play of the defense in the second half. Phil Simms described the Bills as a very "opportunistic" team, and he is correct. Fred Jacksons big touchdown run early on exploited the Giants 4-2-5 defense they were in. It created space for one of the most dangerous running backs in open field. The Giants were playing pass all the way and once Williams and Boley both flushed out, it was over. A truck could have driven through that hole.

Fortunately this was early on in the game. When it comes to throwing the ball, the Bills are all about yards after catch. Curls and slants were there game, it was old school and I couldn't help but be a fan of their approach. But I think at some point there was a realization that Ryan Fitzpatrick hadn't actually thrown the ball over 20 yards. He struggles with the deep ball, and he knows it. He rarely attempted any kind of deep route.

So the cornerbacks, who earlier in the game were giving the receivers at least a 5 or 6 yard cushion, began jamming the receivers up at the line in the second half. And like magic, Corey Webster came away with two interceptions and the Bills offense did not look nearly as effective. We were also able to sack Fitzpatrick three times.

It was a good showing from the defense. Forget total yards and stuff like that, it's about clutch stops when you need them. We were up 27-24 in our house. There was no funny business. Our defense went out for four plays and we took our ball back and took the win. It was a nice bounce back from when we were in the exact same situation a week before. New York Giants pride was re-established.

On offense Eli did his job and moved the ball no problem. It was nice to see Ahmad Bradshaw back to having great success running the football, and it was also nice to see Mario Manningham contributing to the offense again. He had been struggling lately since coming back from his concussion in week two.

It was a close one, but we were able to make adjustments and get the win. Now we can go into the bye week with sole possession of first place because Washington has a 1-2 divisonal record and we are 1-1. Tuck and Jacobs will be able to come back with lots of rest, and that's important because the second half of the season is approaching and we have a tough schedule.

Nothing we can't handle of course. This team has the ability to compete with anybody, and as fans we should all look foward to the games ahead.

Crazed Dogs

There are two main factors to playing the game of football. There's talent obviously, but the other is motivation. You have to be on an emotional high for 60 minutes or before you know it your knee will be out of it's socket. This is true from Pee-Wee leagues all the way to the NFL. The Giants have talent. There is no question about that. The Bills also have their fair share of talent, especially on that explosive offense. This game will come down to who wants it more.

Recently the Giants have had problems running the football on offense, stopping the run on defense, and making stops against the hurry up offense. Every single one of those things are about attitude and desire. There is no elabroate schemes man, it's all about doing you're job. So when they run the football, fill the holes and get 11 hats on that ball. Fred Jackson's about to have a wake up call. And when we line up to run the ball, get out there and make you're blocks. Get to the second level and look to truck somebody's sorry ass. A safety while trying to run the ball??? Man that should be keeping you up at night if you're an offensive lineman. And if Fitzpatrick tries to run the hurry up, MAN UP. Send four, maybe five after the quarterback if they pass. GET TO HIM, there's nothing else to it. Play straight man coverage in the secondary and do you're job. There's nothing complex about a hurry up offense. It's an insult to the pride of this defense if we can't stop it. Show them we're in better shape and we want the stop more than they want the touchdown.

The results of football games are so heavily determined on emotion. Why do you think everyone has been able to beat the Eagles that have all this talent? It's because everyone gets pissed off hearing about the damn Eagles. How they're "the dream team," and how they're on sportscenter every damn day despite the fact that they are 1-4. Teams are motivated to beat them because of the fact that everyone thought the Eagles were stacked and going to be amazing when they signed all their free agents. It's about pride man. And frankly it's something the Giants DID NOT SHOW AGAINST SEATTLE.

Plus lets face it, we escaped Arizona with a nice comeback win, but there were some portions of the game that were just ugly. The same goes for Seattle, we showed the effort to comeback and get the win and we were five yards away from taking the lead with a minute left. But we didn't even deserve to win. Letting the worst road team in the NFL for the past four years drive down the field against us when we're at home and we're up 22-19 in the fourth quarter? That hurry up drive when the Seahawks took the lead was only five or six plays. You can't let them get in, that's all about pride. Especially at home.

Now the beauty of football is there's an opportunity for redemption next week. We've displayed team unity and execution when we rolled over the Eagles, and when we came back in Phoenix. But lets see it for 60 minutes. That has yet to be seen. Tuck and Jacobs are both out again this week, but we can't let that bring us down. This is a game we have to win as a team. We cannot be 3-3 going into the bye. 4-2 must be the record after this game. Show Buffalo we want it more. They're hungry for wins and they've got some talented players, but so do we.

How do we re-establish the Giants pride? We think of the ghosts of the past, the Giffords, the Taylors, the Carsons, the Tittles, the Simms, the Huffs, the Strahans. How would they play in this game? I think they'd go out like a bunch of crazed dogs. Lets honor the tradition of Giants football. Lets get the win by any means necessary. Because beating the Bills has to happen. And more importantly, show the league that the Gmen still have pride. Show everybody that we're not gonna let down. Show the Bills that we want it more than them, and that this is OUR HOUSE.

Show them we're going to fight for 60 minutes.

Shoulda Coulda Woulda

Yup. That was a game that we should have won. The bitterness of this loss is the reason my blog is a day late this week.

A 3-2 record is not the end of the world, but with the Bills coming to town next week there are some things that need work. The number one priority is the epitomy of New York Giants football, and that is the defense. The past two weeks the Giants have not looked good at stopping the run at all. I think that's partly because Justin Tuck didn't play either of those games. Osi is a good defensive end and a great pass rusher but stopping the run isn't really his strong suit. We need our leader on defense back on the field as soon as possible.

Another issue of concern is the Giants defensive struggles against the hurry up. When the Giants don't have time to make their substitutions opposing offenses are having a fairly easy time moving the ball. Charlie Whitehurst? Are you kidding me? I guess the guy made some plays. That one in particular when the Seahawks took the lead for good when Osi jumped offsides and there wasn't a whistle was frustrating but man our defense was looking helpless on that drive anyway.

What makes this even more difficult of a loss was despite the lack of defense on Whitehurst's go ahead drive was that Eli drove right back down the field following it. 1st and goal from the ten and we have a false start. That is extremely frustrating. The Giants still had some timeouts so I had a feeling they were going to be running a draw on that play before the false start. The penalty pushed them back and they decided to throw. Unfortunately Victor Cruz lost his feet and because of that the ball was a little ahead of him and he tipped it up. Pick six the other way.

But hey, we can mope about how we should have won that game, and we can complain about some of the ATROCIOUS calls, but the truth of the matter is we made some mistakes and we didn't play very good defense. The Seahawks had a fair amount of mistakes as well but they made the plays when they mattered. But this team has resiliency. The Giants are going to fight. If there's a time to prove that it's against the 4-1 Bills at home on Sunday.

Hopefully Tuck and Jacobs will both be back and able to play. Those are two big leaders of this team that weren't able to suit up last week and they would make a huge difference. The Bills would have to be crazy not to run the hurry up. The Giants know this. Time to put that weakness to rest, do some extra suicides at practice and man up. And on offense we could use a run game. We haven't had much of that but maybe throwing to the backs is more our game these days. It sure seems like it.

We need to throw Ballard the ball more. He has been showing some serious toughness the last few games and he fights for every yard. Plus Cruz has shown he can make the big plays (that third and long circus catch was unbelievable). He's had his fair share of mistakes seeing as he's a young player, but this guy can play and there seems to be a great work ethic about him.

Lets face it the Seahawks game was a stinker, but I'm not worried. The Giants under Coughlin tend to respond well after a disappointing week, and at home against the Bills is a pretty good place to do it. We hit a little bump in the road, but it's time to re-establish some New York Giant pride. And we gotta do that by improving the defense. It's not the personnel it's a state of mind.

"We gotta go out there like a bunch of crazed dogs..."

One Week at a Time

Coaches and players in the NFL typically like to live in the now. Take it one week at a time, one game at a time, one play at a time. That's probably a smart philosophy because looking at a season as a whole can be overwhelming. But as a fan on the other hand, you could hear murmors of who's going to the Super Bowl before the regular season's even half over.

So as Giants fans, this may be a situation we're all too familiar with since the Coughlin and Eli era. We're off to a good start. The future looks bright. We look like one of the better teams in the NFC and we're winning football games early. Naturally Giants fans may start to think that this is the year as early as October, but personally I can't help but have a feeling of deja vu.

The Giants under Tom Coughlin very frequently have a winning record and a chance to compete, but pretty much always don't have as good of a second half as they do a first. 2006 and 2009 were some atrocious second halfs, and even when we won the Super Bowl in 2007 our second half record was 4-4, finishing 10-6 after a 6-2 first half. 

What does it all mean? NOTHING, THAT'S THE BEAUTY OF FOOTBALL. The game isn't scripted. Every season, every game, every play you have the chance to see something totally different. That fact is exactly why coaches and players take it one week at a time. At this moment in time we could finish as good as 18-1 or as bad as 3-13.

As fans, it should be our duty to have the same approach. Take it one game at a time. We're 3-1 and we're playing the Seahawks at home on Sunday at 1:00. THAT'S IT. Don't think about last year, this year, 4 years ago, or whatever. Football fans watch their team for multiple reasons:
1) It is incredible to witness valiant efforts on individuals to try and contribute to a greater cause. And that's winning games as a team.
2) Football is unscripted. You think you may have seen it all and then you see something new. Football is endless, and the magic of the game will never die.
3) Commitment. Being committed to a team as a fan is a dedication and something to be proud of. It's very similar to being committed to a team as a player in my opinion. The goal for everybody is one thing: to see you're team win.

So why shouldn't we all have the same philosophy as the coaches and the players? Don't overwhelm yourself with past statistics or who we're playing in 5 weeks. Live in the now and fight for the now. (Or in this case root for the now). That being said, the Seahawks are in for a loooooong day this Sunday. I know for a fact we wont see Marshawn Lynch in beastmode on this defense. Once he's shut down we'll get to Tarvaris Jackson and introduce him to the Giants Stadium turf. (That's right GIANTS STADIUM). And on offense our fearless leader and captain, Eli Manning, will move the ball at will. Hakeem "the dream" Nicks will be open every play. Long story short we're better than the Seahawks, so lets go out their and show everybody that.

Lets fry us up some Seahawks. Go Gmen.

bELIeve

As Beanie Wells danced into the end zone with 5:17 left to put the Cardinals up 27-17 with his third rushing touchdown of the day, all hope of a Giants victory seemed lost. The Pass protection was pitiful. The defense couldn't stop the run. The Giants offense looked flat and couldn't generate points.

But never say never.

Hope for a fourth quarter comeback is never just something to imagine when Eli Manning is you're quarterback. With some special teams help from Aaron Ross, Eli lead the offense down the field with only about a minute taken off the clock. After an amazing catch by Ballard the Giants still had a shot down 27-24.

Fittingly, the Giants defense rose up and Arizona had to give the Gmen the rock. Then would you look at that, Eli did it again. He led another drive down the field and found Hakeem Nicks with about a minute left in the ball game to take the lead 31-27. Just to make this game even more dramatic the Cardinals were knocking on the Giants doorstep after a drive of their own to the Giants 30 yard line. But after Osi Umenyiora's second sack of the day in his season debut, Corey Webster said NO SIR to Larry Fitzgerald on 4th and 2. Ball game. Giants win. Awesome.

With the game on the line, you will almost always get Eli's best game. Anybody that's ever had a problem with Eli, their argument (if they even still have one), is getting very thin. Here's a guy that had little to no pass protection the entire game. The run game was not having very much success either. Not once does he complain. Instead he bears down and finds a way to put a W on the board. And not once did he throw an interception despite the pressure the Cardinals were getting on him.

For all of you stat freaks out there, lets take a look a look at Eli's numbers for the first quarter of the Giants 2011 season:

Eli Manning: 8 Pass TDs, 1 Rush TD, 2 INTs, QBR 105.6

Right now Mr. Manning is on the pace to throw 4, 264 yards, 32 touchdowns, and 8 interceptions. This is all despite losing Boss and Smith to free agency, Domenik Hixon to injury, and all of the changes to the Oline. He's flat out getting it done. But hey, NEWSFLASH he always has. This doesn't come as a surprise to me one bit. Eli's a winner and we've done one thing since him and Coughlin came to our beloved franchise: we've won football games.

Lets keep the ball rolling. With our division rivals down in the dumps lets put our foot on the throat early. This is our division, this is Giants football.

Time to fry us up some Seahawk next week...

Take Care of Business

After an extremely satisfying victory in Philadelphia, the Giants will travel out west to Glendale, Arizona to take on the Cardinals. The Gmen are 2-1 and after coming off of a big win in Philly they have to make sure they don't allow this to be the "let down" game.

What I mean by that is the Giants can't come in overconfident after a big win. They need to keep their heads on straight. Especially on the road. That task may be pretty easy with receiver Mario Manningham returning to the club, and defensive end Osi Umenyiora ready to make his Giants debut. On the Cardinals side of the ball it looks like running back Beanie Wells will be able to play as well.

Quite frankly, this is a game the Giants should win, and I think it's important that the Giants take care of business without any funny stuff. Control the game. We're the better football team. Play with confidence but not at the point of being cocky. On defense hit Kolb then get up get to the line and do it again. On offense stick to the classic Giants formula of establishing the run early and looking to pass soon after. Get that play action going and remind Patrick Peterson that he's still a rookie.

I think the key to this game is mostly mental, but lets break down the good and the bad possibilities that could occur in this game:

The Good:
-The Giants are coming off an impressive win and their confidence should be high.
-Some players are returning to the club and their position depth is a little stronger.
-Kevin Kolb has not established a consistent rhythm at quarterback of his new team. With the Giants pass rush it could get ugly.
-Beanie Wells is a little banged up. I don't see him successfully running the ball on the Giants at all.
-Keep throwing to the backs. The oline has looked good on screens and need to keep that up.

The Bad:
-Being on the road after a big win, especially out west, it's possible the Giants can come out a little sluggish. This is probably more likely on the offensive side of the ball. If this happens the defense has to come out sharp and keep the Gmen in the game.
-Coverage of Larry Fitzgerald. The Giants will double cover Fitz and Antrel Rolle will be in the nickle, but you know at some point in the game Larry is going to do something awesome. Hopefully it wont be a key point in the game, and hopefully up front we'll have no trouble getting to Kolb.
-Patrick Peterson. I would try to stay away from this guys side of the field. Perhaps that may be giving him too much respect since he's a rookie but this dude can play. Since there's really no one else in the secondary I'm afraid of I wouldn't take any chances near him. He's only more of a reason to put emphasis on throwing to the backs.
-The Cardinals are 1-2 and still have a chance with their season. They could come out with a lot of fire to keep their season alive, especially on their home turf.

I think in the long run the Giants will win this game. It took Gilbride and the offense a little time to find their identity due to the changes at oline and wide receiver, but it seems they're in a little bit of a rhythm now. Just look at Eli's last game, he completed 70% of his passes. That's just awesome, look for Easy E to keep the ball moving on the big blue offense.

As for defense? We know who we are. We're the Giants We mess up quarterbacks.

Time to join the party Osi.