Sunday, December 28, 2008

PLAYOFF SEASON!

NEXT GAME: Sunday January 11th at 1:00 eastern.

It's all set!

Philly vs. Minnesota and Atlanta vs Arizona next week.

So this is the rule they should think about changing.  Arizona gets the home field and the higher seed even though they had less wins than Atlanta.  That could easily effect who we play in the Divisional series.  We will get the team with the "lowest" seed after next week.  It is feasible that the the two road teams will win next week and send Philly to the Meadowlands and Atlanta to Carolina.

Nice choke jobs by Dallas and the Jets.  Keep running your mouths and winning on paper.  

More tid-bits to come later this week

Friday, December 26, 2008

A GOOD WEEK TO DO NOTHING

This is an odd week for the GIANTS.  They play a Minnesota team that needs a win to make the playoffs.  A team they could very well meet in two weeks in the divisional playoff game in The Meadowlands.  The Giants, under Tom Coughlin, would never actually take a week off, that's not possible.  However the medical staff will recommending rest for some starters.  I expect Aaron Ross and Kevin Boss to be inactive.  I expect Brandon Jacobs to either be out or limited.  I believe Barry Cofield and or Fred Robbins to sit also.  Look for Eli and maybe even Hixon to take at least the 4 th quarter off on Sunday.  The Vikings are starting their Qb that started the season and was benched in week 2.  He is a running qb and has a week arm.  Look for the defense to stack the box and try and stop the league's top rusher in Adrian Peterson.  They will force Tavaris Jackson to throw it and beat them through the air.  Not much will be shown this week by the GIANTS as far as exotic defensive schemes or trick offensive plays.  The possibility of seeing each other again soon will preclude them from showing too much.

Here are the things to watch for this weekend around the league.

Dallas vs. Philly.   Dallas wins and they are in.  They will be the 6 seed and play in Arizona in the first round.
Carolina vs New Orleans.  Carolina's loss to the GIANTS was huge.  They were playing for the #1 seed and if they lose this game they will fall tot he 5th seed, lose the bye week, and have to travel and play week 1.  This will vault Atlanta to the 2 seed, give them a first round bye, and home field until the Championship game.

Minnesota favored by 7 points.  

Heard of a new company today with an interesting idea.  It's called firstdibz.com.  Basically it is a ticket outfit that takes bids to purchase tickets at face value for playoff and championship games.  If you win the bid, and your team gets to the game, you have the right to purchase tickets at face value.  However, if your team does not make it to the game, they keep your bid money.  It's like betting on whether your team will make the big game or not.  An interesting idea.  

1986- The mighty Giants defeat the Green Bay Packers 55-24 to finish the season at 14-2.  They are the #1 seed and have home field throughout the playoffs.  Giants led 21-20 at halftime.

1990-The Giants travel to New England and beat the Patriots on a grey rainy uninspired afternoon by the score of 13-10 to finish the season 13-3.

2007- The GIANTS play their most important and inspirational game of the year losing to the New England Patriots 38-35 proving to themselves that they could play with the "perfect team".  The Giants were in this game throughout and played far from mistake free.  They learned some important lessons about how they could dominate the offensive line of the Pats and that Tom Brady really didn't like being touched.



Enjoy the week and I will preview all playoff match-ups going forward.

Monday, December 22, 2008

#1 SEED

First mission accomplished!  Number 1 seed, bye week, home throughout the playoffs.  
The GIANTS got back to Giant football last night.  300 rushing yards from two backs, and strong stout defense when needed.
The game ball goes to the Pro Bowl punter Jeff Feagles.  Pinning the Panthers on their own one in the fourth quarter was the special teams play of the year.

Minnesota next week.  Players will be rested neither team may have any reason to play.

Preview on Friday.

Merry Christmas to all......This certainly was a nice present to get and give!

Friday, December 19, 2008

LINE 'EM UP

As Tom Coughlin stated this week: If you can't get excited about this one, I'm not sure what you can get excited about.
11-3 vs. 11-3  Two great running attacks.  Winner gets a bye week in the playoffs and home field advantage throughout the playoffs.  The Panthers are 8-0 at home this year.

The Panthers have discovered their two headed monster running game in the last two weeks.  They have a decent o-line that has suffered some injuries these past weeks.  They also have one of the most talented wide receivers in the game in Steve Smith.  They are a run first team with an inconsistent crybaby QB.  One thing for sure, you will come away from this game hating their QB.  He will ask for a penalty on every play, pointing, jumping up and down and complaining to the Referee on every play.  he has had an awful season on the road this year.  One game he was 7-24 with 3 turnovers.  With the weather issues at gametime, he should be in for a long night.

The GIANTS defense played well last week and will look to do what they do best.  STOP THE RUN.  Stopping the run, and pressuring the QB will be the formula this week.  The weather should limit the passing game to short passes and therefore the safeties will be up to help with the run and make some plays.

The offensive line for the GIANTS was knocked down a notch last week.  They will need to rebound this week, protect Eli from Julius Peppers, and open some holes against a Panthers defensive line that will be missing some of their top run stoppers.  Jacobs is back, and he needs to bring the physicality back to the run game.  Eli needs to do enough to win, but this game comes down to running the ball.

Sundays forecast is snow to rain with a high of 42 degrees, but at 8:30 it should be considerably colder and of course windy.

GIANTS win this one, get the bye for essentially three weeks off, and the road to the Super Bowl runs through New Jersey in 2008.

1986-The GIANTS dominate the St. Louis Cardinals 27-7 to go to 13-2.  9 sacks and Joe Morris runs for 3 TD'S .

1990-Jeff Hostetler wins his first start against the Phoenix Cardinals 24-21 to get to 12-3

2007-Giants down 14 come back to defeat the Buffalo Bills in the snow to get to 10-5 and guarantee themselves a spot in the playoffs.

Giants favored by 3.....

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

BACK TO BASICS

We are in the playoffs.  We are not healthy.  We need to get back to what we do best.  Run the ball.  We need to get a bye week in the playoffs to rest up and get whole again.
The defense played well the other night.  Very well actually.  To be in the 4th quarter down 7-3 was a good position.  But the offense needs to find it's identity again.  Brandon Jacobs should help that when he returns this week.  A full week of practice for Hixon should also help.  First he looked like he was pressing, last week he looked lost.
Carolina Sunday night.
Preview Friday.

Friday, December 12, 2008

A TRUE TEST

The GIANTS play the Cowboys again this week, this time in Dallas on Sunday night.  They will be without Brandon Jacobs, and Domenik Hixon might be limited.  The Cowboys say Marion Barber will be a game-time decision.  The Cowboys will also be without their starting and back-up left guard.  The Cowboys also have been fighting with each other, and a loss to the GIANTS in prime-time will break this team apart and have the head coach on the unemployment line.

This is a true test of team and will this week.  The GIANTS are still the better team, should be past any distractions, and motivated by last weeks loss to the Eagles.  The will be without Jacobs again, so Ward, Bradshaw, and ELi must pick-up the slack and make things happen.  The offensive line must keep Eli upright and comfortable in the pocket.  The Cowboys pass defense is awful and can be exploited, but Eli must have time.  Look for more screen passes to Ward, more quick outs to Toomer, and look for Bradshaw to line up as a receiver and help confuse the defense.

1986-Week 14 has the Giants in Washington ( day after Michael's birthday) The GIANTS dominate the game and win 24-14 to go to 12-2.  This is the second meeting of three this year, as the Giants will meet the Redskins in the NFC championship game.  

1990-Saturday December 15th.  Ice storm in the Meadowlands.  Terrible conditions.  Phil Simms breaks his foot in the 4th quarter and the Giants lose 17-13 to the Buffalo Bills to go to 11-3.  Of course we will see this team again later on down the road.

2007-The Giants needing a win to clinch a playoff berth lose to Washington 22-10 in a terrible game at home.  Eli throws 40 times with poor results.  The Giants are 9-5 and in desperate need of a win.

Giants 3 point underdogs in Dallas.  If they can stop the running game and get some pressure they can crack this fragile team and move closer to home field advantage in the playoffs.
Enjoy!

Sunday, December 7, 2008

NFC EAST DIVISION CHAMPS!!!

A bad day on the field still resulted in the GIANTS winning the NFC East division this evening.  With the pretenders to the crown, the Dallas Cowboys, losing to the Pittsburgh Steelers this afternoon that handed the NFC East to the GIANTS.
Now we travel to Dallas next Sunday night to try and knock the Cowboys out of the playoffs for the second straight year.  There are no excuses for today.  We were not looking past the Eagles, but as I stated a few weeks ago it is extremely difficult to win three division games in a row and run the table in the NFC East for the year.
Congratulations to the 2008 New York GIANTS on your first step towards defending your championship.

Cowboy preview on Friday

Friday, December 5, 2008

THIS LOOKS FAMILIAR....

The Eagles come to town with plenty on the line for both teams.  If the Eagles are to have any chance of making the playoffs they need to win out and hope for help.  They will be desperate this week.  And as we talked about a few weeks ago, these games are always close.  The Eagles have shortened their rotation of players, meaning they used to rotate 6 receivers, now they rotate 4.  They think this will help McNabb by practicing with fewer guys and getting to know them better.  For a QB that is supposed to be so talented, and so intelligent, he sure has a lot of little things that bother him.  This game still comes down to physicality.  The Eagles are no match up front on either side of the ball.  Look for some mis-direction and trick plays like the Redskins tried last week.  Westbrook will play, but his back-up is out.

All the GIANTS are healthy and playing.  They can wrap-up the division title and a first round bye with a win.  Their only concern this week is distraction.  From what I have learned about Antonio Pierce in the past few years, in this situation, I would rather not be playing against him.  He will not be distracted or unconfident.  He might be mean and frustrated with all that's been going on and take it out on the opposition.
This will be another chance for this team to show their resiliency.  Their team first attitude.  It is a chance to circle the wagons and play us against the world again....just what they love to do.

1986-  This was week 13 since they didn't have a bye week in the NFL yet.  The GIANTS defeated the San francisco 49ers on a Monday night to go 11-2.  The Giants were down 17-0 at halftime on the road.  This is the famous Mark Bavaro catch, run, and carry 8 defenders down the field game.

1990-After trailing 12-10 at halftime, the Giants defeat Minnesota 23-15 to go to 11-2

2007- The Giants defeat this same Eagles team in Philadelphia 16-13 to go to to 9-4

The reason I mention the non-bye week in 1986 is that this weekend is Michael Tufaro's birthday.  The days match-up this year to 1986.  I was in Washington to see the Giants play when Michael was born the Saturday before the game.  Happy Birthday!  The 1990 game was on Frank's birthday also.  

Giants pass this test also.  We might even see our first sight of snow this week.  It will be a very windy day, so the ground game will dominate.

Favored by 8 originally, the line is down to 6 1/2

Wednesday, December 3, 2008

PUNISHMENT....AND CRIME

First the punishment inflicted on the Redskins.
3 for 14 on third down conversions
Portis held to 22 yards on 11 carries. The Redskins ran the ball just 18 times.
Time of possession 35 minutes to 25.
This game was supposed to be a high emotion must win for Washington.  They looked flat and beaten from the moment Amani Toomer caught the 40 yard perfect pass from Eli.

And now crime....Plaxico has some major trouble ahead.  He was warned in training camp that it was illegal to carry a gun in New York.  No Excuses.  I think he's lucky he only hurt himself.
The GIANTS did the right thing suspending him for the remainder of the season.  They covered themselves with the union by having him checked out by all the doctors and saying the MRI showed he wouldn't be ready to play again for 6 weeks.  The next time he goes to court is March.  Either they make a deal before that when this all quiets down and all the facts are in, or he goes to jail.  Either way the league will still have a say, and the GIANTS can have his salary erased from the roster so it doesn't count against the salary cap.  All in all a terrible event and a horrible way to be taught a lesson.
Please don't believe all you read either.  No one is speaking to the media, so they have to make it up as they go along.  Once you call your lawyer, the proper thing to do, there usually is no more public communication.  That's the way it works.

O.K.  The re-born Eagles again this week.

Preview on Friday