Giants Lose, but Still in Control of Wild Card
The Giants lost an embarrassing game on National Television Sunday Night against the Washington Redskins, 22-10. In very windy conditions, nobody scored early and the punters had their work cut out for them as they kicked against the wind. The Redskins scored first, taking a 3-0 lead, then making that a 6-0 lead before the Giants scored a field goal to make it 6-3. The Redskins score a touchdown to make it 13-3 as the first half ended.
In the second half, the Giants defense started horrible and gave up a touchdown as the Redskins ran all over them. The score here was 22-3 but the Giants had plenty of time. The Giants did get a touchdown to the backup tight end Boss, who was filling in for the Injured Shockey (broken knee, out for the year), to shorten the Redskin lead to 12. Big Blue had plenty of time to get themselves two scores, but instead Offensive Coordinator Kevin Gilbride just kept ordering passes, and the receivers just kept dropping them.
FORMER Giants running back, still only 30 YEARS OLD, Tiki Barber, as much as I hate him, brought up an interesting fact a few weeks ago that most people didn’t know about the Giants. That was that at the time the Giants were 2nd in the NFL in dropped passes. Ouch. So I’m guessing he was right because the ball was just not clinging to anyone’s hands…oh, except for Redskin hands.
Playoff wise, the Vikings did inch closer to the Giants, becoming within 1 game of them, but the Giants still have a nice lead in the wild card. There are two wild cards when the season ends, and right now the Giants still are in command of the number 5 seed, the 1st wild card. The Vikings are in command of the 2nd wild card, the number 6 seed. Since the schedule for the Vikings is what you would call cushy, they should have no problem winning their last two games. On the other hand, the Giants have the Bills this week, while having another home game week 17 against the Patriots.
This week seems to be a must win for the Giants because they really don’t want their future to be built around the Patriots, who would be standing in the Giants way of a playoff berth, while the Giants hopefully would be standing in the Patriots way of a perfect season.
With a win or 2 losses by other teams, the Giants are in. It’s that simple. This week has even more urgency to win than last week, which didn’t have much, but since the Vikings won, it does.
If Tom Coughlin wants to be cruising up and down the Giants sideline next year, if Kevin Gilbride wants to be called an Offensive Coordinator next year, if Eli Manning wants to have a comfortable off-season, and if the Giants want to make this season mean something, they NEED to beat Buffalo.
Now, on the positive side? Plenty of things. As I said earlier, the Giants are in the Drivers’ seat for the NFC Wild Card. What else? The Giants have won 6 straight road games! SIX! And what is this week? A ROAD GAME!
This Giants team needs to play solid defense, catch the balls on offense, make the kicks and tackles on special teams, and just win! If the clock strikes 00:00, if there are no penalties, if there are no booth reviews, and if, up on the scoreboard, the Giants have a higher number next to their name than the Bills have next to theirs, the New York Football Giants will be going to the playoffs.
| NFC WILD CARD RACE | Clinch spot with… | |
| 5 SEED IN PLAYOFFS | Giants (9-5) | Win or WAS + NO loss |
| 6 SEED IN PLAYOFFS | Vikings (8-6) | Win + NO Loss |
| 7 seed - not in but still alive | Saints (7-7) | - - |
| 8 seed - not in but still alive | Redskins (7-7) | - - |
| 9 seed - not in but still alive | Panthers (6-8) | - - |
Critics Silenced as Giants Roll on
The annoying, negative critics of Eli Manning and the rest of the Giants were finally silenced following the win over the Chicago Bears. Or were they? Throughout the entire game, reporters likely had their “Eli is Done” stories prepared for print all the way until the fourth quarter.
Although the critics always have their ways of finding a reason to complain, Eli nullified those reasons easily by rallying the Giants and winning the game. Sure, he had an off first half, but when somebody gets themselves into a hole and finds a way to get back out, like Eli did against Chicago, the critics, although they do find something to whine about, have no right to criticize Eli Manning. He got himself in the hole, he got himself out. Simple as that.
Of course, when the Giants won the game, NY reporters should have said something like “ELI MAKES A GREAT COMEBACK!” No, they couldn’t say that. What they had to say was “GIANTS BARELY BEAT BEARS AS SHAKY ELI FUMBLES AND THROWS INTERCEPTION.” Hmm… The Giants at that point were 8-4, the same record as multiple division leaders, they had just won the game, and the newspapers just had to find a way to complain. Nobody likes that. Giants fans don’t want to pick up the paper in the morning and read about how bad they are. They want to see the positives in the team, and then maybe a FEW negatives. It would even help the team do better confidence-wise knowing that people believe in them.
The next week in Philadelphia, the road warrior Giants kept reducing negative words from New York papers by rallying again, this time against the defending NFC East Champions. Plaxico Burress barely was able to walk in pre-game, yet he comes out with over 100 yards receiving and had a great touchdown reception from an outstanding Eli Manning throw. Manning was falling backward under pressure and gunned a bullet into Burress’ gut. Big Blue won the game, while many people call the Giants “lucky” for winning that game. Calling the Giants lucky? This 8-4 team, soon to be 9-4 following that win, is no laughingstock of a team. 8 Wins by week 14 is no joke. People should actually be calling the Eagles lucky for even coming close to completing a field goal when the offense only got to the 39 to set up a 57 yard field goal. They’re “lucky” David Akers is as good as he is, or else they would have been booed off the field louder than the Giants did following their Christmas Eve loss to the Saints last year.
The newspapers the following day read “COMEBACK KIDS” and “Giants on verge of playoffs.” Ahh, now that’s better. As the Giants’ success grows and continues, the NY Papers have less to whine about. This is what Giants fans want to see, the words Giants and Playoffs in the same sentence. Not Eli and Done in the same sentence. Oh, and how many interceptions did Eli have against the Eagles, by the way? Gosh, I don’t remember one interception. Of course the papers wouldn’t say that. All they would say is “Eli only throws 1 touchdown.”
One thing I know for sure is Eli is better than most QB’s in the NFL and he’s still developing. People need to shutup with the “Eli needs to develop and soon” garbage because he has been developing. If it wasn’t for him the Giants wouldn’t have been in the playoffs two straight years, going on 3 straight years and wouldn’t have been able to win the division for the first time in 5 years in 2005.
I like this team’s chances.The Giants, as I have written on this site several times, have a great chance of winning on the road in the playoffs, especially against Tampa, their likely opponent in the wild card week. Even a destination of Seattle wouldn’t be that bad. I mean seriously, the Giants are no longer cursed with Jay Feely in that stadium anymore, right? The Bucs are in a weak division this year, while they lead the division with a worse record than Big Blue. Let’s put this all together now. What team would you think should win this game? The team with a better record and 6 straight road wins (Giants)? Or the team with less wins at home than the Giants have on the road (Bucs)? I’d go with the team that has 6 straight road wins.
With the Giants 1 win away from a playoff spot now and a likely destination of nice, warm, cozy Tampa (they’re 1 game behind Seattle for #3 seed and do not hold tiebreaker), there isn’t a whole lot of negativity to think of when it comes to the NY Papers is there?
Big Blue is in With a Win Next week vs. Redskins!
With a win against the Redskins next Sunday Night, the Giants will be playoff bound!!! After quite the crazy season, from the 0-2 start to the 6-2 comeback, all the way until the Dallas loss at home and the comebacks on the road, the G
iants are finally ready to settle in. After a playoff berth, Big Blue likely will go easy on their starters, especially Plaxico Burress, and rest everyone for the playoffs.
The Giants assured themselves last week of three straight non-losing seasons, all under head coach Tom Coughlin. They also assured themselves of their 2nd winning season in 3 years yesterday with a win in Philly!
Giants Complete Sweep of Philly with 16-13 win!!! Playoff Coverage at the Bottom of the post!
The Giants won their 6th straight road game today, a win that was certainly no simple task. Lincoln Financial Field was rockin’, rumblin’, and shakin’ the whole state of Pennsylvania up and down until the final tick. Again, it was not easy, but it looked a lot better than it did last week in Chicago. Eli Manning had a great day, including a dart of a pass to Plaxico Burress to give the Giants a huge touchdown in the second half. Eli Manning threw no interceptions and his arm strength was shown through the whole game with the rocket passes right into receivers’ guts.
Plaxico Burress, who limped off the field in pre-game warm-ups indicating that he likely would be too sore to play today, did an amazing job of fighting through the pain and getting the job done. He finished with 7 catches, 136 yards, and a tou
chdown.
With the Giants’ 2 starting safeties out, I expected some heavy passing by the Eagles, but really it wasn’t bad at all. Donovan McNabb and Brian Westbrook were the main hook-ups in the first half, and in the second half the Eagles offense couldn’t get anything going. The Giants offense needs to do a better job hanging onto the football, and there’s one specific player that needs to do this, and that is Brandon Jacobs. He fumbled twice today, and it was really pathetic. He fumbles every game it seems, and every time I think of him fumbling I think of him fumbling against the Jets this year when it was scooped and scored. If Jacobs keeps this up, he’s going to fumble the season away in the playoffs. He needs to work with Tom Coughlin, who is a fumbling master. He taught loudmouth Tiki Barber how to run the ball effectively without fumbling. That saved Tiki’s career. I guess Tiki doesn’t care that it saved his career because obviously he hates Coughlin. Tiki is such a wuss, crybaby, whiner, whatever you want to call it.
Anyway, I always am amazed at how good of a leg David Akers has, and today was no exception. With the Eagles trailing by 3 with 1 minute to go, Donovan McNabb drove the Eagles down the field into, well, usually not field goal range, but I guess it is for Akers. After driving to the Giants’ 39, the Eagles sent out the kicking unit with 6 seconds remaining. David Akers launched the ball deep into the air, the ball kept going, and going, and going, and this 57-yard attempt looks like it had enough distance, and it DID. It bounced off halfway up the right upright and fell to the ground. The field goal attempt was no good as the Giants improved to 9-4, while the Eagles are surely running out of time. At 5-8, the defending NFC East Champions are likely finished off in the chase for the final wild card spot in the NFC.
I like New York’s chances of having success in the playoffs this year, and that’s not only because their record is great at 9-4, but that they have won 6 straight road games. Also, their likely first round opponent, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are struggling and are far from impressive. The Giants may be on the road throughout the playoffs, but as I have stated before, that isn’t a bad thing from their 6-1 road record (the only loss coming in week 1 in Dallas).
NFC PLAYOFF RACE
x- Clinched playoff berth
y- Clinched Division Title
Z- Clinched First round Bye
*- Clinched Home Field Advantage
| DIVISION LEADERS |
Y-1. Cowboys 12-1  |
Y-2. Packers 11-2 |
Y-3. Seahawks 9-4 |
4. Buccaneers 8-5  |
| WILD CARD TEAMS |
5. Giants 9-4  |
6. Vikings 7-6 |
| STILL ALIVE |
| Redskins 6-7 |
| Cardinals 6-7 |
| Lions 6-7 |
| Saints 6-7 |
| Panthers 5-8 |
| Bears 5-8 |
| Eagles 5-8 |
| Falcons 3-9 |
Week 14: Giants (8-4) @ Eagles (5-7)
The Giants will launch an all-out invasion in Philadelphia this Sunday at 1 pm to potentially wrap up a playoff berth. Although it will take some help from other teams, the Giants still can clinch a playoff berth. Along with a win, the Giants need the Panthers, Lions, Saints, Cardinals and Vikings to lose. If that all somehow happens, the Giants are in.
No matter what the record says, the Eagles are always a tough out. The Giants were able to pound the Eagles last time, sacking QB Donovan Mcnabb a record 12 times, but that was before Brian Westbrook’s return. Brian Westbrook has been back for the slumping Eagles doing the best he can, but it still isn’t helping the Eagles win games. Two weeks ago, the Eagles nearly pulled out a w
in against the Patriots when they needed it most, but backup quarterback A.J. Feeley, filling in the for the injured Donovan Mcnabb, threw a stupid interception, and I mean a stupid one, into the hands of the Patriots, bringing the Eagles to 5-6. Last week the Eagles lost a sloppy, muddy, rainy, wet game to the Seattle Seahawks (8-4), and here the Eagles are right now fighting for their life in the NFC Wild Card race.
Lincoln Financial Field is quite the hostile environment, and the Giants know that. A win this week would not only be great for the Giants playoff-wise, but it’s always great to beat Big Blue’s most hated opponent and division rival. The Giants have a 5-1 road record and they have shown that they have what it takes to win on the road. What helps them win on the road? Tom Coughlin says it’s because of how tight the team is.
“It’s our team. We’re all together. We are together all of the time. There is no separation. We go right from the practice field to the shower to the bus, to the airport. We are all together all of the time. The feeling of being together and together we are one, which is what we sell all of the time, is a very strong feeling on the road, because quite frankly there is nobody else there. Nobody there cares about you except the guys that you are with. You have to be tight. That translates into support.”
Following this week’s game, the Giants face the Redskins at home on Sunday night in another division match-up.