Mon 23 Oct 2006
Haaaahhhh!!!! That’s what I’m talking about.
You know, why the G-Men get no respect is beyond me. I don’t know if it’s the plain blue and white jerseys, the stodgy tradition, or simple New York hatred, but no one wants to give Big Blue any love.
To wit: My Eagle-fan co-worker told me today that he was actually rooting for the Giants tonight. His rationale? He perceived the Cowboys as the bigger threat to Eagle supremacy in the NFC East.
Yeah… We were supposed to be allied tonight. “Rooting for the Giants, right??” The dude actually fronted like he was forging an alliance with me.
Well, no takers. How quickly people dismiss the Giants’ division title last year! How quickly people forget that coming into this game, we had beaten two teams in our division twice, plus one of the better teams in the conference! That our only losses were to the Colts, one of the consensus best teams in the league (who, by the way, we outplayed) and the Seahwaks, last year’s NFC Champions!
Coming into this game, the Cowboys had recorded wins over the Redskins, Titans, and Texans. Their most impressive win? The Redskins.
Coming into this game, the G-Men had recorded wins over the Eagles, Redskins, and Falcons. Their least impressive win? The Redskins.
So…um… It kind of… um… defied logic to think that the Cowboys were a better team than the Giants coming into this game. It was hard to say this to my co-worker, who delivered his thoughts as a shit-talking parting-shot as he left the office for the day.
But thankfully, the G-Men took it upon themselves to prove my point tonight, in pretty dominating fashion, no less. At this point, is there really a case for any of the other teams in the NFC East? I mean, we’ve beaten both the Eagles and Cowboys in their own places. Oh, you don’t trust our win over the Eagles because we came back in miracle fashion? Well, we dominated a team (the Cowboys) in their place that the Eagles at trouble with at home.
At 4-2, we’ve survived an early-season gauntlet to find ourselves in first place. Having beaten the top two teams in our division on the road, we have the tie-breakers in our favor. I ask you, fellow Bleeders of Big Blue: Could you really have asked for anything more?
A assumed vacation awaits us, with home games against Tampa Bay and Houston. But I’m wary about the Tampa game, which has the makings of a classic trap game. Yes, they’re 2-4, but this isn’t a bad team.
Consistency has always been the big issue with Colonel Tom’s Giants. We know they have the talent, but will they actually show up on Sunday and play well? Next Sunday will be a test. It’s a short week against a dangerous team. Go Giants!!
October 24th, 2006 at 12:44 am
not more than 10 minutes after the game ended tonight i started worrying about the trap game potential. which is funny, because all week i had been thinking “if we just win on monday, we’ll get two easy ones to set the stage for a clash of the titans against those OVERRATED Bears.” now i’m sweating bruce gradkowski? ahh, the life of a giants fan.
there have been too many times when i’ve seen this team come off an inspiring stretch only to crap the bed at home against an inferior opponent. anyone remember Detroit in 2004? how about the Vikes last year? we were 7 and 10 point favorites respectively in those games and were riding 3+ game winning streaks. it certainly doesn’t make me feel better to know that vegas has already made us 10 point faves next week.
but i’m going to put these thoughts aside for now and focus my energies on figuring out the best way to taunt the many cowboy fans around me.
October 24th, 2006 at 10:00 am
I don’t like the 10 pt. spread AT ALL. That makes me very nervous. The G-Men always seem to play poorly against new QB’s (remember Doug Johnson beating the Giants when the Falcons lost Vick?). The Houston game is relatively scary too, considering they looked decent/frisky against the “mighty” Jaguars. Speaking of which, I’d rather play against the Jags with a hobbled Leftwich than a 100% healthy David Garrard…
October 24th, 2006 at 10:55 am
This Fassel firing keeps paying dividends.
October 24th, 2006 at 11:15 am
I agree with Cody, Michael and, of course, you Greg. Coming into the Atlanta game, I was telling a friend that I kind of expected to beat both Atlanta and the Cowboys, albeit potentially difficult victories. My concern was, in fact, a few weeks down the line when the G-Men finally hit the “soft underbelly” of their schedule. For better or worse, it is not unusual in football for a given team to beat a team that maybe it shouldn’t have to then have it cancelled out by losing to a team who they should have beaten (not to say that Giants should not have beaten Atlanta and Dallas). The Giants, in particular, historically suffer from this. Basically, if we manage to not drop these next two games and go against the Bears 6-2, I’m thinking we have a very good shot of going to the SuperBowl. If not, no big deal but my optimism will not be the same. BTW, looking at the Bears’ schedule, it’s not unrealistic to think that they will still be undefeated when we take them on. Even better. The Giants are a great spoiling team. Better to play an undefeated Bears squad than a Bears team who gave up a loss to a mediocre team and then, consequently, have something to prove. I’m feeling good though, despite the loss of Lavar. Go big blue!
October 24th, 2006 at 3:05 pm
I don’t know if this is ridiculous optimism or not, but I don’t think losing Lavar Arrington is “crippling” – it gives Reggie Torbor (a young guy that I actually thought played pretty well last year) some time in addition to bringing Chase Blackburn back into the rotation.
Thankfully, Acorsi addressed LB depth after last season’s debacle. The way I see it, the LB’s now would be Wilkerson / Pierce / Torbor: that’s not a bad starting crew (though relatively shallow) and with the pass rush starting to come on (are Tuck and Kiwanuke in the rotation at all??) I think all the LB’s need to do is continue to be stout against the run.
October 24th, 2006 at 3:06 pm
Duh, I left out Brandon Short…and Emmons (should he play another down as a NY Giant)
October 24th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
What happened to Emmons?
LaVar was supposed to be an impact player anyways, not someone to be counted on. His prescence wasn’t even known for that much of the season at all until these past two weeks, so it’s not like we’re really “losing” anything. We have so many playmakers on both sides of the ball that we can afford these. Now, if LaVar was the OLB like in Washington and just ran freely, then it would be different, but he wasn’t even really being played like that as much, so hey… At least we’ll have something to look forward to next year when Tiki departs (they say that his Achilles injury is something people come back from quite easily).
What sucks is that now I’m forced to drop Gradkowski for either Batch or Romo (I have Drew Brees already, but my stupid friends set up a 2-QB system… retarded, to say the least).
October 24th, 2006 at 8:38 pm
And to think we could be 5-1 if not for a horseshit PI call on Tim Carter week 1. oh well, 4-2 isn’t bad either.
the Barber Bowl scares me as well. I can really see the Gints playing down to TB, and letting what should be an easy win slip away due to overconfidence/laziness.