Are You Adequately Prepared For Some Football?
It's been about 8 months since the Giants played their last game, and I've forgotten how cruel this game is. There is nothing worse than watching a team march up and down your home field, totally powerless to stop it. Nothing. I mean, even when you're getting dominated by a starting pitcher in baseball, you always can hope that he'll get tired, his pitch count will spike, and he'll be gone. In football, getting overwhelmed by a great offensive team is just miserable, prolonged agony.Well, fortunately for the Giants, they were able to stop the bleeding pretty quickly after a first quarter of getting beat up by interminable, clock-devouring drives. The good guys managed to hold the damage to 6 points, at least giving the team a shot. Eli made the plays when he had to, and had the ball in his hands down a mere 2 points against one of the top teams in the NFL with under 5:00 to go. All very good things.
But that's where the fun stopped. Funny thing about football is how you can have an incredible see-saw of emotions within a 10 second span. Like yesterday, with 3rd and 2 on the Giants' own 18, 4:14 to go, needing only a FG to take the lead, the following occurred:
Eli throws complete to Carter - first down. Yes!
Flag on the play. No!!
Pass interference. YES!!!
OFFENSIVE pass interference. What the FUCK?!?!
NBC shows replay of "penalty." WHAT THE FUCK?!?!!?!
I've watched a lot of football, folks, and I don't recall ever seeing a more bullshit, ticky-tack push-off call in such a crucial spot. If the ref lets that go, it's first down at the 37 with only 4:00 to go, with the Giants riding a wave of momentum. Who knows what happens. Total. Horse. Shit.
Brutal loss, but here are some huge positives:
(1) Brandon Jacobs. WOW. Wasn't it just 8 months ago that this guy was a short-yardage guy who couldn't get short yardage? Yesterday he's running around out there like Eric Dickerson crossed with Mark Bavaro, plowing over and through people, hitting holes, and picking up yardage in huge chunks, looking confident and aggressive. Wow. I am VERY excited about this. We could have a thunder and lightning situation on our hands again - but for real this time.
(2) Tiki. Has not lost anything from last year. The Colts just could not stop him. If this keeps up the ground attack could be ferocious.
(3) The O-Line. A good day. Eli wasn't hurried too often, he was never sacked, and the Giants picked up nearly 190 on the ground. A very good day.
Of course, the negatives were there too, other than the final score. Eli was pretty good overall, but made some head-scratching throws. The new acquisitions, Madison and Arrington, didn't make much of an impact at all. And NINE offensive penalties at HOME?!? That should NEVER happen. And can ANYONE in the secondary catch a ball that hits them in the hands? If even ONE of those picks are caught, we have a whole new ballgame.
But I do think that this team showed that it's for real, and it should be a real bloodbath next week in Philly. Godspeed, Big Blue.
***
Speaking of bloodbaths, yesterday's Mets game was the first game all year that I can unequivocally, 100% tell you that I didn't give two shits about. In fact, if yesterday's loss knocked Trashball out of the playoff rotation, it was a great day for Met fans everywhere.
But now that Sunday Night Football is behind me, I can focus on the clinching that's to come in the next few days. Hopefully Peyton Manning won't be on the mound in Florida.
posted by Toasty Joe at 10:09 AM
6 Comments:
I was at the game last night with Mickey R-ow. The fans were great, the stadium rocked. Tiki is the man. Jacobs was extremely impressive (even though he does need to learn that if he's standing upright while running he NEEDS to cover the ball). Those last two penalties were insane. I have never, in all of my years going to G-men games, heard the entire stadium chanting "ASSSSS HOOOOOLLLLLE" like I did last night. I have NOT seen the "pass interference" replay (other than on the jumbotron at the stadium) and do not want to for a fear that I will put my head through the TV.
I'll take a note from Strahan's post game interview and say "you can't get too excited over a win, and you can't get too depressed over a loss...we can still go 15-1"
So, when does the transition from a daily Mets blog to a weekly Big Blue Blog start? Should I start designing a new banner?
11:50 AM
No new banner needed just yet - you had to figure this would be a Giants day around here given the Mets' secure situation right now. In fact, I'd wager that every Monday morning between now and Sept. 25 will be Giants mornings. After that, we have other more pressing matters.
The idea of a new banner is intriguing, however. Let's table it until after the Mets' season ends. I'm thinking we work in a Tiki bobblehead somehow.
11:55 AM
Those "NAGS" commercials with Tiki and Curtis are painful. As bad as the subway ads with Joe and Willie. They should be the basis.
1:25 PM
1. Just to vent for a bit, while in Italy I had a buddy draft my fantasy team for me. A buddy who purportedly "knows what he's doing". Anyway, he drafted Domanick Davis in the 4th rd (before he was officially on IR, but after it was known his rehab was not going according to plan) and drafted a rehabbing, generally not-that-good-anyway Culpepper over McNabb and Brady. I am furious.
2. I am still having a hard time getting back into the MLB swing of things. This big lead is both a blessing and a curse from that perspective. But, I think it is highly doubtful Trachsel takes the ball for the Mets in the playoffs. I just don't think it happens.
3:01 PM
If it was a keeper league, drafting Davis in the 4th round is forgivable. He went in the early 3rd round of our draft. If it's not a keeper league, then your friend is an idiot.
3:04 PM
This is my daily stop for Mets news but now that it's football season I'll actually start posting too.
I was at the game with Tom M sunday and other than the first quarter and final play, thought the jints kept pace with the colts. Maybe it was the 8 month layoff but it took me until sometime in the 3rd quarter to realize that the colts were a GREAT team last year. I turned to Tom and said, "I forgot they went 13-0 last year." Gives me hope that the giants are for real and can compete as long as Tiki stays Tiki. I wanted to start an "MVP" chant for him.
Also, huge difference in watching Peyton roll out and hit receivers downfield and Eli doing the same. Eli made me nervous everytime he floated one into triple coverage. Peyton is insanely accurate.
8:50 AM
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