Archive for September, 2009
The Giants are one of the better undefeated teams left after week 3, and a quick look at their schedule makes me think we’re going to have no problem getting to at least 5-0. The Giants take a stroll down Easy St, aka the AFC, with games against the Chiefs and Raiders in upcoming weeks. If they don’t win each of those games by 20 points, I’ll be disappointed. The challenge comes in week 6, when the G-Men have to play the Saints in the Superdome. The Saints offense has looked great this year, although the Bills showed you can pretty much shut them down for a half if you can control Brees’ passing game. The Bills found it hard to contain Thomas in the second half, which opened up some more room for Brees, but at the very least they showed the Saints are beatable, and the Giants are a much better team than the Bills.
There is still time to purchase tickets for this game
The Giants will play their final home game of the season against the Carolina Panthers on December 27. This week 16 game could end up having all sorts of playoff implications for either one of these teams, even though I’m currently predicting the Panthers will finish out of contention. I think this will be the week where the Giants wrap up home field advantage throughout the playoffs, ensuring that we’ll see them again from Giants Stadium this season, and most likely 2 more times. Low end tickets for this game are reselling in the $100, so get ‘em while they last.
ESPN released their end-of-week-2 power rankings today, and for some reason they only put the Giants at #2, behind the Baltimore Ravens. Sure, the Giants barely beat the Cowboys, but it was also in Dallas in front of 105,000 mind-numbingly loud and stupid fans. The Giants defensive attack is only going to get better, and Eli Manning is really gelling with his receiving corps. We’ll be #1 next week.
As if the Giants/Cowboys rivalry needed any more spice, the Giants are lashing out at Cowboys offensive lineman Flozell Adams for his trip of Justin Tuck during Sunday night’s game. Adams was penalized on the play, and Tuck had to leave the game with an injury to his left shoulder. The Giants called the play “bush league”, to which Adams responded, “I never heard of that before. I’m curious. What is it?”. I guess someone could have told him that bush league refers to a cheap shot by a cheater, named after the former man-child president.
Things should get interesting later in the season when the Cowboys have to visit the Meadowlands.
The Giants spoiled Jerry Jones’ New Cowboys Stadium Grand Opening Extravaganza on Sunday night as Eli Manning led a perfect 2-minute drill offense down the field to score a game-winning field goal as time expired. Although the Giants are now 2-0 and just as importantly 2-0 in their division, I can’t help but feel we got away with one last night. Every little bounce seemed to go our way, from an interception off Dallas tight end Witten’s foot to a deflected (bad) pass right into a receiver’s hands on the final drive. Eli was good but not great, and he still seems to have trouble spotting where defensive linemen are going to pop up and deflect passes. I’m not sure how many deflected passes he had last night, but it seemed like 4 or 5. It seems like he has 4 or 5 every game. Eventually that type of thing comes back to hurt you, because probability tells us those deflected throws aren’t always going to go right to a receiver.
On a more positive note (and I realize this post has been a little too negative for a post-Giants win), the G-Men held strong against the Dallas pass rush. The Cowboys got no penetration on the inside in the final drive, giving Manning lots of time in the pocket to find open receivers.
Tickets for sale for the Giants game against the Eagles
The Eagles might be the most hated team in all of football. That’s even more true now that they’ve signed professional dog murderer Michael Vick as their backup QB. Many of the talking heads are picking the Eagles to win the Super Bowl this season, which I think is about as likely as Michael Jackson climbing out of his tomb and giving us one last rendition of Thriller. This game will be one of the most anticipated for Giants fans this entire season. Tickets for this game sold out quickly, but they can still be bought for a reasonable price on the secondary market. The cheap seats can still be bought for under $125.
Tickets for sale for the game against the Giants
The Giants will play their two biggest home games of the season in consecutive weeks in December. The first is on December 6 against the Dallas Cowboys. I somehow got stuck with Tony Romo on my fantasy football team (never trust Yahoo’s autodraft), so this game better be a shootout. The Cowboys have been one of the most overrated teams in football for the better part of a decade (the last time they were actually a good team was in the late 90’s), but they are still contenders and I’m sure this game will get all the media attention for this week. The Cowboys are without T.O. this season, which was really the only entertaining thing about them. That, and Tony Romo’s love life with vapid pop starlets.
Danny Ware dislocated his elbow running back the opening kickoff and will not return to the game today. That’s a huge hit on the Giants offense.
Danny Ware is injured on the opening kickoff. This injury could be huge, we really need Ware in the backfield.
Manning fumbles second snap, recovered by Giants. Ball actually moves forward a few yards.
Redskins almost have a pick-6 on Manning on his 3rd pass attempt of the season.
Manning hits Manningham for a big gain and moves the Giants into Redskins territory.
Manning hits Kevin Boss for another first down. Boss showed he’s got good hands for a big guy.
Brandon Jacobs takes a huge hit from London Fletcher. He pops up immediately.
Jacobs fights through a crowded backfield to get a short gain and almost a 4th down. 3rd down and inches.
Halfback toss comes up short. Bring on the field goal unit. Giants red zone struggles from last season still plaguing them.
Field goal good. Giants up 3-0.
Who needs tickets for the game against the Falcons?
The Giants have a deceptively hard home schedule this year. They have a non-division game against the Atlanta Falcons on November 22. The Falcons are going to be one of the surprise teams of the NFC this season. They won’t win their division, thanks to New Orleans Saints finally becoming a respectable football team, but they will probably win 9 or 10 games and contend for a wild card spot. Matt Ryan is going to be one of the top young quarterbacks in the NFL, and this season will see him really gel with the Falcons offense. Look for this game to be a lot closer than some might expect.
- November 2009 (1)
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- September 2009 (11)
- August 2009 (3)
- January 2009 (3)
