Ultimate NYG has moved!

You should be automatically redirected in 5 seconds. If not, visit
www.ultimatenyg.com
and update your bookmarks.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Enjoying this win one more day

I know a lot of you hate Dallas, making this a particularly sweet win. So let's enjoy this one a little more before moving on.

So many great comments yesterday.. we'd need 3 blog posts to recap them all.

1) I liked Dallas to win the game on Sunday, especially if Kenny Phillips could not play. Thankfully we did not see a lot of CC Brown. Given how important Phillips was (even playing HURT!), is there anyone who thinks we win that game WITHOUT him?!

2) The two things that held me back from calling for a Cowboys victory were:
(a) the road warriors. One blog commenter emailed with a remark that Eli Manning's 5 best games have come on the road. This is just a guess, but I'll hypothesize that this is indeed logical because Eli is the un-QB, the guy who is so laid back that you have to check to see if he has a pulse. Maybe when he is on the road he has to focus more on running the team, crowd noise and all. Remember him playing the Chargers in Qualcom 4 years ago, to all of the venom and noise from the crowd that did not take well to being spurned at the Draft Altar? That was his first whale of a game. Lambeau field in the playoffs? He just seems to focus more in the hardest playing conditions.
(b) Wade Phillips. If you flipped a coin a week before the game and gave this guy his pick of either team to coach, he could lose it for either side you gave him. When was the last time you felt his team overachieved? Simply stated, you are never out of it when he is on the other sidelines. Right now he seems inexorably tied to the misfortunes of Romo, but maybe it is the other way around.

3. The crew at ESPN (Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Ditka, Johnson and Carter) had a little bit of a lovefest for the Giants last night. But this is where you have to appreciate the national perspective. They noted how the Giants got ripped to shreds on both sides of the line of scrimmage, but were stepping over themselves to point out how the Giants know how to win. This was a hallmark of the Parcells teams. They talked about the "look" of Eli on that last drive, that you just knew he was going to take the team down the field. I'll tell you who else "knew" ... Marvelous. He sends an email to three people as the final drive is beginning: "We have 2 plays to make 6 yds. Giants will NOT kick if we are stopped on 3rd down. NOTE--Giants are GOING to WIN this game." Sometimes you just know.

4) A few words on the good teams finding a way to win. How many times were we on the losing end of that kind of game where we win everything EXCEPT the game? You take these games and YOU MOVE ON. How many of you remember a game the 1990 Giants played against the Cardinals in Week 6? The Dominant Giants were 5-0, playing the 2-3 scrubs of Phoenix. Except the Giants came out as flat as a pancake, working so hard to be 5-0 and then about to lose to schtick dreck, at home no less, 19-10. It was ugly, pathetic. But out of nowhere with very little time left the Giants drive down the field and score to make it 19-17. They need the ball one more time, somehow they get their hands on it and make a 40 yarder with ~no time left on the clock to win the game. The Giants had NO BUSINESS WINNING THAT GAME, yet they did. The Giants got whooped for the first ~55 minutes and somehow pulled it out. Far be it for us to draw too many parallels between that game and this one two nights ago. We'll leave it with the understanding that teams that win championships will win games like this along the way.

5) Defense wins championships. Is Sheridan going to be able to fix it, coach these guys up? As long as you are winning now and improving, you can get into the playoffs and hopefully be playing the best football at that time. The Indianapolis Colts in 2006 had a garbage defense but won enough with Peyton to get to the playoffs.. then Sanders came back just in time to help fix the defense and the rest is history. We need our players back/healthy and then we'll see if they can gel.

6) The play-as-you-go payment plan is still in effect. We now play 3 teams that are 1-5 (and the one win coming from 2 of the teams playing one another). If anyone saw the destruction that the Saints delivered to the Eagles, you'll know that Week 6 is where this season really begins and we can start truly assessing what is under the hood.

7) The question posed by Nature on (who is all around better than Osi at) Defensive End is answered by Wonder:
Justin Tuck, Mario Williams, Julius Peppers, Jared Allen, Schobel (BUF)...REAL underrated...John Abraham, WHEN HEALTHY, is a STUD...Ogunleye (CHI), and so far Odom (CINC) has been a BEAST...Avril is "on his way" in another year or two...love Freeney's motor... Ty Warren MUCH BETTER RUN STUFFER and can pash rush if in a 4-3...still like SEYMOUR better all-around...also, Vandenbush is REALLY GOOD...and Jason Jones is Titans' "next up and coming stud DE."

Abraham is not my guy, he disappears too much. Schobel was on TV last Monday night vs NE, he is stuck in that no-name market; if he were in NY he would be Knighted. So interesting to see Wonder single out the 3-4 DEs who would have such an easier time as a 4-3 end. Playing anywhere on the DL in a 3-4 is the most thankless job. Speaking about DL, did you guys see how NT Jay Ratliff roasted us alive on Sunday night? He could not be stopped, he took our OL to school. The Giants have trouble with these disruptive NTs. If it starts at the DL, then the DL starts at NT.

8) Eli brilliance was worth revisiting. Wonder asks us- how many times did Brady get sacked on Sunday? Zero. How many times did Eli get sacked? Zero. But look at how Eli had no happy feet, completely calm, confident. Wonder could not stop raving about how well Manning played. In this blogger's opinion, some of the Eli over Brady comparison from W2 is a Wade Phillips vs a Rex Ryan blitz. Ryan has that unpredictable 'Ravens' scheme. Mike Martz broke down the film and compared Eli's calm leadership of the offense to that of Kurt Warner. We'll throw one last bone to Bradshaw- look at how he picks up the blitz perfectly on this drive.

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Manningham and Smith (10 catches for 134 yards and a touchdown) answered the doubters who questioned the Giants receivers
BRIAN COSTELLO NY Post 9/21/09

Both of these squads entered the season amid questions about their receiving corps, but only the Giants rose to the occasion
Bucky Brooks
NFL.com 9/21/09

So much for the Giants lacking a No. 1 receiver. They might have two.
Ohm Youngmisuk
Daily News 9/21/09

If you're a Giants fan, here's the best piece of news to come out of this key NFC East matchup: Relax, you've got receivers. Yes, you do. What a double-barreled coming-of-age performance from New York's Mario Manningham and Steve Smith, who both caught a staggering 10 passes, turning one each into a touchdown.
Who needs Plaxico Burress and Amani Toomer?
Don Banks
SI.com 9/21/09

Good thing we now have some receivers. Hay, wait a minute. Didn't I read somewhere a few months back that receiver was not a problem for the Giants. Oh yes, I remember, it was here.
Ralph Vacchian is Back

Unknown said...

Perhaps I'm being ignorant about something, but I didn't see Barden in any of the red zone packages, and I can't help but wonder why. If nothing else, his size and rep demand attention. Was he there, and I just missed it?

Not every team has a Plax for the red zone, yet this TD conversion problem doesn't seem to come up time and time again for other teams as it does for ours. I was happy to hear so much commentary on national TV about the issue...doesn't Coughlin, sooner or later, have to ramp up the pressure on Gilbride to instill some creativity?

Anonymous said...

Reveling is fun. I hope I'm able to revel in the Giants picking Maurkice Pouncey, center from Florida, as their first pick next year. If he comes out. Sorry Sean.

Anonymous said...

Has Barden been activated for either game?

Our defense did give up all those yards but Sheridan has a learning curve too. This year is his first season as defensive coordinator and he has a lot to learn. Not all new DCs work out so well as Spagnuolo did. Hopefully Sheridan will.

Anonymous said...

With our Passing game the D does not have to be great, just above average.
Read this article at CHFFif our run defense is getting you down. You will not be disappointed

Mitch said...

Elliot & Oxbay....

Barden has not been on the field as of yet. We are all anxious to see what we have, but he has obviously not convinced the coaches that he is 100% ready to play. He has to know all of his assignments, including hot reads, blocking downfield and where to be "if" and what to do "if"....

It is very complicated for a rookie to just step in and go! Remember, Mario Manningham hardly got on the field last season and now look where he is after a rookie season and then OTA's and a 2nd full training camp under his belt.

He might not be that far away because I'm sure the Giants are looking to get him on the field in the "Red Zone" packages given their struggles there. Let's all hope it is very soon.

Anonymous said...

Interesting quote from Tom.

" We thought we had to
rush the ball; we had to take some of the time of possession off of our
Defensive team and we had to re-establish that part of our game."

I think this is antiquated thinking. With the changes to the clock like plays out of bounds and incomplete passing not stopping it, what is he rational? The passing game was working. What better way is there to take pressure off your defense than to score more points and have longer drives. If you have to pass much more to do so because the pass is working and the run is not so be it.

Unknown said...

PP -- you're right! I think Sunday's defensive issues were as much about circumstances (depth on the line, heat, stadium debut, etc.) as anything else.

Barden was on special teams yesterday...no doubt he replaced Nicks on the active roster.

Unknown said...

The unbelievable question on ESPN right now:

Fantasy: Which Giants WR is worth owning?

Who could have imagined in the off-season that we would have one, let alone two good choices for the answer to that problem?

Anonymous said...

Justin.
In a word, ANDY
Click on the link in my comment at the top that says "Ralph Vacciano is Back" He said it 2 months ago.

Anonymous said...

Here's a scary thought. How freaking good are we going to be when Nicks comes back.

Bob said...

Passtime

You're right. Add to that Barden when he's up to speed + Boss.

Now if Gillbrown + TC can only figure out that they have to modify the Offensive strategy to capitalize on the available talent....we might really have something.

As you said previously, if the pass is working and the run not, the offense MUST be modified accordingly.

What a turnabout from last year, when the Eagles were putting 8 in the box & daring Eli to pass !!

Mitch said...

Hey Bob you said...

"What a turnabout from last year, when the Eagles were putting 8 in the box & daring Eli to pass !!""

Well, early indications from this season indicate that Eli is becoming a more consistent passer. As long as teams keep loading up on Brandon Jacobs and daring Eli to beat them, then Manning is in for a career statistical year with Steve Smith and Mario Manningham as his top two targets. While two weeks is an awfully small sample size, Eli's 67.2 completion percentage, 8.7 yards per attempt, and 293 yards per game are very promising signs for the Giants.

xtian said...

PP: yeah, i've been saying [and wriitng here] since the otas that our wrs will surprised and be able to get deep because we're faster and quicker overall and that we should expect more big plays.

now let's worry about the run defense and injuries. hey, remember spags 1st 2 games were disastrous--80 pts--but the system isn't new. carl banks said, peeps weren't in their gaps and this should be pretty easy to correct.

Nature said...

WONDER YOUR REACHING!!!!


Justin Tuck, Mario Williams, Julius Peppers, Jared Allen, Schobel (BUF)...REAL underrated...John Abraham, WHEN HEALTHY, is a STUD...Ogunleye (CHI), and so far Odom (CINC) has been a BEAST...Avril from Detroit

you have to be browning me...ODOM? ODOM? five sack game and he better than OSI lol even the year he got the contract from CIN he had 8 sacks. 8 sacks is his career high...my brother is a BEARS fan and he laughed when i showed him Ogunyele, where has he been the last 3 years...AVRIL from detroit COME ON MAN dude your reaching. John Abraham comes off the field to much and he is ALWAYS HURT so to hell with him. naming #91 was a waste because he is already on the team. the other guys you named are in his class but your reaching with the last 3

Craig said...

I couldnt agree with nature more. Osi is one of the best DE's in the league. Tuck, Allen, Mario, Peppers, Freeney. Then Osi, Schobel, Kampmen.

When you have to specify "when healthy" that pretty much says this name doesnt count. who cares if he's good if he's always hurt.

Odem had one good game, it just happened to be this weekend.

in a list of players better than Osi, why would you say Avril in a few years? does that mean he's better than Osi?

you cant say IF when comparing.

I know im getting defensive, but im a big Osi fan.

Andy F. said...

Justin- Pastime referred to the wrong post. Try this one from August 7th.

Yes, Barden was inactive for the first game, dressed for the second because of all of the injuries.

We've seen it mentioned here and by others in the media that it makes no sense to be using Hedgecock in the red zone like that, why not Beckum et al, asks xtian, cody and bob.

pastime- agreed 100%.. re the old school thinking about working the clock at the expense of what is working, I will never understand that.

Mitch said...

Did any of you see this....


Unbelievable!!!


This is what linebacker Robert Henson called the boobirds in a post to his Twitter account following the game.

"All you fake half hearted Skins fan can .. I won't go there but I dislike you very strongly, don't come to Fed Ex to boo you dim wits!!"

It's a bit confusing thanks to a missing comma, but we'll assume that he's actually calling the fans dimwits as opposed to calling himself and his teammates dimwits. A later tweet cleared up any confusion, however.

"The question is who are you to say you know what's best for the team when you work 9 to 5 at Mcdonalds"


That man needs a serious reality check!

Unknown said...

No, I know it was up here, and I thought so myself...I read this blog even during the 2 months a year I live in Sicily! But I'm still kind of marveling at how it's actually turned out so far.

I think Smith has been golden since we drafted him (that 2007 draft class!), but I'm really pleased that Manningham has gotten his act together. I didn't have confidence after his performance last year. I would have thought Nicks or Barden -- so, holy crap, what happens when they come on???

Sports Business Directory - BTS Local
Blog Directory - Blogged