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Simms and Taylor

Lay the -7 and take the AFC

I would rather be laying -7 with Belichick because he knows how to close the deal. Dungy will invariably play footsie with his opponent because he is a nice guy and does not have the killer instinct. He has more mercy than allowed in this game. But the AFC is so far ahead of the NFC that it still will not matter. It is time to finally see the Bears get unmasked as the fraud that they and the NFC are. Lay the points.

That stench is Coughlin

That stench you smell is the one where the pieces do not add up. This week we hear:

1) Reese saying that he is here "to support Tom."
2) the news that Gilbride, our wonderful QBs coach who was responsible for Manning's development, get rewarded for that great effort with a promotion to Offensive Coordinator. Pls note that this is the FIFTH time Gilbride has been a coordinator.
3) from Reese that "it really kind of makes me sick to look at the playoff games going on right now - even with all of the injuries and the bad situations that happened to us this season, the tough schedule and all of that is well-documented. Our team is good enough to still be playing right now."
4) Reese give us another winner: "I'm looking forward to Tom being here a long time."
5) from Phil Mushnick a plea to Reese to have the Giants play with professionalism and respect, not the thuggish and irresponsible ways of MANY Giants players this year. Lose the taunting, lose the headbutts, lose the personal fouls gone wild, he begs.
6) Reese on Manning: "Obviously we need to get our quarterback playing at a high level."

MADNESS ALL OF THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*Reese support Tom? Bullbleep! Tom works for the GM.
*Gilbride our Off. Coord? Coughlin stayed inside because he did not want his players getting a whole new system from a different coord. We 'settled.'
*Reese openly admits to thinking how we could have been much further along because the players we have are good enough, yet he simultaneously believes Coughlin can be here for a long time. What? All of this is Lewis and Hufnagel's fault?
*Mushnick wants Reese to find players who play responsibly and weed out the ones who do not. But isn't that the job of the head coach to enforce a code on his players (and himself) to have decorum? Isn't that the coach's realm?
*Since when is the GM involved in player assistance? It is the job of the GM to supply the coach with as many good players possible to win a championship, including bringing in new players at EVERY position and challenge for first string jobs.

Every one of the above items has one thing in common- they all seem to deflect criticism and responsibility away from the head coach and on to others. Manning's poor play and lack of improvement the past two years is Hufnagel's fault. If players are acting w/o class, it is because they were poor choices of Accorsi, not because Coughlin can't have stiff consequences and appropriate responses for these players. We underachieved because of Hufnagel and Lewis, not Coughlin.

If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck. THE PIECES DO ADD UP. The trail of the stench goes back to Coughlin. Have you EVER heard of a head coach firing the off. coord. AND def. coord. the same year? It does not happen. If it ever gets to that point, the head coach loses his job and the entire staff is disbanded.

Leading voice

Eli+Karaoke+Squeeze (Dr. Rob remarks: I see Eli's working on his mechanics!)

1st Annual ULTIMATENYG Awards

1) Offensive Player of the Year- Tiki Barber
2) Defensive Player of the Year- None
3) Crippling injury of the Year- Michael Strahan
4) Coach of the Year- None. Coughlin sucks and no good coach wants to work for him either.
5) Play of the Year- Manning audibling at the line in OT vs Phil for the Burress TD
6) Most Improved Player Award- Kevin Dockery
7) Rookie of the Year- Barry Cofield. His play went down at the end of the year, but any rookie on the defensive line that starts and plays the whole season by itself is worthy of the award.
8) Disappointment of the Year- Eli Manning
9) Ugly Play of the Year- Tie: Kiwanuka letting go of Young, Hester TD on missed FG.
10) The Please Cut Him Already Award- Tim Carter
11) Honorable Mention Award- David Diehl
12) Official "Bust" Tag Declaration Award- William Joseph
13) The "On-Deck" Bust Tag Award- Eli Manning, Corey Webster
14) Special Teams Player of the Year Award- Jeff Feagles
15) The Stupid Penalty of the Year Award- Frank Walker
16) (Stupid) Decision of the Year Award- John Mara
17) Inflection Point of the Year Award- Will Demps Missed Tackle on 3rd and 22.
18) Best Game of the Year- at Dallas
19) Worst Game of the Year- New Orleans
20) Prominent Player Most Likely to NOT be on the roster next year- Carlos Emmons
21) No Character Award- Bob Whitfield

Colts and Saints advance

Playoff Observations:
1) As much as I hate the Eagles, I was rooting for them tonight because I felt they were the best team in the NFC. But without Pro Bowlers Shawn Andrews and Lito Shepherd (not to mention Pro Bowlers Jevon Kearse and Donovan McNabb), that is a lot to overcome. And yet they still missed by a slim margin and played with these guys toe to toe.
2) I do not believe in the Bears. I certainly do not believe in the Seahawks. So at this point I will put the Saints ahead of these two. Yes, the Bears will likely be small favs vs the Saints but I think the Saints will win because the Bears should have been beaten numerous times this year and I think they are way overrated.
3) The AFC will beat whoever the NFC puts up. Men vs boys.
4) I was surprised that the Colts did so well today. But the common demoninator I am noticing is this Safety named Sanders. He is a gamer, he is all over the place, and w/o knowing too much about the Colts I can say that when he was out from injury the team became very ordinary... and that when he came back these past two playoff games the team ('s defensive unit) has looked totally different. I am not completely sold on the Colts but at this point I can no longer write them off the way I felt before.
5) I pick the Chargers to go all the way but will not be surprised by an upset by the Pats tomorrow. See blog below. I still will be surprised by a Colt upset of the Chargers next weekend.
6) I was talking with Richard tonight--- If the Giants had a fighter like Garcia, I think they would have had the bye and would be a completely different team. That is how much Garcia's competitiveness helped the Eagles and starkly contrasts the sorry lack thereof from Eli Manning. Manning is a second string quarterback period. He has not played a single game where he fought for 4 consecutive quarters. A 36 year old backup is a significant upgrade. POINT: get some real competition in there already and start having a viable second option to give this guy the HOOK already.

Cowher's bank

by John Czarnecki (FOX)

Bill Cowher picked the perfect year to retire.

And the explanation is pretty simple. Salaries for head coaches are going well past the $5 million barrier, so by this time next season, Cowher will be the NFL's highest-paid coach and his magic number could be $10 million per season.

I know it sounds (or reads) crazy, but Larry Brown received that kind of money in the NBA. And next season Seattle will pay Mike Holmgren around $7.5 million. The rub with Cowher is that his team, the Pittsburgh Steelers, beat Holmgren in last year's Super Bowl. In Cowher's eyes, what's the difference between the two coaches? Well, they both have won a Super Bowl and Holmgren has lost two of them, Cowher only one. Holmgren's run was with Green Bay where he had Brett Favre and GM Ron Wolf providing him with very good personnel.

But the best reason why Cowher could break the bank is that four franchises could be bidding for his services next year and two of them, the Redskins and Cowboys, have owners who won't quibble with the asking price.

Add the Cleveland Browns and New York Giants into a potential Cowher bidding war, and you get the picture.

Browns owner Randy Lerner loves Cowher and he wouldn't hesitate to dump Romeo Crennel or write such a huge check. The Giants should enter the picture regardless of what Tom Coughlin accomplishes. The only thing holding back the Giants is that they probably wouldn't be inclined to pay much above $6 million. But you never know, and that's what Cowher is banking on. Cowher may like the Giants, considering two of his daughters play basketball for Princeton, which is a short drive from the Meadowlands. The bottom line is that Cowher will be able to make up whatever money he lost in 2007 by not working or coaching the Steelers.

San Diego vs. New England

In what promises to be a very good game this weekend, SD plays NE. SD is -5 over visiting NE. My favorite story within the story is Schottenheimer (playoffs 5-12) with the better team vs Belichick (12-2 playoffs). I just finished reading "The Education of a Coach" by David Halberstam, a book about Bill Belichick. There are many nuggets within the book that make it great reading; one item is valuable imo for understanding Sunday's matchup- the lesson of his first Super Bowl victory over the Rams. The Reader's Digest version is like this- stop Marshall Faulk, not Kurt Warner. So in practice, he kept on drilling it into his defense: "Where is he? WHERE IS HE?" before each scout team's snap. Where is he? Where is Marshall Faulk? The defense spent all week focused on stopping Marshall Faulk. I expect the same playoff mentality and maniacal preparation to be drilled into his defense once again to find out where LaDanian Tomlinson is and to stop him at all costs. Will Rivers and Gates et al beat the Patriots on Sunday? Perhaps. If the Patriots win it will be because Schottenheimer did NOT read Belichick's book.

BIG MISTAKE

The writers in the NY Post pretty much covered it all, said it all. Yes, SEVEN articles on the SWAMP GAS they passed yesterday. (See right side of blog for links.) Notable highlights within include Carson's remarks on Manning, yet another player's ripping of Coughlin while the bird brain owner says that no player has said a bad thing to HIM, and the interesting statistic which speaks volumes:

Under Coughlin the Giants are 17-7 in the first half of the season and 8-18 in the second half of the season. These guys tire of Coughlin, and then they plain TIRE. YEP, WE ARE WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP WITH THIS LOSER! NOT! To quote Andy L., will it be in Game 1 or Game 2 when the fans start chanting "FI-RE COUGH-LIN"..? This is the same shit I warned about with "Warm Porridge" post back in December. Just warm enough to fool the pussy management that we can be the venerable and deliberate franchise that stays the course and does not get weak with change for change's sake. The same pussy thinking that lost us Fox and gave us two more years of that prevent offense loser Fassel. Get ready to whip it out and piss away a year on this clown.

Bad beat.

FULL HOUSE.

Phil 23 NYG 20

Okay, Giants fans. Where was this game lost?

a) the 9 penalties
b) when we burned one TO on Lorenzen's aborted 3rd and 1
c) when we burned yet another TO when Tyree was on the wrong side of the field and we could not snap it before the clock ran down
d) more inept red zone possessions which end with FGs instead of TDs

Or how about my favorite (e) Having the ball at midfield in Q1 THREE times and not capitalizing on the defense's early help.

Manning is still garbage. I could use a few months off without having to watch him pathetically and anemically throwing off his back foot to a Giant receiver's ankles. Did anyone notice the first half bomb to Burress that we got the defensive pass interference call? It was severely underthrown yet again, so Burress has to stop his route after he has beaten the entire team and then luckily an Eagle runs into him before the ball arrives. If it is thrown accurately it is 7.

Every time Westbrook ran to his right, I kept looking for Strahan. This team was not able to beat a single credible opponent w/o him.

We were 10th in the league this year in penalties, an improvement from 3rd in the league last season. Woohoo. Mangini's Jets were 31st... the second lowest total. When I watched them earlier today, they were so much more disciplined and organized than we were at any point in our season. Let the underachieving end and let Coughlin's tenure end. NEXT.

Nice guys don't get laid.. they get married.

And nice coaches don't win championships. Yep, Leo Durocher warned us that nice guys finish last. 'Players coaches,' the ones that get too close to their players are MANY in the NFL. Yet what percentage of them win Super Bowls?

Saturday's game-changers

No love lost seeing Jerry Jones and the Boys going down when Romo the Magnificent fell to earth. But watching Brain Waters implode the Chiefs was pretty painful to watch. The scene: The Colts are dominating the Chiefs, marching up and down the field. But the Chiefs defense is bending, not breaking, as they hold them to two FGs and a 6-0 lead. On the Colts' 3rd drive, Ty Law picks off a pass and runs it to the Colts 9. On Third and Goal at the 1, with the line in tight (emphasize TIGHT, CLOSE) formation, the Left Guard Brian Waters comes out of the snap and IMMEDIATELY plants his right leg on Trent Green's left foot, causing Green to trip and fall for a 4 yard loss. The 22 yd chip shot FG is missed as Tynes clangs the ball off the left upright. EMPTY turnover when Ty Law had gift-wrapped a TD oppty for the offense.

The line of scrimmage

In the second meeting of the Eagles-Giants, the most glaring 'tell' of the game was how the Eagles offensive line MANHANDLED the Giants defensive line. Run blocking was more like blowing people off the line, ripping holes the size of canyons for their runners to waltz through. Pass protection was equally impressive, with Garcia seemingly having all day back there in the pocket. The media may have been focusing on Manning and Shockey and Barber etc.. but it will be on Kiwanuka, Umenyiora, Joseph, Cofield and Robbins to win this game for the Giants. They cannot get pushed off the line of scrimmage like last game, and they must pressure Garcia. This is the lowest common denominator for Sunday's contest.

I am bullish on Kiwanuka's future. I love Osi's ability to wreak havoc and make impact plays. Robbins has been very good for the Giants this season. Cofield is a rookie starter who is only going to get better. Yet these guys were overpowered by arguably the league's best O-line ~3 weeks ago. I see the Eagles winning because of the edge here. No predictions for blowouts. But simple control of the line of scrimmage will keep the game out of reach for the Giants unless our offense can (uncharacteristically) shoot on all 8 cylinders for 4 quarters and carry the defense.

Cowher the NON-retread

Unlike Coughlin, Cowher knows more than a thing or two about winning. His players are disciplined. In his 15 seasons, he has compiled a 161-99-1 record, including playoff games. Under Cowher's stewardship, the Steelers have won eight division titles, earned 10 playoff berths, advanced to the conference championship game six times, appeared in two Super Bowl games and won one. You can lure this guy out retirement, if not this year (by buying out his contract), next year. The man constantly gets depleted by free agency and then gets new players who seemingly overachieve consistently, the mark of an effective coach.

ELEVEN OUT OF FIFTEEN SEASONS WITH A WINNING RECORD. 6, 3, 2 winning seasons in a row. His teams are CONSTANTLY competitive, even when they 'rebuild.'

Contrast this with the Giants, who cannot handle ANY prosperity.

Do you think I'd mind having him coach our team?

3 of a kind

From Pro Football Weekly: "There is a school of thought that Hufnagel has hurt Eli Manning’s development because he too often went away from the team’s three best weapons — WR Plaxico Burress, TE Jeremy Shockey and RB Tiki Barber — when things got tight and rarely adjusted well to opponents’ defensive play calls. But an NFC talent evaluator said the bigger problem might be Manning’s perceived lack of toughness in the pocket. Too often, the scout said, Manning pulls off of his throws under pressure, leading to errant tosses. Several times against the Redskins in Week 17, Manning appeared to shy away from contact when the rush neared, and there was less velocity or accuracy on those throws. Teams are well aware of this: The Giants, especially since WR Amani Toomer went down, have been blitzed relentlessly in passing situations."

Unless you are Mr. McGoo, we are all talent evaluators. And we all know that Manning is fast becoming a rich man's Dave Brown if this situation is not corrected. He needs help fast, and I do not have the confidence in Coughlin to get it to him because we saw many problems last year, and they have multiplied.

But it could be worse. We could be the Detroit Lions, who have just given Millen another year. That franchise is in total disarray. If this was a Detroit Lions blog I would just turn it off until they got rid of that genius.

Tiki 55 yard run

Tiki Barber's legend is going to only grow when he is gone. On this play, where he ran for a 55 yard TD, he was a coach on the field.... **Earlier in the game the Giants ran a lead draw that didn't do much because Finn got a little overanxious on his block. Barber told him to stay more patient. Then he told Gilbride they should run the same play soon, especially if it looked like the Redskins were going to blitz.
"He said, 'If they [blitz], it's going to be a touchdown,' " said Finn.
They did, and it was.**