Giants Lose?! Wow, That Never Happens

For the first Sunday this season the Giants looked flat, tired and got outplayed. The Giants were beat at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles 20-14. Could this be the result of Plaxico Burress and all the distraction surrounding last week's incident?

To most people the answer would probably be yes. I will have to say that the Burress situation did affect the Giants this week, even if it was indirectly. The focus all week was on Plax and Anotonio Pierce and about what the Giants were going to do as a result of the shooting. Question after question, report after report, rumor after rumor. I honestly don't remember hearing anything about the Eagles this week. Everything I saw was about Plaxico so I can only imagine how things were around the Giants all week. This whole situation was embedded in all of our minds and was the focus in the Meadowlands.

"I thought we had a good week of practice despite what everyone is going to say," Pierce said after the game. "It was just a bad game."

The Giants didn't score until a last second field goal block at the end of the first half. Justin Tuck blocked a Philly FG attempt and it was recovered by Kevin Dockery and he went all the way for the Touchdown. In a matter of seconds the G-men went from lifeless to right back in the thick of things down 10-7 at the half.

"That was what I was looking for. ... We had a chance. We didn't do anything with it," Coach Tom Coughlin said.

Was it a Philly upset on Sunday or was it that the Giants were due for a loss. I think it's a little bit of both. When Brian Westbrook and Donovan McNabb are playing well, they are hard to stop. McNabb finished 19-of-30 for 191 yards. Westbrook gained 131 yards on a season-high 33 carries and caught 6 passes for 72 yards all while recording 1 rushing and receiving TD.

“I just think we kind of beat them,” said Eagles tight end L.J. Smith, who had six catches for 44 yards. “It’s tough to say. That’s one of those: ‘How many licks does it take to get to the center of a Tootsie Roll?’ Who knows if the distractions hurt them and helped us? I don’t know.”

The win for Philly gives them life in their pursuit of making the playoffs. The Giants even with the loss clinched the NFC East.

The Giants will face the Cowboys in Dallas next Sunday night in what appears to be a sure classic in the making. The Cowboys are coming off a loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in which they dominated most of the game but lost in the final minutes of the 4th quarter. The Giants 7 game winning streak was snapped and hope that this game was just a bump in the road and the Burress situation is behind them so they can move forward and concentrate on a Dallas team looking for revenge because they didn't put up much of a fight earlier in the season when the teams met in Giants Stadium.

Time for the Giants to put this game behind them and focus on the task at hand, getting by the Cowboys and getting things ready for the postseason. Let's hope Coughlin and his crew are free of distraction the rest of the way.
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Giants Continue To Roll In Philly


The NFC East was suppose to be the toughest division in the NFL but the Giants have made sure the only tough thing about their division is them. Last week they gave the Cowboys a beating, last night they took care of the Eagles.

It was a little tougher for the Gmen this week as the game went down to the final minutes to decide who was coming out on top. Eli Manning threw 2 touchdown passes (17-31,191 yards) and Brandon Jacobs had 2 TD runs in the 36-31 victory. It was the second week in a row where the Giants offense exploded for 30 plus points. The game was ultimately decided with 1:55 remaining in the 4th quarter. The Eagles had the ball at their own 45 and were facing a 4th and 1. The Eagles elected to give the ball to Brain Westbrook to try and gain the yard they needed for a 1st down but he was stopped by Chase Blackburn and thus sealed the win for New York.

The win puts the Giants at 8-1 on the year and puts Philly at 5-4, 3 games back of New York and tied with Dallas.

It was a back and forth game which saw numerous lead changes. Eagles QB Donovan McNabb threw for 3 TD passes (17-36, 194 yds 1 INT) and that still wasn't enough. Another big moment in the game was in the 3rd quarter when Manning threw a 17 yard pass to Kevin Boss but the play was ruled illegal because it appeared Manning was ahead of the line of scrimmage. The Giants challenged the ruling on the field and replays showed Eli's back foot was still behind the line and thus the ruling on the field was overturned and gave the Giants a 1st down. Two plays later the Giants scored on Jacobs' 3 yard TD run making it 27-24.


“I think the way the rule is written, it was worth taking a shot at it,” said Manning, who urged Coughlin to challenge the call. “If you have one toe on the line of scrimmage, then it’s a legal pass. I thought it was worth the risk.”

The risk payed off for New York. The Eagles weren't too thrilled with the overturn of the call.


“I don’t know what they were looking at,” defensive tackle Mike Patterson said.


This was another big win for the Giants as they further themselves from the rest of the division. The Eagles needed a win to stay afloat wit New York as a win would've seperated the two teams by 1 game in the NFC East. It was a hostile crowd in Philadelphia but the Giants are no strangers to winning on the road and look forward to the challenge.


“It’s great to win here,” coach Tom Coughlin said. “It reinforces everything we believe about team, supporting each other and finding a way to win the game.”

The defending Super Bowl Champs are finding ways to win these tough games and that makes them a scary team going into the second half of the year. If they can keep things up, the playoffs look like they'll no sweat for Eli and the boys. Another meeting with the Eagles, Cowboys, and Redskins still awaits the Gmen so they can get through those games like they did the first time around, I'd say this team is set to make a run at returning to the Super Bowl.
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Giants Stomp All Over Cowboys 35-14


The Giants collected another victory yesterday, this time at the hands of the Dallas Cowboys. With the 35-14 victory it puts the G-men at 7-1 on the year.

Eli Manning threw 3 TDs and went 16-27, 147 yds with 1 INT. Runningback Brandon Jacobs rushed for 117 yds and 1 TD. The Cowboys were without Tony Romo who has been out with a broken pinkie. The loss for the Cowboys leaves them at 5-4 going into thier bye-week. The Giants defense had another good showing as they got 3 INT off Dallas quarterbacks yesterday.

"When a football team comes in here and it is kind of depleted as far as
injuries go, you don’t want to give them any sunlight,” said Giants
defensive end Justin Tuck. “You don’t want to give them any light whatsoever.”



The Giants have now won 5 straight at home. Kevin Boss,Steve Smith and Amani Toomer were all on the recieving end of TD passes from Manning on Sunday. Smith and Toomer got their TDs after Corey Webster picked off Romo's replacement Brad Johnson.

“The coaches preach turnovers,” Webster said. “We pin our ears back and let ourselves go once we start getting turnovers. If we keep getting turnovers, it builds more and more confidence.”

The Cowboys turned the ball over on 4 occasions, 3 on INTs and 1 on a fumble by Terrell Owens in the 2nd quarter. The Dallas offense never got going in the game. The Cowboys were coming in injured on many fronts, no Romo, no Jason Whitten, no Roy Williams, no Mat McBriar, and no Pacman Jones (because of his suspension).

Too bad for the Boys. They were picked by many in the preseason to go to the Super Bowl and represent the NFC. That doesn't look likely at the moment. Things could change when Romo comes back. As for the Giants, they continue their strong season next weekend in Philly as they match up against the Eagles who are coming off a dominating win against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday. The road is getting a little tougher for Eli and his men but they are up to the task. Just because they're heading down to Philly next weekend, doesn't bother the Giants, they win on the road too. I hope Donovan McNabb is ready for a fight, because the G-Men are bringing it.
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