The Giants played one of their worst games of the season today against the Philadelphia Eagles and won't be repeating as champs.

The 23-11 loss comes as a shock to many as the Giants were thought to give it a better run than this. This is a different season and different team. The day Plaxico Burress shot himself in the leg is possibly the day the season ended for the Giants. In the 5 games since the shooting incident on Novemeber 29th, the Giants have lost 4 of them. Burress was an instrumental part of the Giants postseason success last year and his absence proved to be huge. The Eagles move on to the NFC Championship games against the Arizona Cardinals next week for a trip to the Super Bowl at stake.

Eli Manning threw 2 interceptions and nearly a 3rd one late in the 4th quarter. There's no need to go over what happen in the game, the Giants lost. They didn't take advantage of good field position on several occasions, they didn't covert on 2 critcial 4th down coonversions in the 4th quarter.

It was a nice run by the Giants over the last calendar year but now it's over. They can still be a strong team next season but for now, they go home and the rest of the city will wait for April and baseball season. The Giants looked so good for so long this season until the Plax shooting. Blame whoever and whatever you want for this loss, the Giants didn't get the job done. Thanks Eli for a magical run over the last year, now it's time to say goodbye.

Read more »

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

0 Comments

Tags: Eli Manning, Football, Giants, NFL Playoffs, Plaxico Burress

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.

Read more »

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

0 Comments

Tags: Antonio Pierce, Dallas Cowboys, Football, Giants, Justin Tuck, Kevin Dockery, Philadelphia Eagles, Plaxico Burress, Tom Coughlin

The last time Eli Manning and the Giants were in Glendale, Arizona they won Super Bowl XXII. Manning had won the MVP award for his performance in that game, a game that established him as an elite NFL QB. Yesterday, the Giants returned to the scene of their Super Bowl win. They left with the same result, a win. They beat the Arizona Cardinals 37-29, snapping Arizona's 7 game home winning streak.

“It’s just a totally different feel, it’s just a different time,” Manning said. “You never really compared it to the last time we were here. We knew we’d have a tough contest with Arizona.”

Manning threw for 3 touchdowns and went 26-33, 240 yds passing. The Giants were without RB Brandon Jacobs who was out with a knee injury and they also lost WR Plaxico Burress in the 1st quarter beacuse he injured his hamstring. This was no problem for Eli who led the offense to 37 points, thus marking the 4th week in a row they have scored at least 30 points. Domenik Hixon had kickoff returns of 83 and 68 yards and caught 6 passes for 57. Manning connected with a 10 yard pass to Kevin Boss in the 4th quarter. Kicker John Carney also connected on 3 field goals.

The Cardinals, led by QB Kurt Warner did their best to stay with the Giants. Warner was 32-for-52 and passed for 351 yards, the 5th straight game in which he passed for at least 300. He was intercepted once and fumbled once, both leading to Giants touchdowns.

“They’re a good defense and we matched up with them very well and went toe to toe with them for 60 minutes,” Warner said. “Of course, you never want to go away a loser and that part is disappointing. I think you leave from this game and move ahead. If we eliminate some of the mistakes we can play with anybody in the league.”

The Giants improved to 10-1 on the season. They are defending their championship with pride and passion. They have stepped up to every challenge that has come their way this season. Yesterday was another win on the road for New York. One would think that the Giants at some point would lose some steam but they have continued to roll. They are the best team in the NFL without question. The schedule gets a little tougher next week as the Giants travel down to Washington to play the Redskins, a team they took care of at the Medowlands in Week 1. The 'Skins have played well and are 7-4 on the year and should provide the G-men another challenge. I guess when you're the defending champs nothing comes easy the second time around. Let's see how far the Giants go with this hot streak.

Read more »

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

0 Comments

Tags: Arizona Cardinals, Brandon Jacobs, Domenik Hixon, Eli Manning, Football, Giants, John Carney, Kevin Boss, Kurt Warner, Plaxico Burress

Today's meeting between the Giants and Steelers could be a Super Bowl preview. Ok, I'm getting a little ahead of myself but with both teams at 5-1 it's not an outlandish thought.

Much talk leading into this game is which QB is better, Eli Manning or Ben Roethlisberger? Both were drafted in the 1st Round. Both are the only Super Bowl winning QB's who were drafted in the same 1st round.

"I think you've got to throw (San Diego's) Philip Rivers in there, too," said former Steelers coach Bill Cowher, who was in Pittsburgh when the Steelers drafted Roethlisberger with the 11th pick and now works as a studio analyst for CBS. "I don't think you're going to find a quarterback class like it. Certainly you can go back to '83, but this class of Rivers, Roethlisberger and Manning is going to go down as one of the great classes of quarterbacks. You're not going to be able to match that."

The Steelers' defense is ranked No. 1 in the NFL and is first in sacks with 25. The Giants are ranked fourth overall, and second in sacks with 21.

Both men met back in 2004 when the Steelers won 33-30. On that day Manning went 16 for 23, 182 yards, two touchdowns and one interception while Roethlisberger had his first 300-yard game and 18 of 28, 316 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions.

"They are both guys who have had accelerated experiences, let's put it that way, because of the nature of playing at such a young age (and) going through the amount of experiences that they have had against the great defensive teams in the league," Tom Coughlin said. "Without a doubt, there are similarities in the way in which their experiences have gone, even though there are differences in what you might call style of play."

Today's game in Pittsburg is going to be a messy one as rain poured down all day yesterday. If you saw last night's World Series Game 3, you saw it get delayed 91 minutes by heavy rain. It was also like that here in New York. Hopefully by the 4pm start today the field will be in good condition. The weather should be pleasant with game time temp hovering around 50 but the wind is suppose be around 15mph is that going to be a factor? We'll see.

This game is going to be close and one to watch. I got the Giants going over Big Ben and his boys today. No matter the outcome today, both teams have a good shot at making the playoffs. One guy who knows about both QB's is Giants WR Plaxico Burress. Here's what he had to say about his former QB:

"Oh yeah, there was no question about it," he said. "Some of the things he was capable of doing -his athleticism, making crazy throws, getting out of the pocket, giving his receivers the opportunity to make plays down the field -he's continued to do that. Because of that he's an elite quarterback and a Super Bowl champion. I can't say enough about the guy."

Well let the talking turn into playing on the field and let's see who emerges on top.

Read more »

These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

0 Comments

Tags: Eli Manning, Football, Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers, Plaxico Burress, Tom Coughlin