Posts Tagged ‘New York Giants’
The Lonely Weekend between Championship Weekend and the Super Bowl
January 29, 2012 | 
Author The Bad News: New York Giants’ QB Eli Manning and DE Jason Pierre-Paul will no longer be playing in tomorrow’s Pro Bowl, and WR Victor Cruz, a 2nd alternate for the NFC team, will not get an opportunity to be a Pro Bowl… at least not for this season.
The Good News: That’s because the Giants are in the frickin’ Super Bowl!!!
Left for dead in mid-December after a lifeless performance against the Washington Redskins dropped New York’s record to a pedestrian 7-7, the Giants have rattled off five straight victories to claim the title of NFC Champion and play in next weekend’s Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis. And their opponent: the New England Patriots. Hmm… where have we heard this story before?
In fact, the similarities to 2007 are incredibly eerie. After a lifeless performance against the Redskins in Week 15 dropped the Giants’ record to 9-5, the Giants were viewed as having their playoff hopes in serious danger, and a definite one-and-done even if they did get in. Then the Giants came back twice to beat the Bills in Buffalo, lost to 15-0 New England in a game that still felt like a win, beat a NFC South team in the first round (Tampa Bay), beat the No. 1 seed in the divisional playoffs (Dallas), and then won the NFC Championship against the No. 2 seed (Green Bay) in overtime, with the winning field goal by Lawrence Tynes getting set up by a turnover (Brett Favre interception). Finally, the Giants wore their road whites and upset the (heavily) favored Patriots.
This year, the Giants beat the Jets and Cowboys in Week 16 and 17 to clinch the NFC East division title, beat an NFC South team (Atlanta) in the first round, beat the No. 1 seed (Green Bay) in the divisional round, then won the NFC Championship against the No. 2 seed (San Francisco) in overtime, with the winning field goal by Lawrence Tynes getting set up by a turnover (Kyle Williams fumble). Finally, the Giants will wear their road whites and and hope to upset the (slightly) favored Patriots.
Here’s another similarity. In 2007, the Giants lost 38-35 to the then-undefeated Patriots during the regular season, then avenged the loss in the playoffs. This year, the Giants lost 38-35 to the then-undefeated Packers during the regular season, then avenged the loss in the playoffs.
But here’s a big difference. In 2007, the Giants lost to the Patriots during the regular season, then beat them in the Super Bowl. This year, the Giants beat the Patriots in the regular season, so it’s actually New England that will look to avenge the earlier loss.
The Patriots finished 13-3 this season, although did not beat a single team all regular season that finished with a winning record. That ominous streak did end in the AFC Championship Game however, where they beat the 12-4 Baltimore Ravens. To be fair, the Patriots did beat the Denver Broncos, New York Jets, San Diego Chargers, Oaklands Raiders, Dallas Cowboys, and Philadelphia Eagles, all which finished with an 8-8 record and might have had a winning record had they played someone else.
The Giants finished 9-7, but have probably been the hottest team since Christmas. New England has been pretty hot as well, having won 10 straight since losing to the Giants in Week 9.
A big question, however, if how the off week will affect the two teams.
I’ll be back later this week with my pick, and I will be again live blogging during the game (although I obviously have more at stake than Packers-Steelers).
Posted in Sports | 
Tags: football, New England Patriots, New York Giants, super bowl | 
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Giants stomp out the Falcons
The Giants put together their most complete game of the season, dominating the Atlanta Falcons 24-2 in the first round of the NFC Playoffs. Eli Manning threw for three touchdowns, two to Hakeem Nicks, and the Giants’ rushing attack had a season best 172 yards.
But the true star of the game was the defense. A laughing stock for most of the season, the Giants pitched a shutout, with the Falcons’ only score being a safety when Manning was called for intentional grounding in the end zone. The defensive line had two sacks, but pressured Matt Ryan constantly. Michael Turner ran for just 41 yards for the Falcons. And Ryan was stopped twice on fourth and 1, both times on a QB sneak.
Now the Giants head out to the frozen tundra of Lambeau Field for a rematch with the Green Bay Packers. The two teams met in Week 13, with the Packers pulling out a 38-35 win on a last second field goal by Mason Crosby. The Packers were without two linebackers, while the Giants were without Osi Umenyiora, Ahmad Bradshaw, and Mario Manningham.
It’s also a rematch of the 2008 NFC Championship Game, when the Giants ended Brett Favre’s career in Green Bay with a 23-20 overtime win en route to a Super Bowl title.
The Giants are definitely peaking at the right time, like they did in 2007 and the Packers did last year. It should be a great game.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Atlanta Falcons, football, Green Bay Packers, New York Giants, playoffs | No Comments »
Giants 2010 Schedule
Back in 2007, a friend who is a Steelers fan had a season schedule that his uncle had made on his refrigerator. I thought it was really cool looking. So I got a copy of it prior to the 2008 season and remade it as a New York Giants schedule. I made it again in 2009, and it was actually used by a Giants fan club for viewing parties.
So… here is the 2010 version.
In the past, I used Tom Coughlin’s training camp slogan on the bottom of the schedule. This season, I did something different. I read an article by Mike Garafolo of the Newark Star-Ledger, which was titled “Redemption is a common theme throughout Giants organization as camp begins.” I googled for a good quote about redemption, and this was what I found.
So click on the image below to get the full version of the schedule. It’s sized for 8 1/2 x 11 inches (letter-sized).
Enjoy!
The Cautionary Tale of Kevin Belcher
You know who Kevin Belcher is, right?
Right?
Belcher was the 153rd player chosen in the 1983 NFL Draft, the draft that is well-known for having possibly the best crop of quarterbacks ever in one draft. Belcher was an offensive lineman coming out of Texas-El Paso when he was selected in the sixth round by the New York Giants.
Belcher saw action in all 16 of the Giants’ games in 1983, a season where the team went 3-12-1 and nearly cost new coach Bill Parcells his job. Belcher was the starting center in 1984, and even had a four-yard pass reception in a 31-21 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Dec. 9.
But before the 1985 season, Belcher’s career ended when he got in a car accident that exposed nerves. The Giants struggled to replace him until they acquired Bart Oates from the Philadelphia Stars of the USFL.
Belcher’s brief career is relevant today because history may be repeating itself. The Giants recently acquired safety Chad Jones in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft. Jones, a two-sport star out of LSU, was hyped as a talented player who would bring much-needed depth at the safety position, a luxury the Giants sorely missed in 2009.
“I think right at the end of the OTA’s, (Jones) was starting to emerge and doing things very well on special teams and in the secondary,” Giants coach Coughlin said after New York’s recent mandatory minicamp.
But Jones’s career met the figurative and literal obstacle, as his SUV crashed into a pole Friday morning in New Orleans. Two passengers in the car walked away with minor injuries, but Jones wasn’t as fortunate. He reportedly fractured his left leg, and left arteries and nerves exposed. He underwent surgery in the late morning to return blood flow to his foot, and doctors now believe that he won’t have to lose the foot.
It may seem insensitive to speculate on Jones’s career at this point, but let’s be honest. Hundreds or thousands of people get in accidents every day, yet you’re reading about this one because who he is. Whether you’re a LSU student or alumni, a Giants fan, a football fan, or just a sports fan, you’re reading this because it’s Chad Jones.
Like Belcher, it’s hard to imagine Jones playing another down in the NFL. His foot is/was in danger of being amputated, and his had ARTERIES and NERVES exposed. Frankly, it’s a miracle he’s not dead.
Which brings us back to Belcher. In 2003, 18 years after his accident, Belcher passed away due to “undisclosed reasons.” It may have been something completely unrelated, or perhaps it’s due to complications from the accident. We really don’t know. But it’s curiously coincidental enough to state that while his career is probably over, we can only hope and pray for Jones’s continuing recovery.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: accident, chad jones, football, kevin belcher, lsu, New York Giants | 1 Comment »
The Evil Turf!
Some New York Giants fans are in a panic right now, with wide receiver Dominick Hixon’s 2010 season ending before it began. For those who haven’t heard, the receiver/return man went down untouched during the Giants’ recent mini-camp, and torn his ACL. Season over.
The loss of Hixon as a receiver is probably minimal. He’s clearly behind Steve Smith and Mario Manningham on the depth chart, and could have easily been the fourth receiver behind second-year player Hakeem “Don’t Call Me Hicks” Nicks. In addition, the Giants also have Derek Hagan, Ramses Barden, and Sinorice Moss. There is a lot of excitement about Barden and his size (the Giants have been without a tall receiver that Eli Manning can throw a jump ball to since Plaxico Burress went to the slammer), and this injury may force the Giants to give Barden more of a chance.
Yet as minimal as Hixon’s impact as a receiver is, the loss of the Giants’ kickoff and punt returner can’t be overestimated. Hixon was a player who gave Giants’ fans a surge of excitement every time he made a return. Even when he wasn’t returning punts for touchdowns (like in East Rutherford against Dallas last season), he could be counted on to give the offense good field position with an impressive return.
The Giants could go back to Moss as a return man. Early last season, the Giants took Hixon out of the return rotation, feeling his value as a receiver was too great to risk injury on returns. The 1998 preseason injury to Jason Sehorn continues to haunt the Giants and affect strategy (it was recently reported that cornerback Aaron Ross wanted to return kicks. Fat chance at that.) Anyway, Moss was pretty terrible as a return man.
Hixon’s injury has led to a lot of panic about the new stadium’s artificial turf. The New Meadowlands Stadium uses FieldTurf and a lot of the players (as well as coach Tom Coughlin) commented that the turf was loose and wasn’t very good. Nevermind that the old stadium used FieldTurf as well, and people weren’t tearing their ACLs left and right.
The turf is like a pair of new shoes. You have to break it in first. Once the turf gets a little more usage, it will tighten up and the “What’s wrong with the turf” questions will go away. In fact, it’s possible all these other events at the stadium (for example, college lacrosse was the first event at the new stadium, not football) are being used to help break in the turf.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Dominick Hixon, football, New Meadowlands Stadium, New York Giants | 3 Comments »
BS Sports Blog offers $1.25 for naming rights
BS Sports Blog Stadium. It has a nice ring to it.
Yes, i”m joking. But this isn’t a joke. Online dating site AshleyMadison.com has submitted a formal offer to the New York Giants and New York Jets for the naming rights for the New Meadowlands Stadium. The offer is for five years and totals $25 million.
Now this alone isn’t that interesting, and I wouldn’t normally blog about this, except this isn’t your run of the mill dating site. The site’s motto is “Life is short. Have an affair.”
Yes, that’s right. A site that promotes adultery wants to have their name on the new stadium. Can you imagine? Stephen Weaver at Examiner.com has an awesome take on it.
“Dad, where are we going?”
“To Ashley Madison Field son. We’re going to watch the Giants play.”
“Oh, who’s Ashley Madison?”
“Oh, it’s that great site that split up me and your mom when she found I was cheating on her. Remember, when you cried for a couple days?”
“Oh. Can we go home?”
I think an approval would result in drop in attendance for the Giants, as married women refuse to allow their husbands to attend games in fear of a cross promotion. But it might help the Jets finish selling their PSLs.
Obviously, this has no chance at being accepted. The Maras and Tisches have a family image that would be shattered by accepting such a bid, and the Johnson & Johnson company wouldn’t be too happy if the founder’s great-grandson was openly promoting adultery. But it’s a great way to get your name out. Tons of people (like me) will write about it, and refer to the website (although you may notice there isn’t a link to the company’s website; this is intentional).
This isn’t the company’s first attempt at silly advertising, as they tried to buy ad space in the Official Super Bowl XLIII Game Program, but were rejected by the NFL. Back in February, they offered the city of Phoenix, Az. $10 million to rename the airport. The strapped-for-cash city declined the offer.
Another reason the offer will almost definitely be declined is that it’s too low. The Giants and Jets are reportedly looking for a deal of $20-25 million a year for the naming rights, and a $5 million a year deal isn’t going to cut it.
Sadly, the Meadowlands Stadium hasn’t had the best luck with the naming rights. A previous offer of $25 million a year by Allianz was canceled amid protests that the German-based financial services had ties to Nazi Germany.
John Mara brings the thunder
What a train wreck (Part 2)
What a train wreck (Part 1)
The New York Giants’ season ended last weekend, not with a last desperate attempt to salvage their season, but with a pathetic mockery of a professional athletic competition.
The Giants’ lost 41-9, but the game wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicated. The Giants were in the game for one possession, as the offense took the opening kickoff and marched downfield. It appeared the drive had ended with a 26-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Steve Smith. But that was nullified by a holding penalty by Madison Hedgecock. A few plays later, a big third-down conversion was cut short when Mario Manningham fumbled and the Panthers recovered at the Carolina 20.
That was that. The Panthers marched downfield, kicked a field goal, allowed just one first down before a Giants’ punt, marched downfield again and got in the endzone.
Now at that point, it’s 10-0. Prior to this game, the Giants biggest comeback was being down 10-0 to Dallas three weeks earlier. It’s sad when the game is less than 20 minutes old, and you can already feel the game slipping away from you.
Meanwhile, Carolina scores two more times before halftime. The Giants’ offense got close enough to try for a hail mary right before the half, but that didn’t actually happen. Manning couldn’t find anyone to throw to, had to move up in the pocket and kept looking for someone to throw to until he must have realized he was five yards past the line of scrimmage. And so, Eli runs.
This play could only be considered high comedy. The clock is reading 0:00, so getting a first down, or even just running for as much as possible, is pretty useless. So Eli is trying to run for a touchdown. Of course, the Panthers will never allow that to happen. So Eli is running, and us fans in the stands are screaming while also thinking, “This can’t end well.” Of course it doesn’t. Eli gets hit, fumbles and the Panthers recover. At least the defender got tackled. The play was followed by a rain of boos from the Giants’ faithful as the professionals ran to the locker room with their tails between their legs. Or so we thought.
I’ll be back for Part 2 of this debacle. I promise.
Merry Christmas to All
First of all, Merry Christmas to all of you and your families. Christmas morning was fun at the Stratton household. I have three boys, Xander, Aidan, and Owen. Xander is 4, Aidan is 2, and Owen is 6 months old. Xander seems to really understand the whole Santa thing for the first time; Aidan declared every toy he or his brother got to be “mine;” and Owen really liked playing with and trying to eat the wrapping paper. As I type this, the family and I are heading north to New Jersey to visit family for the holidays (yea for WordPress for Blackberry!).
So I was wrong about the Giants last Monday night, New York was playing like a desperate tiger cornered, and Washington played like they were trying to schedule their tee times.
Tomorrow is the next step for the Giants, as they host the Carolina Panthers in their home finale. To commemorate the game, the Giants are going to play a video tribute at halftime that will feature a song by Bruce Springsteen (nope, the Boss won’t actually be there). Although I haven’t heard officially, you can expect the Giants to bring back some former greats as honorary captains. I heard a rumor that Lawrence Taylor will be one of them. Unfortunately, Phil Simms will be working for CBS, otherwise he probably would be there as well. I would also expect to see Harry Carson.
The Panthers will be starting Matt Moore at quarterback again, after Jake Delhomme went on injured reserve earlier this week in a move that could end his career in Carolina.
I’ll be there, so I’ll post the crappy pictures that I get.
BACK TO THE FUTURE?
The New York Yankees seem to be embracing past seasons as of late, signing Nick Johnson and trading for Javier Vasquez. Both players used to play for the Yankees.
I like the Johnson signing; I’ve long been a fan of him, even while he was playing in Washington for the Nationals.
As for the Vasquez trade, I’m not sold on him. First of all, we had to give Melky Cabrera to the Braves, and I liked watching the “Melk Man” in New York. But more importantly, Vasquez was unimpressive last time he was on the roster, posting an ERA just under 5.
But wait! Vasquez said he was injured most of the season, but kept it to himself. Well, that’s a little bette…WAIT A MOMENT!!! So he was hurt and didn’t tell anymore? In 2004? So we could have shelfed him for a while in the regular season, gotten him back for the playoffs, and maybe would not have had to star Kevin F***ing Brown in Game 7 against the Red Sox? THANKS A LOT, A**HOLE!!
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Baseball, christmas, football, New York Giants, New York Yankees | No Comments »