This is my first post, 1st official post in this blogs history so I'll try not to screw it up that bad. It has been three days since I personally witnessed the debacle that was the Giant- Eagles playoff game. A game that me personally I was worried about since Brian Westbrook ripped out hearts in the Minneapolis area. I knew that this was the team that would give me ulcers and boy was I right. They took advantage of our miscues and ended our season bur enough blowing smoke up the Eagles asses. There are somethings that i want to get off my chest about the Giants who in my opinion gave the game away, and to quote Tiki Barber were "Out-coached"
1) Eli Manning
Dont get me wrong, I love Eli. Even before that magical Postseason, when everyone thought he did not have the goods to play QB in New York then he delivers one of the most improbable Championships I have ever seen. I have defended Eli but Sunday he was bad, very bad. He was making decisions reminiscent of that pre 2007 postseason Eli. It started with the opening possession on the first play from scrimmage when Eli overthrew a wide open Steve Smith. A perfect throw would have gave the Giants an early 7-0 lead that would have gave the Giants a boatload of momentum and set the tone for the game. Instead it set the tone for what was to come. On the next Giant possession Eli made a horrible decision while under pressure, instead of throwing the ball away or at the worst taking a sack, he threw a floater that I usualy throw playing street football with the boys, and Asante Samuel was none too happy to gobble it up. Setting up a Eagle touchdown. After that it was constantly missing open recievers, and the failure to recognize an obvious mis-match Kevin Boss vs Chris Gocong.
2) The playcalling on offense
Lets be frank, Kevin Gilbride's playcalling was a joke. You can point to a lot of situations where he called the wrong play at the wrong time( eg. 4th and 1 with 12:39 left in the game, instead of 264 pound man mountain Brandon Jacobs grinding that yard, he calls for 225 pound Eli Manning to keep it on a sneak with disaterious results,) There was one that changed the complexion of the game. 2nd quarter 1:55 left in the half, you have 1st and 5 from the Philly 21. You would expect with the way that Brandon Jacobs was playing, and the Eagles inability to stop the run that the logical thing to do would be to run the ball, try to eat some clock, and put the G-Men in a position to score while giving Philly very little time to march down the field and end the second half with a score. Instead for reasons unknown he ops to call THREE straight passing plays, thats right THREE straight that only got a total of four yards. Run the football for crying out loud. As a result the Giants had to settle for a field goal and gave the Eagles 1:33 to promptly march down the field and take a 10-8 lead into Halftime.
3) The Defense on 3rd down Situations
Steve Spags should have know this, if you give Donovan McNabb too many chances he will burn you. That's exactly what happned on Sunday. In the 1st half the Giants D played great despite the last 1:33 in the half, in the second half they let the Eagle offense get away with a lot, especially on 3rd down (the Eagles where 7/14 on third down situations). When you have the Eagles 3-20 from their own 15, and you let them get a 1st down you deserve to lose the game, matter of fact McNabb should have been implanted on the turf by JT and Kiwi instead they let him get away and throw a bomb to Jason Avant. That gave the Eagles new life and the Giants looking stupid. Also the secondary let DeShawn " Premature TD" Jackson, and Avant run wild in those situations.
Another reason I can say is the absence of glock-man Plax, and his Philly killing ways but I really don't feel like getting into it, this game was depressing and I had a front row (Mezzanine) seat for it. Eagle fans and their ever so classy ways did not help matters after the game but that is expected. In other depressing news.......
According to league sources Derek Lowe and the Braves have come to terms on a 4 Year 60 Million dollar deal, thats almost half of what Omar Minaya and the Mets were offering. It sucks for 2 reasons. One he goes to a division rival, and two we missed out on an innings eater, who has a knack for pitching in big games. It would have been cool to have Lowe as our # 2 starter but unless Jake Peavy is available and has a change of heart about the Mets, it looks like old inconsitent Ollie the Savage with be back in Orange and Blue.
