From Section 120 at Sunday's game against their division rival the Dallas Cowboys, the only exciting thing I saw were the dozen or so fights in the stands. More on that in my next blog entry.
The game did not get off to a good start with the Cowboys quickly marching down the field and scoring a touchdown. However Big Red (for those ugly red unis), was able to bounce back and tie it up.
As the game progressed in a 7 - 7 tie it was the Giants chance to pull away and really put the Cowboys on their heels. Instead Eli Manning, the Giants $50 million dollar man, thought it would be best to throw into double coverage and behind the receiver and hit a Cowboys player with the ball instead.
The Cowboys drove down the field and scored a TD to take the lead. The game wasn't all bad, with less than 2 minutes left in the half, both teams decided to really turn on the offense. The Cowboys scored a TD to go ahead 17 - 14. Then for some unknown reason the Cowboys squib kicked which gave the Giants some decent field position. Even with the field position the coaching staff was ready to bag it in and go into the half down by 3, with a safe run by Brandon Jacobs. A personal foul call gave the g-men 15 more yards and now they were approaching field goal territory. A nice pass from Manning to Shockey set up the game tieing field goal.
Here is the funny part. With 6 second left in the half, coach Coughlin sends out the field goal unit, apparently Lawrence Tynes forgot he is on that part of the team because Jeff Feagles (punter/holder) had to call a timeout because Tynes didn't start running onto the field until there was about 8 seconds left on the play clock. Not a wise move by Tynes whose job has been jeopardy all season long.
So halftime rolls around and I decide to go overpay for something to drink and that's when I hear Chris Carlin over the radio giving out Eli's stats. At the half the young Manning was 13 for 15 in completions. Everyone around me all had the same reaction. "What? He made that many completions?" Yes he did, but it was that kind of lackluster performance that is starting to get this Eli supporter to realize that this kid may be nothing more than mediocre in his career. Which isn't a bad thing, however, the Giants defense, who dominated the previous 6 weeks, just aren't good enough to make a mediocre QB look better.
The defense was out of position for most of the game, and when the Cowboys finally put it away, the Giants had linebacker Mitchell somehow covering T.O. on the line. Everyone in the stands saw the mismatch, why didn't the defense. The answer is plain and simple. In weeks 1 and 2 when the defense was torched for 80 points, we saw just how bad the secondary really is. Over the previous 8 weeks, the pass rush was able to hide that part of the defense by getting after the QB. Sunday, they were exposed, and quite frankly, they just aren't that good. Although rookie Aaron Ross played really well, asking a rookie to carry your defense in the secondary is a huge undertaking. Without a doubt though it seems, the Giants finally hit a homerun on drafting a cornerback with Ross. Now only if they can find another corner, a safety, a strong safety and another linebacker...the defense will be in good shape.
As a Giants fan, its time to realize that although this team is moving in the right direction with its personnel, they just aren't good enough in certain areas of the team to be considered Super Bowl contenders.
When it was all said and done the Cowboys walked away with a 31 - 20 win, and all but squashed the divisional hopes for Big Blue.
By: Michael C. Podlesny
About the Author:
Michael C. Podlesny is the co-host of the Big Blue Review, a weekly podcast featuring the latest news on The New York Giants. The podcast can be downloaded from Michael's blog at http://bigbluereviewpodcast.blogspot.com/.
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