Fantasy Sports Forums at ScreamingSports.com

a ross was great this game! while he gave up some passes...he made up for it. really though, qb's just won't throw at webster...

Reposted from previous thread.

I really don't know if I can stand this any longer. Between guys repeating what many of us have been saying for months as if they just discovered it, and folks who panic when a team gets within 10 points of us, this is a wonderful place to see the "learned" response of the Prototypical Giant Fan who always things the sky is falling when he catches stardust in his hand.

How about acknowledging, as anyone should have known early in this game, that the Giants can run on any team in the NFL and can stop the run of any team in the NFL and should, therefore, be considered the 800-pound gorilla of the 2008 NFL?

How about acknowledging that Eli continues to make critical plays at critical moments in the game (and I consider that pass to Plax on 3rd-and-15 a CRUCIAL play because the Giants created the conditions for an easy win by getting ahead early)?

How about recognizing that the "utility back" on this team, Bradshaw, is going to be able to play like Tiki Barber with more power?

Were there mistakes, and weaknesses? Sure, and there will be in every game. When I see an NFL team play a perfect game I'll let you know, but I haven't seen one in 56 years.

The Giants are 9-1 and in the catbird seat to gain home field advantage throughout the playoffs. They proved today that they can control the line-of-scrimmage against any team they play, and it isn't likely that teams that come into Giants Stadium in January are going to be able to win with air attacks. This game was a test. The Giants aced it. They are odds on favorites to go to the Super Bowl. Period. The rest is noise.

November 16, 2008 5:27 PM

I'll be there next weekend. roll call?

I'll say it again... during the game there's a lot of emotion.  It's not fair to come in afterwards and lay out criticism when everyone is calm and the result is known.

Haz, great piece and I agree with everything you said. I especially loved Eli's movement in the pocket today. It was brilliant. He may not be a great runner, but he has learned how to extend plays.

Jim, that 15-1 doesn't look ridiculous any longer, and your original 13-3 looks very reachable. You are looking at this point like the guy who wins the award for most accurate prediction. I think no one else went beyond 12 wins (I, being conservative, went with 11 but said I thought 12 was much more likely than 10, and I now look like a piker).

This was another signature win in what looks to be another magical season. I'm going to be curious as to the reaction of the dopes who insisted most of us were deluded "homers" verging on Pollyannish. Of course, they're probably never going to show up again, or will insist they said no such thing.

And I'm telling you all, consistent with what I've been saying for two years, you ain't seen nothing yet. This team is nowhere near its peak. When we look at the likely roster after this April's draft there will be a lot of licking our chops.

Panthers are 8-2. We ain't got that #1 seed just yet...

Krow, I cannot agree with that. Anyone should have known at 13-0 that this game was over. And when the Giants' running game then went down the field on the next possession (after the defense had completely shut down the Ravens' run) it should have been clear to everyone that the Giants will dominate at the line-of-scrimmage the rest of the season. The Ravens were HELPLESS against the Giants' running game, and couldn't get anything in their own.

It may be in the heat of the game but I told everyone watching with me (three friends) that the game was over after the second score and when some of them worried a bit at 20-10 I said I wasn't at all worried because I didn't think the Ravens would get more than 3 points and that the Giants were going to run well in the 4th quarter against a tired defense with Bradshaw. I'm not taking much credit for that because I think it was pretty obvious.

This game was well in hand early because if you dominate the line-of-scrimmage you win just about every time.

I'm not criticizing emotional reactions. I'm just astonished by the general assumption that the Giants are going to find a way to blow games they are dominating. That was the old Giants, not these guys.

KD, so at WORST we have to go win the NFC Championship in Carolina, but that shouldn't happen because they have to come up here and try to beat us in the next-to-last game. I don't see that happening in late December.

ff55y -

Thank you for that first post. You should be around during games to back the few of us up that can be rational during a football game, and not slam a team that has a two-possession lead.

At least 80% of this board is negative during games - games we're winning by 17!! It's absurd and extremely frustrating.

Krow -

The emotional part of it is fine, but you can't deny that there are ridiculous claims and comments during games that can't all just be emotion, every week.

Like the "here comes a 3 and out", or the "Eli ticks me off, this guy will never play up to his potential", or the "typical giants, about to blow a lead" all because we let the Ravens get their TENTH point.

It's not unfair at all to call that stuff out, because it's irrational and can't just be chalked up to emotion.

The only real negatives in this game other than the ones Haz listed was the fact Eli was pretty average and our pass rush was completely non-existent for the 2nd week in a row.

Now next week all of the negatives Haz listed will be nullified. The penalties will go down after a week of reaming courtesy of Coughlin, we'll be playing in a dome, and Kurt Warner isn't running on anyone.

On the other hand, our pass rush HAS to step up and play like we know they can. Warner cannot sit back and pick us apart with those WRs of his. Eli might have to engage in a bit of a shootout (although I doubt it, I have faith in our pass rush stepping it up) so he'll have to be on point.

Troy -

Good points

The Giants are going to blow this game! How could this defense give up ten points now we are going to lose for sure!

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Wait... am I too late for the "this team sucks and will lose this game even though we're winning by two possessions" drama that goes on during games? Dang. I knew I should have gotten on here earlier.  

All well. 9-1 sure is sweet. I hope our pass rush shows up next week. Other wise I don't like our chances of holding off the Cardinals pass-offense. I mean, if we let them get within two touchdowns of us even once during next Sundays game, you know half the posters on here will have a heart attack.  

Who cares how many sacks we had .Stats mean nothing.Giants are the most dominate  team in the NFL this season.Only a key injury can derail this team.

elijah10 - Lots of people care about sacks, like teams, coaches, and players all throughout football. Yeah, getting no pressure on McNabb or Flacco didn't hurt us but it WILL against the Cardinals, who are 4 deep at WR and have the leading MVP candidate at QB.

This team is amazing but they're not perfect, no team is. I'm not trying to take anything away from the win today either, I've just watched the Cardinals destroy teams through the air all season and know we have to get pressure on Warner to win.

Troy T, agree with you.However the LONGER you watch NFL  football , you learn that who has the best stats  doesn't always  result in a victory.Desire ,momentum and a will to win come out on top.

WOW.....I just got back from the sportsbar, and thats all I can say. I was very fortunately wrong about this week, I might now venture to say we may have the best rushing offense....ever. Really, today they proved to me this team is the best in the NFL hands down, screw the Titans. Only thing else I need to say is SIGN JACOBS NOW!!!...Like Deion says, " Pay the man..."......This guys a friggin beast, he needs to retire here, JR make it happn..........

elijah10 - Not sure where you're going with this. Getting pressure on a QB whose team relies on the passing game is just a part of winning. I want the Giants to get pressure on Warner so we can win, not so our stats look better.

9-1 Suckaaaaas!!!!!!!!

And we have 7-3 Az on the road next week.

Lets not count out chicklets before they hatch everyone.

Cards don't scare me that much b/c Kurt is stationary, but he was like 30-39 for 350 and 2TDs today on the road against a desperate team.

corey webster is a bigger concern on the free agent dept. you cant bring all the pressure we bring and stack 8-9 guys in the box w/out some really good corner play. other teams just don't throw at webster and rather take a shot at ross or isolate the nickel back. dont get me wrong BJ is a beast but i think we need to get wbster done (ala tuck last year) before he even sniffs free agent $.

Warner threw for 395. But that was Seattle. This isn't Seattle's defense, KD.

And the Seahawks aren't desperate anymore, they're just a joke. Even winning out wouldn't have put them in the playoffs.

I don't like the matchup with Arizona very much, but we can slow that game down by pounding the rock on offense.

We'll see what happens going into the game this week .

well my predicition a few days ago on this site was close (I predicited 27-10 giants win).. I knew they would beat down the Ravens, who trust are more bark then bite.....great win for us.  I still am not liking the playcalling of gilbride.  He really has you scratching your head quite a few times during  a game but the team is just to good to let a few plays that do not go there way wind up costing them the game...

Great win once again!

The Giants did put more pressure on Flacco than how it looks in the stats (one sack).  However, he was able to break containment and run for a bunch of yards.  Warner is not much of a threat to do that.

Still, the Cardinals have a very good passing game, with a lot of weapons.  This is a tough matchup for the D.  The offense needs to take some of the pressure off by finishing drives with TDs (as they have been doing the last few weeks).

One more thing to enjoy about this week  was the pathetic play of our friends in Philly. A tie versus the awful bengals!! The Eagles are probaly a few more losses away from a complete overhaul both at the coach level and the quarterback. Rebuilding in south jersey would be a god send in our division as Philly fans would get a taste of an unproven head coach (spags??) but more importantly breaking in a new QB with that terrible receiver corp. Tissues anyone.

As I do every week, I have a great deal of respect for the next opponent. The Cards are a darn good team. But I see no way that they can stop our ground game without putting a safety in the box all the time (and perhaps not even then) and if they do that, Eli should kill them in nice weather with the panoply of weapons he has available.

On defense it will be tough to stop those three receivers if Warner can stay in rhythm, but they've got no chance of running against us and I think this will be a week where Spags will probably come more on blitzes because Warner isn't at all mobile. Over the past few weeks he has actually run a lot of looks where they keep 7 guys back in coverage while the offensive coordinators are keeping 7 back to block the 4 the Giants are sending and only sending 3 out into patterns. That makes it a lot tougher to get a sack, but in case you haven't noticed, nobody is completing big pass plays against us. The Giants are stopping big plays and running almost at will when they have the ball. That makes the opponent have to get a few big plays and/or turnovers to have any real chance to beat the Giants.

So even if Spags decides to stay with a 4-linemen rush in a nickel or dime defense, it will be because he and Coughlin have decided that keeping plays in front of the defense and forcing Warner to keep making plays when the Giants largely control the clock with a smashmouth running game is the best approach to winning the game.

I think there's a reasonable chance that the Giants simply steamroller the Cards, but it's the first game in a month where the potency of the opponent's offense might require the Giants to come from behind. It should be an interesting matchup. We'll all analyze it to death but, in the end, I suspect it will come down to contain Boldin and the Giants win.

panoply (plural panoplies)

A splendid display of something.

I really want WASH to win tonight. I guess the Skins just don't scare me much. But if the Cowboys get healthy and confident there a team I wouldn't want to see in January. So I'd appreciate if the Skins stick the nail in the coffin tonight.

Great win for this team!  This offensive line is truely a step ahead of the rest!  Ross also was awesome!  Hopefully this means he can gain confidence from this and play as good as hes capable of.

On another note...Haz or whoever may know the answer to this, I don't know how much truth to this there is.  I was reading this on one of my draft websites that I visit.  They said that there was a claus (hopefully I used/spelled that correctly) in the trade the saints gave to the jets for Vilma.  If Vilma plays 84 percent of the plays for the saints then the saints must give up a second round pick to the jets.  Which would be the second round pick they were suppose to give to the giants and if this happens they would have to give the giants there first round pick.  Is there any truth to this???

Joser247288 , partly true, but there are other conditions in place. It won't happen. And even if the conditions fall into place, it is the 2010 1st rounder we'd get, not 2009...But that would become a trade chip. Either way, even Jerry Reese said it wasn't going to happen.

FF55 - I don't think stopping Boldin means victory when Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston are on the field along with two backs who are good out of the backfield.

Warner is a statue. And a statue with horrible ball protection. If we hit him, he'll fumble and keeping him from getting set will be the key to this game.

Nosh -

I agree with you. I'd rather see Washington in one game in January than I would Dallas.

so if it does happen does that mean we don't get crap this year and we'd have to wait till 2010?  I mean thats not bad...getting a first rounder.

Joser -

Like KD said, the chances of the Vilma pick turning into a #1 in 2010 for us are REMOTE. The Saints can easily avoid it, so it's not going to happen.

S--t, I think we should sign Vilma, draft picks be damned.

I still like having the second rounder.  So you can't complain either way.  I just saw that and I thought it meant this year we would get there first rounder.  I would have jumped for joy if it came true.  Either way though, I think this was the best deal for US!  I was a shockey fan, he was a good player.  But the fact that he was always injured and hes injured again this year and still not doing really much of anything and we get two picks for him...AWESOME!!!!  REESE IS THE MAN!  Giants are going to win this year and next year...lol.  This is going to be a team that will last!  ITS GREAT TO BE A GIANTS FAN!

Is everyone talking about the same Cardinal team i watched 2 weeks ago get lucky at home to beat those powerhouse 49er's. I think a problem on this blog is people dont spend time watching other teams play. The Cardinals were unimpressive at home in a huge prime time game and if Martz could call a decent play at the goaline they would have lost. Second, did we not experiance Warner ourselves...hint he still fumbles and throws picks under pressure. I watch other games and the Giants are head and shoulder better than every team in this league minus the Titans. Today shows how dominating are running attack is and the D struggles only because teams cant run against us and play dink and dunk to avoid our rush. At some point the offensive is going to realize that the only people capable of stopping them is themselves. The Cards wins outside the worst division in football came against Miami, Buffalo and the mighty Cowboys. What am i missing.

We need to sign Brock Lesnar.

wrdag, shouldn't take anyone lightly. Like you've never seen a bad Cards team beat a good Giants team?

Can we discuss Tom Coughlin's inexplicable man crush on Lawrence Tynes? Only two kickoffs with decent distance (certainly not kicking it any deeper than the 90 year old he replaced), not to mention the awful kick out of bounds and a PAT that barely snuck inside the upright?

Carney was straight down the middle on nearly every single attempt all season. I understand Carney is not the long-term solution, but neither is Tynes. And you can't make the argument about the wind; it's Giants Stadium, it's always windy when the games begin to count.

(I wonder what the winds will be like in the new stadium...)

Isn't Brock Lesnar Marky Mark's porn name in Boogie Nights? I don't mean Dirk Diggler, but the charachter that the Dirk Diggler charachter plays in the porn flicks???

Hey Dirt, maybe Coughlin has a man crush on Tynes, b/c Tynes kicked a FG in OT that got Coughlin $20 million. I would be kinda loyal too if someone got me $20 mil...

Pass happy Cards... we need to bring pressure.  Warner can crack if you get to him.  If not... he can throw for 400 yards.

Boys and Skins fans watching the game and..."Eli Manning is Unstoppable" comes on. They have to love that!

Hall intercepts... incredible.

KD,

That is a fair fact-of-life intangible that could certainly weigh in.

I guess I'll phrase it differently: did Tynes make you feel at all warm and fuzzy when lining up today, any more so than Carney?

wrdag -

I think you're going a little too far in downplaying the Cardinals.

I fully believe the Giants are the better football team, but that doesn't mean we look at them as nothing and expect to win easy.

They have a quarterback who can light you up for 400 easy if you don't get pressure on him, and two of the top 10 receivers in the NFL lining up across from each other. If you don't have a strong gameplan for that offense you are going to get lit up.

They have some guys in that secondary that can make plays on the football as well (including my #1 CB in the past draft, Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, who had 2 INTs today, pardon the shameless plug).

Krow, as Samardjia always says: Tynes = money!

haz, just feel that this team can only be stopped by there own ineptitude. granted, this is the nfl where anyone is dangerous especially in their own building but I just don't put the Cards in the upper tier of the NFL and they have played a soft schedule.

Cowboys looking pathetic...

Extra Point: Sunday was the Giants' first-ever win against the Ravens. Baltimore had beaten the Giants twice in regular season meetings in 1997 and 2004 and also won their only postseason meeting -- Super Bowl XXXV.

sportsillustrated.cnn.com/.../index.html

The Cardinals are a solid team, but let's face facts here; they have struggled to beat the Seahawks and 49ers (a game they really SHOULD have lost) and got absolutely obliterated by the Jets (the Jets are good, but they are not on the Giants' level). I could see the G-Men beating Arizona by three touchdowns...

And the Giants lost to the Browns, needed OT to beat the Bengals...And the Jets lost to the Raiders.

Any team can beat any other team in the NFL.

The Giants are 9-1 and are the defending Super Bowl champions...there is a big difference...

And I realize any team can beat any team in the NFL, but I was just pointing out the fact that the Cardinals are a VERY beatable team...the Giants are not.

I just can't WAIT to get to the office tomorrow.  All of these punk a$$ cowpiles fans will be doom and gloom, meanwhile, we just put 2 Benjamins in rushing yards on the best run stopping D...  BALLINNNNNN!!!

I cannot STAND Marion Barber....

Troy, what I meant was that after we go through all the analysis we will realize that Beaston and Fitzgerald can be limited by good coverage but Boldin is the beast who can both catch balls underneath and go for boatloads of YAC, and can just muscle his way to catch some balls that our defenders would normally knock away.

I don't think Warner will have time to find Fitzgerald deep, and while Breaston is pretty good for a rookie I don't think he will be a huge factor. I'm assuming Webster will largely cover Fitzgerald and has shut down just about every excellent receiver he has faced since the playoffs. Fitzgerald will get some catches, but if he can be held to no more than one big play the Giants will be fine as far as he goes.

So I think the only real issue is how much can Antuan Boldin, who is really the emotional leader of the Cards even if Warner fully controls the offense, can do. I don't care if they have a few decent runners. They're not going to succeed against a defense that will be set up to force warner to win the game by himself under increasing pressure.

So I wasn't knocking their two other "big" receivers, just saying that I'm pretty sure that if Boldin doesn't have a great game the Cards have no shot.

One GREAT thing about the game today. We played one of the most physical teams in the league and came out with just a few dings and no major injuries.

It was also nice to see Hixon and Eli hook up on a slant pattern. That's something we haven't seen enough this season.

So NBC speeds through the NFL highlights...So it can go to Meredith Whothef--k to talk about Australian water shortage?

A certain network has its priorities all out of order.

All this time with this b!tch could be spent showing the crazy 4th of the Steelers/Chargers game.

I need to hear Springsteen like I need a bag on my hip (no offense FF72). I watch the halftime show for highlights goddamnitt