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Well, took a walk this morning and if the Meadowlands is anything like where I am then these winds are going to affect the game. I think that's a negative for the Giants because it makes it harder to go downfield in the passing game, which allows the Ravens to tighten up the field and cover for their weakened secondary.

Nonetheless, I hope Gilbride and Eli throw a few deep anyway, just to force the safeties back. But I think this may be the kind of game where we need Boss and Smith to be big factors, need a few turnovers, and will depend upon Feagles to win the field position game that I think determines this game more than most. Put the Ravens deep in their territory against the wind, stop their run, force Flacco to be conservative with passes on third-and-long, and then get field position around midfield 3-4 times today when the Ravens have to punt from inside their 25-yard-line.

This would actually be the kind of game and weather conditions when it would be nice to be able to run some screens to Ward and Bradshaw and some quick passes in the flat to Moss or Manningham and let them go for YAC. We should see the former even if we don't see the latter.

I'd be really confident of a win on a nice day with just a little breeze. Despite the kind of comment that Jared made in the previous post, the Giants are simply a better football team playing on their home field. Put these teams on a neutral field in Arizona and the Giants should win 8-out-of-10 games. In these conditions, though, it could be really close.

Look for Special Teams and field position to be the critical factor unless the Giants can jump out to an early lead of more than a touchdown, in which case this could get ugly for the Ravens.

Yeah , I agree about the wind , as it bothered me coming out the door this morning - But I think it plays to the Giants advantage since they are Home and know the Meadowlands better -and I think Feagles will be a distinct plus in directionalising (is there such a word ?) his punts

But Jared notwithstanding -it comes down to who do you trust most ? the MVP of the Super bowl or a rookie

even if he has been playing well ?

I hate these windy days as they are when Eli has had his worst days. Also it totally favors the Ravens

KD-When are you posting the Picks. I need conformation before I put in my Parlay

Yes, the Ravens have a strong running game but I honestly feel that our running game is better!

FF, I completely agree with you in regards to your expected gameplan. I would even make a stretch that Eli is much more comfortable with some deep passes in the Meadowlands than a rookie that's never played a game there.  

This game will be dictated by the performance of the O-line.  If they can impose their will on that Ravens D and get that mack truck we call BJ on a roll, everything will open up including the deep ball.

JD's gameplan... SMASHMOUTH football and get the crowd pumped up defense.  If "Joe the Quarteback" lines up anywhere other than behind center... [it should be noted that 21+5=10, i.e. Troy Smith will spend the rest of the game on his tippy toes peeking over his O-line] Kenny Phillips should go to the sideline and immediately start writing a "condolence letter" to Flacco's parents.

I have mixed feelings about today.

I know the Giants can beat the Ravens, but will they? The last time EVERYONE picked them across the board, they were embarrassed by the Browns.

Then, of course, you have the weather factor.

Things actually seem to be going the Ravens way, but that's neither here nor there come game time.

My feelings this morning give the slight edge to New York in this one.

I left out "swirling winds" of the Meadowlands...

Good Morning All, and excellent write up Dan.

I agree with your obsevations, and like the fact that the Giants respect that Balt. will put up a scrap on both sides of the ball.  The Ravens will try to break down the passing pocket with middle pressure.  They will zone blitz with gap intregrity in an attempt to take away the play action running game.

If the Giants can keep the middle of the pocket sound, Eli and crew will be ablt to make plays down field.

I think think quick outs medium length IN'S will challange the raven secondary.  While I feel Jacobs is needed to establish a physical presents, I think Bradshaw would be a nice option to have on short routes out of the backfield.  He has the speed and moves to give the ravens fits on the outside.

The Giant offense must take advantage of what the ravens will give them.  I have a good deal of respect for Lewis.  Antics aside, he is football savy (much like AP) and still has the ability to roam from side to side and deliver hits.  He can not cover either Ward or Bradshaw out of the backfield, and should be made to chase them whenever possiable.

The raven backers and DE's move well and will drop off in coverage to protect against dump off's to backs or bubble screens. If PLAX has his head screwed on properly, with Samari Rolle hurting the ravens are in big trouble.  Boss is perhaps better than either the Giants or ravens suspect.  I would look for Boss Man to get some touches too. And with Reed playing hurt, Boss may even be called to run some seam patterns.

On the defensive side, the Giants as Dan has pointed out can not let the ravens establish a consistant running game.  McGahee is a very hard runner and a good receiver coming out of the backfield.

Ray Rice is a mighty mite who the ravens are not relunctant to use.  And Neal is one of the better blocking FB's in the game.  

So stuffing the run will be a "Giant Chore" today.  As a unit, the raven backs are a poor mans EW&F.  They should not be taken lightly.

The young QB is a dramatic upgrade over what the ravens have had as far back as I can remember, super bowl included.  He has the arm and deep touch to challange the GMEN in coverage.  He can really throw the deep and medium out.

The Giants must keep him from steping up in the pocket.  He is not the most mobile of QB's so if the Giants flush him, the pursuit will make life hard for Flaco.  Again, sacks are nice, but the key here is to force him into bad throws, where he under throws or floats some of those deep passes.  With Phillips, Ross and Webster on duty, those bad throws will be coming back the other way.

If Tood Heap is ready to play, AP and/or Johnson will have their hands full. I do not think Heap is what he was a few years ago, however he has the savy and hands to be a problem.  Clark, if he has the assignment must pound Heap at the line of scrimage to throw his timing off.  

Mason and the remainder of Baltimore's receiving corps while not stars, are good enough to make some plays down field, especially if Flaco is able to set and throw.  They have some speed, but they are not a very dynamic unit.

If the Giants can stop the ravens from running, and there is no reason to think they can not, Blue will pull this game out.  This will not be easy, because the ravens bring a defense that normally features front seven play on par with the Steelers.  And the outstanding Ed Reed.  Baltimore is hurt in the secondary and that will open the door for the Giant passing game.

The ravens will be hard pressed to stop the Giant running attack.  And if they commit too many players to that task, the Giants should make them pay in the passing game.  The Giants must stick with the run and exploit the raven D with their skill players in space.

GIANTS 27  RAVENS 16

I think the wind will have more affect on the raven QB than Eli.  Eli has to know what he can and can not do in the wind tunnel.

I wonder if they still open or close the "big doors" depending on the wind and who we are playing.  :)   Phil Sims knew the ebb and flow like the back of his hand.  I would suspect Coughlin remembers as well.  

Who cares about the wind I'm looking forward to the train wreck at the bottom of the HILL! GO BJ!

rjh'

I think they redid the doors about  6/8 years ago no affect

jimDB - Great picture.

But lets not sell the Ravens run D short here. They are damn good and it's unlikely that the Giants will gain the type of yards they are used to.

That said, I think Baltimore will give up more yards on the ground than they're accustomed to giving up.

rlhj, nice post, but just because the Ravens do a pretty good job of covering screens and bubble screens doesn't mean they shouldn't be run. In fact, it's important to show them a little of that to force them to account for it, which does open up some running lanes since the defensive tackles and ends would have to think about an outside gap, allowing the Giants' O-line to use the defenders' momentum to create rushing lanes.

And I think that while your point about Boss possibly getting a seam pattern is a good one, I think it's pretty obvious that a more likely recipient (and one I expect to see) is Smith.

By the way, everyone is focused on collisions between Lewis and Jacobs. What we really ought to want to see is a lot of collisions between Lewis and Hedgecock with Jacobs cutting off the block for runs of 7-8 yards at a clip.

I take NOTHING away from Ray Lewis, but he is simply not the best linebacker the Giants will face this season. He may not even be the best on the Ravens. The media has created almost as much hype about him as they did about the Pats as "The Greatest Team of All Time" in 2007.

I think that one major benefit of this game, no matter how it turns out, is that the Giants will be getting a preview of what their strengths and weaknesses will be come December and January in the Meadowlands. As we go into this last part of the season and hope to have home field advantage in the playoffs, the Giants will be looking to dominate by running and stopping the run, by passing judiciously to a broad variety of weapons particularly off play action, and to win the turnover and field position games. Today they play a team that has as good a chance to stop the Giants' running game as any team in the NFL does. And they are playing against a team that runs extremely well. So it's a great test both ways. I think if there's a statement game this season, this may be it. If the Ravens cannot stop the Giants from playing their game on offense I don't see any team out there that can. And since I think the Giants' defense is going to get progressively better each game, that would spell big trouble for the rest of the NFL.

If, on the other hand, the Giants play badly, and even lose a non-critical game, they will have a very good basis for seeing what went wrong and working to correct it. So they could lose the battle but as a result win the war, so to speak.

Having said that, I think they'll win, but I'd much rather the winds were 5-10mph so Eli could dominate this team, which I'm confident he could do unless they figure out a way to increase the pressure they've put on the QB this season.

I'll stick with the Giants, 23-13 that I predicted early in the week, but I wouldn't bet the game if I were a sports gambler. I wouldn't bet Pittsburgh/San Diego either because you just don't know what you'll get from either team, but my reasons for the Giants is I can see anything from a blowout win by the Giants to a close win by the Ravens, depending upon how Flacco handles the pressure. I think he'll get flustered, but there's no way of knowing and if Harbaugh and Cameron have decided to only have him throw out of short drops then this becomes the knock-down, drag-out fight that gets decided by a few plays made and a few not made.

Where is KD?

Giants inactives listed above.

Carney sitting down today, Manningham also out.  Webster and Butler are playing.

DISCLAIMER: I don't feel too confident about the picks this week.

Giants -6 1/2

Broncos +6

Fish - 10 1/2

Colts -8

Jags +3 1/2

Bears + 3 1/2

Eagles - 9

Saints - 5 1/2

Lions + 14 1/2

Vikes + 4 1/2

Rams + 6 1/2

Cards -3

Chargers +5 1/2

Skins + 1 1/2

Bills -5

jimDB and 12dan.S., those are GREAT pictures!

Guys I think the game plan should be to just play it safe. If it's not their throw it away and punt. I know Eli is better than last year, but we don't need another Vikes game. I don't think the Ravens will be able to do anything unless their D forces turnovers. I know it sounds lame to just play field position but a 3 and out is much better than an int. This defense is known for making plays. As long as the Giants play it smart like they did against Pittsburgh I think we will see the same result. Go Giants! This is my last post for the day. I look forward to reading the comments Monday Morning at work. Let's hope it's mostly postive stuff.

Thanks for pic compliment.

I will remember it forever and my friend helling to a Pat's fan "What's THE SCORE KNOW"!

Two last comments.

I know that a lot of folks will be outraged that TC decided on Tynes as his kicker for today. Just remember that field position is CRITICAL in this game. If the Ravens can be force to try to mount long drives they are just not going to be able to do it except for a rare occasion.

And it will be fun watching tonight knowing that one of those teams has to lose. A rare occasion on which a Giants' fan cannot lose and can root for two teams to knock the living daylights out of each other in prime time.

uh oh....

Benton gives an edge to the Giants today? Not a good sign. Dan's consistent pessimism has been one of the most consistent indicators of a Giants victory this year.

Now I'm nervous.

norm - I've actually only gone pessimistic once this year and it was met rudely.

But if it would make everyone feel better, I think the Giants will lose by 14.  :)

Jim Fassel has stepped up his campaign to become an NFL head coach again in the most interesting of ways.

A team source tells ESPN senior NFL analyst Chris Mortensen that Fassel recently sent a handwritten letter to Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, expressing his respect and admiration for Davis and his desire to coach the embattled franchise.

sports.espn.go.com/.../story

Man, I had no idea that Fassel was that desperate.

Kind sad, really.

It's too bad that Al Davis probably no longer has the capability to read.

I am shocked that Fassel hasnt gotten another Shot at HC, after leading his only team to the SB and to the playoffs 3 times in 7 years. There are a lot of guys out there with less of a resume who get several shots

JD-"Phillips should go to the sideline and immediately start writing a "condolence letter" to Flacco's parents."

LMFAO-glad you are back bro!

anybody have a link for the game??? i think i might be stuck with the panthers game

isnt this Bum JR's third head coaching stint? The fat POS has never one a big game, yet he and Norv  "Edward James Olmos" Turner keep getting shot after shot at HC while Fassel stews?

Spags should pay attention to that.

anybody have a link for the game??? i think i might be stuck with the panthers game

Dick Jauron, Marvin Lewis, Romeo Crennal,Herm Edwards, Brad Childress, Rod Marinelli are also coaches that couldnt hold Fassels Coaching Clip board either

http://www.channelsurfing.net/

Try this for a link to the game.

www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php

someone gave me a link a few weeks ago to a site that opened up windoms mediaplayer, was perfect and fast. Any links to the game guys?

i checked there they are audio only... i think i might have to head to the bar

The best thing someone can do if neither of those links work, is to hit old game threads and snatch some of the links from there.

Also, you guys can try this:

www.justin.tv/soilxtreme3

On a side note, i think it was Frank who used to bring up the Ravens supplemental 5th rd draft pick that is now playing Left tackle for them, Jared Gaither.  If it was someone else, I apologize for not giving proper credit.  I remember many discussions on if the Giants should have taken a chance on him.  Not having seen any Ravens games this year, how has this guy played?  Has he lived up to expectation as only a second year LT?  How does he match up against KIWI?  

Just got a little tired of all the Ray Lewis talk as I hate that guy.  

thanks alot dan i hate living in NC every sunday now... although I might get lucky since the ravens are in the afc south and it is on cbs...are the panthers on fox?

With Thanksgiving coming up and all I think it's time for the Giants to have there 2nd consecutive week of some bird followed by a 3rd week,and then after that well it time for a good old pig roast. Giants need to eat ya know. Go Giants!

Giants 27 - Ravens 13

Joe Flacco leaves game at least once and we see some Troy Smith.

www.stoogetv.com/player.html for anyone out of Giants region like myself.  Game will be streaming on channel 4.  They will also post up MMS links (wmp) in the cbox over there.  

Let's get this rolling!  Go, G-MEN!

btw, if your unsure about how mms links work, they only live about 20 seconds, so if you miss them, just wait for the next set of links to get posted ;)

Man...has this season flown by or what? I can't believe next week is Thanksgiving already.

Soooo anxious.  COME ON GMEN!

m2,

Time flies when you're beatin' some ASS

Haha. True.

Man I hate Ray Lewis ... I hope BJac FLATTENS him.

GGGGGGGGGG-MEN!!!

Here we go!

He's sooooo intenseeee

Kickoff coverage is piss poor.

Let's kill this skinny loser

C-Webbbbbbbbbb

Lets go, offense!!!

Nice 3 and out, lets go O

I guess we all know what Y.A. looks like now...

BJAC!!!!!!

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

WHAT A RUN!!!

Good job BJ

Who Dat gonna run on the Ravens D???

I hate these shotgun runs we do...

stupid penalty...

Yeah, ELI!

BURRESS!

What presence Eli has.  What a legend