Giants Fan Blog: How ‘Bout Them G-Men?!

By Ryan G. Murphy, WNBC.com

I fell asleep last night with an ear-to-ear smile on my face. I woke up in the exact same position.

Fellow Giants fans, it doesn’t get any bigger or better than this.

Big Blue is in the NFC title game. Read that again. Take yourself back to week two of this season and read that again. Wow.

Late in the fourth quarter Sunday the script was written for another Dallas victory. We’ve seen it happen too many times – standing toe to toe with the Cowboys for 55 minutes, only to have the rug pulled out from under us.

It hurts. It stings. It makes you want to fly to Dallas and personally wipe the grinch-like smile off Jerry Jones’ face.

And Sunday, it never happened…The Jerry Jones smile that is.

We went into Dallas, after losing to the Cowboys twice during the regular season, and usurped the ‘Boys position as NFC heavyweight. After 13 regular-season wins and a one and done in the playoffs, I wouldn’t want to be waking up in Dallas this morning…even if it was next to Jessica Simpson.

Eli Manning scripted his name into Giants history Sunday and made clear that he’s the man in New York. At times it’s been easy to doubt him, but in the Giants three biggest games (Patriots, Bucs, Cowboys) he’s been the go-to guy. Perhaps this is his coming of age. Eli’s not Peyton, he’s Eli.

The Packers are going to be a tough test next week, but, really, why not us? Few expected us to win against Tampa. None expected us to win in Dallas. And not too many will forecast us in the Super Bowl. And that’s just the way we want it.

Enjoy this victory Giants fans, it’s one of the biggest we’ve ever had.

Not Exactly The Week 1 We Hoped For…

Sorry for not writing until Monday afternoon but I’ve spent the last few hours trying to cover Jason Whitten over the middle. Somebody’s got to do it.

Ok, so we learned three things on Sunday:

1)I can’t pick against the spread: 6-8 on Sunday. If I win both Monday night games I’ll be 8-8. Does that clinch me a playoff spot in the NFC?

2)The Giants defense is atrocious. Tony Romo is good – but not “I won my fantasy week because of him” good. I am not even remotely confident in the Giants’ secondary and Mathias Kiwanuka looked as comfortable at linebacker as the class nerd playing dodge ball in gym class. Also, I saw John Madden get less winded running sprints before the game than the Giants D-line.

3)The Giants are the exact same team as last year minus Tiki Barber. Just when you think the game is lost, they come back to give you hope, only to say 10 plays later, “you silly, silly man, did you think we were ACTUALLY going to pull it out?” Last year’s team did just enough to lose the big games. Last night wasn’t any different.

Plain and simple, the defense let us down Sunday night. Injuries aside, you can’t get torched for 45 points and 336 passing yards. Defense gets an F for Sunday’s loss. I’m more worried about the secondary than the injuries.

Let’s look at the bright side of things, now.

Ok…done.

Just kidding. In reality, we’re 0-1 after an injury-plagued game, on the road. If we take care of Dallas at Giants’ Stadium later in the year, we can call it a wash. Last night would have been a HUGE win, but it’s not the end of the world.

Manning looked better than I’ve ever seen him. Assuming his injury isn’t long term – the passing game looks promising, and who needs Brandon Jacobs when you’ve got Derrick Ward, right? There were glints of Tiki Barber last night from Ward, but I wouldn’t christen him the savior running back just yet.

At the very least we saw that Ward can be an extremely effective third-down-type back. Paging David Meggett…

No, seriously, we need David Meggett and any other football player that’s played running back before. Send resumes to: OnTheHotSeat@coughlin.com

Bottom line, it could be worse – we could be the Jets.

–Ryan

David Tyree Out With Broken Wrist

Giants WR #85 is expected to miss 4-6 weeks after breaking his wrist.

Tom Coughlin discusses Tyree’s injury and other injuries here on Giants.com.

It’s no secret, but the Giants definitely have some issues at WR with a bunch of injuries. Most notably is Plaxico Burress who has missed some practice with an injured back.

In a New York Post article Tom Coughlin says the team has no intentions of trying out kickers outside the organization. Against the Jets on Saturday, both Giants kickers, vet Lawrence Tynes and novice Josh Huston, missed makeable kicks. Tynes missed from 40 and 43 before hitting a 40 yarder and Huston missed a 42 yarder. That’s 9 points! Yikes!

Gary Myers of the NY Daily News reports that Michael Strahan continues to mull retirement. Strahan missed all of Giants training camp this year.

“It’s no distraction, no distraction at all,” defensive end Osi Umenyiora insisted Monday, according to the Daily News. “We’re all pretty much focused on what we need to do. We still have another preseason game. We’ve got Dallas in two weeks.”

An article in the Newark Star Ledger reports that Eli Manning’s 111.3 quarterback rating is ninth-best in league and his completion percentage is 10th, HOWEVER, there are concerns over the Giants’ offensive line’s depth. Because we needed more questions with the Giants offense? According to the Ledger, the Giants offense is “walking the line.” Reporting by Johnny Cash. And that, my friends, is what we call a joke. Try the veal, I’ll be here all week.

On Monday, the Giants announced several roster cuts. The Giants have until 4 p.m. Tuesday to get down to 75 players.

Enjoy the U.S. Open everyone and get pumped for Dallas,

Ryan