BleedinBlue

Although I agree with the premise of your argument....let me remind you that the Giants are not the "overachieving saints of a year ago, the super bowl bears of a year ago, the on the rise 49ers of a year ago, the powerful ravens of a year ago, the up-start jets of a year ago..." The Giants are where they are at with 8 rookies on the team and the 3rd youngest team in the NFL (which will be the youngest if Strahan or Toomer retires at the end of the season or if Madison is cut). And this team did it without Shockey, or without Kiwanuka, or Ward, etc. That means that the best years for this team are yet to come. It doesn't mean that we shouldn't be hoping for a Super Bowl win, but there's no reason to believe that we should think about rebuilding next year when we got to where we are with a great bunch of rookies.

Since Derrick Ward is staying at Grant's house for the weekend, I suggest he take Grant out and get him shitface drunk on Saturday night.....maybe slip him a Mickey!

Shoulda, coulda, woulda.....blah, blah, blah. Had Crayton caught the pass (oh yeah...he didn't), the game would have unfolded in a different manner with game plans changing, etc. The outcome is unknown. Oh yeah....that time when Jacobs was downed before he got to the line of scrimmage....should he have eluded the tackle, he would've probably run the length of the field and the score would've been 28 to 17....but he didn't....duhhh.

Concerning the "national sensation" of the Giants. If there's one thing in this country that is a common thread among real NFL fans....that is their downright hatred of the Cowboys. Sure...every town and every city has their share of ravid cowboy fans wearing gaudy blue and silver jackets and hats....but that just makes those who aren't Cowboy fans despise the Cowboys. And the regular joe NFL fan is offended by the long on-going campaign that Dallas is "America's Team". Bullshit, it's Texas' team and the handful of reebies scattered throughout the country. I don't think the Giants converted a lot of fans to become Giants' fans, but they sure had the nation's support on Sunday from the millions who hate egotistical, inflated self worth assholes like Jimmy Jones, T.O., and the overhyped Cowboys. Don't get me wrong....there are some Cowboys who still have some class. However, since Landry and Staubach left the team...the class acts are very few and far between.

According to Michael Eisen (Giants.com), Koets did not suit up for Sunday's game. " Regardless....very impressive. Laughed my ass off when the Fox Three didn't know what to say after the game and I thought Jimmy Johnson was going to pull a Hillary/T.O......and during the game, Aikman started making excuses for the Cowboys because they were the "4th youngest team in the NFL.....blah, blah, blah...", completely oblivious to the fact that the Giants have a younger team than them and that the Giants were playing a plethora of rookies. To me....that was the story that should have been yakked up by the announcers.

Nope...8/9. There are only 9 rookies on the active roster. There are 2 rookies on the I/R (Dek Bake and Craig Dahl), which would make 11 rookies if they weren't injured.

That's true....that means there were 8 rookies playing in the game and 1 rookie (Koets) who was inactive. Incredible! :worshippy:

My bad....I stand corrected. I should've said, "if they were better....the Packers would be headed to Texas instead of the Giants heading for Lambeau.

Look who's back Giants run into a good friend when they face Packers' Grant (Tuesday, January 15, 2008) BY MIKE GARAFOLO Ryan Grant had to call "his boys" once Sunday's game was over. He just had to extend his congratulations to three of his former teammates with the Giants: running back Brandon Jacobs and defensive ends Justin Tuck and Osi Umenyiora. But before he could praise them, all three congratulated him and his Packers teammates for making it to the NFC Championship Game. "I was like, 'Me? You just beat up on Dallas. I should be congratulating you,'" Grant, the Don Bosco grad and former Giants player, said last night when reached on his cell phone. "Both sides are very happy for each other." It's a lovefest for now. But make no mistake, on Sunday, Tuck, Umenyiora and the rest of the Giants' defense will be trying to bury Grant as far under the grass at Lambeau Field as possible. "They just said they're coming for us and they'll be ready for Green Bay," Grant said. "Absolutely, they should be." It has been more than four months since the Giants, overstocked with five legitimate running backs, traded Grant to the Packers for a sixth-round draft pick. If they hadn't, they might have had to cut one of their backs and certainly didn't want to part with Jacobs, Derrick Ward, Reuben Droughns or Ahmad Bradshaw. If they had only known how it might come back to bite them. Fresh off a regular season in which he rushed for 956 yards and eight touchdowns, Grant took it up another notch in the playoffs by shaking off two early fumbles to run for 201 yards and three touchdowns in the Packers' snow-covered 42-20 blowout of the Seahawks. Making quick cuts and cutting all the way across the field on a few plays, Grant showed speed and agility that probably should have gotten him noticed in 2005 when he went undrafted out of Notre Dame and signed with the Giants as a free agent. It's those skills some Giants players wish they had on their side -- even with Jacobs plowing over defenders while Bradshaw scoots past a few as well. "Trust me, I'm upset Ryan Grant is not with us," defensive end Michael Strahan said. "He's a bull and we have our work cut out to stop him. "We gave up too many yards rushing (against the Cowboys), so he's probably licking his chops to have another opportunity against his former team. He's one of those guys you think, 'We let one go.'" Added Tuck: "I wish we'd have kept him. That's my guy. He did a great job coming back from those early fumbles. That's how it's been for him. His career was kind of bad early and now he's one of the best backs in the league." Many of Grant's former teammates still consider him to be their "guy." Actually, Jacobs feels their relationship is closer than that. "That's my brother, man," he said of the two, who were rookies in training camp three seasons ago. "We're just brothers from another mother." And they know each other as well as some siblings do, which is what will make Sunday's matchup between Grant and the Giants' defense very interesting. Certainly, coach Tom Coughlin and the rest of the offensive staff have an extensive scouting report on Grant to hand over to defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo. "Any time that you have spent time with an athlete, you know him better than you would otherwise," Coughlin said yesterday. "Ryan has had an outstanding year and played extremely well with all kinds of big plays in a really outstanding second half of the season and certainly had a big game the other day. "Other than that we are going to have to contend with the whole (offensive) package." Said Grant, "Maybe there are some really minute details that might help both sides." What about the weather? Not a problem for Grant, apparently. "You never get used to it, but I feel comfortable in the cold," he said. Then again, maybe he thinks the Giants' players won't be comfortable and that it'll be an advantage for him and his teammates. After all, last week he said, "I know, in the back of their minds, they don't really want to come to Green Bay." Grant said he was only kidding around. "It was in a joking manner because not very many people want to come to Lambeau to play," he said. "I know these guys are excited to come up here and play." And they'll have one of their injured players there to cheer them on. Ward, who broke his fibula on Dec. 2 against the Bears, is planning on traveling to Wisconsin to watch the game. Guess where he's staying. Yep, Grant's house. Isn't this all kind of a weird situation? "It was weird the first time around," Grant said of the Packers' Week 2 win at Giants Stadium in which he had only one catch for 21 yards. "I don't think it'll be weird at all."

Philips is showing everyone that it is possible to have even less class the day after the game than he had on game day. He should be complimenting the Giants' (especially the defense that shut them down completely) and making a graceful compliment with dignity, the way true leaders do. But....what can you expect from a typical Dallas player/coach with an inflated sense of self worth and a self-bravado mentality.......duhhh... "even though we're better, we're home watching the other teams play for the big one.....blah, blah, blah....". What an ass! If they were better...they'd be heading for Lambeau Field....instead, they're eating popcorn in front of a television watching the winners play on!

The intensity that comes from a game being decided in the last couple of seconds heightens the moment beyond words....especially when the entire outcome isn't decided until the last moment as it was in last night's game. When RW intercepted the pass....I let out a whoop like I haven't in years. And it wasn't until that very moment that I realized we were going to win this game. You can't buy intensity like that. Other great moments in my lifetime when a game's outcome came down to the last seconds: - The 1991 Superbowl win by the Giants when the Bills Scott Norwood attempted a 46 yard field goal to win the game BUT MISSED as time expired. Whewwww! Near heart attack time. - The 2003 National NCAA Basketball Champions (Syracuse Orange) when Hakim Warrick swooped throught the air and swatted the last shot of the game into the bleachers that was taken by Kansas with 3 seconds left on the clock and had the shot gone, would've made Kansas the winner. (Note: this on the heels of the Indiana Hoosiers knocking off Syracuse 74-73 in the final second on a last shot (exactly like the one Warrick swatted away) by Keith Smart in one of SU's last NCAA National title games.) Until that shot was swatted away by Warrick....the outcome was unknown. When that happened, I jumped three feet in the air simultaneously with 100 other guys at a bar and nearly brought the house down. Anyway....not knowing the outcome of a game until the very last play of the game is excitement so intense as to make it a permanent memory of greatness or sadness. Makes for a great game though. Lucky for me....I'm a Giants' fan and not one of those lowlife cowboy fans.

I thought I was watching Hillary Clinton when she thought she was losing in New Hampshire.....had to do a doubletake to realize who was crying like a baby on TV. When I saw it was T.O., I laughed my ass off. "A time to live, and a time to die....a time to laugh, and a time to cry".... losing a football game is NOT the time to cry - not publicly anyway (can't find a crying icon to insert here....damn!)

Oh how I hate "front runners" who's team loyalty changes with the standings.

Aikman (pretty sure it was Aikman) went on about how this Cowboy team was the 4th youngest football team in the NFL....like it was a worthy excuse. They left out the fact that the Giants are the 3rd youngest team in the NFL and were playing 8 rookies and 1 practice squad player. I slapped my leg and laughed my ass off!

Poor ole Jimmy looked down right despondant after the game. Said very little...looked down...and had a look of complete disgust. Oh well boys....suck it up. Giants got the girl tonight!

Not surprising at all. Once he got into NASCAR he became hooked. Trying to live a dream isn't easy....it's impossible to live two dreams. I think he wanted to spend more time in autoracing now that he's had a taste.

For defense: tough, tough call. Osi, Tuck, Ross, Mitchell, all played excellent defense. But I'd vote for Spags for putting it all together. For offense: almost as tough a call. The O-line was fabulous, the tandem of Jacobs/Ward, Jacobs/Bradshaw, etc., was very good. Plax made big plays when needed. Shockey had a good season before breaking his leg. But I'd have to vote for the O-line.

I got 8 right....but to be honest, I was guessing on most of them. This test is for real trivia/stat type nuts. How many minutes did a drive take 27 years ago....duhhhh. And that's one I guessed right

I don't mind Gumble that much. His voice has so much history on sports TV that it's like Howard Cosell....who's comments could be irritating, but was a major part of my personal history watching sports. The one who really, really needs to be thrown off the NFL network is Dieon Sanders. I can't bear to look at him, let alone listen to his "pearls of wisdom". I switch channels everytime the camera moves to him.....ugghhh!

Yup....talk about a prized gift dropping out of the sky right into our lap. Whew....we got lucky on that one. He's fun to watch. I'm also getting a kick out of watching Boss play. Between the two of them, it takes the sting out of losing Shockey. In fact, with the development of Boss, it makes me wonder if the front office is beginning to think Shockey is expendable. I hope not, but I know he's big bucks and seems to get hurt badly about half way through the season.....not to mention, no telling how much he loses because of his broken leg.

Nice summary..........however, you left off Madison Hedgecock. He doesn't get a lot of attention, but he's grinding it out with the big boys to solidify the frontline and creating some holes for Jacobs and Bradshaw. I think he's one of the most underrated pickups the Giants have made in a long time and it couldn't have come at a better time. He's proving his worth and he was a steal.

I agree with you that our backfield can be beaten by top tier recievers. But what sticks out to me about the Giants is the complete lack of an occassional homerun ball. I can't remember the last time Eli aired it out while our receivers were going deep. To me.....the occassional homerun ball needs to be added to the offensive arsenal. It worked for NE to comeback on the Giants. It would be nice to see it work for the Giants rather than against.

I thought the same thing in the beginning of the year and wondered why he didn't get more touches...even though he had that one big fumble. For a little guy, he has speed coupled with tremendous power and determination, with some very nifty moves. He only needs Coughlin's "how to hold the ball right" training that Tiki got. I think he's the perfect combination with Jacobs. With those two in the backfield, no defense can focus on the air game. A good front line...a strong running game...and Eli will be coming around big time (fingers crossed)

To think that someone on the Red Sox payroll....and whose livelihood relies on the Red Sox....was not biased in who to "out" is absurd. It's like paying Steinbrenner to find out who's on steroids and when the list comes out we discover that half the Red Sox are on roids, but no Yankees. Do you think a few Red Sox fans wouldn't think that a little bias played a role? It's also funny that Red Sox fans despise any player who used to be a Red Sox and is now a Yankee - what a coincidence that Clemens and Damon make up half the list....not to mention, skinny little Knoblauch who repeatedly hurt the Sox with his little league slap hitting. I'm sure that plenty of Yankee haters....and especially Red Sox lovers, are creamin in their shorts over this. I doubt you guys would feel the same way if the director of the Eagles came out with a report with no Eagles on it, but all kinds of Giants.

I thought it a little strange that Mitchell (employed by the Red Sox) focused on Yankees while ignoring the Sox. Yesterday's news listed Veritek and "Big Poppi", yet their names were suddenly dropped from the list. How strange and convenient. Also, according to the investegators (apart from Mitchell), Johnny Damon was hitting the roids hard while a Red Sox, but quit when going to the Yanks.....which could explain Damon's breakdown since leaving the Sox. Regardless....one would have to be a fool to believe Mitchell was unbiased as he played accuser, judge, and jury while listing Yanks as the biggest offender and the Red Sox as squeaky clean. C'mon....give me a break....Chuck Knoblauch??? He was a skinny little slap hitter than couldn't throw a ball from 2nd base to 1st.....and he was juicing up??? Mitchell's report was clearly leveled at the Yankees. A lot of players that thrived in the late 90's early 00's started to break down after 2003 once drug testing was initiated. Schilling sticks out in my mind as one of them. Pedro Martinez and Nomar Garciapia are others. And of course, the aforementioned Damon. There's something really smelly and fishy about "stud players" becoming "always breaking down has-beens" since 2004. The list doesn't even scratch the surface....only the surface of the Yankees.