JMFP

Even though he drives me nuts, I still really like Shockey. He just pisses me off because he could be even better if he just kept his cool sometimes. Shockey is in his 6th(?) season, and Boss is a rookie, and yet it's Boss who understands that you do not spike the ball after catching a pass and converting on 3rd down. When Barber left, so did the shadow that was hanging over Eli's ability to become a leader. Barber called Eli "comical" last year, when instead, I'm sure it was Eli not trying to usurp a leadership role that he felt he did not earn. I think with young guys with Boss and Smith, Eli just feels more comfortable, whereas with Shockey, maybe the critics are right - maybe he just forcing the ball to Shockey because he's trying to keep him happy or something. At the very least, Boss has shown that the offense can move without Shockey.

Holy icicles, batman!

Subject: Regular Season Stats Grade: A Subject: Regular Season Wins Grade: A- Subject: Wearing Hat Backwards Grade: B+ Subject: Banging hot celebrities Grade: A+ Subject: Winning Playoff Games 1st Exam Date: January 6Th, 2007 Grade: Fail 2nd Exam Date: January 13th, 2008 Grade: Fail

I'll give you that Shockey is a better blocker. Then again, I've heard a couple guys say the opposite; but still, I'm with you on that. And I'll also grant that Eli's had his share of lame throws. However, I can't think of another QB that has had so many catchable passes dropped, either. Still, Boss has done a great job. In the preseason, every rag out there had us finishing 3rd or 4th in the NFC East, mainly because "nobody could replace Barber." I'm thinking that Boss is to Shockey what Jacobs/Bradshaw was to Tiki.....a young, capable, (and drama-free) replacement. Or, at the very least, a successor.

I've been waiting for that....LOL.

Out here in Chicago, temps started today at 30 degrees, and then dropped right off the ledge. I froze my ass off getting to my car after work today. This evening, the temp is 14 degrees with a 22 mph wind. I went to park my mother-in-laws car, and within a couple minutes, my hands started to go numb. While outside, I kept thinking "I can't believe they are going to play in this shit." I suppose that's why I never made it down to the final 53 man roster. Then I stop to think how much farther north Green Bay is from Chicago, and then the fact that it's going to drop another ten degrees, and I just don't know what the hell this game is going to look like. I hope someone slaps a raccoon coat on Brandon Jacobs and points him at the end zone, because I think we're going to need another Buffalo performance from him, Bradshaw, and our offensive line this Sunday. This game could come down to that old "Feagles Magic".

Shockey is a tremendous athlete, and a fiery competitor. I'd love to have him out in Lambeau on Sunday. But Boss has been, quite frankly, a refreshing surprise. All the kid does is run the route and catch the ball....good enough for me. I'm tired of Shockey's "throw it to me, I'm open" body language, the dropped passes, and most of all, I'm tired of him and Eli not being on the same page because Shockey thinks hanging in Miami with his "U" posse is more important than being with his QB in the offseason. I don't normally listen alot to the so-called "experts". Dan Marino, however, is an exception. And I'm pretty sure that Aikman touched upon it last week too - Shockey's routes have been sloppy. More than anything, Eli needs his receivers to be where the are supposed to be - that's why I was so stoked to get Steve Smith - the kid finds the gaps in coverage. Boss is the same way. And of course, Toomer is completely clutch. I'm not surprised at all that Eli is leaning on those 3 to get it done. I'll be happy when Shockey is back, but frankly, I wouldn't shed a tear if Reese swung a trade and dealt him to some AFC team for a solid safety, corner, or high draft pick.

Good point. Here's how I see it.....if your an "A" student, then the night before the exam, if you've already studied up, and want to go out to a movie, then you've demonstrated from past experience that you are capable of handling your responsibilities, and therefore, nobody should question what you do on your free time. However, if you are a "D" student, have an upcoming exam, go out to the movies the night before, and then fail the test, naturally, people are going to ask - "what the hell were you doing at the movies, when you could have been studying for that test????" The fact is, Romo is now 0-2 in the playoffs. He has failed to win a playoff game. As a playoff performer, he is not an "A" student, like, for example, Brady, Favre, or Peyton Manning. Romo should really do himself a favor and heed Parcell's advice about not becoming a celebrity QB.

It's the cheeks, I think.

I certainly hope so. We've FINALLY found a competent replacement for John Fox. The front office will need to assure Spags that they see a long future for him with the Giants (i.e., successor to Coughlin). I know ownership still regrets letting Fox get away and then going belly up with Fassel.

True. The Patriots as a whole are a lot "dirtier" than the Giants - who can forget the eye-gouging on Jacobs? Harrison is a complete scumbag....can't wait until he breaks down and gets cut by Belichick.

As much as the Cabo thing has been overblown, the fact is that Romo is into the whole celebrity playboy thing. But, if he is going to play the field like Joe Namath, he better play on the field like Joe Namath. Mickey Mantle used to get hammered virtually every night.....but the difference is, the Mick earned immunity from scrutiny by virtue of being one of the greatest baseball players of all time. If Romo is guilty of anything, it's acting like someone he is not. Tom Brady isn't potentially a great quarterback....he IS a great quarterback. When you're a guy that hasn't won a playoff game, then you're damn straight that whatever you do before the big game is completely open to criticism. I'm not going to fault Romo for wanting to bang Jessica Simpson. But Mark Schlereth surprised me by making a good point: Romo could have invited Simpson over to his place to spend some time "away from football", and nobody would have even noticed.

They weren't really that shocked. The Bears were pretty clearly not close to being what they were back in 2006, and they're playoff chances were pretty shot by then. The Chicago sports media is every bit as bad as NY's.....they don't tolerate mediocrity at all (except the Cubs, but that's been a tradition for over 100 years now).

If Garrett is really thinking about taking that Ravens job, Jones is going to make the move. No way in hell does Garrett go to the Ravens. And if Garrett stays, then Jones is basically telegraphing that Wilson's tenure will be for one more year. Jones wants to win the SB next year - he's not going to waste 2008 to keep the seat warm for Garrett and let Wilson be a lame duck. He won't fire Wilson, but Wilson will be "promoted" to "Assistant Vice President of an Empty Office" and Garrett will get the job.

I realize that I shouldn't relish other people's misery. I should be a bigger person than that. But when it comes to T , I just can't rise above my baser instincts.

I moved out to Chicago with a job transfer back in 1995, and have been out here ever since. Chicago rocks, but I missed my NJ pizza, and of course, the G-Men. Thanks to the NFL Sunday Ticket and the internet, my Giants fix is satisfied. I don't think I would have survived if I had to deal with local TV and sports radio - last season, when then Bears beat the Giants, I wanted to find the nearest rock and hide under it.

At the risk of diving into Lake Cliche: When it comes to playing QB, winning is the most important stat, and Eli got the win. It might be unfair, but the loss gets hung on the QB. You Cowboy fans are probably not used to dealing with it this season - up until now, the 2007 season has been one big box of chocolates for you guys. 13 wins, clinching everything with 5 weeks to go in the season, etc., etc. Meanwhile, Eli has been subjected to a weekly colonoscopy since the day he was drafted. A lot of the criticism has been merited, and I'm sure the armchair QBs will be back at it on Monday if he has a rough game up in Lambeau. But for now Eli deserves a great deal of credit for how far the Giants have gotten this year. Consider the last 3 games: His performance against New England was the best for any QB to date against the Patriots. He was almost perfect, and more than any player he was the guy who kept that game as close as it was. (As an interesting coincidence, Romo fared far worse against the Patriots....but that's getting away from the main point). Eli Manning, more than anyone else outside of Tom Coughlin, delivered the jolt of adrenaline this team needed heading into the playoffs. The following week, against the #1 pass defense in the NFL, Eli dissected the Buccaneers. That late TD drive to go up 24-7 was broke the back of the Tampa defense. Again....Eli was called upon to get the job done, and delivered. And against Dallas, a win, 2 big TD's, 0 INTs, 133 passer rating....what more can you ask the kid to do? In no way will I argue that Eli had a perfect game, but every single yard he gained through the air was huge - he linked together 3 TD drives, and also managed to move the ball and maximize field position. Those last 2 drives were conservative by design.....sure, I would have loved to have seen a 1st down, but again, it all goes back to an understanding of the circumstances of the game. When you are deep in your own territory, on the road, with the lead, and with a defense that has suddenly buckled down, the last thing you want to do is make a mistake and give the Cowboys a short field, or worse, a defensive TD. Again, it comes back to playing according to down, distance, time, and field position. You saw the complete opposite at the end of the 1st half. When the Cowboys went ahead 14-7, Eli was able to race down the field, score the TD, and completely revive the spirit of the team. My only critique of the final Giants possessions was that they should have run Bradshaw on 1st, 2nd, and 3rd down. With a stacked line, they could have used his quickness, and I felt he had the better chance to elude a tackler and get at least one first down. But that's all academic. What's clear to me is this: Parcells deserves a great deal of credit for discovering and developing Romo. It's a damn shame that Parcells, instead of getting credit, is dismissed as some sort of washed-up old school grouch, when it's clear that everything he tried to preach to Romo in 2006 was ignored in 2007 - and the results were all over the field last weekend. If I were a Cowboy fan, I'd actually be more concerned about the front-office and coaching situation than about Romo, despite Romo's repeated playoff futility.

The Cowboys went away from the running game for a variety of reasons, and among them, it could have been the fact that Marion Barber was losing effectiveness. I don't know if his 2nd half decline was due to fatigue, or else defensive adjustments by the Giants. Or, perhaps, that massive offensive line of the Cowboys could have run out of steam. They allowed more than a couple jailbreaks from the Giants pass rush in the 4th quarter (if only I could have read Romo's lips as he lit into his lineman). Everyone was comparing the average weight of the Dallas line (320???) to the weight of the Giants pass rushers....and you could tell who was carrying the extra 70 lbs late in the game, when the speed rush was cranked up. The Cowboys coaching staff deserves a great deal of blame - for the life of me, I don't know why they didnt put a fresh Julius Jones in the game in the 4th quarter, and don't understand the logic of attempting low-percentage pass plays in the fourth quarter, when there was ample time to move the ball via the run and short slants and outs. Conversely, credit the Giants coaching staff with realizing that the secondary was too banged up to be left on an island against the Dallas passing game. Spags cranked up the blitz, allowing the Giants defenders to play to their strength - speed and mobility - which was the achilles hill of the mammoth, but plodding, Cowboys offensive line. But all this being said, the fact remains that Romo had plenty of chances to win the game - and did not.

Yep, you're right.....must have missed it because I was looking for "1990". Awesome game, and a great memory because I saw that one with my Dad and brother back when I lived on the East Coast.

I read "memorable" to mean "best". There are a ton of memorable bad games - too many and too horrible to recount.

You have valid points, but then again, the game was there for the taking in the 4th quarter. But whereas Eli made the right decisions, Romo did not. As you know, there is more to the QB than just having time to throw the ball. Give credit to Manning for making the proper reads at the line, using the hard count to get the Dallas defenders to show their hand, pump faking to lead defenders out of the passing lanes, and then hitting the open guy. After all, Dallas has a pretty damn good pass rush of their own, and they were trying their best to get to Manning as well. It was Romo, and not Eli, that had an All-pro offensive line protecting him. Romo had a pro-bowler at TE; Manning was dealing with a rookie. Romo was throwing against a battered secondary; Eli was throwing against rested veteran starters. No matter how you slice it, the goats horns go on the QB. That's the way football is. Wade Wilson and Romo were throwing statistics around in a feeble attempt to deflect the obvious - Eli outplayed Romo in their biggest showdown to date. And of all the statistics mentioned, they conveniently forgot to cite the passer ratings - Eli was somewhere above 120, and Romo was somewhere in the 60's....that stat, along with the neglected return yardage stats, really told the story of this game.

You're list is dead on between 1-5, and the rest is pretty damn good too. I agree with you that the 2002 Philly Season ender and with mickeef that the 1981 Dallas-Giants ("Joe Danelo!") games were both great. That 1981 playoff clincher marked the end of a very dark chapter in the Giants history. ANOTHER HUGE GAME: The Giants-49ers NFC Championship game in 1990 was unforgettable....the Giants wouldn't have even played Buffalo if not for that miraculous LT fumble recovery, and the subsequent Matt Bahr FG.

Romo's a good QB, but little more at this point. He could have taken the next step, but instead, he's guilty of drinking all the Cowboys Kool Aid that the media has been serving up this season.

Randoff is right.....Romo lost the game. Say what you want about the gameplan, but Romo could have opted for a couple quick hooks to get out of bounds and closer to the end zone. Instead, he wanted to be a hero like his idol Brett Favre, and as a result, he was stuck with 4th and 11 from outside 20, instead of a possible 1st and goal. At that point, his errors had placed him inside a box. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MANNING AND ROMO: Eli managed the game, and Romo didn't. When people hear "manage" the game, they think of a Trent Dilfer performance, but really, there is a huge difference. Eli managed the game in that he understood and played according to the circumstances of the game. For example, when Eli had less than 00:50 on the clock, he moved the Giants like lightning down the field with clutch plays to tie the game at 14-14. Then, he played the rest of the game according to the situation, and then made the big plays again to pull ahead 21-17 early in the 4th. When Eli was forced to make the big play, he made it - and without a single Pro-Bowl caliber athlete on offense. When Romo needed to respond, he cracked. Eli has put together the best three games of his career as the stakes have gotten higher. Romo, even with Pro-Bowlers at RB, WR, TE, and across the offensive line, clearly regressed at the end of the season. As Baretta would say....."and that's the name of that tune!"