Your post made me realize that you were exactly right and I was wrong, in that Clancy was inconsequential to the pass rush. The first part of the post was just commenting on how the pass rush wasn’t his job to begin with.
Props to Philly.
I’m disappointed with Dallas:
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Play-calling: You know the O-line is weak. You know Bledsoe is slow. You know that both of these things put together are just ripe for blitzing. You knew by the second quarter at the very least that Philly is blitzing hard. You did not seem to take this into account in your play-calling. Where were the screen passes, the hot reads to the tight ends, the quick slants, the shotgun, the halftime adjustments? Why did you drop a good running game so soon?
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Quarterback: The O-line is weak, and Bledsoe is slow, and this is a bad combo. You can’t really replace the whole line now, so maybe the path to improvement is with Romo.
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Rookie defensive back got burned a couple of times on big plays. Whatcha gonna do?
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Defense failed to pressure McNabb. Does Dallas blitz? If so, how come Philly can pick it up?
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Turnovers, turnovers, turnovers.
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Did Philly take TO out of the game or did Dallas simply fail to get him the ball?
However, Dallas went to Philly, made all kinds of mistakes, as was still ready to send it into overtime with about :30 left in the 4th from the Philly 6 yard line. Not too bad.
Huge division win for the Giants, and done the right way. Only thing that could have been better was closing out drives. Good all around team effort.
Redskins last two games at NY they have been outscored
54-3
Current:
Phi 4-1
NYG 2-2 (2-0 Div)
Dal 2-2 (1-1 Div)
Was 2-3
Next Week:
Hou @ Dal - Maybe a good time to test Romo (Dal 3-2)
NYG @ Atl - I’m thikning Atl takes this one (NYG 2-3)
Phi @ NO - NO has a good shot here (Phi 4-2)
Ten @ Was - Was to win (Was 3-3)
The Redskins were so sorry last night, I had to do the Dance of Shame.
As a Titans fan, I completely agree. That was a sickening moment, and it bothers me that he didn’t face criminal charges.
For their part, the Titans are trying to get rid of him. The players association is getting into the mix, but it would be smarter for them to back away from this one. Part of representing players should be protecting them from assholes like Haynesworth, and they can do that by telling players that when they do shit like this, they are on their own.
My initial reaction was agreement – it seems that recently, the Falcons have just owned the Giants. Then I did a bit of research. I looked at all the Giants/Falcons games since 1981, and found a very interesting trend:
'04 L @ NYG
'03 L @ NYG
'02 L @ NYG
'00 W @ ATL
'98 L @ NYG
'88 W @ ATL
'84 W @ ATL
'83 W @ ATL
'82 L @ NYG
'81 W @ ATL
10 out of their last 10 meetings – home team loses. I’m loving seeing that “@ATL” tag for next week.
Great research, Hal. I posted that to giants.com and made a couple posters’ days.
For the Giants fans in here, if you’re as in love with Kate Mara as I am, (The 23-year-old great-granddaughter of Giants founder Tim Mara and Steelers founder Art Rooney,) you’ll enjoy this SI interview with her. Some choice bits:
I’m definitely excited for We Are Marshall, where she apparently has a lot of screen time opposte Swidgen himself, Ian McShane.
I thought Dallas would come out strong against Houston. Not so. In the first half, Dallas looked like complete crap against a bad team, going into halftime losing by a score of 6-3. Dallas was killing itself with penalties, some bad play calling, weak O-line play, and Bledsoe’s bad passes.
Thankfully, Dallas pulled it together in the second half, winning 34-6. The defense came up with turnovers, giving Dallas some short-field opportunities. This offense can look pretty bad even with all those “weapons” but I suppose you’re only as strong as the weakest link.
Interestingly, Tony Romo made his first NFL completion in Dallas’ last drive for a touchdown, although the crowd was chanting ROMO ROMO in the first half.
I’m glad to see the Redskins lose at home to Tennessee (YES!) and Philly to lose to the Saints (DOUBLE YES!). Unfortunately, the Giants kept the odd streak alive by winning at Atlanta (visiting team winning 11 consecutive games in that series).
Currently:
PHI 4-2
NYG 3-2 (2-0 Div)
DAL 3-2 (1-1 Div)
WAS 2-4
Next Week:
PHI @ TB (TB beat Cincy today, so TB could beat Philly)
WAS @ IND (Ind, coming off a bye, will blow Was out)
NYG @ DAL (Which Dal team will show up? Should be a Dal win at home and Dal takes the lead in the East!)
I hope that won’t happen and don’t expect it too.
If it does, if the Skins are 2-5 going into the Bye with a bad offensive performance at Indy, I hope they prepare and play Jason Campbell the rest of they way.
That’s some wishful thinking there.
Someone woke up the Giants’ D in the bye-week. Most likely, they just simplified all their schemes. Great containment and penetration on Vick - 7 sacks; a pocket passer like Bledsoe should now be praying for career days from his line. Giants let up 223 yards on 26 carries, which looks bad. Take away the scoring runds, and they let up 111 yards on 24 carries - respectable against the Falcons running game. Tiki was great (but Coughlin is killing my fantasy game by not giving it to him on the goal line). Pettigout and Diehl, with help from Seubert (!) at tight end are opening the left side wide. Protection for Manning was great - even his two INTs came from a great defensive secondary tip and a receiver tip.
Next week, the Giants are 4-2, 1/2 game behind the Iggles (TB is unlikely to overachieve two weeks in a row, and the Iggles are better than the Bengals) , and with a commanding 3-0 NFC East record. The ‘Skins will unofficially be removed from contention taking their 5th loss - the only way they beat the Colts is if the Colts’ starters all get lost on their trip to the stadium.
As I just posted on giants.com, with the Bears showing some vulnerability, and the fact that the Falcons are the scrub team that the Giants beat up on, all I can ask is: Why not the Giants?
Look at all the good teams in the league, and then look who their wins came against. And also note who their losses came against if they have any. All of them have cupcake games padding their win total. All except the Giants, that is.
Colts, Eagles, Seahawks, Redskins, and Falcons…as Plaxico Burress said, the Falcons are the worst team the Giants have played. There have not been any gimmes against the Bills, Browns, Bucs, Cardinals, (the ultimate choke artists…tell me Eli wouldn’t carve them up in the 4th,) Dolphins, 49ers, Lions, Packers, Raiders, Texans, or Titans. (Ha! Way to choke, Redskins!)
The Giants have lost to the Colts and Seahawks, who have a combined 9-1 record. They have beaten the Eagles, Redskins and Falcons, who have a combined 11-10 record. I think that puts the Giants at #1 in the league in both strength of victory and strength of losses, though the latter is a made up category. Yep, this Giants fan is feeling pretty optimistic at the moment.
So why not the Giants?
Well, Ellis, if we can keep the defense that showed up two weeks ago for the rest of the season, and work with an offense that combines the best of last week (long passes to receivers) and this week (ground and TE game; able to cross the goal line), then why not?
However, if the defense that collapsed against Seattle and put us in a hole in Philadelphia, and an offense that gives up on the run early or has trouble finishing drives for 7 returns, we’re going to have trouble over the next 11 games.
With Philly’s loss on Sunday, the NFC East is wide open. The Giants are better than the Cowboys (sorry Bearflag, but dems de facts), but the Eagles could be a problems. I’d like to see us win at least 5 of our conference games. The East will be close, and we could end up beating up each other (and the Redskins in a spoiler mode), giving the wildcard to another group.
I’m volunteering to take my 'Skins out back and shoot them out of mercy.
Good Lord, that offense is hideous. How can a team with that much talent look so bad? I think Al Saunders’ much-vaunted playbook is way too gimmicky. How about some counter-treys? And it’s obvious that something isn’t right with Portis… time to rotate Betts and Duckett and get something going.
Brunell is also responsible for a lot of the ugliness. What was the point of drafting Jason Campbell and tossing Patrick Ramsey out on his ear if you weren’t going to play him?
Somebody posted this on giants.com:
Week 1 - Philadelphia defeated Houston
Week 2 - Giants overtime Philadelphia
Week 3 - Washington defeated Houston
Week 5 - Giants whip Washington
Week 6 - Cowboys defeat Houston
Week 7 - you can fill in the blank…
Nice pattern. It’s a little off because of the bye, but still interesting.
Oh, I love it…and hey, the “road team always wins” thing worked last week, so why not this one too…
This article makes me sad:
Giants’ Barber Says He Is Making His Retirement Plans
It will be jarring to move into the post-Tiki era of Giants football, regardless of when it happens. Tiki is Giants football.
This does not make me happy. I heard it today on the way in. I guess he will take off his uniform and go directly into a booth somewhere.
I remember saying that about Joe Morris, Harry Carson, Brad Van Pelt, Otis (OJ) Anderson, Phil Simms and, of course, the original LT. Realistically, Tiki only has a couple of years left - I’d be very surprised if he was still the feature back 4 years from now.