NFC East 2009

There was also a flagrant facemask by Bradshaw on a would-be tackler that even the announcers didn’t notice. He did everything but rip off the guy’s helmet and poke him in the eyes with two forked fingers.

Jerry Jones never forgets.

Incidentally, can we call it a foregone conclusion that the Cowboys will be invited to the new Giants Stadium opener next season?

Fantastic suggestion. If anything, there needs to be more of a penalty when a personal foul results in injury. Adams got away with murder on that one, and he had the chutzpah to try it AGAIN later in the game (fortunately unsuccessfully).

His cheating ass needs to be suspended for as long as Tuck is out with his injury.

Bollocks. He just stuck his foot out. It was not a “sweep kick” or anything even approaching one. Had it been a leg whip, it would have been a personal foul.

Anyway, everyone else seems to have missed my previous post:

Is tripping the ball carrier a foul or a legit method of tackling?

Nice dose of reality there. :frowning:

It’s a 10 yard penalty regardless of whether the trippee is a ballcarrier or not.

Looks like Jason Garrett called too many unnecessary deep pass plays, Romo forced/failed too many passes leading to turnovers and points, and the pass defense is too soft.

Dallas lead the NFL in sacks last year, and this year, they are at the bottom with zero.

I wonder if losing Greg Ellis and Chris Canty is hurting D. Ware.

Seems to be the case, although they drafted Anthony Spencer specifically to play rush linebacker across from Ware, and signed Igor Olshansky to play Canty’s end spot.

I love the name “Igor.”

A couple other things came to mind after sleeping on it. Did anyone see the Patriots-Jets game? Jets fans made it the loudest game ever in Giants Stadium for either team. Jets games are always louder because their season ticket holders are decades younger than for the Giants, but they really raised it to a whole 'nother level yesterday. It caused Brady to delay of game four times, two of them coming consecutively. Nice.

It was CBS announcers, though, so all we heard about was crowd noise. Over on Fox, whenever Eli gets a delay of game all we hear about is how that’s on the QB and he’s got to fix that. (Eli gets them a lot; the Giants almost never snap the ball with more than 3-5 seconds left on the play clock.)

Anyway, Cowboys Stadium was loud as hell last night. I had to keep switching from Stereo to Mono just so I could hear the announcers speaking between plays. But Eli didn’t have a single delay of game, which was very nice to see.

It got me thinking about past games with Eli and how he is virtually impervious to anything. He’s not a virtuoso passer by any means, but his demeanor and passing ability are almost unchangeable. Massive pressure doesn’t faze him, he can’t seem to hear crowd noise, he didn’t even seem to notice the -20 wind chill at Lambeau Field during that playoff run, scorching early season heat in Arizona and Dallas have never seemed to have any effect on him, torrential downpour like the one in Buffalo late in 2007 didn’t affect him in the least; throwing very few passes doesn’t improve his rating and throwing very many doesn’t hurt it like is the normal tendency of all quarterbacks as a whole; the guy is what he is regardless of conditions. I find it very comforting.

The two situations that do seem impact him are playing better than his norm at the end of games if trailing by one score, and becoming completely worthless in heavy wind. Unfortunately, wind would appear to be the ultimate kryptonite for Eli, so playing in Giants Stadium late in the season is always going to bring bad things. Which is a bit of downer this season, considering they’re currently on a three game road trip.

Duly noted. And while I don’t think I’m willing to amend my idea to say that any foul leading to an injury would apply, I will say that tripping should be a personal foul. It’s a punk move, reserved for when you get flat-out beat. More to the point, it’s dangerous. If a defender gets beat and grabs a handful of jersey, he’s not going to put someone out for a month. Tripping can very easily do this.
So here’s a little guessing game: The next three weeks see the Giants go to Tampa Bay and Kansas City, and then play host to Oakland – three teams with a current combined record of 1-5. Which game will be the one that the Giants certainly should win, but where they instead take a massive dump all over the field? I’ll take a stab and say KC.

Oakland, though I think they’ll only be favored by like 4.

Yeah, it was nice to see Dallas fans being loud. Having watched on TV for many years, Texas Stadium seemed quiet as a church.

I figured at least some of the yelling was because of those scantily-clad dancers on the elevated platforms or, as I like to call them, the Rearleaders.

Oh yeah, that was the other thing. Did anyone else find the stadium gaudy? Not just the dancers in the upper decks, though they certainly didn’t help. But every interior shot they showed on the broadcast struck me as, uh, well to be honest the description that kept coming to mind was “nouveau riche.” Looking up definitions for that term other than the literal, I found the one I was thinking of: “tasteless ostentation, lack of culture”

Was it just me and my ultra-conservative Giants fandom – where cheerleaders themselves are considered vulgar – or did anyone else get that feeling?

I very much hope that the new New York Stadium (?) is strictly understated by comparison.

Barring injury to, say, the entire team, no friggin way. That would mean the Giants would be favored by only 1 point on a neutral field.

That was the McMansion of stadia. It’s exactly what I would picture Jerry Jones to build in Xanadu.

My thinking goes like this: Raiders get progressively better each week while the G-Men barely beat Tampa Bay and Kansas City, involving a last-minute come-from-behind and an overtime.

JaMarcus Russell is completing less than 30% of his passes. Oakland isn’t beating anyone this year.

Matt Cassell is a horribly overrated quarterback playing for a team that’s just plain horrible.

The Buccaneers have surprising offensive firepower (4th in the league in total offense right now!) and are only missing two starters from a defense that ranked 4th against the pass and 9th overall last season.

Die, G-Men, die!

Oakland should have beaten the Chargers.