Boy the Giants are spoiling us this season. On wild card weekend, I was able to just kick back and delight in eight teams demolishing each other. Pure football fun, without the anxiety that comes with being a fan. Don't get me wrong though, fandom is great but I could really use a break after the past couple months of Giants football. That's probably just what the Giants players were thinking too, as they settled comfortably into their expensive ass couches to await the unlucky team who would survive to face them this weekend.
Of course, I wouldn't have been able to watch those game as contented as I was if the Giants hadn't earned the top conference seed and enjoyed a crucial week off. Thanks guys, it's tough being a fan you know. Please heal well.
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Actually, I haven't been able to settle into my couch easily on Sundays since week 7 way back in October. The Giants had just wrapped up their cupcake campaign against a bunch of this season's struggling teams. Although we were tested a few times, for the most part those games were just target practice. But ever since that week, each one of our eight remaining regular season opponents owned winning records. It's no coincidence that six of those teams ended up reaching the playoffs. After wild card weekend, five of those teams still remain in contention for the Super Bowl and to my great delight, the Giants boast a regular season victory over each one. Of those teams, the only one that we cannot boast complete victory over is the Philadelphia Eagles, our division rival that we faced twice in the regular season: that series is at an even 1-1 split, a tense score that will be settled come 1pm this Sunday.
The Eagles.
Early on in the season, I watched a few of their games and came away with a general fear. Confiding this fear in a few of my informed football buds, I discovered through being ridiculed that I was the only one who felt that way. At the time, the Eagles were dead last in our division and heading downhill, a months-long situation that culminated in the benching of Donovan McNabb in a week 12 blowout loss against the Ravens. I let out a sigh of relief then, because I realized then it was McNabb alone that had struck fear in my heart. And now they're in the playoffs, hyped by the media as the "hottest team right now", and they're gunning straight for the Giants.
Ugh!
Though some won't realize it, McNabb is probably the prototypical quarterback that every team wants (oh and how about this pic?). I might catch heat for saying that but in his games I watched this season, McNabb covers the qualities that are expected from top-tier quarterbacks. When he's on, McNabb is one of those guys who can make you feel better on third-and-long pressure situations, even if his receivers are mere average. He has that elusive third-eye mobility in the pocket, routinely robbing pass rushers of their precious sacks by throwing accurately on the run. That's a quarterback who (on a good day) can make up for a big part of a team's inconsistencies all by his lonesome, and that's precisely the storyline the Eagles embody as they gear up for the Meadowlands showdown this weekend.
This past Sunday, I had hoped in vain that the pathetic Vikings would knock the Eagles out for us but as expected, we were fated to beat them ourselves. If it weren't for the Vikings loss, we would have hosted the Arizona Cardinals instead, a much less threatening opponent given the circumstances.
At first, I resented what fate had destined for us by this Giants-Eagles match up, and in fact I'll probably get an ulcer from it. But on second thought.. I WELCOME IT. Faced with a daunting schedule, we conquered eight teams with winning records and five playoff-bound teams to reach the playoffs as the number one seed, and I would not have our lofty distinction of a toughness supreme be tainted by a possible cupcake victory over the Cardinals. Let the Carolina Panthers play that enviable yet inconsequential role as they expose the Cardinals this Saturday for the pretenders that they are.
We'll take on the Eagles ourselves and earn again, perhaps, the respect that we should be given. Then, come the week after, we would in turn expose Carolina for what they are: an inferior mirror image of the Giants (except for Steve Smith, he's nasty good).
I hope so anyway.. I have a damn good blog idea in the pipeline in case the Giants go all the way!!!!!
Of course, I wouldn't have been able to watch those game as contented as I was if the Giants hadn't earned the top conference seed and enjoyed a crucial week off. Thanks guys, it's tough being a fan you know. Please heal well.
---
Actually, I haven't been able to settle into my couch easily on Sundays since week 7 way back in October. The Giants had just wrapped up their cupcake campaign against a bunch of this season's struggling teams. Although we were tested a few times, for the most part those games were just target practice. But ever since that week, each one of our eight remaining regular season opponents owned winning records. It's no coincidence that six of those teams ended up reaching the playoffs. After wild card weekend, five of those teams still remain in contention for the Super Bowl and to my great delight, the Giants boast a regular season victory over each one. Of those teams, the only one that we cannot boast complete victory over is the Philadelphia Eagles, our division rival that we faced twice in the regular season: that series is at an even 1-1 split, a tense score that will be settled come 1pm this Sunday.
The Eagles.
Early on in the season, I watched a few of their games and came away with a general fear. Confiding this fear in a few of my informed football buds, I discovered through being ridiculed that I was the only one who felt that way. At the time, the Eagles were dead last in our division and heading downhill, a months-long situation that culminated in the benching of Donovan McNabb in a week 12 blowout loss against the Ravens. I let out a sigh of relief then, because I realized then it was McNabb alone that had struck fear in my heart. And now they're in the playoffs, hyped by the media as the "hottest team right now", and they're gunning straight for the Giants.
Ugh!
Though some won't realize it, McNabb is probably the prototypical quarterback that every team wants (oh and how about this pic?). I might catch heat for saying that but in his games I watched this season, McNabb covers the qualities that are expected from top-tier quarterbacks. When he's on, McNabb is one of those guys who can make you feel better on third-and-long pressure situations, even if his receivers are mere average. He has that elusive third-eye mobility in the pocket, routinely robbing pass rushers of their precious sacks by throwing accurately on the run. That's a quarterback who (on a good day) can make up for a big part of a team's inconsistencies all by his lonesome, and that's precisely the storyline the Eagles embody as they gear up for the Meadowlands showdown this weekend.
This past Sunday, I had hoped in vain that the pathetic Vikings would knock the Eagles out for us but as expected, we were fated to beat them ourselves. If it weren't for the Vikings loss, we would have hosted the Arizona Cardinals instead, a much less threatening opponent given the circumstances.
At first, I resented what fate had destined for us by this Giants-Eagles match up, and in fact I'll probably get an ulcer from it. But on second thought.. I WELCOME IT. Faced with a daunting schedule, we conquered eight teams with winning records and five playoff-bound teams to reach the playoffs as the number one seed, and I would not have our lofty distinction of a toughness supreme be tainted by a possible cupcake victory over the Cardinals. Let the Carolina Panthers play that enviable yet inconsequential role as they expose the Cardinals this Saturday for the pretenders that they are.
We'll take on the Eagles ourselves and earn again, perhaps, the respect that we should be given. Then, come the week after, we would in turn expose Carolina for what they are: an inferior mirror image of the Giants (except for Steve Smith, he's nasty good).
I hope so anyway.. I have a damn good blog idea in the pipeline in case the Giants go all the way!!!!!
1 comment:
Although I am a true Giants fan, the EAGLES are ALWAYS to be feared...and their fans are to be feared even more!!! I actually had a dream the other night where I was walking through Philly with my Justin Tuck jersey on. Needless to say, it wasn't a pretty situation.
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