Die Hard Sports Fan

The Giants scored 13 points before the Redskins who claim they are not the same team as they were in Week 1 got on the board, but it was the Giants put up 10 more unanswered points and came out victorious in our nation’s capital giving Big Blue their eleventh win of the 2008 Regular Season.

1st Quarter

The Giants scored on their opening drive as Manning kept hooking up with Hixon on third and long to keep the chains moving, and Eli Manning capped off the drive with a with 40-yard Touch Down pass to Amani Toomer along the right sideline giving the Giants a 7-0 lead with 9:56 remaining.

Manning kept on finding receivers in the middle of the field to keep their second drive alive, but Anthony Montgomery sacked Eli Manning for a loss of 5 yards on 3rd and Goal from the Redskins’ 7 yardline with 2:35 remaining so the Giants had to settle for a 31-yard Field Goal Attempt made by John Carney with 2:11 remaining giving the Giants a 10-0 lead.

2nd Quarter

The biggest play of the Giants third possession was when Manning threw a short pass to Ward who broke one for a 48-yard catch and run along the right sideline, but the Redskins stopped the Giants from getting into the end zone so they had to settle for a 38-yard Field Goal Attempt which was made by John Carney with 12:01 remaining giving the Giants a 13-0 lead.

The Redskins fourth possession began at the 43 yardline. On 2nd and 5, Barry Cofield and Danny Clark sacked Jason Campbell for a loss of 8 with 11:17 remaining which the Redskins were able to overcome, and the Redskins scored their first score on a gadget play where Devin Thomas followed Moss on a reverse 29 yards into the end zone for a Touch Down with 8:31 remaining making the score 13-7.

The Giants moved from their 20 yardline to the Redskins 34 yardline when Eli Manning threw an interception to DeAngelo Hall, on a pass intended for Hixon, who returned it 5 yards to the 29 yardline with 4:10 remaining.

Campbell marched the Redskins to the Giants’ 30 yardline where they got stopped and attempted a 42-yard Field Goal Attempt by Suisham which went wide right with 0:04 remaining.

3rd Quarter

The Giants took advantage of great field position as they began their drive at the Redskins’ 48 yardline, and then Jacobs finally found a hole up the middle for a gain of 23 yards. On 2nd and Goal from the 1 yardline, Brandon Jacobs ran upright into the end zone for a 1-yard Touch Down run giving the Giants a 20-7 lead with 8:33 remaining.

The Redskins were marched their way down to the Giants’ 43 yardline where Jason Campbell aired out an interception to Aaron Ross at the 3 yardline without a return with 5:53 remaining.

On 1st and 10, Andre Carter sacked Eli Manning for a 2-yard loss with 3:19 remaining on a drive which ultimately led to a punt.

4th Quarter

The Giants began at the Redskins’ 39 yardline due to a failed fourth down conversion, but the Giants could not get into the end zone again so they tried a 39-yard Field Goal Attempt which was made by John Carney with 6:26 remaining giving the Giants a 23-7.

On 1st and 10, Renaldo Wynn sacked Jason Campbell for a loss of 3 yards with 4:13 remaining on a drive where the Redskins ultimately turned it over on downs at the Giants’ 35 yardline with 3:25 remaining.

On 1st and 10, Jason Campbell was sacked by Justin Tuck for an 11 yard loss during their final possession with 1:32 remaining, but the clock was against them.

Wrap Up

Eli Manning went 21/34 and threw for 305 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT.

Brandon Jacobs led in Rushing Attempts and in Rushing Yards with 22 and 71 respectively.

Amani Toomer, Derrick Ward, and Domenik Hixon led in Receptions with 5, and Amani Toomer led in Receiving Yards with 85.

Brandon Jacobs had 1 Rushing TD, and Amani Toomer had 1 Receiving TD.

John Carney went 3/3 in Field Goal Attempts.

Michael Johnson led the team in Tackles with 7.

Justin Tuck had 2 Sacks, and Barry Cofield and Renaldo Wynn each had 1 Sack.

Aaron Ross had 1 INT.

Terrell Thomas and Barry Cofield each had 1 Forced Fumble.

The NFL.com Game Center: Post Game is attached.

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It seemed like the coaching staff of the Giants sat around and determined that the best way to game plan against the Ravens was by attacking their strengths rather than exploiting their weaknesses. I figured that the G-MEN would’ve increased the ratio of passes knowing that the Ravens have been one of the best at stopping the run for nearly a decade, but the Jints developed a game plan to win the hardest way possible. Boy, did that work out for them. I guess it isn’t that crazy because the rushing attack is the Giants best weapon. So what happens when the #1 rushing team in the NFL goes up against the #1 team at stopping the run? This dominant New York Football Giants team bullied the Ravens as they rushed for 207 yards and went on to beat the Ravens 30-10. As soon as Jacobs gained 36 yards on the second play of the game, I knew this game was over.  The thing that impressed me the most was how much the Giants rushed for because the Ravens were only allowing 65.4 yards per game. Baltimore did not allow any team to rush for more than 100 yards all season, and New York amassed over 200 yards.

Offense

The Giants offense consisted of a whole lot of running. Eli Manning had another Eli outing as he went 13/23 which is a 56.52% completion percentage and threw for 153 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT. Manning threw his only Touch Down pass of the game to yet another weapon in Darcy Johnson early in the 2nd Quarter. Derrick Ward finished the game with 4 receptions for 54 yards. The O-Line was outstanding as they allowed Earth, Wind, and Fire to rush for 207 yards on 33 attempts which is an average of 6.27 yards per carry. It was the 3rd consecutive game in which the Giants rushed for over 200 yards so props to them. Brandon Jacobs rushed for 73 yards and 2 TDs in the first half alone, and then he was taken out of the game since he was banged up. It was actually Ahmad Bradshaw who led the team in rushing yards with 96 because he broke one open for 77 yards on one play. The Giants’ offense put up 20 of the 30 points.

Defense

The Giants defense was solid even though they did not exactly fill up a stat sheet. The Giants were harassing Joe Flacco throughout the game, but the Giants were unable to sack the rookie until Mathias Kiwanuka chased him down midway through the 4th Quarter. That was the only sack of the day for Big Blue. I was surprised that Flacco was able to run around on the Giants’ D, and he ended up leading the Ravens in rushing yards with 57. Aaron Ross was the defensive player of the day for getting 2 interceptions, and one of them was a pick 6 which he returned 50 yards to the house late in the 3rd Quarter. That was when the Giants said checkmate. It was bizarre watching the Ravens run so much in the 4th Quarter being down three scores like time is not a factor in football.  Baseball is the only sport I can think of which does not have a clock so maybe Flacco thought he was playing baseball. Did the Ravens quit? The Giants’ defense put up 7 of the 30 points.

Special Teams

Lawrence Tynes was 1/1 in Field Goal Attempts. It went threw, but it was not pretty. It is also worth noting that Tynes missed an Extra Point Attempt. Carney has been perfect this season except for the one blocked field goal so it may not be the best idea to put Tynes out there until Carney gets cold. The Giants’ special teams put up 3 of the 30 points.

I guess Big Blue got a little bit of redemption as they took revenge on the team who dominated them in Super Bowl XXXV. The Giants won their ninth game which makes them 9-1. How will Big Blue fair in the next 6 games? They have the toughest schedule remaining of any team in the NFL. I predicted them to be 8-2 after the first 10 games, and they are 9-1. I got 3 games wrong so far because I had the Giants beating the Browns but losing to the Steelers, and then I had the Giants and the Eagles splitting the season series with each of them winning at home. I predicted the Giants to be 4-2 down the stretch giving them a 12-4 record. The Giants will make a trip to the desert to take on the Cardinals on Sunday.

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The Giants came into the game as the best rushing team in the NFL and rushed for 207 yards and 2 TDs against the Ravens who came into the game as the best at stopping the run in the NFL giving Big Blue their ninth win of the 2008 Regular Season.

1st Quarter

During the Giants’ opening drive, Jacobs hit a wall and redirected to the left side for a 36-yard gain which quickly got the Giants into Ravens territory. On 2nd and Goal from the 1 yardline, Brandon Jacobs dove over a defender to break the plane of the end zone for a 1-yard Touch Down run giving the Giants a 7-0 lead with 8:45 remaining.

Three penalties of 25 yards by the Giants’ defense really helped the Ravens on this drive, but the Giants were able to stop the Ravens from getting into the end zone. Then the Giants blocked the 32-yard Field Goal Attempt by Matt Stover, and the ball was recovered by Jones at the Ravens’ 33 yardline with 4:26 remaining. So the Giants took over at the where the Ravens downed the ball.

The Giants took advantage of the great field position, and Brandon Jacobs ran up the gut for a 1-yard Touch Down run to cap off the drive with 0:59 remaining giving. A low snap by Jay Alford did not allow Feagles to get the snap down on the Extra Point Attempt so the Giants only have a 13-0 lead.

2nd Quarter

Backed up on their own 10 yardline, Ward picked up 47 yards on 2 attempts which propelled the Giants to another scoring drive. On 3rd and Goal at the 1 yardline, Eli Manning threw a 1-yard Touch Down pass to a wide open Darcy Johnson in end zone giving the Giants a 20-0 lead with 7:14 remaining.

The Ravens began at the 40 yardline due to the Giants kicking it out of bounds during the Kick Off. Flacco put a little drive together before the Giants stopped the Ravens at the Giants’ 20 yardline, and Matt Stover made a 38-yard Field Goal Attempt with 4:08 remaining making it a 20-3 game.

On the first play of the drive by the Giants, Jarret Johnson pushed Hedgecock on his back on his way to sacking Eli Manning for a loss of 7 yards with 3:59 remaining which ultimately led to a punt.

On 1st and 10, Joe Flacco threw an interception to Aaron Ross who returned it 11 yards to the 47 yardline with 1:51 remaining giving the Giants another opportunity to put more points on the board before the half.

Eli Manning was marched the Giants down to the Ravens’ 18 yardline, but then he threw an interception to Ray Lewis at the 5 yardline with no return with 0:12 remaining.

3rd Quarter

Flacco had to run it himself a few times to get things going for the Ravens offense, and then as Joe Flacco was backing up from the blitzers and threw it to Jameel McClain at the 8 yardline who ran it into the end zone untouched for a 10-yard Touch Down pass with 4:26 remaining cutting the lead to 20-10.

At their own 46 yardline, Joe Flacco threw a pass to Derrick Mason which went in and out of his hands and ended up being intercepted by Aaron Ross who returned it 50 yards to the end zone for a Touch Down with 0:14 remaining.

4th Quarter

Bradshaw ran up the middle for a gain of 77 yards which placed the Giants at the Ravens’ 2 yardline, but then the Ravens made a goalline stand so Lawrence Tynes connected on a 19-yard Field Goal Attempt with 12:02 remaining making the Giants lead 30-10.

Since the Ravens are down by 20, Flacco kept the drive alive by finding Heap on the Ravens first 4th Down conversion of the drive. However, Mathias Kiwanuka chased down and sacked Joe Flacco for a loss of 10 yards on their second 4th Down attempt with 5:22 remaining giving the Giants the ball at the Ravens’ 48 yardline.

Wrap Up

Eli Manning went 13/23 and threw for 153 yards, 1 TD, and 1 INT.

Brandon Jacobs and Derrick Ward led in Rushing Attempts with 11 and Ahmad Bradshaw led in Rushing Yards with 96.

Derrick Ward led in Receptions and Receiving Yards with 4 and 54 respectively.

Brandon Jacobs had 2 Rushing TDs, Darcy Johnson had 1 Receiving TD, and Aaron Ross had 1 INT returned for a Touch Down.

Lawrence Tynes went 1/1 in Field Goal Attempts.

Antonio Pierce and Aaron Ross led the team in Tackles with 6.

Mathias Kiwanuka had 1 Sack.

Aaron Ross had 2 INTs.

The Giants had no Forced Fumbles.

The NFL.com Game Center: Post Game is attached.

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The Giants had to go back to work today, unfortunately. Below you will find a bunch of notes and reports assembled by a variety of beat writers. The Giants play their first game on Thursday so make sure you watch it.

The Star-Ledger

• Since Plaxico Burress has been unable to practice, he is contributing as an adviser to the Giants’ young receivers. Plax is taking on the mentor role even if the young guys don’t ask for it.
• Mike Garafolo assembled an in-depth 8/3 morning practice report worth checking out. Below is a sample of the entire report. There’s much more where that came from so go check out the source.
  • DEs Justin Tuck (foot) and Osi Umenyiora (hip), WRs Plaxico Burress (ankle), Amani Toomer (leg), Mario Manningham (groin) and David Tyree (knee/PUP), LBs Zak DeOssie (back) and Gerris Wilkinson (knee/PUP), CB Sam Madison (sports hernia), RT Shane Olivea and S Craig Dahl (knee) did not practice.
  • There we go again: first play of team drills was a bomb. Again from QB Eli Manning to WR Domenik Hixon. Great tackle on the play by CB Aaron Ross. Too bad it was way before the ball got there. That’s a 40-yard pass interference penalty on Ross.
  • QB Anthony Wright and WR Michael Jennings hooked up for deep in.
  • WR Craphonso Thorpe got the crowd excited with a spinning, toe-tapping catch on a fade to the left side from Wright. Dockery was in coverage on the play.
  • Hall ran a nice route to catch a hook from QB Andre’ Woodson in front of Webster. Hall later went deep on Pope, but the ball from Wright was overthrown and out of bounds.
• Mike Garafolo assembled an in-depth 8/3 evening practice report also worth checking out. Below is a sample of the entire report. There’s much more where that came from so go check out the source.
  • WRs Plaxico Burress (ankle), Steve Smith (groin), David Tyree (knee/PUP) and Mario Manninghan (groin), LBs Gerris Wilkinson (knee/PUP) and Danny Clark (sports hernia), CB Sam Madison (sports hernia) and OT Shane Olivea (back) did not practice..
  • CB Corey Webster would have none of WR Domenik Hixon catching a fade on the left side. He stayed all over Hixon and knocked the ball away. Webster also stayed stride for stride on a go from QB David Carr to WR Sinorice Moss. Webster had such good position it almost looked like he was the intended receiver. Webster knocked it away for a PD.
  • Hixon ran a perfect comeback to get separation from CB R.W. McQuarters and make a diving catch. McQuarters bounced back with a PD a few plays later when WR Craphonso Thorpe ran the same pattern.
  • LB Chase Blackburn keeps making plays. I mean, this guy couldn’t get a job after the draft a few years ago and now he’s a steady backup in my mind. Tonight, he stayed with Boss on a post into the end zone and wrestled with him to grab a ball from Wright for an INT.
  • WR Brandon London made his first nice grab in a few days on a skinny post over CB Kevin Dockery. Not a bad ball at all from Woodson. London then did a great job of accelerating to at least get his hands on a deep incompletion from Manning. The ball was overcooked and I didn’t think London had a prayer of getting there, but he dove and almost made the catch after getting past CB Terrell Thomas.
• Plaxico Burress did some light running for the first time since training camp.

Big Blue Blog

• Paul Schwartz assembled his own morning practice notes. Below is a sample of his notes, but there are not too many more.
  • On Manning’s second pass, Ross made another aggressive play, storming in to bat away a pass in the flat. Unfortunately for Ross, the ball was picked out of the air by RB Derrick Ward for a completion.
  • David Carr could not have thrown a better pass on a deep toss to Sinorice Moss, who had a step on two rookies, S Kenny Phillips and CB Terrell Thomas. The ball floated down perfectly to Moss … who watched as it slid right through his arms and to the grass. Moss looked up to the sky in bewilderment.
  • TE Kevin Boss, who has caught virtually everything thus far in camp, could not make the grab on a lunging attempt from Manning over the middle.

Inside the Giants

• Tom Rock believes that Sinorice Moss is basically playing for his Giants career in this camp so he’s been under the microscope this first week and a half. That means every drop is written about, and to be fair, there have been a lot of them. Moss had a pretty good practice tonight.

The Blue Screen

• Mike Garafolo put together another morning report and another evening report.

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Aaron Ross’s fiancée, Sanya Richards, will be spending the next month in Beijing, according to Joshua Robinson of the New York Times. Richards is one of the fastest 400-meter sprinters in the world and among the favorites to win a gold medal at the Olympics, but Ross will not be able attend like she attended Super Bowl XLII. Ross said he would be recording every heat she raced on his laptop so he could immediately watch it because, with a 12-hour time difference, he could not be up all hours of the night during camp. Ross also said, “My training is pretty easy compared to hers.” Aaron and Sanya are able to split time together between their homes in Austin, TX and Secaucus, NJ because their schedules are conveniently interlocking, and they plan to marry in 2010. Richards said, “He has already got his Super Bowl championship, and he really wants me to get this Olympic gold. So he told me just stay relaxed, stay calm and execute, and I will be headed to Beijing.”

I knew that Ross’s fiancée was a pretty good collegiate track star, but I had no idea that she was competing at the Olympic level. On top of that, she’s one of the favorites to win the gold medal which is very impressive. If she wins a Gold, Silver, or Bronze then that’s quite a year for a couple where her fiancée already won the Super Bowl. We need to keep track of how she’s doing in Beijing, and we wish much success.

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Late last night, I went onto CBSSportsline.com to check out the status of my Brackets and I found a reason why we can all laugh at Dallas if you haven’t heard it already.  Here it goes.  The Cowboys had preliminary discussion with the Titans about trading for Adam “Pacman” Jones.  Start laughing and keep on laughing.  It is rumored that the Cowboys may only have to give up a late-round draft pick to acquire Jones.  Supposedly, the Titans are in no hurry to trade Pacman.  Adam’s agent, Manny Arora, would like to trade Jones somewhere before the NFL Draft.  Pacman understands that he may have to take a paycut to even get a job in the NFL and is willing to do so.  Roger Goodell said he will review suspension before training camps open in July.  Even though Adam may get signed elsewhere, the suspension may not get lifted because he continued to get into trouble during the suspension.  This could lead to Dallas signing a player that may not even be allowed to play.  Sucks to be them.  Now you see why the Agent is trying to rush the trade.

Is it just me or does Big D love these outlaws?  They picked up Tank Johnson last year who had to sit on the bench for the first 8 games due to having multiple machine guns and several thousand rounds of ammunition in his home along with a bunch of other stuff.  Although T.O. is not a criminal, he is the biggest distraction in the NFL.  Multiple teams benched him for the remainder of the season, and Bill Parcells left Dallas because of him.  The early 1990’s Cowboys weren’t much better if you remember.  So I believe that Jerry Jones doesn’t give a damn about a players’ character.  As long as Dallas has a bunch of strip clubs, Pacman would love to go to a new city and shoot’em up.  Perhaps Jones’ can train future teammates like Tony Romo and Jason Witten how to throw around hundreds of thousands of dollars and open up fire in a strip club.

Shame on the Dallas Cowboys for hiring these types of people.  Shame on the NFL for allowing these thugs to play in the NFL.  It doesn’t stop there.  We have Strahan who should be in jail.  Ray Lewis should be in jail.  Half of the Bengals roster should be in jail.  The list goes on and on.  I only remember Michael Vick going to jail.  Something is very wrong.

Giants.com:

Success Follows CB Ross - Aron Angel pointed out that Aaron Ross won a Super Bowl in his rookie year after an impressive college career.  Angel chats about this success with Ross.

Giants 2008 Ticket Pricing - Michael Eisen explains the ticket pricing by section at Giants Stadium.

New York Daily News:

Giants raise ticket price average of $7

New York Post:

GIANTS’ $UPER TICKET HIKE

New York Times:

Jets and Giants Fans May Pay for the Right to Pay for Tickets

The Star-Ledger:

Ticket prices go up

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I just came across a very interesting article over at the Giants Blog on LoHud.com.  Ernie Palladino is trying to figure out who is going to play Safety for the Giants in ‘08.  Palladino expects Sammy Knight to play in the place of Gibril Wilson.  However, Ernie doesn’t know about the other side.  Palladino stated that he read a lot of theories about what could take place, but he didn’t provide his sources.  Here’s some of what he said could happen:

• Aaron Ross drops back to Safety.
• Move David Tyree to Safety.
• Corey Webster drops back to Safety.
• R.W. McQuarters drops back to Safety.

Ernie does not believe that Ross will play Safety because he’s only going into his second year and why mess around with a good thing.  Palladino thinks that Tyree would play the position if asked because Tyree is a team guy and plays on Special Teams and Wide Receiver, but Tyree would be like a rookie back there as a Safety.  Ernie doesn’t feel comfortable with Sammy Knight and James Butler back there, and he doesn’t really like the other suggestions that he read about so he says that the Giants should just draft a Safety and develop him “ala Michael Johnson”.

For the most part, I agree with Palladino’s perspective.  I would leave Ross where he is because he’s young and played his position really well as a Rookie.  After watching Tyree play so well on the Special Teams unit, I always thought he would’ve been a better receiver than he has been.  In Super Bowl XLII, Tyree was so effective because of the ‘element of surprise’ rather than his receiver skills.  I’m sure that the Patriots were not studying film about Tyree catching a touch down in the Super Bowl or making the greatest catch in Super Bowl history even though Tyree is listed as a Wide Receiver.  I would want to know if Tyree can tackle if he was going to play defense.  As far as moving the other Corners to Safeties, that doesn’t sound like such a bad idea to me as long as the Giants have depth at both positions.  Drafting a Safety also doesn’t sound like a bad idea to me if the Giants signed somebody high in the first or second round like they did with Ross last year.  Ross was able to make a big impact in his first year, after getting Star Struck in Big D in Week 1.

On the road to Super Bowl XLII, it was very evident that the old dogs like Madison and McQuarters were able to teach the young guys in the secondary how to stop guys like Galloway, Owens, Driver, and Moss.  Madison and McQuarters were injured in some of those games, but their knowledge of the game cannot be overlooked.  Hopefully Knight and McQuarters can do the same thing in ‘08, especially if the Giants are drafting a rookie or are going to drop a corner back to safety.

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