Basically the only thing in sports I follow is the New York Giants. Sunday they played the Eagles in Philadelphia and I was at the game.
I have to say it was ugly. The first drive of Giants was good, even out of character good. But then the Eagles came back and dominated the first half. But until the last couple of minutes of the half the Eagles were only up by 7 and it felt like that was a gift. I think the defense showed up for 3 plays and it happened to be 3 in a row. A few penalties against the Eagles didn't hurt.
The Giants lost both lines. On offense, Philadelphia's rush destroyed Giants quarterback Eli Manning. He had no time, even when he wasn't sacked he was under pressure and not really composed. Worse was the defense, they put no pressure on McNabb. He had all the time in the world to throw the ball and he did, I think for 254 yards in the first half (184 in the first quarter), Eli had something like 67. I have no idea where all-pro defensive ends Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora were let alone the secondary. Oh and the Giants not going for 4th and 1 with 4 mins left in the 2nd at mid-field seemed a bit wimpy.
The 3rd quarter just went by; I looked up and there were 3 mins left and all I could remember was an Eagle's drive and a Giant's drive. Both were long and uneventful except for the Eagles hitting the upright on a field goal attempt, it wasn't even a long attempt. Eagles scored again at the end of the quarter. The guy next to me was a reasonable Eagles fan unlike those around us. He was worried the Eagles would blow their lead. At the beginning of the 3rd I told him that the Giants would come back to within 3 but would blow a field goal or something to not win it.
So the 4th quarter starts and the Giants had a reasonable drive down field and then scored stupidly. Plaxico Burress fumbles (hard know if it was stripped we were in the other end-zone) and the Eagles don't recover but WR Tim Carter does in the end zone. A touchdown is always nice, and good heads up by Carter, but it was a cheap score. So we're down 10 with about 13:40 left and I think we have a shot and I realized that our last real score was on the first drive and think we're being out played, so things are going about par.
There was a box behind us with about 10 Giants fans and at this point they started cheering "Defense". Most of the Eagle fans around them started screaming at them to shut up or go home or Giants suck or oh-and-two. We kept cheering for the Giants and held our own. Anyway the defense held and we had the ball back. We drive a bit and Eli passes to running back Tiki Barber who bobbles it or something and we have the first interception. Really this brought back all the bad images of both Tiki and Eli. But the defense held again, well really Philly just didn't do anything. They were looking sloppy. I don't think we were putting any more pressure on McNabb but they tried running to kill the clock and that didn't work all day. Anyway we got the ball back and then started throwing to Toomer and got 7.
With a little under 4 mins left we didn't try an onside kick, ok. Eagles get the ball and they run and we call time outs. When we used our third I understood the reason but I really thought it would come back to bite us. I could see that being the reason we couldn't get the field goal unit on the field or something. But we held on the 2nd set of downs and got the ball back at around the 2 minute warning. Manning finally started doing some short yardage throws over the middle under the seam. I honestly have no idea why it took them so long to do this. When your QB is pressured the whole game and your running game isn't doing that well this is what you do. I turned to the guy next to me and said there was another standard in the Giant's book, tie and lose it in overtime on the first drive or by missing a field goal. So we score with 5 seconds left and then we go into OT.
At this point both teams are exhausted. The Giants win the toss and drive and lose it and then the Eagles do the same thing. At this point I realize it's anyone's game. The Eagles have no rush at all so Eli finally has some time. They had these problems all day long but I really noticed it here. First they only had about two sets, an I formation or one back off to the side. Second, I found their play calling really obvious. In overtime I would call "Tiki runs" or "pass to Toomer" and was right more than half the time. Eli didn't seem to have any presence in the pocket and didn't look for secondary receivers. I think it was the end of the 4th where I saw Shockey wide open several times on the left for short yardage and Eli throwing to the other side of the field into coverage. I don't think Shockey was in during the last drive and I don't know why, but the Giants had 4 WRs in and one back, further proof the Eagles pass rush collapsed.
Anyway, it seemed the only player with enough energy to run was Tiki and he did. The 12 year-old behind wanted someone to run into Tiki with his helmet and break his sternum. Nice things those Eagles fans teach their kids. Then they put Brandon Jacobs in for Tiki and he seemed fresh and had two good runs. But then a holding call, a tackle in the backfield and it's 3rd and long. Now it seemed like neither team wanted to win. What do the Giants do in 3rd and long? They throw to Plaxico and thankfully it worked.
I hadn't been to a regular season game in a long time. It's certainly fun but I didn't bring a radio and you miss a lot of what's going on. From our view, the Giants looked pretty bad, it was the Eagles that blew this game. The Giants have a lot of tools at their disposal but couldn't handle a good competitor. Eli has an arm but now in his 3rd year still can't handle pressure. I'd really like to see some new coaches. I hope I'm wrong, but I think it will be a long season.
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