Wild Card Weekend ended with quite the wild finish. We’ll get to the big story but we have to give props to the home team. Mike Lupica of Daily News wrote that the Giants christened MetLife Stadium with their first playoff win by playing like Giants teams of old. Steve Serby of the Post saw the same ole Giants as well. Mike Vaccaro of the Post says that when the Giants needed some magic, Eli tucked it and ran and the Giants ended up running away with the win. Tom Rock of Newsday writes what was on every fan’s mind, in a season where everything seemed to be a struggle, yesterday was a relative breeze. Hank Gola of the Daily News said that the blueprint for the Giants success was written: physical football.
Ok Giant fans. I’m going to come out with it. I was confident heading into Sunday’s game against the Falcons and I’ll tell you why. Like in 07 when the Giants faced the Tampa Bay Bucs, the Falcons weren’t anything special. They weren’t anything bigger or badder or that much better I thought and in a straight up chess match OR a fight the Giants could beat them. I wasn’t impressed by Matt Ryan who earlier in the year I called THE most overhyped player in the NFL. In an age where you can slap together some ridiculous stats to make a QB sound better than he actually is, some clown crowned him with the moniker Matty Ice and everyone drank the juice like a bunch of thirsty animals.
Fortunately I came properly hydrated and told everyone to show me a signature victory and the defense could NOT provide sufficient evidence. Once again, the defense was given a game where the Falcons had a chance to show everybody they belonged in the upper echelon and they couldn’t do it.
I’ll get more into the win later in another post but let’s just say this for the Giants. The Giants were more determined. The effort was there. That was a ferocious team. A team that came ready to play. A team feeding off the emotion of the crowd. A team that fed off everything that the Falcons gave them and they seemed to get more and more ferocious as the day wore on and it was great to see the Giants and Eli and Coach Coughlin get their first home win. Ever.
Sunday was impressive. What remains to be seen is if the running game continues to show up. If this intensity and emotion continue to show up. If they do. Watch out.
The Broncos and Tim Tebow continue to do the unthinkable. Forget all the hyperbole. Forget everything you know about football. Tim Tebow came in and did what everyone said he couldn’t do. He outdueled Ben Roethlisberger and out Roethlisbergered him in a crucial playoff game. Dave Krieger of the Denver Post says that the play to win it in overtime was just brilliant everything.
I was reading all the other articles but I just couldn’t stomach all the bullshit that was being said. Listen, when Tebow connected with DeMarius Thomas for the 80 yard touchdown on the very first overtime with the new rules, on the very first play, the internet became a combustible engine capable of exploding. From Twitter to Facebook, those involved intimately with the game and those five and ten times removed were exclaiming the virtues of one Timothy Tebow. His play notwithstanding, it was what the Steelers didn’t have. I dont mean to sound like a hater but let’s be real. No Lamar Woodley for stretches. No Ryan Clark the secondary’s coach. No Brett Keisel. No Casey Hampton in the middle stuffing the run. The Steelers were missing a ton of elements to their game and so I can’t completely give the Broncos credit but a win is a win. This doesn’t fall on Tebow. This falls on the entire Bronco team who played a very good game against a very hobbled team.
Amazing win for a team that’s rediscovering the magic at the right time.
One other quick note, Anthony Reiber of Newsday writes about Toney Douglas and losing his starting job.
I admit that I was not and still am not a Toney Douglas fan. I will say this: he’s been nothing but class since losing his starting job Saturday. What that means for tonight where he will again start off on the bench, I dont know. All i know is that right now as the team is flying the Knicks will go with the hot hand which is the rookie Iman Shumpert. Shump has more athleticism and has a natural court vision that Douglas doesn’t have. Its not that much better but his ability to cut through traps and work the pick and roll will be instrumental in how the Knicks view his progression moving forward: Shooting guard or point guard? Red pill, blue pill. You live and you learn.
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