Tilt is the Man!!!

Hey Peeps and anyone else checking in. A special “Hey” goes out to Hazel Mae.

Shocked, stunned, surprised, somewhat speechless and $300 richer – that pretty much sums up the aftermath of the Giants’ surprising 17-14 win over the previously perfect New England Patriots. Special thanks to Tilt who called from Vegas on the day after the Conference Championship games to convince me to bet the Giants to win outright at 4-1 odds.

As has been stated here before, losing to the Giants is akin to waking up without the beer goggles you had on the night before only to find a wildebeest lying next to you. You can’t slap yourself hard enough for being so damn dumb – it goes in the closet with the rest of those nasty embarrassing skeletons.

Eli Manning has been a favourite whipping boy here, as have the entire Giants team (hey, this is Cowboys’ country – irregardless of who Hazel supports), but he (actually more the Giants D) deserves credit for holding it together and giving his team a chance to win the game. The Giants had everything go their way yesterday – absolutely EVERYTHING – which was pretty much what had to happen for them to win.

Like I said a while back – this game reminded me a lot of the Giants/Bills Super Bowl match up, when Parcells’ donkeys upset Jim Kelly and the Bills.

The message boards were lighting up within seconds of the last play – talk of biased officiating, missed/no calls, questioning how much the Giants deserved to win, and of course, assessing blame as to who was most responsible for the loss. As an objective observer (with money on the Giants, but liking the Pats), I found it rather interesting that Patriots Offensive Coordinator/Quarterbacks coach Josh McDaniels escaped the wrath of irate fans.

The Patriots have been known as a team that, perhaps better than anyone, makes in-game adjustments – you expected it in the first half, you certainly expected it at half time, and were screaming for them going into the fourth quarter. McDaniels crapped the bed – it is on him as much as anyone. The Patriots had a good first drive in response to the Giants opening 10 minute drive – but for the next two plus quarters, McDaniels allowed the Giants to take Randy Moss out of the game and put his faith in Wes Welker as the go-to guy. Welker is a nice player, but he gets entirely too much credit – he is always open because teams choose to try and take Moss/Stallworth away, they rarely put a DB on Welker. If you are leaving it to Wes Welker to win the game – you don’t deserve to win; yeah tied a Super Bowl record with 11 receptions…but what good was it?

It was incumbent on McDaniels to find a way to get the ball into Moss’ hands – where were the reverse calls? Where were the WR screens? Geezus, line Moss up in the backfield if you have to – but to keep lining him up wide and allow the Giants to double/triple team him…inexcusable. The Giants defensive line manhandled the Patriots offensive line – finding a way to Moss a little more early in the game would have changed the Giants defensive plan.
This was really a case of the Patriots losing the game as much as the Giants winning it.
Just my two cents – 1.99 cents Canadian.

Being a Cowboys fan, it is hard to find any positives in a Giants win – it was a painful process to say the least.

Five good things about the Giants win

1) Tiki Barber and Jeremy Shockey’s silence. You know it had to kill Tiki Barber that the guy he called out led his team to a last minute win. It was particularly nice watching Shockey stewing in a box – you could tell that miserable prick wanted the Giants to lose.

2) Wes Welker doesn’t get the game MVP for running two-yard routes and turning them into six yard gains - meh.

3) Not having to listen to Junior Seau talk about how getting a ring is the perfect end to his career. Dude, you will always be a San Diego Chargers player – always. Jumping on the bandwagon of a championship team at the end of your career…well, ok.

4) Listening to the “experts” try to explain what happened – hours after they had predicted the Patriots in a walk - priceless.

5) The silencing of some of the more obnoxious Patriots fans who somehow equate a championship to how great their city is, and by extension how great they are. Granted, this group is small in number – but the annoyance factor is huge.


Five bad things about the Giants winning

1) Listening to the “experts” talk about “Eli Manning’s coming of age”. He had a decent game, but seriously, he could have/should have been picked off five times – the stars lined up for him yesterday; the Eli Manning who threw 20 picks will be back in September 2008.

2) Listening to one donkey on Fox Sports Radio wax on (rather poetically too) about how the Giants “brotherhood” triumphed over New England’s skill. Um, ok…if that is the way you want to rationalize it – but to suggest that other teams wouild be well served in following this strategy; that’s pushing it.

3) The Miami Dolphins alumni celebrating their perfect season – get over it. No one cares…actually, most people hate the 1972 Dolphins because you never stop talking about it.

4) Listening to New York Giants fans talking trash after the game when most of them didn’t think they’d win in the first place.

5) New York Giants – World Champions. I just puked in my mouth.


Five things that make you go “what the?????”

1) Eli Manning Super Bowl MVP? Seriously? Without David Tyree’s unbelievable catch – the Giants lose. The NFL blew it – the MVP was Justin Tuck, or they could have given it to the defence (I guess Cadillac wasn’t willing to give away 11 new Escalade Hybrids – profits are down at GM don’t you know).

2) Giants fans pointing to Tom Brady “choking” while they are talking about how their D dominated the Pats. Can you have it both ways? Does leading your team to a go-ahead TD with less than three minutes to go constitute choking? No wonder everyone hates NY teams and their fans.

3) According to the NFL – a blow to the head of a QB is a personal foul that will result in a 15-yard penalty being assessed on the defence. The officials must have forgotten that rule, because there were at least three instances where Giants’ defenders hit Brady in the head.

4) How did the Giants Ahmad Bradshaw take that ball way from Patriots LB Pierre Woods? Woods is on top of ball, Bradshaw comes in and rolls him over and takes the ball away. Doesn’t that constitute “down by contact”? Where was the challenge?

5) David Tyree’s catch – forget the Manning scramble – HOLY CRAP HE CAUGHT THE BALL. Apologies to Patriots fans, but that was UN-FREAKING-BELIEVABLE.


With Eli Manning being named Super Bowl MVP – no point in doing Sunday’s Three Stars. No Three Play today – not point in telling you that the Giants to win straight up was the play yesterday. We’ll get back to picking games tomorrow.

That’s it for today gang – thanks for taking the time to check in (on this crapper of a day if you are in New England).

Hazel, here’s hoping things are groovy in your world (as hard as that may seem now) and that your trip home was a safe one.

I’m Out!