Week 15--Back to Reality

Well, I’m not surprised. It took only one week for the Giants to slap the positive outlook out of me as they once again played a horrendous home game. The G-Men were nice enough to share their lump of coal—a 22-10 loss to the Skins—with everyone and I just wanted to thank those who gave the gift that keeps on annoying. Tom Coughlin—you’re killing me. I could tell what kind of night it was going to be by the Giants’ first offensive series. Jacobs rumbles for 17 yards, giving Big Blue a first down in Washington territory…and Coughlin follows that up by throwing three times, all of them incompletions. Why? On a night like that, throwing with an inaccurate QB is what you consider a good idea? The next offensive series started in Redskins’ territory. Faced with a fourth and one from the Washington 39, Coughlin—and he’s been consistent with this all season—runs Ruben Droughns, who gets stopped cold. They turn it over on downs. I don’t know what the fascination is with Droughns, but hey—keep trying it. After a Manning fumble on the next series, the Giants had a second and one in their next series. They were on their own 21 and Manning was 2-6 for 13 yards, so naturally Coughlin thinks throwing is a good idea. Running for a first down would have been a good idea. Throwing the ball was obviously NOT a good idea. So of course, Manning throws incomplete and when Jacobs is stopped on third and one, another punt is forced. These play calls aren’t crazy, but what they do is create a sense of frustration for the players and for the fans. There’s no attitude on offense, no confidence and I have a constant feeling of “don’t screw up” when I watch them try to execute. I watch other teams and see them attack in a positive way. Teams like New Orleans, Pittsburgh, hell, even Jacksonville and Cleveland—not to mention Indy and New England—come to the offensive table with a positive attitude. It’s an attitude which says, “Watch what we can do—you can’t stop this!” These teams’ offenses look like they ENJOY executing their game plans and they look prepared offensively; you cannot say that about the Giants. Their offense has not clicked all season, and the coaching staff needs to take some responsibility for it, but not all of it—not by a longshot.

The defense is next on the list of who was naughty, not nice. They allowed Todd Collins to complete too many deep passes, never put adequate pressure on him, and of course—failed to get the big stop when it was necessary. A 14-yard TD run by Ladell Betts? A 31-yard run by Portis that led to a FG when the Skins were simply trying to run out the half? Visions of the Bears game on that one, right? And of course, to start the second half, they let the Redskins go right down the (albeit short) field for a TD to make the game 22-3. ANYONE watching at that point knew it was over. At least it was a collaborative effort. Oh, and I don’t want to leave out others who did their part—the WRs, especially Amani Toomer…nice drops. And who could forget Lawrence Tynes, who missed a 38-yard FG? Did anyone think he was going to make that kick? But I saved the best for last…

Oh, Eli. Your lack of emotion is matched only by the inaccuracy of your arm. No one, and I mean this from the bottom of my holiday heart, can do what YOU do. To go 18-52 (no, that’s not a typo) for a whopping 152 yards…it’s really quite remarkable. To average 3.5 yards per attempt...I don’t know if we’ll ever see a performance quite like that again. Sure, the WRs dropped a bunch of Manning flutterballs, and sure it was windy…but Eli—18 for 52!??!?! 34 incompletions? That’s insane! Ron Jaworski said it last night on MNF—the most underrated attribute of a QB is accuracy. Eli Manning’s completion percentage is just under 56 percent this season, and he has an even lower percentage for his career. This isn’t a rookie struggling any longer—this is a bust of a trade which is becoming a disaster of a draft pick. I have seen ZERO improvement in Eli Manning’s game over his career and within this season. He still throws wildly, still looks lost, still fails to inspire his team, and clearly still lacks the confidence of his teammates and his coaches. Is it possible that a change of coaches will help? Well, I have a feeling we’re going to find out. However, I think it’s more likely that Manning simply doesn’t have “it”. This week, I’ve heard more than a few people say, “The Giants would be better off with Chad Pennington than they are with Manning” and the sad thing is, they’re right. Relax Chad, it’s not a compliment, it’s a condemnation of your fellow, maligned NY QB. Manning has a chance to temporarily silence his detractors this weekend in Buffalo—all the Giants need is A win. However, if he fails to do so and the Giants fail to win either of their last two games, firing Coughlin won’t be enough to satiate bloodthirsty Giants fans. It’ll be over for Manning—three years of way-more-bad-than-good is enough. He has time left on his contract, I know that…but he’ll be a dead man walking for a couple of seasons and the Giants will have to start all over again. That thought—the thought that Manning isn’t what we were told he would be, namely a franchise QB—is what leads us Giants fans to treat Eli the way we do…Nice? No…but this is our TEAM he’s screwing up, and when your performances are compared to people like Richard Todd’s, you deserve nothing more. So now the Giants shuffle off to Buffalo. I want to believe they’ll continue their winning road ways…

As for the other NY team, they gave it a good effort against the Pats. They pretty much shut the Pats’ offense down, well, them and the weather. New England’s scoring came from their defense—a Kellen Clemens interception, and their special teams—a clocked punt inside the Jets’ five. That was essentially it. Unfortunately, the Jets’ offense was no better and its defense couldn’t turn New England over…essentially, New England found a way to win when one of its components wasn’t functioning. That’s why they’re New England, and that’s why the Jets are, well…the Jets. Gang Green had its chances, but once again we see the problem with Chad Pennington—you have to move the ball down the field three yards at a time with this guy. The conditions and opposition made that pretty close to impossible Sunday, which is why Coach Mangini thought using Brad Smith at QB in some crucial situations. Just because you WANT Smith to be a versatile player who can play QB in some offensive sets, doesn’t make it reality. Smith is useful in some RUNNING scenarios, but he should never throw the ball again. Ever. Truthfully, I don’t see where this team is going. They have no QB—don’t fool yourself Jets fans, Clemens isn’t any good—no RB…it’s as I said from day 1—this team has no game breaking players, and that’s what you need to win. So they don’t…win. New England does, and they’re going to do it two more times to go 16-0. But it may end there. What we saw Sunday was an extension of exactly what I brought up last week—the Pats rely on deep passes and big plays to win games, at least to win them by the outrageous scores they had been. However, as the weather refuses to cooperate, we see that the lack of a reliable running game and the…dislike of a short passing game could hurt the Pats when they face a REAL team. Sure, Maroney ran 26 times for a 4 yard average, but it was against the Jets. When he faces Jacksonville or San Diego—what then? I’m saying it right now—if they face Jacksonville in their first playoff game, the Pats will lose…and it’s possible that they will face them, as the Jags will most certainly be the five seed. The Jags will face the worst division winner, which will be San Diego, Pittsburgh or (!) Cleveland. The six seed, which will most likely be Cleveland, will have to travel to San Diego or Pittsburgh—I don’t like those odds. So—we’ll have a three seed in San Diego and a five seed (assuming Jacksonville wins, which IS a big assumption) with the three seed playing in Indy and the five playing in New England. Believe me when I tell you—the Pats want absolutely no part of Jacksonville in the wind and snow of the northeast. The Jags will punish them, and ironically, New England would probably rather play that game (if not all of their games) on the road, in sunny weather where their offense could flourish. New England, despite their unbeaten record and deification, doesn’t have a good match-up against certain teams in a bad weather situation. Should they come up against San Diego, Jacksonville, or yes, the Colts—teams which can run and smack you in the mouth—they will have trouble. Big trouble. I can’t wait for the playoffs!

This brings up a point I was discussing with some fellow fans the other day—should the team with the best record be able to choose where it plays its playoff games? I wasn’t kidding at all when I said that the Pats would rather play their game against Jacksonville IN Jacksonville. Should they be able to if they want to? I say “yes.” Why not? They have the best record—why should they be put at a disadvantage if they feel their game is better served by playing in decent weather? They won the necessary games, they should have the choice. What’s the downside of letting them choose? They can always say, “No, we’ll stay at home” if they want to. Of course, it’ll never happen because of the fans and the “travel arrangements” the NFL has to make…baseball does something like this and to be behind baseball in anything isn’t something to be proud of. Laugh now, but remember this when the Pats lose 16-13 at home, in the wind and freezing rain.

Speaking of my, err, the Jags…what a great win at Pittsburgh. They played their game for three-plus quarters—opportunistic offense and bone-crunching defense—and led the Steelers, 22-7. But the Steelers summoned the moxie to fight back and tie the score late in the fourth quarter. So…the Jags have squandered a big lead, they’re on the road in a hostile environment, it’s snowing, and they have the ball with under six minutes to go…not many teams would have gone 73 yards for the winning TD in that situation. The Giants would have been thinking, “Let’s not make a mistake…there’s always overtime.”

I won’t really get into the non-Sunday games other than to say: Houston is building something that will soon be worth watching and Cincinnati is a disgrace. That’s all I took from those two games.

Riddle me this—how the hell does Seattle expect to be taken seriously? Alllll week long I hear the mouthpieces saying, “Oooh, don’t forget abut Mike Holmgren’s bunch in the northwest!” Yeah—I’ll forget about them. Losing to Carolina? Come on. 44 yards rushing? Come on. ZERO points through three quarters? Come on. I couldn’t help but snicker when I saw that final score. Softer than Air Supply are they.

Go Cleveland. 8-0 is a weird score, but the Browns’ faithful will take it…well, eight days a week. They’re 9-5 and not only are they thinking playoffs, they’re thinking DIVISION! Wow. Buffalo just ran into some bad weather and tough circumstances, but the playoff-worthy teams overcome that instead of wallowing in it. Will there be a letdown in Orchard Park this weekend, now that Bills are essentially out of it? I think so.

Miami won a game. Wooo-Hooo!!!! They were celebrating, and that’s all fine and well…but when the celebration ends, they look in the mirror and guess what? They’re 1-13, and they still suck. The infamy was avoided, but when THAT is your high water mark, it ain’t good. As for the Ravens—they need a complete overhaul. I’d get rid of the QBs and the coach for starters. This “offensive genius” has plodded along with a terrible offense for far too long in my opinion. Give someone else a shot there—he and that defense won a Super Bowl, but that was a while ago and the defense and the coach are almost done living off of that…aren’t they?

Tennessee and New Orleans both won. However I fear for them it’s a case of too little, too late. You can’t screw around all season and, in Tennessee’s case, lose back to back games to Denver and Cincinnati and expect them not to come back and ruin you. You can’t, in New Orleans’ case, start the season 0-4, lose to a harmless Rams team and expect any sympathy. These teams will be looking back at what should have been. However, next season, with the good coaches they each have, look for them to rebound and each make the playoffs. Yeah—I make predictions that far ahead! Behold!

The Bays continued their winning ways (that rhymed) Sunday. Green took care of business with a thorough beatdown of the Rams, while Tampa did its best to put the Falcon out of their misery…no, it’s not an accident that I didn’t include the “s” in Falcons…I left of the last “s” for embarraSSing, because my friends—that’s what they are. Green Bay could sneak into the top seed in the NFC if Dallas has any more visits from Jessica Simpson. Green bay finishes with a trip to Chicago and home against the finished Lions. After watching the Bears last night, it’s hard to imagine them beating the Packers and I won’t even give the Lions consideration. As for Dallas, the loss to Philadelphia was a costly one. The ‘Boys have two on the road remaining—first at Carolina, which should be no problem if Romo’s thumb is OK, but then they have a trip to DC for one of those “throw out the records” games against the Redskins. I actually think Dallas will lose that game, so to me it’s a question of whether or not Green Bay can win both of its games. Tampa could sneak into the three seed…but I don’t know what difference that will make. I’d rather play Seattle if I’m the 5 or 6 seed.

Indianapolis made it exciting in beating Oakland 21-14. It’s almost as if they’re moping about having to suffer the indignation of being, gasp…the number 2 seed in the AFC. They’ll wake up once the playoffs start, but I’d expect sluggish performances before then. The Chargers are anything but sluggish these days—they look to be peaking at just the right time. Philip Rivers looked OK…and the running game rocked Detroit to the point where Derrick Sproles ran all over them. The Chargers clinched the AFC Worst and will be difficult to deal with in the post-season. They will be in a hurry to erase the sting of last year’s playoff disaster against New England and won’t be afraid of the Pats…did I mention I can’t wait for the playoffs?

And speaking of playoffs, the Vikings appear headed that way…but all this talk about how “you don’t wanna face them” is making me laugh. Why wouldn’t anyone want to face them? They’re a one dimensional team with an overrated defense and no QB—anyone would want to face them. Sure, they’ve won a bunch of games in a row, but once the playoffs come around—is Tavaris Jackson going to win a game for them when Tampa Bay decides they’re going to play eight in the box to stop AD? No, he’s not. The Vikings this, the Vikings that…please. I watched the game last night. The Vikings offense is a joke, and you will not…can not win in the playoffs with a bad QB. So, to all you palookas out there trying to start-up the bandwagon: keep hyping the Norsemen because they can stop the run and have a flashy rookie RB…I’ll be the one betting against them in round 1.

Enjoy the games.

R