Giants Talk: Hixon Takes Off

Hixon’s ascension a surprise to all

At this point one year ago, if I asked you who Domenik Hixon was, you would probably have the following response:

“Who is Domenik Hixon?”

That answer would have been fair. Only the most crazed Giants fan would have known the answer (except for me, because even I did not know who he was) to a question that would seem custom made for bar trivia.

Let’s just say that one year later, taking a theme from the old television show “Cheers”, everyone knows his name.

Hixon was on an NFL roster last season before he came to the Giants. On Opening Day last year at Ralph Wilson Stadium, he was a member of the Denver Broncos and was involved in a serious collision on a kickoff with Buffalo Bills tight end Kevin Everett. Everett was motionless on the turf as he suffered life-threatening neck and spinal injuries.

The Broncos would go on to cut Hixon several weeks later and on October 3, he was picked up the Giants. He finally introduced himself to the world in the final regular season game against the previously undefeated New England Patriots when he returned a kickoff 74 yards for a touchdown.

During training camp, as Plaxico Burress sat out with a contract dispute disguised as a leg injury, Hixon took all of the reps in training camp in Burress’ place, running all of the routes that would normally be run by the Giants big play receiver. As it turned out, he shined. In a preseason game against the Cleveland Browns, he broke out with two touchdowns and several other big plays against their starting defense.

The problem became how they could get this newly found talent on the field. Burress, Amani Toomer and Steve Smith already locked up the first three receiver spots. Sinorice Moss was still on the roster despite resembling a ghost. And they had already drafted Michigan standout Mario Manningham back in April.

For the time being, he was relegated mostly to punt returning. But against the Rams in St. Louis, his talent was utilized. He caught three passes for 60 yards in a 41-13 Giants blowout.

Burress was suspended two weeks later for the Giants game against Seattle and Hixon would get his first NFL start in his place. With him in the lineup, the team did not miss a beat. He caught four passes for 102 yards and a touchdown to go along with a 15 yard run on a reverse in 44-6 beat down of the Seahawks.

In many ways, he became the team’s secret weapon.

Several of his punt returns would put the Giants in good field position throughout the team’s great season and he has nearly broken a few for big gains only to be called back due to penalties.

On Sunday in Arizona against the Cardinals, with Burress having to depart after the first series of the game with a week long lingering hamstring injury, it was Hixon who was called upon to step up and take his spot.

Again, this train of a team did not stop.

He was used on a reverse that gained 17 yards. As a receiver, he led the team in receptions (6) and yards (57). Yet, his biggest contribution came on special teams, the spot where he made his first impact with the Giants almost 12 months ago.

In the second quarter, the Cardinals were ruled offsides on a kickoff that normal return man Ahmad Bradshaw brought out to the 25-yard line. Seeing this, Coach Tom Coughlin made a switch and substituted him for the speedier Hixon. It was a stroke of genius because on the second kick, he ran it back 83 yards down to the 17-yard line.

Later in the quarter after another Cardinals field goal, Hixon nearly broke another return, tripped up again after a return of 68 yards.

The two long returns created 10 points for the Giants and paved the way to a 37-28 victory In the desert. Hixon also added two tackles on special teams. On the day, he recorded 269 all-purpose yards, the most in the history of the franchise.

On the consummate team, he has been among the ultimate team players. His versatility allows him to be used in a multitude of ways and its now up the offensive masterminds of this well-oiled machine to find situations to get him the ball.

With the double teams that follow Burress on each play and the respect teams have given to the Giants running game, as the final games of this regular season wind down, there appears to the opportunities for Eli Manning to use Hixon’s speed on deep balls to beat third cornerbacks and slower safeties.

There is no doubt he should be the teams kickoff return man from this day forward. Nothing against Bradshaw, but he does not provide the same burst and homerun hitting ability that Hixon does. He finds creases to the outside better and because of his shiftiness due to having quick feet, he is able to take lesser blocking and make a big play out of it compared to anyone else on the team.

In a year where different players have stepped up and provided contributions on a team seeking back-to-back Super Bowl victories, Hixon has been the biggest surprise of all.

Sometimes, it just happens that way.

Giants Talk: Mann-ed Up in the Desert

Eli emerges from shadows to propel Giants to 10-1


GLENDALE, AZ – Rarely does a Super Bowl MVP simply hide in the weeds.

It is not supposed to happen this way. Not on a defending championship team. Not in New York. Not on a team, that is now 10-1. Not on a team, that is dominating the league in such resounding fashion.

Welcome to the new life of Eli Manning.

Somehow, the brute force and effectiveness of the Giants running game along with their stout defense has made Manning in many ways a forgotten man as the team has thrown less mostly due to non-necessity.

Amazingly, he was given the term that many quarters take insulting:

“He’s a game manager.”

Yet on Sunday, with starting running back Brandon Jacobs in sweatpants and a t-shirt on the sideline as a game-time decision and his big play receiver Plaxico Burress sidelined after one series with a nagging hamstring, there he was once again showing everyone that you couldn’t dare him to bear you, because he will.

He did it to the New England Patriots on this same field in Super Bowl XLII. Returning to the site 294 days later after their historic triumph, it was Manning again, large and in charge, leading his team to a 37-29 victory over the Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium.

Showing that it is suddenly an indestructible, unstoppable force, the team reached into it depth of tricks and found new heroes. It has become a staple of the best team in football. No Jacobs? The production comes from somewhere else. No Plaxico? The number is called for someone else to step up.

And here is Manning to hold and bring it all together.

With the Cardinals presenting an eight man front to take away Jacobs’ replacement Derrick Ward. Eli went 26 for 33 for 240 yards and 3 touchdown passes with a passer rating of 127.3, answering every time Arizona had the lead or even got close.

After the offense went three-and-out and the Cardinals opened the scoring with a field goal, the Giants responded with an 11 play, 62 yard drive punctuated by a one-yard Ward touchdown run to take the 7-3 lead.

JJ Arrington returned John Carney’s kickoff 55 yards to set up Arizona with a short field in Giants territory. From there, the explosive Cardinals offense regained the lead as potential MVP-Kurt Warner drove the ball inside the five and running back Tim Hightower scored on a four-yard touchdown run to give them a 9-7 lead. An attempted two-point conversion failed.

When an offsides call on the kickoff gave the Giants a second chance, Coach Tom Coughlin chose to replace regular kick returner Ahmad Bradshaw with receiver/punt returner Domenik Hixon. The result was genius. Hixon scampered 83 yards down to the Arizona 17 before being tripped up from behind. However, the offense stalled, settling for a 33-yard Carney field goal.

Warner (32 for 52, 351 yards) nearly directed his offense to another touchdown pass on their next possession. On a first-and-goal from the Giants 8 yard line, his pass looked as if it would be caught by receiver Larry Fitzgerald (five receptions for 71 yards). At the last moment, rookie Kenny Phillips punched the ball out of his hands and eventually the Cardinals were forced to kick another field goal and only led 12-10.

Again, the lead didn’t last long. Hixon (three returns for 180 yards), doing his best Devin Hester impression, took the kickoff 68 yards down to the Cardinals 32. He could have potentially scored again but he was tripped up again. Manning took advantage this time when he found Amani Toomer for a 10-yard touchdown pass to give the Giants a 17-12 lead going into halftime.

In the third quarter, Manning and the Giants struck again. Justin Tuck sacked Warner and forced him to fumble. The Giants recovered the ball at the Cardinals 40. Manning capitalized on the good fortune finding seldom-used fullback Madison Hedgecock on a two-yard touchdown pass to up the lead to 24-12.

Nearing the end of the third quarter, Arizona got the score to 24-19 when they drove 90 yards for a touchdown, aided by four defensive penalties, three on cornerback Aaron Ross. It was time for an answer and Manning would once again deliver.

Arizona had done a very good job of controlling the best rushing offense in the NFL. In Jacobs’ absence. Ward (20 carries – 69 yards) was not providing the same punch. They were daring Manning to beat them knowing that he could and that he possessed many weapons at his disposal.

He would do just that.

He found tight end Kevin Boss (four receptions – 48 yards) for 28 yards down to the Cardinals 37. A third down completion to Steve Smith for nine yards, followed up with a short five-yard completion to Ward put the ball on the Arizona 10. On first down, Manning found Boss again for a touchdown and a 31-19 lead.

Another Carney field goal came after rookie Terrell Thomas got his first NFL interception made it 34-19. The Cardinals scored to make it 34-26 and essentially conceded their inability to stop the Giants offense by electing for an onside kick with 4:02 remaining. Each team traded field goals to conclude the scoring.

The Giants defense, despite the final numbers, played exceptional. Warner threw for 352 yards, but they came on 52 attempts and no pass was completed for more than 32 yards. Arizona attempted only five runs in the second half and Warner consistently harassed by oncoming Giant defenders.

Filling in for the injured Burress, Hixon shined again. In addition to his splendid kick returns, he led the team in receptions (6) and yardage (57), along with an 11 yard run on a reverse.

In the last four games, the Giants have scored 35, 36, 30 and 37 against four of the top 10 defenses in the league. It appears that no team has been able to find an answer to slow down this train.

When they want to run it, they can.

When they want to throw it, they can.

It appears the only thing that can stop the Giants are themselves.

Manning is poised not to let that happen.

Giants Talk: Best Line in Show

Offensive line showing they are football's best


By those famous unwritten football rules, offensive lineman are not to get very much publicity.

They are to be quiet, unassuming and simply out there doing their job. In other words, “seen and not heard”.

They are usually the last one's to receive credit for whatever happens on offense. The celebrations and usually saved for the glamorous, high profile position players.

Which then bring us to the Giants.

While quarterback Eli Manning may attract the eyes of the camera and the running backs and wide receivers decide on what their next touchdown dance is going to be, it's the offensive line that doing the grunt work.

These men get down and dirty on every play and play to the scientific formula of force equals mass times acceleration against the defense. Well, they are simply relegated to simply hugs and an occasional head butt with the helmet.

When you watch the Denver Broncos starting lineup being introduced, the offensive line isn’t even mentioned, as if they don’t even exist on the roster.

It is the true “no name” position.

What many miss is that it's this group, those five men in a down stance on each play at the line of scrimmage, which ultimately decides games and team's overall success. It is the foundation for any successful team over a sustainable period.

This brings us back to the Giants.

When you look at their formula for winning this season and in last season's Super Bowl run and in many ways you can look to the five men up front who protect quarterback Eli Manning and allow the running backs to run through what most times appear to be huge seams in the defense.

Football in many ways is a very simple game. Like the saying goes:

“It all starts up front.”

Have a good offensive line? Your chances of having a good season are very high if you have other quality skilled players.

Have a bad offensive line? Then you may want to take out insurance policies on your quarterback because he'll have nowhere to run or hide. There won’t be any holes for your running back unless he is Walter Payton, Jim Brown, OJ Simpson or Barry Sanders.

For the last 26 games, the “The Law Firm” (my nickname for them) of (David) Diehl, (Rich) Seubert, (Shaun) O'Hara, (Chris) Snee and (Kareem) McKenzie have started on the line of the defending world champions and have molded themselves into the best offensive line in the game of football today.

Each possess their own individual talent, but together, no team in the league is as cohesive as they are. Not New England, not Dallas, not anyone.

What is amazing is that, besides Snee, who is regarded as one of the best guards in the NFL, none of the guys would rank among the top of their position in a ranking system. It is even more impressive when you think about where each of these guys have come from to make their way to the Giants and build the fortress that is dominating the rest of the league.

David Diehl - LT: Originally a very good left guard since originally drafted by the Giants, he was transitioned to left tackle after the team released chronic penalty maker Luke Petitgout after the team’s chaotic 2006 season.

It was unknown as to whether he would smoothly move into the new position of protecting Eli Manning's blindside while withstanding the oncoming rush of the leagues best pass rushing defensive ends on a weekly basis.

He would appear to look undersized for some tastes (he is no Flozell Adams or Chris Samuels), but makes up for it with tremendous intelligence and athleticism. When you watch him closely on tape, you can see how his able gain leverage on plays and be able to take defenders completely out. The new contract he received before the season was a confirmation the experiment was a success.

Rich Seubert - LG: Perhaps the most overlooked person on the line, yet one of its most effective.

A few years ago, he gained entry into my Giants heart when he would come in as a sixth offensive lineman on short yardage plays. He was a "jack of all trades" on the line, with the ability sub in at any spot if a man went down. Last year, as Diehl moved to left tackle, Seubert became a full time starter at left guard.

He has started every game since.

Shaun O'Hara - C: The story of the O'Hara did not begin with the Giants, but rather, the Cleveland where he spent three seasons after not being selected in the draft. In 2004, the Rutgers product who also went to high school in New Jersey, found his way back.

Since the start of the 2005 season, he has the leader of the group; starting in every regular season game (he missed the Wild Card game against Tampa Bay last season with an injury) and providing stability and toughness. As “lunch pail” players go, you will not find many more than him.

Chris Snee – LG: The most talented of the entire bunch and one the premier men at his position. It still seems a little odd that he is the son-in-law of Coach Coughlin, but it makes for great stories during the holiday season.

On the football field though, he is as nasty as they come. He bullies his man at the point of attack on most plays and uses his athleticism to string out running plays when the Giants run stretch and counter plays in addition to screen passes.

Need a tough yard on third down? Simply run it to Snee’s side of right guard and success usually comes with it.

Kareem McKenzie – RT: After the 2004 season, the Giants needed to beef up the line and went for the best right tackle on the market, signing him away from the rival Jets.

He brought instant credibility and intelligence to the position, along with a mean streak. His footwork allows him to seal off edges and give the running backs a chance to bounce plays outside. Also, he is able to overpower his man at the snap of the ball and pass protect among the best in the league.

As the team has had unbelievable success this season running ball (a large reason for the team’s 9-1 start), one had to look on and give praise to this unit. It was not too long ago in the Coughlin Era that the team was bitten and shooting themselves in the foot with penalties that would kill drives and even possible touchdowns.

No one has to look any further than in 2005 at Qwest Field in Seattle where the team committed 11 false start penalties in a Giants overtime loss to the Seahawks. One year later, in a playoff game in Philadelphia, numerous holds and false starts backed up drives and at one point, put them in a rare first-and-35.

They were the most penalized team in the league. With a team coached by a man who preached discipline, this flew in the face of everything he believed. Last year, everything changed.

New York went from the most penalized to the least. This reflected in its win total and during the magical playoff run, this group, in three road games, committed very few penalties.

No one will ever forget the line “solidarity pledge” during the NFC Championship in Green Bay last year. With wind chill temperatures reaching 25 below zero, the Law Firm decided to go there and play that game without sleeves, firming an already cohesive bond. In that game, it was perhaps their finest hour. They allowed Manning to slice the Packers defense and controlled the game on the ground, chewing up time of possession that lasted over 40 minutes.

Perhaps it was in that game when they had realized how far they had come together. Each of them had played together in the previous years where the discipline was between “lacking” and “non-existent”. Now, here they were, bracing these once in a quarter century elements and thriving.

Their beliefs were confirmed. In Glendale, Arizona two weeks later, they would become World Champions. This season, they have come out with an unbelievable confidence in their ability to control games at the line of scrimmage and they have done so in dominating fashion.

In the last three games, they have bullied opponents and paved the way to 200 plus yard rushing efforts. It has happened five times this year as the Giants are the number one rushing team in the sport.

Back when Tiki Barber was leading the offense, many thought it was due to his great individual talent. When he retired, it became a question as to what they offense would do without him. Were those same holes that Barber was running through exist for the running backs that would follow?

The answer was yes. Amazingly, the team rushing stats from 2007 were almost identical to 2006 when Barber was on the team.

As we cross the midway point of this season, the Giants are set to shatter those numbers and rush for numbers that would make it seem like they were playing in the 1960’s. The holes for Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw, the trio known as “Earth, Wind and Fire”, have been enormous.

Whether they are running left, running right or simply straight ahead, yards have come in big chunks no matter who is carrying the ball. Not bad for a group that likely does not have one potential Hall of Fame player among the five.

When the team went on the road to hostile environments in Pittsburgh (Heinz Field) and Philadelphia (Lincoln Financial Field), the line only committed one total penalty and Manning was only sacked one time against two of the best blitzing teams in the league.

They are not rattled and their confidence never wanes.

It is a true group of overachievers.

That’s why they are the best line in the show going today.

Giants Talk: Running Away

Big Blue ground attack hammers and humbles the Ravens to roll to 9-1

Back when Mike Tyson was terrorizing the heavyweight division in boxing in the late 1980’s, he had a famous quote when asked why his opponents could not handle his ferocious power:

“Everybody’s got a plan…until they get hit.”

The Baltimore Ravens had all of their intentions set on shutting down the Giants running game. And why not? They were the number one defense in football stopping the run and this game was built up as a heavyweight slugfest.

Instead, the world champions delivered body shots, jabs and right-crosses before finally delivering an uppercut sending the Ravens down for the count in an early round knockout and a 30-10 triumph at Giants Stadium.

Angered all week over talk of how stout their run defense was; the Giants sent a message right that Baltimore was not going to have the same success stopping what is becoming a juggernaut of a team.

On their second offensive play, on a day where winds at the Meadowlands was swirling at over 25 MPH, it appeared running back Brandon Jacobs (nine carries for 73 yards – he left with a leg injury at halftime and did not return) was going to be slowed in the backfield for three-yard loss. Instead, he was able to reverse field to the left side and found open running space for a 36-yard gallop. The drive concluded with a one-yard touchdown run by Jacobs to open up a quick 7-0 lead.

Baltimore attempted a field for their first points when the kick was blocked by Fred Robbins and on a mad scramble for the ball was finally recovered at the Ravens 33. It took only six plays for the Giants to capitalize on their good fortune; capped by a second Jacobs’s touchdown run to make it 13-0 (the snap on the extra point was bobbled).

The Giants then took their third possession from their own 10-yard and marched down 90 yards to make it a 20-0 lead. In the process, wearing down and pushing the Ravens to extinction. Derrick Ward opened up the defense with a 22-yard run followed up with several completions by Eli Manning to Amani Toomer (nine yards), Plaxico Burress (15 yards) and Ward again (eight yards). After being in unsuccessful in their first two attempts from the Ravens one-yard line, Manning play faked and found third string tight end Darcy Johnson open in the end zone for a touchdown the lead swelled to 20-0.

The rushing offense of the Ravens, among the league’s best was not finding any success against the Giants front in the first half, limited to only 40 yards on 12 carries. For the game, they rushed for 121 yards, yet 57 of those came on broken play scrambles by quarterback Joe Flacco. Willis McGahee (nine carries for 18 yards) and Rutgers rookie Ray Rice (eight carries for 19 yards) found nowhere to run and nothing but blue jerseys in their face.

Matt Stover finally got Baltimore on the scoreboard prior to halftime to save face at 20-3 and a Ray Lewis interception of a Manning pass saved them from falling behind even more.

In the third quarter, the Ravens inched closer when on an all out blitz; Flacco (20 for 33, 164 yards) found running back Laron McClain for a 12-yard touchdown reception to cut the Giants lead to 10 points. Suddenly, a game that was being thoroughly dominated was now competitive.

The Giants defense got their game breaking play with: 25 left in the quarter when Flacco’s pass was deflected and intercepted by cornerback Aaron Ross (two interceptions) who ran it back yards for a touchdown.

On the play, Flacco tried to hit wide receiver Derrick Mason on a five-yard out pattern. Corey Webster was playing in a soft zone and drilled Mason in the back forcing the ball up into the air where Ross caught and ran to daylight to make it 27-10.

Game. Set. Match. The Ravens had no choice but to surrender. They had been beaten at their own game in bloody,

The only remaining drama was whether the Giants would become the first team in 28 games to stop the Ravens streak of allowing a rusher of over 100 yards. Ahmad Bradshaw (the third of the “Earth, Wind and Fire” trio) entered the game and took a stretch play going left, cut it back towards the middle and went streaking up the field for what looked to a sure 80 yard touchdown run. Unfortunately, Bradshaw was taken down from behind at the two-yard line. He ended up finishing with 96 yards on the day.

Watching the running is a sight to behold. When Jacobs is not pounding away at the defense and times, running them over, the Giants turn to Ward for a change of pace. Once the defense has been softened up and worn down, here comes the energy, power and speed of Bradshaw to run away from the defense. This formula has worked to perfection, beating the Ravens at the own smash mouth game in the most dominating fashion possible.

The best run defense in football was run over by the league best rushing offense to the tune of 207 rushing yards. It is the fifth time this season the Giants have run for over 200 yards.

At 9-1, the world champions have a three and half-game lead over both the Washington Redskins and Dallas Cowboys in the NFC East. Next up is a return trip to the site of their Super Bowl XLII triumph to face the resurgent Kurt Warner and the explosive Arizona Cardinals at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The beat goes on.

Giants Talk: Enjoying the ride

In a season of gravy, the Giants have provided greatness and hope something special may be happening.


Maybe I am still in a daze.

What I am seeing really is not taking place is it?

It should be just a matter of time before I wake up and find out that this is nothing more than an extended dream that will end the second I open my eyes.

In the meantime, I will keep the eyes closed and take it all in.

At 8-1 right now, the world champion New York Giants are still on a roll that started at the beginning of this calendar year. They have taken down the toughest foes that the National Football League has had to offer. They have stared their opponents down and have beaten them. Observers may have thought last season’s playoff run was a fluke. It is being proven that it was anything but.

Anyone under the impression that they were simply going to take their championship last season and go home is clearly mistaken. Your only chance of winning it is by stealing it like a burglar in the middle of the night, or hitting them over the head with a lead pipe so hard that they are unconscious and do not get up.

Every time I watch this team now, I am amazed.

You know, it was not to long ago when we would mutter and complain about their ineptitude and lack of play making. They would break our hearts in the most gut wrenching of fashions. The “one eye open, one eye closed” theory certainly applied to this team.

No lead was ever safe. Disaster was always one play away.

To none of our surprise, the worst usually happened.

I guess you can say it started in Dallas when for the final 12 minutes, we all held on for dear life, as they were able to destroy the Cowboys season. When R.W McQuarters picked off Tony Romo’s pass, we all let out a sense of disbelief that they actually came through despite all odds.

When they won the Super Bowl, it was the ultimate. I doubt seriously that we will see another defensive performance like the one we did that night. But this time, it was Eli Manning, who 95% were looking to ship out at this exact same time last year, drove the Giants to the winning touchdown. In all of that was the unbelievable catch by David Tyree.

I remember old CBS and FOX broadcaster Pat Summerall say the following in the 12 years following another great “Catch”, this one by Dwight Clark of the San Francisco 49ers that leaped up in the back of the end zone to catch the game winning pass to beat the Cowboys in 1981 and began their decade long dynasty.

“Some might say it was only a catch. But pro football hasn’t been the same since.”

Pat Summerall

The same can be said right now for the Giants. Since that night, nothing has been the same. Here it is, they sit atop the NFC and are favorites to make a return trip to the Super Bowl. If they are somehow that lucky to get back and perhaps win it, history is something that awaits them.

Who could have predicted this?

Before the season, I forecasted the Giants finishing with the same 10-6 record that they had last year, but using the caveat that they were a better team, but due to a tough schedule, would not have their improvements reflected in the record.

Did I pick them to go the Super Bowl?

No.

I was content with the incredible championship. Publicly, I had no problem saying that the team had at nice three to five year grace period before I would start complaining again. It was more than fair.

Instead, I have given this incredible gift as an encore.

It is to be reminded that the trophy is not given out after nine games. Plenty of football is left to play. Yet, one can’t take a moment to at least envision this possibility.

Two methods of thinking about the Giants season going in the way I looked at it. They could either become the 2002 New England Patriots, whose overachieving team that won the Super Bowl played back to their talent level and got old at the same time.

The other comparison was the 1998 Denver Broncos. That team had a similar road to a championship as the Giants (capped by their remarkable Super Bowl upset of the Green Bay Packers), came back the next season, and was one of the NFL’s greatest teams. Starting out 13-0, they dominated the league and won back-to-back titles.

Right now, they are playing like the 1998 Broncos. No one knows where this will all lead. As it stands, watching these guys every week provides more and more enjoyment.

It is a team any fan can watch and appreciate. There is no hype or style, just pure substance. It is a dedication to a gritty work ethic and never being satisfied with just being good.

Surely, talent has something else to do with it, and on this team, they come at you in waves. As you view, one cannot help but marvel at the incredible collection of players on this team. From the quarterback to the “Three Headed Monster” of running backs. The plethora of receivers to choose from. And all of it being able to function behind an offensive line that’s the best in the business.

You may have thought that losing Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora would have severely depleted the pass rush on this team, not when you have others that stepped up and raised their level of play. From bookends Justin Tuck and Mathias Kiwanuka to the veteran savvy of “Big” Fred Robbins and young star Barry Cofield.

The linebackers will not remind you of the 1986 Giants, but they are a solid group. Backing them up is a youthful strong athletic secondary that has grown with age and experience.

When all that is done, having reliable kickers and punters to boot field goals and pin opponents deep in their own territory provide more weapons.

It is the ultimate “team”. Maybe they all will not make entry into Canton, but it doesn’t matter to them. They are a group that focuses on one thing only.

Winning.

And they have done a lot of that in the last 11 months. Now, when I watch them, I do not wait for the worst. In many ways, I expect them to rise up and slam the door shut on the opponent. It never used to be that way.

When they have the ball, trailing, there is now an expectation that they will be resourceful enough to find a way to scratch, claw, and eventually find success. Whether it be Jacobs pushing forward for an extra three yards; Steve Smith making a big first down catch or the offensive line giving Manning enough time to survey the field and connect on a big pass play.

The interesting thing about all of this is that we are all very humble about it. We know where we came from. All of the tumultuous times that we experienced with the Giants over the years where excessive penalties and the inability to stop another teams offense was the order of the day.

Now, this is no longer the case.

I still wonder where this will all lead. While it’s nice to look ahead to future possibilities, I check myself instantly when I remind myself of the 1989 playoff game the Giants had against the Los Angeles Rams.

Former coach Bill Parcells always said that team was better than the team that won the Super Bowl the next season. Yet, in a one game scenario, a wacky set of circumstances played out in Giants Stadium that Sunday afternoon. Flipper Anderson streaked past the defense for a touchdown and a trip to San Francisco for the NFC Championship Game.

As easy as success can happen, it can all be taken away in an instant.

This is why I am cherishing every moment of this team and this season.

Sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

Giants Talk: Giants soar above all challenges

World champions persevere in Philly; take commanding lead in NFC East


PHILADELPHIA – Let there be no doubt now.

In a hostile environment against their longtime rival who desperately needed the game, the Giants, underdogs coming into the game, made their most definitive statement of the season. They escaped Lincoln Financial Field with a 36-31 victory and served official notice (if they had yet to already) that the road to Super Bowl XLIII will have to go through the world champions.

The Giants had dominated for most of the game, except the scoreboard showed them only leading by five with the Eagles in possession of the ball with 3:14 remaining trailing by five points.

Needing to rise up one more time, the best defense in football converged to stop running back Brian Westbrook cold on a fourth-and-one play to send the NFL’s best team (no disrespect to the 9-0 Tennessee Titans) to an 8-1 record and three and one-half game lead over Philadelphia in the NFC East.

All week, many observers pointed to this game as the one where the world champions would meet their toughest challenge. Odds-makers labeled the Eagles as three point favorites against a team that had won 12 of its last 14 road games.

Early on, it appeared as if they would be proven correct when Eli Manning’s (17 for 31, 191 yards, 2 TD’s) pass was intercepted by Mike Patterson and returned to the Giants 9-yard line. Two players later, the Eagles lined wide receiver DeSean Jackson in the now famous “Wildcat” formation and sped around the right corner for a touchdown and an early lead.

Facing adversity in the league’s most hostile environment, the Giants (who had won the last three years in Philadelphia) responded like champions, marching 80 yards in 10 plays to tie game on a 17-yard touchdown pass from Manning to Plaxico Burress. On the ensuing kickoff, Ahmad Bradshaw forced a fumble from returner Quinton Demps and Chase Blackburn recovered. They were able to convert the good fortune into three points.

Another Eagles three-and-out gave the Giants possession and they again march 80 yards in 10 plays with remarkable ease as Manning found tight end Kevin Boss for a one-yard touchdown strike to make it 17-7. To that point, they had out gained the Eagles 173 to 13.

Everything was lining up for them to run away and blow them out. With 6:51 left, Jacobs, for whatever attempted to hurdle a defender as if he were prepping for the 2012 Olympics. Linebacker Chris Gocong delivered a hard hit to dislodge the ball and the Eagles were given a chance to get back into the game. Quarterback Donovan McNabb drove their offense down and hit receiver Jason Avant for a 10-yard touchdown pass to trim the lead to three points.

Both teams traded field goals before halftime and despite nearly doubling the Eagles in yardage, the Giants were only leading by three at halftime and eventually trailed when McNabb hit receiver Hank Baskett on a fade to the left corner of the end zone to give them a 24-20 lead.

It was hard to figure. A game that was setting up to be a blowout in every fashion, had found Philadelphia miraculously with the lead.

The offense set out to respond. They moved the ball to the Eagles 20-yard line and on third down, Manning was penalized when he appeared to have stepped across the line of scrimmage when he found Boss for a 17-yard play down to the Eagles 3. Coach Tom Coughlin, with advice from Manning chose to challenge the play. The video showed that his foot was just inches behind the line of scrimmage before he threw the ball. The referees reversed the call and the Giants were given a first-and-goal. Two plays later, Brandon Jacobs pounded it into the end zone to give the Giants the lead again.

Philadelphia was wearing down physically and emotionally on defense to that point. For the second straight game, the Giants ran for over 200 yards (219 in this game on 45 carries) and dominated the time of possession (39:10).

Another field goal by John Carney extended the lead to seven. After another Eagles three-and-out, Domenik Hixon’s punt return set the offense up with a short field at the Eagles 40 yard line. The Giants proceeded to score again as Jacobs (22 carries for 126 yards) broke the plane of the goal line from three yards. The ball appeared to come lose as he made his way into the end zone, but the video replay upheld the call to make it 36-24 (two point conversion failed).

Jeff Feagles pinned them at 14-yard line with 3:14 to go and the Giants leading 36-31. With less than two minutes remaining, needing three yards for a first down, Eagles running back Brian Westbrook (13 carries for 26 yards) ran wide to the right side and was short of the first down by a yard and a half. On fourth down, the Giants defense shifted to the right side in anticipation of the play. Westbrook got the handoff, and with the play going to the right, he was swallowed up by Chase Blackburn, Aaron Ross and Justin Tuck to seal the game.

It was as inspiring as it was clutch.

For the Giants, it was another victory to add to their distinction as “Road Warriors”. They have gone on the road into Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in the last three weeks and have come away with victories.

One has to wonder where the next Giants loss is going to come from. If the Eagles could not do it with everything on the line for them at home, who else can it be?

Next week, the world champions face the young and resurgent Baltimore Ravens at Giants Stadium.

Political Chatter – Obama wins and vows “change”

Carl went out and voted, sat back and watch the United States elect a new President. He thinks its a great thing for the country despite not voting for the eventual winner. Now, he wonders aloud if there really was a winner and how all of us can really come together if ideologies are such that don't allow for legitimate disagreement and debate.

The percent chance of John McCain beating Barack Obama in the presidential election was 1.1 percent in the Sportsbook on Tuesday and even that may have been generous.

It wasn’t a matter of if he was going to lose; it was just going to be by how much. There was talk in some circles that the polls leading up were either a lot closer than they were or being manipulated by certain media outlets in order to inflate Obama’s advantage.

At the end of the day, he was the winner. Jubilation came from his supporters around the United States and throughout the world. I saw tears in eyes and emotion flowing from spectators that found their way down to Grant Park in Chicago to watch this historic moment in our nation’s history.

Obama got us to the podium and began to make his victory speech. He continued to speak the same themes of “hope” and “change” that he was been uttering for the last 20 months. As he continued to speak, he spoke about all of us coming together as a people to regain our great standing in the world that has taken a hit over the last several years.

This was great to hear. One would be able to understand how he could inspire someone to believe that “status quo” is not good enough and that their individual and as a whole, our collective potential is limitless.

Seems like an ingenious idea, doesn’t it?

However, as I began to dissect the analysis of talking heads and regular Americans (or, as Sarah Palin would refer to them, “Joe Six-Packs”) who were being interviewed, the words I then began to hear to struck me as somewhat odd. To this person’s ears, it was almost as if to suggest that has Obama lost, that the country was somehow “unfulfilling its promise” or going “backward” as he was saying in his victory speech.

It left me with the impression that the only way that things would be right with the world is if he won and nothing else would be considered either acceptable or in some other way “damaging”.

Obama received over 62 million votes, the most a candidate had ever received in an election. But McCain did receive over 56 million votes, the second highest for a candidate in the history of an election. That leads me to wonder how many people truly believed that “change’ was needed. Its beyond obvious based on those results that many people seem to agree that there are two different visions of the world.

If they did not, then why was the margin of victory just six percentage points?

If there were a full mandate for “change”, wouldn’t McCain have simply taken a bigger ass kicking than he did? Of course, in elections of this magnitude, five percentage points is the equivalent of a blowout. The Electoral College showed the contest was a rout, but the overall popular vote difference was not all that great when you consider we are working with nearly 120 million total votes.

Like the old teeter-totter we used to ride when we were child, the country is pretty weighed evenly, occasionally leaning to one or another in any given year.

Make no mistake: This is still a divided country. Look at the electoral map and you’ll see that with the exception for two or three states, it is still a “Red state vs. Blue State” country. The people in the Northeast, upper Midwest and West Coast voted for Obama. Those in the middle on the country to down South voted for McCain.

The “Blue States” still view the “Red States” as bitter, hick town people that impregnable to change, while the Red still looks at the Blue as elitists who do not want to change what their moral and ethical values are.

I would like to think that we as an American public are not stupid despite the mounting evidence that a sizable percentage of us may be. All I have to do is listen to some of my fellow peers talking about this election over the past 20 months to draw this conclusion. It was brutally obvious that many voters played a game of “Connect the Dots”. McCain was used as a figurehead to resemble the abject failures of the second Bush presidency, which the Obama campaign used repeatedly, emphatically and completely to perfection.

BEFORE WE CONTINUE – A lot of talk has been made about the eight years of Bush failure. This may be true in the final analysis, but if his presidency was such a royal fuck up, then why did he win the 2004 election with over 50% of the voting public? When a candidate can get a clear majority that means they approve of his job no matter who the opposition is. If this weren’t the case, he would have been ousted in the year. It’s not a matter of the people not voting for him being smart and the people that reelected him being stupid. Look at Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich as an example.

Admittedly, I voted for McCain when I went into the booth. This didn’t mean that I completely supported his cause 100 percent because I did not. This also didn’t mean I was against Obama. In my analysis, I agreed with some of the positions of each of them. I was undecided and stayed that way up until Election Day.

My theory is very simple: A President has a 50-50 chance of being successful. No more, no less. Events that take place change everything. Would Al Gore of handled 9-11 better than Bush? No one really knows. The situation was the most unique in history. Personally, being in New York when it happened, I thought he did a very good job handling one of our greatest crises/tragedies. Every person is different and this argument over who would be better should not be limited to which political party the person is affiliated with.

I have no affiliation with any political party, choose not to and do not plan to do so in the future. When lining up issue-for-issue, my thoughts and ideas were slightly more to McCain’s side than they were to Obama.

Does this make me a bad, evil or unintelligent person?

No.

56 million other people like me felt the exact same way. Does that make them bad, evil and unintelligent too?

No.

This is what we call debate. Just because a person is not supportive of your beliefs or candidate doesn’t make them wrong or you correct. For whatever reason, there are people on both sides of the aisle who truly feel this way.

I find this alarming.

Did I make my views public before the election? Not always. My circle of friends is a liberal group. This is fine because most people in my age bracket are. Besides, I have always liked out people that have different viewpoints than my own.

We debate back and forth and in the end, give each other a fist pump, hug or knock down a drink knowing that we can at least understand each other’s thinking.

It’s healthy.

They would try to recruit me to their side and I would refuse. My sister, who for the last two years worked with the Obama campaign, gave me the talking points. I listened and took them for what it was.

However, there are some political friends that I have where it appeared that because I wasn’t supporting their candidate, there was somehow something wrong with me. Bill Maher had a very similar take when he described the voted that were undecided as “morons”. In his mind (and others), not choosing Obama labeled you as an idiot and not choosing either landed you into another form of weird.

Here’s a newsflash for those people: Neither of these political parties are any good!

The idea that one side is better than the other is ridiculous. If you truly believe that, your sugar high from drinking all the Kool-Aid may land you in a nearby hospital.

Unbelievably, there are many on both sides of the spectrum that try to make their appeal that one party is someone superior to the other.

Why is this? I am still not sure.

Both of these clown outfits masquerading as political parties have made gobbles of money on the backs of us the American people by scamming us and then asking for more money each and every year. Either some people are just blind to the scam, simply do not care, or are just plain idiots. .

You don’t believe that? Ask yourself this question:

Why over the last 20 years the city, state and federal government has asked for (and received) more and more of our hard earned money and has continued to waste it on their own personal interests to the point where most of these cities are hard strung for money, or bankrupt.

Government used to do a better job with less. Now, it has more revenue than ever, and is beyond incompetent. And you know what? They now need MORE of our money to fix the problems they’ve created.

Where is the accountability for that? This is not a one sided issue. It’s a Democrat AND Republican problem. Neither side can escape the blame. Yet few partisans on either side will ever admit fault. It’s like they are Teflon.

When I hear people say, “We just have to pick the lesser of two evils,” it makes the little hair on my head perk up. Is that what we have come down to? You mean to tell me that we are incapable of expecting more from the people in government office that WE as a people select. I’m sorry; I don’t buy that for a second.

It's like my dad told me on the week of the election:

“Both guys are running the scam. It’s just a matter of which scam you believe more.”

We had one candidate (McCain) talk about buying up bad mortgages with money that doesn’t exist right now because of the tanking economy.

Huh?

He then talked about allowing you to pick your health care provider buy giving you a health credit. Never once did he mention how he was going to “create” jobs or boost up the people that are currently struggling now.

On the other side, we had another candidate (Obama) talk about giving 95% of working families a “tax cut” (which isn’t really a cut) by ripping the money from the people that have more income.

Huh?

People actually bought into this stuff. Just the mere thought of a person getting $500 or $1,000 was enough to make them go “gaga”. The idea that “Big Oil” and “Big Companies” were finally going to “pay their share” was enough to rally the troops like a football coach giving a motivational speech in an effort to fire his team up before a big game.

A NOTE ON THIS “TAX CUT”- (This is a main reason why President-elect Obama and I disagreed and led me to vote to McCain.)

Be aware that your taxes are not going to be “cut” in any way. Take what your currently yearly salary is right now and find out what percentage of that amount translates to your yearly income. For instance, if you make $50,000, you are set to get a “cut” in the amount of a check for $500. What percentage of your income is that? One percent! Apparently, a three or five percent reduction was a little too much for some people to get back because the government still needs more money to waste. What it amounts to is a cortisone shot that does not work long term.

And since that money is being taken from people of a higher income bracket to pay for it, do people realistically think that those people are simply going to let that happen and be fine with it?

That IS a redistribution of wealth.

Sure, a portion of wealthy people will accept paying what the new rate will be. But others will find alternative means to recoup newly lost money. You think “Big Oil” is simply going to give up all this money without increasing the price of fuel?

How does that have a trickling effect?

Don’t be surprised if the price of an airline ticket goes up. Other goods and services you have now will go up as businesses try to guarantee profits at any cost. Companies, in an effort to do the same will either cut jobs to trim payroll, or simply replace them with temporary workers where they can get the same production at a far less cost. Eventually, your “tax cut” will be redirected right back into the hands that it’s going to be taken away from.

You may not realize it now, but give it time. Like the old saying goes, “The house always wins.”

McCain was never able to articulate his vision for America in the world that we live in dominated by economic trouble led him to defeat. Obama was clear, concise and made no bones about what he was going to do. People listened, they believed and they made him President.

Now comes the idea of how all of us go forward. I laughed out loud when I heard people say that “now, we can come together as a nation”, apparently to suggest that if Obama lost, this couldn’t happen. I heard someone say, “Obama is MY President”, as if to say that had McCain won he wouldn’t be.

No one side has cornered the market on correct policy. If that were the case, one side would be winning all of the elections. There wouldn’t be a need to have a debate.

“I have some shit I’m conservative about. I have some shit that I’m liberal about”

Chris Rock

This pretty much describes me. I’m not a hack for a side, and though I will support President Obama as our leader, he will not get a free pass. On January 20, 2009, the time for speeches and words cease. No longer will that be a recipe for support and success. It will all be about results and nothing else.

If he cannot do that, it will make all of this celebration go for nothing. He will turn out and most believe (such as I) that he is nothing more than another politician, able to slick talk his way into office.

Good luck. Let’s get started.

Giants Talk: Kicking the league when they’re down

World champions send message to Cowboys and league, but are not through yet.


What, did you really think the Giants were going to lose to that team on Sunday?

Surely when rooting for the Giants you still keep one open, one eye closed and keep a bottle of Pepto Bismol on the side just in case, but there was no need for any of that.

The Dallas Cowboys are a team in name only. Pro Bowl players still exists there, but most them are a creation of media hype or overinflated bypeople that simply do not watch football correctly. Seeing them now and they are nothing more than a collection of players. They are not a T-E-A-M.

Looking at the New York Giants, and they are the consummate “TEAM”. It is a thing of beauty of watch. No one player is bigger than the team. It all goes back to Head Coach Tom Coughlin’s main principles:

“Team first. Team last. Team always.”

I didnt know until last year what Coughlin was trying to preach and get through to his players. But after reading "The GM" and his own book "A Team To Believe In", you begin to understand that complacency is not something that exists within this man. His dedication and drive to be successful did not go away after winning the Super Bowl. Each and every day, he strives for perfection and his players have bought into it completely and (most) will run through a wall for him.

As the Giants slowly went about dismantling the Cowboys in Giants Stadium, it was difficult not to notice this serious difference. It was seen in the playoff game at Texas Stadium in the NFC Divisional playoff game last January and it has continued to play out through the first eight games of the 2008 season.

At the same time, you are seeing a team beginning to develop the mentality of an assassin. Going on the road is not tough terrain. You think after winning three straight playoff games on the road to get to the Super Bowl and then beating the Patriots that they are going to be scared of going into a place like Pittsburgh or Philadelphia?

Please.

Winning in Giants Stadium in the last two years was never an easy task. It was a place where they would regularly hear more boos than cheers, and saw more losses than wins. This year, the Giants are 5-0, turning the Meadowlands into a “House of Pain” for opponents. If this continues, you think one of these other NFC teams want to make that trip into that house in January with that crowd and attempt to get a win?

All of this was in play from the word “go” on Sunday against the Cowboys. The Giants knew that Dallas wanted to establish their defense early if they were going to have any chance of competing with them on this day. There was even this foolish thought that Dallas was even going to win. For someone like me who lives off pessimissm, even I had a sense of calm and self-assuredness.

What happened?

75 yards traveled in 11 plays for a Giants touchdown. It was disgusting in its easiness. Any hope that Dallas may have even considered was destroyed right there in the first quarter. They could have called it a night right there.

It could have been easy to simply rest on laurels and be content, but no. The Giants wanted to stomp them and rub their noses in it. From 14-0, 21-7, then 28-7, they continued to put their foot on the gas and were not stopping. The final score was only 21 points but they could have named the score if they wanted to.

You know what was the unique part was? The team still did not play its best game. Eli Manning’s statistical numbers were not eye popping. There were still some communication issues on routes (one miscue with Burress led to an interception for a touchdown), and Manning did turn the ball over three times. Even the players said so afterwards.

Winning by three touchdowns? Sure it is nice, but there is always room for improvement.

This is bad news for the rest of the league.

Despite the toughness of the remaining eight games of the schedule, the hardened toughness of this team and its championship mettle will not allow them to wilt. In many ways, they smell the possibility of potential greatness that awaits them if this season ends in Tampa with another Super Bowl title.

The Cowboys (despite missing players) found all of this out first hand on Sunday. Until further notice, they are not to be heard from or seen. Watching the Redskins (especially after watching their loss to the Steelers) leads you to the conclusion even though their record may be very close to the Giants; there is a sizeable gap that exists between the two teams. Only one team currently stands in the way and they play in Philadelphia.

With a win Sunday night at “The Linc”, the Giants can put the 5-3 Eagles out of their misery. Like the Cowboys, they are two games behind and they would be three games in the loss column behind with seven games to go.

Translation: It is over.

Don’t think this is not on the minds of the Giants. The media and the rest of the league may be back on the bandwagon after taking a three-week vacation, but they are (and I am) not listening. This is another chance to let the Eagles, the NFC East, the NFC and the entire NFL just how good this team is. On a national stage with the world watching, a group that loves to prove all of its doubters wrong gets one more chance.

They would not want it any other way.

Giants Talk: Big Blue Beat Down

No Romo, no defense, no heart equals no chance for Cowboys against Giants.


The whooping started early.

The whooping continued during the middle the game.

The whooping finished up late.

In between, to say that the Dallas Cowboys looked like a deer in headlights would be a complete insult to the deer. As Giants running backs ran around and through them, wide receivers slipped past them, and a defense that hurried, harassed and at the end of day, forced them to quit and look ahead to their bye week and if things continue, looking ahead to the golf course at the end of the season.

Even the final score did not do justice to the through thrashing that took place in the Giants 35-14 destruction of the Cowboys at Giants Stadium. With the win, the world champions pushed the record to 7-1 and have taken a three game lead in the loss column over Dallas (5-4), putting them out of their sight until further notice in the NFC East race.

The Giants were certainly playing a Cowboys team that was missing several key components. However, this is the NFL and there is no sympathy to be had here. From the opening kickoff, the world champions set out on a mandate systematically and cerebrally to dismantle them piece by piece. When it was over, they served notice to the rest of the league that last season’s playoff run was no fluke and this is 2008 version is far superior than the group that won Super Bowl XLII in Arizona.

Six minutes into the game, the rout was on. The offense, like clockwork, marched 75 yards in 11 plays, capped off by an Eli Manning 13 yard touchdown pass to tight end Kevin Boss in the right side of the end zone.

Dallas appeared to be moving into the red zone later in the quarter, but veteran (and Romo replacement) Brad Johnson had his pass intercepted by Corey Webster and returned 57 yards to the Cowboys 27 yard line. It took only five plays to punch it in as Manning found Steve Smith for his first NFL touchdown and quickly the score was 14-0.

Manning gave the Cowboys gifts on their next two possessions. First, on a third down play, the ball slipped out of his hands as he was setting up to throw and lost control of the ball with Dallas recovering on the Giants 16 yard line. However, it took only two plays for the Cowboys to turn it right back over as Terrell Owens had the ball stripped by linebacker Antonio Pierce on his way to the ground and the safety Michael Johnson recovered the fumble.

Once again, Manning (16 for 27 – 161 yards and 3 TD’s) allowed the Cowboys to gain life where miscommunication between him and receiver Plaxico Burress on a route lead to an interception by cornerback Mike Jenkins who returned It 23 yards for a touchdown.

The backbreaker came with 2:55 remaining in the half when Johnson through his second interception of the game on a wobbly pass that floated into the waiting hands of Webster again. From there, the Giants marched again and on third down and six, Manning found Amani Toomer for an 11-yard touchdown to make it 21-7 and any chance the Cowboys may have had were destroyed at halftime.

Statistically, the numbers were staggering. The Giants had 17 first downs, while Dallas only amassed three (they finished the game with 12). Johnson only completed five passes in the first half. Journeyman Brooks Bollinger came in from the bench at the start of the third quarter.

Before the game, it was suggested that if Bollinger got into the game that he may want to either have medical insurance or simply run like hell. On the second play of the third quarter and his first throw, he was intercepted by James Butler at his own 27-yard line and returned nine yards to the Dallas 19-yard line. It two plays for the Giants on offense to capitalize as Brandon Jacobs (17 carries – 117 yards) rumbled 12 yards for a touchdown to in essence, seal the game at 28-7.

Dallas finally scored early in the fourth quarter to make it 28-14. That was quickly answered by Derrick Ward’s 17-yard touchdown run to conclude the scoring. On the day, the offense gained exactly 200 yards.

All week, the Giants defense was intent on slowing down running back Marion Barber. They did it emphatically and almost completely. Barber only gained 54 yards on 19 carries. When the Cowboys offensive line could not create running lanes for Barber, they were under siege from the genius of Steve Spagnuolo and his defensive line that produced four sacks, 183 total yards, three interceptions and relentless pressure all afternoon. Incredibly, Dallas had 33 plays where they gained two yards or less.

In the end, there was no sympathy or remorse. Injuries are a part of the football and the Cowboys are on the receiving end of the bug. Perhaps in December when these two teams meet again, Dallas will make this game slightly more competitive.

For now, no “Get Well” cards were going to be sent by the Giants on this day.