OK folks, I'm back on the blog... I've made empty promises about posting every day in the past, but I will try to adhere to that from now on. Saturdays may be iffy, though, unless I can blog from the golf course.
Let's break down the upcoming Eagles game:
When the Giants have the ball... As long as Eli Manning doesn't throw it away as he did often in the fourth quarter and OT when the Giants went down to Philly last season, I can't see the Eagles defense slowing the Giants down. The offensive line, even with Rich Seubert for a whole game, can protect Manning; if the Eagles want to blitz like crazy, the Giants should welcome it and hand the ball to Tiki Barber 35 times. Maybe 30, with a few for Brandon Jacobs, though I do worry about Jacobs getting overexcited in the hostile environment.
And, as I said in my Tuesday Chalk Talk on the print side, get the darn no-huddle in there! The Eagles are down a starting cornerback, so keep that secondary on the field as long as possible and wear them down if necessary.
When the Eagles have the ball... The Giants obviously need more pressure on the QB, because given a moderate amount of time, it seems the Giants secondary can be beaten on a steady basis. That means turning LaVar Arrington loose in the pass rush more and keeping someone to spy on Donovan McNabb, because if he gets loose to run, he will.
Intangibles... The Eagles have the loud crowd and there will be some dirty play -- Antonio Pierce is out for blood and Jeremiah Trotter would knock over the first-down marker guy -- so the Giants have to maintain some poise, which hasn't been one of their strong suits. Special teams could be huge -- David Tyree blocked a punt on the Eagles last season.
Prediction... The Giants really do seem to have too much talent to go 0-2, which would certainly become 0-3 in Seattle a week later. Giants, 20-13
Comments (5)
Dear Arthur,
Whew! I was so worried - first no blog for several days, and then no column from Arthur today. I can only hope that all is well and that you haven’t been eating any bagged spinach of late.
I’m going to answer one of my own questions: From which slime bucket did Wallace Mathews crawl out? Answer: The Shaun Powell bucket.
According to Powell, the only thing the Giants have going for them is a “durable and dependable all-around tailback”, and “a future Hall of Fame defensive end”. A backhanded compliment to team leaders Tiki Barber and Michael Strahan respectively and that is all. There is no one else on the team worth a damn!?! The man clearly knows nothing about football. There’s no reason to read his column. A boycott is in order.
Please tell me you aren’t giving up writing a daily – nothing against Bob Herzog – just say it ain’t so! (Bob’s a nice backup to you vis a vis Rich Seubert and Chris Snee).
I like the no huddle idea. And while the Eagles secondary appears to be their weakness, I’d see victory against the Eagles via the ground game. If Tiki is Thunder and Lightning, then Jacobs is a hurricane. Send in hurricane Brandon.
-Big BB (Not my real name)
PS What’s the over-under on Brandon Jacobs carries this week?
What's the buzz on MJ? You were loving the guy in camp dedicating a ton of ink to him -- I was happy for him that he made the team working hard and that he played well in preseason. He even got a nice catch early in week 1. Are we going to see him get more chances this week -- and will any of it involve the return game? I just don't have much faith in Morton at this stage, at least not with kickoffs.
One thing the blog should be great for, is posting the inactives on game day -- Arthur, what do you have for us?
BB, I would not lose much sleep over Powell. Some guys just are not cut out to be columnists. Heyman was dreadful when he strayed from the diamond.
The offensive line, even with Rich Seubert for a whole game, can protect Manning; if the Eagles want to blitz like crazy,
For the comments of this come on are you really a giants fan or not. Did you know that he lead the young offensive line in 2004 to the playoffs, and the year he broke is leg he was looking at the probowl. He is one of the better lineman the giants have he can play tackle,center,guard, and tight end.There just waiting to fill him in I bet you he starts at center next year BY THE WAY HE KICK BUTT IN THAT GAME.