No, not the Giants -- they were surprisingly low-key today. A few guys said privately that they're quite pleased the Eagles fired the first volley of nonsense this week, with some Philly defensive players saying they feel they can dominate the Giants offense and rattle Eli Manning with pressure.
"We'll let them talk and we'll shut up and play," said one Giant.
"For a change," I said, trying to be snarky.
"Yeah. Isn't that nice?" he said.
Brandon Jacobs did address some of what the Eagles had said on Sunday, namely that Manning could be rattled. "If we protect him, he'll respond," Jacobs said.
Tiki Barber spoke at length today, mostly about how Kevin Gilbride's presence and Jeremy Shockey's absence made Barber the focal point of the offense once again. Even though the offense didn't exactly accomplish that whole balance thing on Saturday, the Giants did try some new stuff -- namely, Eli airing it out into single coverage for receivers who don't wear No. 17.
And the hustle and bustle of the playoff berth had me and my brethren completely overlooking Jared Lorenzen's first NFL snap, when he burrowed for two yards and a first down near the end of the half. It wasn't earth-shattering, but hey, the big kid can do that kind of thing -- even though no one thought of it before Saturday.
Anyway, the news of the day has already leaked out before the Giants had a chance to release it: CB Corey Webster is on injured reserve with turf toe, which he aggravated against the Skins. His starting role was lost when he returned from a month-long absence, and he was the nickel CB partially at fault on Santana Moss' 48-yard TD catch on Saturday.
Webster can't be declared a failure after only two seasons, but he has a lot to learn. Kevin Dockery becomes the nickel and R.J. Cobbs was added off the practice squad.
Comments (6)
Let’s put the season in prospective: this is not our daddy’s NFL. This is a league that celebrates parity. There are only a few elite teams and the rest battle to reach .500.
The Giants losses came against 1 conference champion, 4 division champions, 1 wildcard and 2 other 8-8 teams that had as much chance as the Giants going into the last week of the season.
In 2006 ¼ of the league finished 8-8, with a total of 20 teams .500 or worst.
The Giants have nothing to apologize for; they are a product of the system.
There will be a lot of talk, and I do think the Eagles have more to gain by the early round of trash talking...they are a team with false confidence that will be met with stiff competition come this weekend. The response still remains...THEY HAVEN"T PLAYED ANYONE! Their opponents winning percentage was lower than the Giants opponent's winning percentage. Rattle that!
Webster hopefully will get one more year to try to stay healthy and prove he's no bust. Arthur, What's your opinion of Ernie Accorsi's drafts? There seem to be a lot of busts. You can say that about any GM who's been with a team for a while, but it always seems like some teams have much worse track records than others.
During the Redskins game, Chris Collingsworth noted that Manning's apparent fear in the pocket explains why he seldom steps into his throws thereby causing his passes to float. Although pre-game chatter may be irrelevant to game-time performance, aren't the Eagles right in noting that Manning--who is immobile--is easily intimidated?
Also, isn't Manning's timidity compounded by the terrible officiating, particularly the many non-calls of defensive pass interference? Redskins DBs, most notably Jimoh, routinely tackled Giants receivers Carter, Moss, and Burress before the ball arrived, with impunity. It seems that the NFL is deliberately allowing offensive line holding to be offset by defensive pass interference. Only super-obvious or dramatic events now get flagged.
Uh... The officiating has been awful this year, but the Giants problems at WR lies with the wideouts and not the zebras. Moss is a rookie, Carter can't catch a cold and Tyree is a special teams guy (albeit a very good one). Shockey's been hurt and inconsistent this year. Plax is their only legit WR at the moment. They miss Toomer more than anything. Badly.
Coach Coughlin is not the
prolem, key injuries to the
offensive line, Shocky,and
losing thier leader Strahan
hurt. Kevin Galbriedt should do a better job couching the offense. Giants need help in the
secondary and linebackes.
Coughlin deserves another
year.