FB: Ohio Athletic Conference

[pradierguy]

Congrats to Raeburn. He is a really good guy.

[HScoach]

NE 49 NYG 17

I hope so.  I seem to be the only guy in Ohio pulling for the Pats.

My reasoning is simple.  I just want Don Shula, Mercury Morris, etc. to JUST SHUT UP.

[pradierguy]

Pierre Garcon returned a punt 62 yards for a TD in the Texas vs. The Nation game. Congrats Pierre!!!! Way to restore some of that dropped draft stock.

^^ Correction 41 yards
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvzTkNIVEj0

[reality check]

Nope it was 62.  CBS just can't count.  He fielded the ball on his own 38.  It was a nice cutback and he showed some nice speed in beating everyone across field and to the opposite corner of the endzone. 

Garcon also led the Nation in receptions last night although he had only 3 for 23 yards.  Hopefully that does bode well for him and helps his chances of getting a shot or at least a look he might otherwise not have gotten at the next level without a memorable effort in this all-star game.

[seventiesraider]

Gotta go with NE. Any team (Patriots) that has a player (Junior Seau) that says they can't pay me what I'm worth to this team, is my pick. Guys playing because it's what they do and they love it.

[Li'l Giant]

My reasoning is simple.  I just want Don Shula, Mercury Morris, etc. to JUST SHUT UP.

I'm with you on this.

[Kira & Jaxon's Dad]

I'm rootin for the Pats also.  Something I don't like about Eli.  Get a haircut dude!

[Mr. Ypsi]

I, too, am a Pats guy.  It's fitting that a guy who was never sucurely the Wolverine starter (behind Brian Griese, then fighting for his job against Drew Henson) would be threatening to be the greatest qb there ever was!  (So far, I've got Montana, Unitas, and Favre (in whatever order) ahead of him, but he's still only 30! )

[jaypeter]

Sorry to all you Patriots fans, but this Giants fan is amazingly and shockingly happy tonight!  For me, it makes up for the last game of the DIII season, although to have both championships would have been truly amazing!

Way to go Giants!!!!!  The only team to win a Super Bowl in three consecutive decades.

[Mr. Ypsi]

Sorry to all you Patriots fans, but this Giants fan is amazingly and shockingly happy tonight!  For me, it makes up for the last game of the DIII season, although to have both championships would have been truly amazing!

Way to go Giants!!!!!  The only team to win a Super Bowl in three consecutive decades.

Since Wolverine Amani Toomer was a huge part of the win, I can live with it.

[JK]

I hesitate to do this, because I don't want it to seem like I am bashing Josh McDaniel, because I really respect what he has been able to accomplish, but I really didn't understand some of the play calls.

I know I don't know the game plan or what they were seeing from up above or Brady was seeing at the line, but some of the times they took shots downfield seemed questionable to me.  I seem to recall that at least twice in the 3rd qtr they tried to go long on 2 & more than 10.  Maybe I am old fashioned, but I always believed that you try for the homerun on 2 & short, so if you miss you at least have a makeable 3rd down.  If you have a (-) play on first down and especially on second down that you HAVE to have a (+) play on the next play.  And the 4th and 14, when they passed on the 49 yard FG, I would think you would run a play that had multiple options for the first down rather than one and if he is covered (which he was) you can do something other than chuck it for the endzone.

It just seemed that, especially given the way the Giants were rushing Brady, that they were most successful when Brady was throwing in rythym.  They would run a couple of plays that were 3 or 5 steps and throw, hit on them for positive plays, and then bog down because they would go to something where Brady had to wait to throw and the rush would get to him and either sack him or cause his throws to be off.

The Giants had a great game plan, and they won the game, NE certainly didn't lose it.  But it seemed like NE got too "cute" for their own good sometimes and out-thought themselves.

Just a little "Monday morning QB" for ya...

[jaypeter]

JK,

I think you've done a pretty good job of critiquing the play calling.  The one piece I would add, though, that may have affected it, was that the Giants threw a ton of different looks with their defense, even using the exact same coverage and doing completely different things.  I, too, was surprised that they did not go more often to a guy underneath, although Welker did have 11 receptions.  New England really thought that their receivers were better than the Giants defensive backfield.  In terms of the shorter stuff, they were right.  But, the Giants had a great plan, and the DB's and Safeties played pretty strong defense. 

I'd have to go back and look again (and believe me, I will!!!), but it could be that the Giants were able to get just enough coverage or rush on the second and long's that the underneath passes weren't available.  The Pats had no rush last night to work into 2nd down and mid-range and maybe open up some of the other things.

Overall, and remember I'm a Giants fan born-and-bred, I think the Giants played an exceptional game on defense, and the offense, as they have done many times, did just enough (literally) to pull it out.  If it had been John Madden's "Horse Trailer" instead of the Cadillac MVP, it would have gone to the entire Defensive Line for the Giants.

[Knightstalker]

My reasoning is simple.  I just want Don Shula, Mercury Morris, etc. to JUST SHUT UP.

I'm with you on this.

I don't know why people get upset at Shula et al, when they have people sticking microphones in their faces.  They are asked questions and they give answers.  After last night they can keep talking, you have to win the last one to go undefeated and the Pats failed to do that.  To paraphrase the coke head, they drove around the block but couldn't get through the gate. 

Great game by the Giants, I agree with whoever said the D line should have been MVP, but when you let the public vote it is going to be the Qb almost every time.

[Small but Slow]

JK - While I hesitate to question a coach's play calling since he knows his team best, but against the Giants devastating defensive front four, but I expected more of a mix of run with the pass on first down.  If for no reason other than to give the front four something else to think about and slow down their upfield push.  I thought the Patriots offense lost its patience and tried to force plays that weren't there.  

The Giants defensive line was the difference in the game.  They simply blew up everyone they played during their playoff run.  Michael Strahan may have cemented his spot in the HOF.

[Spence]

NE 49 NYG 17

Moss is MVP

Eli is a road bump

Can't imagine how it must be feel to be wrong by that much.