OK, lets start with the jerseys. I HATE those red jerseys the Giants wore on Sunday. The Giants have worn blue during their entire existence, take off the red. I realize that Thanksgiving weekend is the official kick-off to the holiday shopping season, but the New York Giants are NOT the Atlanta Falcons or the Baltimore Ravens or the Carolina Panthers or the Jacksonville Jaguars whose lack of tradition permits weekly experiments with their uniform. No kid is going to ask Santa for a RED Eli Manning jersey. The Giants are an 80-year-old franchise (the commemorative patch is on their uniform this season) and are steeped in tradition. They are Big Blue. They play in a “blue state”. Loose the red jerseys now! You’re a professional football team, not a vehicle to move dead stock for Modell’s. Save that gimmicky crap for those flavor of the month teams in the AFC South.
OK, so the spell of Eli Manning wasn’t quite there Sunday as it was last week against Atlanta. It wasn’t a stellar performance, perhaps it was worse, but I’m still going easy on the kid. He made some mistakes, but that’s all part of the indoctrination period for a rookie quarterback. Frankly, I’m glad to see him take his hard knocks against a team like Philadelphia than, say, San Francisco. If you want him to learn how to swim fast, well, throw him into the turbulent waters of the Eagles and Falcons. I won’t belabor the obvious about his interceptions. Bad decisions they were, particularly that long ball off the back of his foot in the third quarter. Let the Post and the Daily Snooze peal that onion away. What I did like is the Giants have brought back a deep threat with their number three receiver, Jamaar Taylor. Two big plays. I don’t think the Giants have done that since their early-season road victory in Green Bay. This dink and dunk stuff that Warner was throwing wasn’t moving the chains and defenses quickly learned to shut that game plan down.
Still though, there’s continued concern about the Giants red zone production. I think it goes back to the Giants weakness in the offensive line. I defended these guys last week against Atlanta and still do this week. But in the red zone, they aren’t punching holes when the gaps are tight on running plays and the extra help to stem the pass rush in the backfield is making it too easy to cover receivers. The screen option is lost with Tiki Barber matched up against a defensive end; as is the delay hook with Shockey or Marcellus Rivers stuck in blocking formations. Granted, Shockey is getting opportunities in the end zone, but defenses have since caught on in the short field. Where are Ike Hilliard and Amani Toomer? Same with Jim Finn. He was more noticeable in the sideline melee after Jeremiah Trotter’s cheap shot on Manning than on the field. He made some plays last week against Atlanta, so I’m not sure why he wasn’t a bigger factor against the Eagles.
Speaking of Tiki in the backfield. I saw at least three plays where he made some outstanding blocks when fending off the blitz happy Eagles; and I’m talking about some serious mismatches. That won’t do much to pad his stats, but it goes a long way with demonstrating what a complete player he is. Same to Marcellus Rivers, who for a second week, stepped up his game in the unglamorous role as the designated tight-end blocker.
Defensively, the 27-6 score was misleading. They kept the Giants in the game for three quarters. For much of the game the Giants were only down by a touchdown. Yes, I know football is a FOUR quarter game, but that’s what happens when the lack of offensive firepower keeps the Giants D on the field for too long. The Eagles did play with a tattered line; particularly with the injury to Jermaine Mayberry, but the loss of Michael Strahan and Keith Washington was further softened by the play of Lance Legree and Osi Umenyiora. Good interior line play as well until Norman Hand hurt his leg. For the most part, the pursuit of McNabb was pretty good, and for two consecutive weeks the Giants second string defensive line has made life difficult for the league’s most elusive quarterbacks. Can’t say the same about stopping the run. This is a problem, and this is where a big playmaker in the linebacking unit is sorely missed. Too may three-yard runs turning into seven-yard runs or more. I’m not sold on Cris Collinsworth’s assessment on the improved play of Carlos Emmons. Despite his being exonerated for that abysmal personal foul call last week, I haven’t seen a heck of a lot from him. He was essentially a free agent swap for Dhani Jones. Perhaps Emmons’ being injured last year was a more affordable solution to an overpriced resigning of Dhani Jones, but it reminds me of that mindless trade of Dan Pastorini for Ken Stabler. I also disagree with Cris Collinsworth’s “not having a problem” with Barrett Green getting ejected after making a retaliatory strike to Jeremiah Trotter after his cheap shot on Manning. That was an easy fifteen-yard gift negated by his lack of mental discipline. For the past month, Green has been in Tom Coughlin’s dog house for exactly those reasons. Until then, the Giants curbed their season-long propensity for stupid penalties during the game. Yeah, yeah…it’s an emotional game against a hated division rival making a flagrant attempt to rough up their (presumed) wunderkid. But it’s still stupid and uncalled for.
Partial praise goes to the secondary for keeping Terrell Owens quiet for the first half and much of the third quarter. However, we instead saw Todd Pinkston mug the highlight reel in the first half. Will Allen and Will Peterson are simply not getting it done on man coverage. Again, I think this goes to the lack of playmaking ability in the Giants linebackers; thus forcing the safeties to contain the run rather than go to zone coverage. Having said that, Curtis Deloatch helped keep T.O. frustrated. I’m at least not worried about him in the game. He’s a safer alternative to Frank Walker’s aggressive, though very undisciplined style of play. As for Gibril Wilson…get well soon…OK?
There’s a lot to say about this game. What we know is that the Giants are committed to the future. Eli Manning is the quarterback, Tiki isn’t fumbling, Shockey is being freed up to make plays, the offensive line is playing at an acceptable level, there were fewer penalties, the decimated D-line has stepped up and they’ve rediscovered some semblance of a deep threat. But they can’t score points, there’s a huge hole in the linebacking unit and Amani Toomer and Ike Hilliard are non-factors. With five weeks remaining in the regular season, you hate to already start thinking about next year, but the rest of the season is looking like a dress rehearsal for next year.
This wasn’t a terrible loss. Philadelphia is a better team, but the Giants had ample opportunity to seize this game. It wasn’t necessarily a game they should have won, but it was most definitely a game they could have won. Better days lie ahead, not behind, but the playoff berth we smelled around Halloween probably won’t be wrapped under the tree by Christmas. Or for that matter, now.
Oh, and one last thing…. Since Washington prefers to wear white at home, take your goddamn blue jerseys to FedEx field next week.
Sunday, November 28, 2004
Sunday, November 21, 2004
A Good Tough Loss
For those of you who’ve been followers of The Octavio Lense since its inception, you know that a portion of this site is dedicated to the New York Giants. Well, lets get started….
Tough loss to the Atlanta Falcons Sunday, but I feel there were a lot of positives to this game. Granted there was a lot of sloppy play (Shockey 3 drops…come on) and penalties…but more on that later.
What I saw from this game was a spark. Sure you can say it’s because Eli Manning made his debut, but there’s more to it than that. There was something about the crowd. A feeling in the air that this team is finally on a path; that better things are to come. You can’t put a finger on it; just an intuitive sense that this team is going some place. It reminds me of the 1983 season. That was Bill Parcells’ inaugural season as head coach of which the Giants only went 3-12-1. By all measurable accounts a dismal season; one that put Parcells on the firing line after just one campaign. But if you’re old enough to remember, there were lots of bright spots the way Leonard Marshall, Jerome Sally, George Martin and Casey Merrill played on the defensive line, the cohesion in what was to be the greatest linebacking corps ever assembled, (OK…slight bias on my part…feel free to try to prove me wrong if you can) and improved play in the secondary. They only won three games, but the Giants meant business. Win or loose, the Jints were starting to look mean after a decade and a half of abysmal football. In essence, there was a sense of belief.
I sensed that same belief in the Giants today. I’m seeing a connection between Manning and Shockey already form. Granted Shockey had a first half he’d soon like to forget, as the papers will surely remind him this week, but you could see his impact in the second half. It’s still way premature to make a Simms to Bavaro juxtaposition with Manning and Shockey, but I can smell it coming. The stats won’t prove it in this game, but Shockey is in pole position to be Eli’s go-to guy. I’m still with the camp that believes Jeremy Shockey’s potential has yet to be fully tapped.
Kudos to the O-line as well. The naysayers made plenty of noise the past two weeks in the unforgivable losses to Chicago and Arizona (16 sacks given up in the first 5 games, 24 sacks given up in the last 4…we know, we know, we know), but I stuck to my guns that, yes, it was because of Kurt Warner’s holding the ball for too long that led to that sack frenzy. Atlanta’s much ballyhooed blitzing attack was thwarted by Big Blue. They didn’t shut them down, but they at least gave Manning workable time in passing situations. Heck, you can’t ask for miracles, but a quarterback can ask for at least a three step drop; and for the most part Manning got it. Lets not forget folks that Big Dave Diehl moved from guard to tackle (hardly an easy transition) and he’s sharing the right side of the line with rookie, Chris Snee, and they were playing with back-up center Wayne Lucier and that Luke Petitgout is really a natural right tackle, not a left tackle. That’s a lot to ask for, especially with a rookie QB and first year head coach. Everyone thought Atlanta’s D-line would have an endless highlight reel after what happened the last two weeks. Not so. Lets cut these guys some slack…OK? And I haven’t even mentioned the running game of which they made some big holes (even Dayne got passed the line of scrimmage a few times)...I’m just talking about pass protection.
Defensively the Giants contained Michael Vick pretty well. Everyone got freaked out with the loss of Strahan and Keith Washington for the season, but Osi Umenyiora (who I always had faith in since the end of last season) really stepped up on the D-Line. The D fell short with stopping the run, but that’s what happens when the linebackers and secondary have to spy Vick in addition to everything else. All in all, considering what a star the Giants Defense made Craig Krenzel look like two weeks ago, Michael Vick was pretty quiet. Good press in the secondary with Brent Alexander and Terry Cousin in nickel and dime formations to enable some pass rush up front; though rookie “find” Gibril Wilson was certainly missed. Nobody deserves a game ball here, but they didn’t quit. I think I’m belaboring the obvious that the biggest hole is with the linebackers, however some rays of light can be extracted by the play of Nick Greisen and Reggie Torbor in recent weeks.
Penalties…ughh. Where to you start? No game should ever pinned on what the zebras call. Lets face it, the Giants got a few breaks too, but that personal foul on Carlos Emmons was a steak in the heart at the end of the game. You’ve heard the old cliché of NFL standing for No Fun League, but for God’s sake, can these professional football players be allowed to, say, play football? Is that asking too much? Never has a season been so painstakingly tedious by the constant barrage of yellow flags. HEY PAUL TAGIABUE…GUESS WHAT…FOOTBALL IS A CONTACT SPORT! YOU THINK THESE GUYS CAN BE ALLOWED TO HIT? You think a guy making $40 million can withstand an inadvertent slap on the helmet .0427 seconds after he releases the ball? Jeff Tripplet are you competing with Tom White to be the next Dick Hantack? You’re a marked man on The Octavio Lense.
Anyway…
Quiet recognition goes to Marcellus Rivers being promoted over Visanthe Shiancoe from third to second string Tight End. Nice job blocking. Same to Jeff Feagles on special teams. If Ray Guy ever gets into the Hall of Fame as a punter, then Jeff Feagles should someday be considered too. His contribution in the game of field position has been invaluable.
But more than anything else, I got something off the crowd. No, I wasn’t in the swamps of Jersey today on this balmy late November afternoon. I watched the game on the tube. But the crowd didn’t give up. They were electric, and I’ll tell you I have not sensed that feeling from the Giants faithful since Parcells stepped down. I don’t know how else to say it. Perhaps you have to be a long time fan to know, but there was something about the Jim Fassel era that wasn’t emblematic of what the New York Giants are about…too nice, too slick, too many smiles, too many weddings to Angie Harmon and too many CHOKES. Even in this age of free agency, it’s still about homegrown stars that gets the fans exited. LT, Mark Bavaro, Harry Carson, Phil Simms and, (why not) Phil McConkey…these are my New York Giants. Eli Manning brings that intangible link to the fans; he’s our quarterback, and you could feel that vibe entrenched in the roar of the crowd. Kerry Collins never delivered that.
The Giants looked just a little more pissed off today, a little hungrier, despite a shoddy first half and lots of penalties. The Falcons won, but they had to scratch and crawl to do it. The Giants scratched and crawled too. But while doing so, they jettisoned the Madison Avenue finesse of Gentleman Jim Fassel for Hunt’s Point grit of Tom Coughlin.
I like what I’m starting to see.
Tough loss to the Atlanta Falcons Sunday, but I feel there were a lot of positives to this game. Granted there was a lot of sloppy play (Shockey 3 drops…come on) and penalties…but more on that later.
What I saw from this game was a spark. Sure you can say it’s because Eli Manning made his debut, but there’s more to it than that. There was something about the crowd. A feeling in the air that this team is finally on a path; that better things are to come. You can’t put a finger on it; just an intuitive sense that this team is going some place. It reminds me of the 1983 season. That was Bill Parcells’ inaugural season as head coach of which the Giants only went 3-12-1. By all measurable accounts a dismal season; one that put Parcells on the firing line after just one campaign. But if you’re old enough to remember, there were lots of bright spots the way Leonard Marshall, Jerome Sally, George Martin and Casey Merrill played on the defensive line, the cohesion in what was to be the greatest linebacking corps ever assembled, (OK…slight bias on my part…feel free to try to prove me wrong if you can) and improved play in the secondary. They only won three games, but the Giants meant business. Win or loose, the Jints were starting to look mean after a decade and a half of abysmal football. In essence, there was a sense of belief.
I sensed that same belief in the Giants today. I’m seeing a connection between Manning and Shockey already form. Granted Shockey had a first half he’d soon like to forget, as the papers will surely remind him this week, but you could see his impact in the second half. It’s still way premature to make a Simms to Bavaro juxtaposition with Manning and Shockey, but I can smell it coming. The stats won’t prove it in this game, but Shockey is in pole position to be Eli’s go-to guy. I’m still with the camp that believes Jeremy Shockey’s potential has yet to be fully tapped.
Kudos to the O-line as well. The naysayers made plenty of noise the past two weeks in the unforgivable losses to Chicago and Arizona (16 sacks given up in the first 5 games, 24 sacks given up in the last 4…we know, we know, we know), but I stuck to my guns that, yes, it was because of Kurt Warner’s holding the ball for too long that led to that sack frenzy. Atlanta’s much ballyhooed blitzing attack was thwarted by Big Blue. They didn’t shut them down, but they at least gave Manning workable time in passing situations. Heck, you can’t ask for miracles, but a quarterback can ask for at least a three step drop; and for the most part Manning got it. Lets not forget folks that Big Dave Diehl moved from guard to tackle (hardly an easy transition) and he’s sharing the right side of the line with rookie, Chris Snee, and they were playing with back-up center Wayne Lucier and that Luke Petitgout is really a natural right tackle, not a left tackle. That’s a lot to ask for, especially with a rookie QB and first year head coach. Everyone thought Atlanta’s D-line would have an endless highlight reel after what happened the last two weeks. Not so. Lets cut these guys some slack…OK? And I haven’t even mentioned the running game of which they made some big holes (even Dayne got passed the line of scrimmage a few times)...I’m just talking about pass protection.
Defensively the Giants contained Michael Vick pretty well. Everyone got freaked out with the loss of Strahan and Keith Washington for the season, but Osi Umenyiora (who I always had faith in since the end of last season) really stepped up on the D-Line. The D fell short with stopping the run, but that’s what happens when the linebackers and secondary have to spy Vick in addition to everything else. All in all, considering what a star the Giants Defense made Craig Krenzel look like two weeks ago, Michael Vick was pretty quiet. Good press in the secondary with Brent Alexander and Terry Cousin in nickel and dime formations to enable some pass rush up front; though rookie “find” Gibril Wilson was certainly missed. Nobody deserves a game ball here, but they didn’t quit. I think I’m belaboring the obvious that the biggest hole is with the linebackers, however some rays of light can be extracted by the play of Nick Greisen and Reggie Torbor in recent weeks.
Penalties…ughh. Where to you start? No game should ever pinned on what the zebras call. Lets face it, the Giants got a few breaks too, but that personal foul on Carlos Emmons was a steak in the heart at the end of the game. You’ve heard the old cliché of NFL standing for No Fun League, but for God’s sake, can these professional football players be allowed to, say, play football? Is that asking too much? Never has a season been so painstakingly tedious by the constant barrage of yellow flags. HEY PAUL TAGIABUE…GUESS WHAT…FOOTBALL IS A CONTACT SPORT! YOU THINK THESE GUYS CAN BE ALLOWED TO HIT? You think a guy making $40 million can withstand an inadvertent slap on the helmet .0427 seconds after he releases the ball? Jeff Tripplet are you competing with Tom White to be the next Dick Hantack? You’re a marked man on The Octavio Lense.
Anyway…
Quiet recognition goes to Marcellus Rivers being promoted over Visanthe Shiancoe from third to second string Tight End. Nice job blocking. Same to Jeff Feagles on special teams. If Ray Guy ever gets into the Hall of Fame as a punter, then Jeff Feagles should someday be considered too. His contribution in the game of field position has been invaluable.
But more than anything else, I got something off the crowd. No, I wasn’t in the swamps of Jersey today on this balmy late November afternoon. I watched the game on the tube. But the crowd didn’t give up. They were electric, and I’ll tell you I have not sensed that feeling from the Giants faithful since Parcells stepped down. I don’t know how else to say it. Perhaps you have to be a long time fan to know, but there was something about the Jim Fassel era that wasn’t emblematic of what the New York Giants are about…too nice, too slick, too many smiles, too many weddings to Angie Harmon and too many CHOKES. Even in this age of free agency, it’s still about homegrown stars that gets the fans exited. LT, Mark Bavaro, Harry Carson, Phil Simms and, (why not) Phil McConkey…these are my New York Giants. Eli Manning brings that intangible link to the fans; he’s our quarterback, and you could feel that vibe entrenched in the roar of the crowd. Kerry Collins never delivered that.
The Giants looked just a little more pissed off today, a little hungrier, despite a shoddy first half and lots of penalties. The Falcons won, but they had to scratch and crawl to do it. The Giants scratched and crawled too. But while doing so, they jettisoned the Madison Avenue finesse of Gentleman Jim Fassel for Hunt’s Point grit of Tom Coughlin.
I like what I’m starting to see.
Saturday, November 20, 2004
Cornbread
Thanksgiving is coming up. Time for families to get together and enjoy the purest of holidays sans the wanton commercialism of Christmas; and in recent years, Halloween as well. With divorce rampant in the United States, and families dispersed for the sake of survival, the importance of relatives getting together in these frenetic times has been dutifully noted. But what about the food? No one talks about the food anymore. We're the fattest nation on the planet. Obesity costs our society X-billions of dollars in health related issues each year. So why don't we talk more about the meal? What a treasure it is to have a sit-down meal that didn't pass through a drive-through window or come out of a microwave. Turkey, stuffing (I'm a Yankee, dressing is stuff you put on a salad), biscuits, mashed potatoes. Like when was the last time we ate this way at home? I'm not a fan of cranberry sauce or yams. In fact I think they're heinous, but they add nice color to the otherwise bland appearances of the aforementioned items. But cornbread...what the hell is so special about cornbread? I know people who react to cornbread like that dog in the TV commercial that goes apeshit over bacon (it's really not bacon...ha, ha, ha...). First of all, cornbread is a pain in the ass to eat. It collapses when you bite it. It collapses when you break it apart with your fingers. The top is too hard to absorb butter. The interior is too course to spread butter; and if you apply pressure with a knife, it crumbles. What's the big deal? The texture is sandy, even somewhat abrasive on the tongue. It scratches your throat when you swallow. It leaves a silty residue along your esophagus. It gets caked in your molars. What is so great about cornbread? And the taste? What taste...there's nothing to it. It sucks...just turns your mouth into a cement mixer, and then spreads unwanted crumbs to corrupt the texture of other foods on your plate. And yet its regarded as special treat. "Cornbread's on," you hear, "come and get it"; and it gets devoured like fuckin' guppies in a piranha tank. I don't know, I really don't get it. I think cornbread is a farce. Yet I eat it anyway...every Thanksgiving.
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