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It’s All About The Giants..But Not For Long

This weekend is about the New York Giants.  It’s about the Super Bowl, and a championship.  It’s about perhaps a parade on Tuesday and random rankings of Eli Manning among the greatest QBs in the game today.

 

So good luck to the Giants.  I’m looking forward to this game, and like so many so-called experts on Twitter, blogs, radio and tv, I’m going to give you my meaningless prediction.  30-16 Giants.  It’ll seem closer than that though.  The Giants will score early in the second half to go up 23-13, and the Patriots will answer with a field goal.  The next score will be halfway through the fourth quarter when Tom Brady is picked off deep in his own zone.   He’ll then turn the ball over on downs on the Giants 44 yard line, and Eli will run out the clock slowly driving down the field and taking a knee.

 

The Giants, and NY and NJ, will celebrate.  The Senate will drink NY beers bought by New England politicians.  There will be a parade.  Then, despite five other local sports teams playing professional sports, all eyes will turn to baseball.  We’ll tick into single digits of days remaining until pitchers and catchers report.

 

And it can’t come soon enough. Let’s Go Mets!

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2012 New York Met as 2011 New York Giant

Every year there are tons of examples of teams that were deemed to have no chance to be competitive that make surprising runs deep into the playoff rounds and sometimes win it all.  The New York Football Giants were given very little chance to make the playoffs, and even less once they started piling up injuries in the preseason.  Tom Coughlin’s job was in jeopardy nearly every week, and Eli Manning was laughed at for calling himself elite.  The Giants were soundly criticized for mismanaging the cap and for doing nothing in the offseason.

 

Now there are only four teams left.  One of them is the Giants, and no one’s doubting they have a serious shot at winning their game in San Francisco and going to, and perhaps winning, the Super Bowl.

 

Eli Manning won Super Bowl MVP in 2008 in Super Bowl XLII.  That vindicated him some from the critics early in his career, but his failure to win a playoff since had brought back the doubts about his talent.  Last year he had a lot of interceptions, and it really downgraded his status with a lot of people.   In a way, it reminds me of David Wright.

 

I have hope that the 2012 David Wright will be a similar story to 2011’s Eli Manning.  David’s strikeouts nicely represent Eli’s interceptions.  Although he doesn’t have a title, Wright was a legitimate MVP candidate in 2007.  In 2012 I expect to see Wright return to that form.  After Eli outplayed Aaron Rodgers on Sunday there were people that were even comparing him to his brother Peyton, who may be the best ever.   When the 2012 MLB season ends, no longer will we have to debate if he’s the best third baseman in the NL East.  Instead critics will struggle to find a third baseman in all of baseball as good as he is.

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Some Football Giants Thoughts

I haven’t been a Giants fan long, but it’s nice to see a team I root for show some modicum of success.  Watching Eli Manning play this year has been a joy.

 

I’m not going to attempt to break down football strategy here.  I’m not qualified for that.  I do think the Giants will win this game though.  Eli Manning is awesome, and he’s got the receivers he needs to score on any defense as well as the talent to still make plays when the offensive line is failing in front of him.  That’s without even mentioning his Carlos Beltranesque clutchiness.

 

On the defensive side it seems like the Giants have finally managed to stay healthy long enough that their very talented players have gotten in the practice time to be good again.  I think getting two strong games under their belt did wonders for their confidence too.

 

Either way I’m glad the Giants avoided the “Should we fire Tom Coughlin?” and other associated offseason drama that happens with teams that fail. (See A. Mets, B. Jets)

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Football Season Already?

When’d that happen?

With all the injuries (gee, that sounds familiar) the Giants aren’t being picked to win much of anything, but if there is one thing that holds true across all sports, its’ that the experts are just guessing.  Maybe the unknown players will turn out to be better than expected.  Eli Manning has been getting downgraded by many off a sub-par season, so chances are he’ll out-perform what’s expected.

 

The Jets are  ‘world beaters, who the Giants again’ story line seems to be the popular narrative this season, but the actual games rarely adhere to the stories reporters want them to.  The Giants seem to have an easy first half scheduleso perhaps they take advantage of that, reassess who’s healthy and who’s contributing, and play good football in the second half and make the playoffs.