Monthly Archives: September 2008
Sadly, Neil Best at Newsday is reporting that former Giants defensive back and current radio broadcaster, Dick Lynch has passed away at 72.
Lynch has been a Giants broadcaster since 1967.
According to the Associated Press, Giants WR Plaxico Burress has been suspended without pay this week and next for insubordination. 
He failed to attend a team meeting and ignored calls from team officials.
Jay Glazer at FoxSports.com has some additional details.
The SNY newsroom reports that GM Jerry Reese and head coach Tom Coughlin informed Burress of his suspension in a meeting with the player this morning. The suspension takes effect immediately, meaning Burress will not be in uniform when the 3-0 Giants resume play on Sunday, October 5 when they host Seattle
Burress will be allowed to return to team activities on Monday, October 6.
Hat tip to Fred and Matthew A for the news.
Instead of boring everyone with my own boneheaded reactions, I’ve decided to do something different this week. As a special treat, I am going to dip into the mail bag and answer the questions of some lucky boneheaded fans!
Mike (Brooklyn): Do you think the Giants are finally starting to show that they miss their all-world defensive end?
Rich: Yes, I do think that the loss of Jerome McDougle, who was a last minute scratch with leg soreness, was clearly felt in the fourth quarter and overtime. Although the Giants did sack Carson Palmer six times, they failed to get any pressure in crunch time. It is a problem when you send eight guys and none of them can break through the line, especially against a team with such capable players at the skill positions. Hopefully “All-World” McDougle’s injury will not keep him out past the bye week.
Ronaldo (Glendale): With a 10-2 overall record, is there any division better than the NFC East?
Rich: The NFC East, or “NFC Beast” as some jokesters like to call it (the humor lies in the fact that the word “east” can be found nestled in the word “beast,” and that “beast” denotes a certain ferocious tenacity that is characteristic of the four teams in the division), is not only the best division in the NFL, but the best division in all of sports. No team from “da Beast” has lost to an out of conference foe. I would even argue that any NFC Beast team would defeat the great teams of yesteryear, such as the 1927 Yankees or the 1992 Dream Team, in a game of tackle football.
Blake (House Boat): John Carney recently likened his role as replacement kicker to a relief pitcher coming out of the bullpen. With these results, maybe the Mets can borrow him to help out their bullpen!
Rich: And with corny jokes like that, maybe the Tonight Show can borrow you to write Jay Leno’s opening monologue!
Greg (Yonkers): Hey Rich. I just wanted to say that I’ve been reading this blog for a long time and I think that you do a great job! Your articles are insightful and heartwarming, and you clearly know as much if not almost as much as the suits at ESPN. You truly inspire me.
Rich: Not exactly a question, Greg. Please stop wasting our time.
Max (The Village): How huge was Steve Smith this week!
Rich: 5-11, 195 lbs.
Moshe (Queens): First of all, happy football season! And first of all, It seems like every other week, Amani Toomer makes one of his patented tip-toe catches against the sideline in a huge spot. Is this a coincidence?
Rich: Good observation, Moshe. Most fans don’t know this, but the Giants have a very strange incentive system. Amani Toomer must make 4 toe-tapping sideline catches in the regular season in order for his 2009 option to kick in. Brandon Jacobs receives a $500K bonus every time he appears in an opposing DB’s nightmare, and Jeff Feagles gets a bowl of hard candy for every punt he pins inside the 20.
Mike (Long Island): Was that Fred Robbins out there recording 2 sacks for the second game in a row, or was that King Kong?? What a monster! He can’t be stopped!
Rich: That was Fred Robbins; King Kong is a fictional character. Please pay more attention to the games.
Sinorice M (East Rutherford): Don’t you think that Eli should pass to Sinorice Moss more often?
Rich: You sicken me.
Rachel (Manhattan): Which running back do you think has been most valuable so far? Their all so good!
Rich: Great question, Rachel. Unfortunately, I have a “no grammatical mistakes” policy, and you seem to have used “their” in place of “they’re.” Please clean up your question or take it to a blog of lesser quality.
Peter (Patchogue): Early last week, you said the Giants should get Kevin Boss involved in the offense. Fast forward to the game and Boss has 3 catches for 51 yard and a huge touchdown. Long story short, the Giants don’t win this game if not for your advice.
Rich: Thanks Peter, but I think you are being too kind. I don’t call the plays, I just make suggestions. With that said, I would not be surprised if Coach Tom Coughlin anxiously awaits my posts every week, mining for such golden nuggets of advice. Although they still refuse to give me my requested job of “Junior Assistant Head Coach Man,” stating that my 156-3 lifetime record in Madden does not qualify as previous work experience, I still think I’ve earned a certain level of credibility.
CowboyGurl9 (Dallas): Giants r suxorz!!1 Cowboys rule! My boyfriend Tony Romo is so hott!
Rich: What an honor to have Terrell Owens write to the blog!
Matt (Albany): Hey Dan. Remember to pick up your car before 5 or else you’ll have to wait till next week.
Rich: I think you have the wrong person.
And that ends this week’s mailbag segment! If you’d like your question to appear here in the future, please mail it to the Giants Football Blog wing of the SNY Manor via carrier pigeon.
Bonehead of the Week: The Bengals radio announcers.
This may be the most blatant case of homerism I’ve ever seen, and I’ve watched my fair share of Braves games on TBS. Seriously, check out the game highlights, and count how many times they say “yes!” or “nice…nice…” when the Bengals have a positive play. I’ve never seen anyone so proud of a winless team before.
You’ll also notice that Giants radio commentator Bob Papa loves to point out when field goal attempts are “end over end.”
The Giants are among 5 teams that are now 3 and 0. Yet my inbox was filled with emails complaining about yesterday’s “near loss.” When I say filled, I mean I got three emails of concern. I also saw many panicked comments on another major Giants website, but I am unsure if I can name it, so lets call it the Shmiants Shmessage shmoards.
“Dave, don’t get me wrong I am happy about the 3-0 start, but this game showed the league there is nothing to fear in New York. I mean we barely escaped the Bungals, who scored 17 points in there first two games. We need to instill fear in the rest of the NFL, and this game did nothing to show that.” -Scotty Moo
Umm Scott, or Mr. Moo, you could not be more correct, you could try, but you would fail. 3-0 is nice, but at this point in the season, three games in, we need to be 9-0. The Giants need to start focusing on fear more and wins less. Teams should be so afraid of the Giants that they refuse to play the games in fear that the Giants may eat their children. Here are some ways to start instilling fear:
Tune into WSFZ to hear me talk Giants football with Bo Bounds on the Out of Bounds show.
You can listen online here.
Wow, what a game! The Giants defeated the Bengals by a score of 26-23 in OT. The win leads the Giants to their first 3-0 start since 2000, and dropped the Bengals to an awful 0-3 start.
Eli Manning lead numerous drives on the day, including the final drive in OT that lead to the game winning field goal. On the day Eli was 26-43 for 289 yards with a touchdown. The most important part, no interceptions.
The Giants defense started with a bang, sacking Carson Palmer on the first play of the game. The big fella in the middle did most of the work today, as DT Fred Robbins had a tackle, two sacks, and even got his hand on a field goal attempt, to no avail though. The anchor Antonio Pierce added a solid nine tackles.
Plaxico Burress was a no show for most of the day, catching only three balls for 45 yards. But, with Plax struggling, Kevin Boss stepped up, and caught his frst pass and touchdown of the year. The touchdown came on the drive to take the lead with two minutes left in regulation. Game ball, and catch, goes to Amani Toomer. Toomer made a fantastic catch in OT, to put the Giants in chip shot field goal range. John Carney sealed it with his fourth field goal of the day.
The Giants head into their bye week on a high, and travel to Seattle to face off against the receiver less Seahawks in Week 5.
The New York Giants will face the Cincinnati Bengals today at Giants Stadium.
The Vitals:
Game: Cincinnati Bengals (0-2) @ New York Giants (2-0)
TV: CBS
Radio: WXRK (92.3 FM) Russ Salzberg has pre and post game, Bob Papa will call the game with Carl Banks providing color commentary, and Howard Cross reporting from the sidelines.
Time: 1:00 p.m. EDT
Game Notes:
- The Giants are 2-0 for the first time since 2005. The 41 points they scored was the most since last time they met the Rams in 2005, beating them 44-24 at Giants Stadium.
- The Giants scored 21 fourth-quarter points for the first time since a 38-21 win at Buffalo last Dec 23.
- They did not allow a first half touchdown for the first time since last November in Detroit.
- The Giants have only allowed 20 points this season, their lowest points allowed in the season’s first two games since giving up 13 in 1952.
- Manning’s 131.4 passing rating last week is the highest ever in his career.
- Cincy linebacker Dhani Jones was originally drafted by the Giants in the sixth round of the 200 NFL draft. He played for the Giants from 2000-2003 until leaving via free agency.
- The Giants and Bengals have not met since December 26, 2004. The Bengals defeated the Giants 23-22 in a wild game the Giants let slip through their fingers.
Inactives:
GIANTS
K Lawrence Tynes
RB Danny Ware
CB Terrell Thomas
CB R.W. McQuarters
LB Jonathan Goff
T Adam Koets
DE Jerome McDougle
WR Mario ManninghamBENGALS
QB Jordan Palmer (3rd QB)
CB Jonathan Joseph
SS Dexter Jackson
DB Herana-Daze Jones
TE Ben Utecht
DT Pat Sims
DT Jason Shirley
WR Jerome Simpson
Quote of the Day:
“Obviously they still have weapons. They still have #85, #84 and #9. Whenever a team has those — that combination – they can put up a lot points when they get hot. So we have to do a good job of, as always, starting fast and making sure we make them one-dimensional, taking their running game away. Not letting Chris Perry get started and putting a lot of pressure on their quarterback. And if we are able to do that our chance of winning and our chance of succeeding go higher.” – Justin Tuck
Chat:
For a live chat during tonight’s game, join us tonight in GiantsFootballBlog’s Giants Tailgate chatroom.
After firing down my 14th buffalo wing, 6th beer, and a second cup of Blue cheese on Monday night (the wing has basically become a meat spoon for the cheese) I couldn’t help but blurt out “I AM A GENIUS.” In hindsight, this was a silly thing to say, because I was drunk, alone, and on my couch with no pants on. I did, however, go 12-3 in my picks from last week’s post, my fantasy team won, and I said this about big blue:
“Brandon Jacobs, and the forgotten one, Ahmad Bradshaw, should have a field day. I think the Rams might start out with a bang, but once the Giants calm things down, and Justin Tuck starts gnawing on Mark Bulger’s leg, the GMEN should overwhelm the Rams. ”
Justin Tuck cannot be blocked by one man. Not to mention the fact that he is playing with the disadvantage of having Chunk’s head. He also appears to have two necks, and muscles that come out of areas on the human body I didn’t realize were capable of growing muscles. I think he may be the smoke monster from Lost. I changed one of my plants names from “Frank” to “Tuck” this week, the plant responded by growing his own plant, and even that plant is bigger then your plant (still working on understanding what that means).
A 12-3 start means this week I am bound to mess it all up, but let’s have a try anyway:
Bengals at Giants – Does it terrify anyone else that the Bengals just signed Geoffery Pope to the active roster? No? Good, still Pope was on the Giants practice squad last year, and got cut after training camp this year. He may know things, he may know why everyone considered “No Country for Old Men” a good movie. Other then that the, “he used to play for us, he may know things” theory, is ridiculous. TJ housman34atzHELLOcxsr and Chad Johnson (I refuse to call anyone by a number, unless it’s Six, from Blossom) are elite recievers, and should have an impact, but their defense is suspect. In fact I can just see Marvin Lewis sitting down with his defense and saying this:
You’re suspect! Yeah, you! I don’t know what your reputation is in this town, but after the stuff you tried to pull today you can bet I’ll be looking into you. Now the business we have, heretofore, you can speak with my aforementioned attorney. Good day, gentlemen; and until that day comes, keep your ear to the grindstone.
Wait, wait… no, don’t do that, better yet, show Chad Johnson film of last week and then just hug him and say this:
Coach Lewis: Ocho, you see this, all this stuff?
[Holds up the film]
Coach Lewis: It’s not your fault.
Ocho: [Softly, still staring off] I know…
Coach Lewis: No you don’t. It’s not your fault.
Ocho: [Serious] I know.
Coach Lewis: No. Listen to me Ocho. It’s not your fault.
Ocho: I know that.
Coach Lewis: It’s not your fault.
[Defense is silent, eyes closed]
Coach Lewis: It’s not your fault.
Ocho: [Ocho is misty eyed already] Don’t mess with me Coach Lewis. Not you.
Coach lewis: It’s not your fault Cinco.
[Ocho shoves Coach Lewis back, and then, hands trembling, buries his face in his hands. Ocho begins sobbing. Coach Lewis puts his hands on Ocho's HOF shoulders, and Coach Lewis grabs them and holds them close, crying]
Ocho: Oh my God! I’m so sorry! I’m so sorry Coach Lewis! .
Either way this team is in desperate need of therapy. The Giants should overwhelm the Bengals defense and put up big numbers, both in the air and on the ground. I think the Bengals offense will finally show up, and make this close, after all, you’re the Shepard (sorry that doesn’t even make sense – I really do hope my 7 readers know “Good Will Hunting”). For all the Giant fans, who simply cannot be happy with “just winning,” you can breathe easy, Kevin Boss will catch a pass this week. Michael Johnson has played well, but with a minor injury, this might open the door for the young stud Kenny Phillips. I predicted he would be starting after the bye week, because I am a genius. A genius who has been duped by the Starbucks “treat receipt” almost every day for the last 2 weeks, as if a two dollar coffee is a good deal. Perhaps I will just try some caramels (again Good Will Hunting – and now I am explaining my jokes) Giants 31 Bengals 24
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