Monthly Archives: November 2008
1. Spread the Wealth
In the true spirit of Thanksgiving, a team called the Redskins will be fighting for their (playoff) life. The Redskins defense will look to feast on Eli Manning, dialing up pressure and looking to force turnovers. But despite the addition of Jason Taylor, the Redskins have mustered up only 17 sacks this year. The Giants’ offensive line will be up to the task and Manning should be given enough time to find the open receiver. Because of the latest episode in the Plaxico Burress soap opera, Manning will again have to get guys such as Domenik Hixon and Sinorice Moss involved.
2. Overcome Redskins’ Emotion
The Redskins are only 3-3 at home this year and do not seem to be taking advantage of home field… advantage. But this game will be different. The late Sean Taylor will be inducted into the Redskins’ ring of fame before the game on Sunday, so expect the fans to be stirred and the players to be inspired. You can argue the effect of an emotional experience like this, but don’t forget that the Giants’ beat the Redskins 36-0 just days after owner Wellington Mara passed away. The Giants better be ready for a motivated team.
3. Stop Portis
Clinton Portis leads the league in rush yards and is a leading candidate for MVP. The Redskins are 6-1 when Portis reaches 90 yards and 1-3 when he does not. He averages almost 5 yards a carry and leads the league in multiple personalities. Establishing Portis will most likely be their #1 priority, so stopping him is of utmost importance. By stopping Portis, the Giants will force Jason Campbell to win the game with his arm.
4. Stop Jason Campbell From Winning the Game With His Arm
Since week 5, Campbell has thrown 4 touchdowns and 3 interceptions in 216 attempts. He is a very conservative quarter back and doesn’t try to do too much by himself. Campbell will usually take a sack before he throws an interception, but if enough pressure is put on him, he can be rattled. He has taken 28 sacks so far this year, so protection has been a problem. If the Giants can force the Redskins into 3rd and longs, he will have no choice but to take more chances with his throws. Whether the Giants can force an interception or two in these situations could be the difference in the game.
5. Don’t Shoot Yourself in the Foot
Literally or figuratively.
Happy Thanksgiving Weekend!
Tom Rock of Newsday provides us with this information regarding Plaxico’s availability in the coming weeks.
“Jason Cole, who wrote Burress’ book with him during the off season, is reporting on Yahoo! Sports that Burress was just grazed in the leg by the bullet that sent him to hospital last night. “From everything I’ve heard, he was really lucky,” a member of Burress’ family who had been told only general details about the event told Cole.
Cole also cited two sources who say the bullet injury should keep him out only two weeks or so and he should return this season. That’s assuming three things: that the hamstring injury that had him sidelined this week will heal before the bullet injury, that the Giants want him back, and the NFL will let him back.”
Here is the Giants statement:
“We are aware of the fact that Plaxico was involved in an apparent accidental shooting last night. We have been in contact with Plaxico since shortly after the incident. Plaxico suffered a wound to his right thigh. Obviously, our primary concern is for Plaxico’s health and well-being, and given the circumstances, we are relieved to say he was released from a New York City hospital at approximately 2 p.m. today. We have been in touch with NFL Security on this matter. At this point, we are attempting to gather all the facts surrounding this incident. This incident could become a matter for law enforcement officials, and because of that, we have no comment on any of the details.”
So if the NFL, and the Giants, don’t punish him and assuming he recovers from his hamstring injury he could be back in 2 weeks. I know those are huge if’s, but just throwing it out there.
** In other, slightly less interesting news the Giants placed S Sammy Knight (hip injury) on the injured reserve (season ending) and activated DT Jeremy Clark from the practice squad.
Jay Glazer at FoxSports.com is reporting that Plaxico Burress shot himself in the thigh and he spent the night in the hospital. The wound is not considered life-threatening, according to the reports.
ESPN is reporting that Burress sustained the gunshot wound while in a night club, citing multiple sources. John Clayton of ESPN is reporting that Plaxico was carrying the gun and it went off unexpectedly.
Burress has a permit for a concealed weapon in Florida that expired in May but even if it was still valid, that license is not recognized in New York and Burress could be facing a gun charge.
The team just landed in Washington and Mike Garafolo at the Star Ledger spoke with a Giants player who said “He is okay, that’s all I can say.”
Plaxico was already expected to be inactive for Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury. He is very likely to face disciplinary action on top of the time he may miss from the gunshot wound. Domenik Hixon should see additional time in his absence.
Burress signed a five-year, $35 million contract this fall.
In September, Burress was fined one week’s salary — $117,500 — and suspended for two weeks (one of them the bye week) after missing a team meeting. Police were summoned to his home twice during this past summer for domestic disputes with his wife, Tiffany. He was also fined $45,000 by the NFL for incidents during and after a 49ers game where he questioned the officiating and threw a ball into the stands following a touchdown.
This guy is a total mess. He finds new and crazier ways to miss practice or game time every day.
It takes a lot of work to make Chad Johnson and Terrell Owens seem stable in comparison.
4 interesting side stories for this Sunday’s game against the Washington Redskins.
1) Kiwi vs. Samuels – On the very last play of week one, DE Mathias Kiwanuka beat T Chris Samuels, before Kiwi could get to Jason Campbell, Samuels swiped Mathias’s ankle. Samuels was able to knock Kiwanuka down and leave him reeling in pain. The injury slowed down Mathias in the early part of the season and Kiwi called the play “dirty.” Samuels is dealing with a bad knee, so he is not a definite for Sunday, but if he is out there Mathias will not have forgotten what happened week one.
2) Sean Taylor to be honored - Taylor will be enshrined into the Redskins ring of honor this Sunday. Emotions will be running high, but not just for Washington. There are plenty of Giants who either played with Sean or have strong ties with him, including Sinorice Moss who wears a wrist band with his initials on it every week. Kenny Phillips wears 21 in his honor, and Antonio Pierce played with Taylor as a Redskin. No doubt the Redskins and their fans will be fired up, and although Clinton Portis (one of Taylor’s best friends) is 50/50, as he was the last 2 weeks in which he played, I can’t imagine he will miss this particular game.
3) 8 man fronts? The Redskins front seven is banged up which may force them to drop a safety into the box against the Giants vaunted running attack. DE Andre Carter was limited in practice and MLB London Fletcher was unable to practice at all, they are both listed as questionable with foot injuries. Still, the Redskins certainly have the personnel in the secondary to do drop a man into the box. Leron Landry and Chris Horton are tremendous around the line of scrimmage. In fact Horton, a seventh round pick has been one of the leagues best defensive rookies. This would leave the Giants wideouts in one on one matchups, something they have taken advantage of much of the year.
4) This will be the Giants first look at De’Angelo Hall since the Giants flirted with him in free agency this past offseason, for now Hall is in the nickel.
Shaun O’Hara was fined 5 thousand dollars for hitting DT Darnell Dockett of the Caardinals after the whistle. The penalty occurred after a field goal attempt, when O’Hara thought Dockett was trying to hurt guard Kevin Boothe.
“I wasn’trying to be cheap. I was trying to protect my teammate,” O’Hara said after the game. “It looked like he was trying to hurt one of my guys. I’m glad it didn’t cost our team. I know Coach Coughlin won’t like this, but I’d do it again if I had to.”
Well, it did cost the team fifteen yards on the kickoff but not a victory. This is O’Hara’s second fine on the year, but I have to tell you I like the way he stuck up for his teammate. Yes, a 15 yard penalty can alter a game, but sometimes sticking up for a teammate is worth it. It’s the philosophy that I like, perhaps not the behavior. Still, it shows that O’Hara won’t let he or his teammates be pushed around, but you have to balance that with keeping a level head. Unlike hockey there are no enforcers to stick up to bully’s, so occasionally this happens, hopefully the referees take care of it in the future.
According to Tom Coughlin Plaxico Burress is out for Sunday’s game against the Redskins. While coach Coughlin acknowledged Burress’s hamstring is improving he will rest up for the following week. Jonathan Goff is also out.
With Burress out Domenick Hixon will again be able to show off his skills. In two games without Plax the Giants passing game has flourished. Two games is barely a sample size, but we will get a third look this Sunday. Again, the Giants are better off with #17 on the field, but it will be interesting to see just how much they miss him this week, especially if the Skins try and drop a safety into the box.
Fred Robbins, Ahmad Bradshaw and Brandon Jacobs are listed as questionable but Jacobs is expected to play.
Justin Tuck and Brandon Jacobs are both practicing.
That mean Jacobs knee responded well to yesterday’s practice which is a good indication he will play, especially with Bradshaw out a third straight day. Tuck’s lower leg injury seems to be just a ding.
As I said, Ahmad Bradshaw is out of practice, as is Plaxico Burress and Fred Robbins.
With Bradsahw and Plax out it makes you wonder who will return kicks, because Hixon might have to start at the X position, Plaxico’s normal spot. That said Hixon will probably have to play in both areas, mainly because he is so good at it.
If Robbins can’t go there is a good chance the Giants activate Jerome McDougle, but it would be Jay Alford who see’s the most extra playing time.
I hope everyone had a great Turkey day…here are some things you may have missed yesterday.
Add Justin Tuck to the injury list. He sat out Thursday with a “lower leg” injury. We should know more about his injury later today when Coach Coughlin addresses the media.
Ahmad Bradshaw missed his second day of practice with a stiff neck.
With Brandon practicing and Bradshaw hurt it looks more and more likely that Leron Landry will once again get to face the Baby Rhinoceros one on one. I fear for Leron.
Domenick Hixon practiced with a bad ankle.
Fred Robbins, Jonathan Goff and Plaxico Burress were all held out of practice Thursday.
Happy thanksgiving to all those big blue lovers and to all you football fans. Here are some quick notes before I suck back a bottle of 5 hour energy and wolf down 3 whole Turducken’s.
Brandon Jacobs is expected to practice today.
Ahmad Bradshaw has a neck injury but is expected to practice.
Fred Robbins has a shoulder injury but along with Plaxico Burress is listed as day to day.
On this day of giving thanks all Giant fans should remember where the Giants were last year at this same time. The Vikings owned the Giants and Eli Manning. The NY writers and many fans had given up on the team and Eli. One year later the Giants have lost only 3 games, they have a Superbowl title and a Superbowl MVP. Thanks NFL gods. Go Seahawks.
If your feeling nostalgic check out Ralph Vacchiano’s blog where he gives you a clip of the greatest play in Superbowl history.
Have a great gobble de guk day.
The Arizona Cardinals have come a long way. The franchise has been around since 1920 and has won 10 or more games only 5 times, and never more than 11. The last time they had double digit wins was almost 30 years ago. From 2002 to 2006, the Cardinals won 25 games, averaging 5 wins a year. ESPN’s Graham Hayes even nominated them as the worst franchise in sports a couple years ago.
But in a little over 1 year under Ken Whisenhunt, the Cardinals are 15-12, and have basically clinched their first playoff trip in 10 years. Their offense is one of the best in the league and their defense is probably a little underrated. They have things going in the right direction.
With all that said, I could not help but feel a little taken aback by the way some of the Cardinals players carried themselves. It seemed like every play, one of their players would try to pick a fight with any Giant they could find; shoving players when the refs weren’t looking and trying to “start something.” I believe that the Cardinals feel that they are the young upstart team and therefore they had to stick it to the big boys from New York, but since they weren’t confident that they could do it through their play, they had to assert themselves by physically attacking the Giants’ players after the whistles. We call this an inferiority complex.
What made this even worse was the fact that the refs (short for referees- by shortening “referees” to “refs,” I will save time in the future) were calling every possible penalty on the Giants, while letting the Cardinals get away with multiple holds and obvious offside penalties and even a couple of helmet to helmet hits. I sound like a biased fan here, but the fact is that I am right 103% of the time. Aaron Ross was given absolutely no leeway with the Cardinals’ physical receivers and was called for pass interference 4 times and let’s just say that a couple of them were questionable. Finally the refs (again, short for referees) threw a bone the Giants’ way by flagging the Cards for an illegal pick, but then legally picked up the flag and decided not to penalize those poor Cardinals. Yet many of the players showed a great amount of greed (one of the seven deadly sins, mind you, Kurt Warner) continually trying to plead their case for even more gift calls. I’m glad that the Giants didn’t publicly criticize the refs, but that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t.
And it wasn’t just the refs who made some home-town calls. Fox color commentator and former Dallas Cowboy; Daryl “Moose” Johnston swept all of the missed calls under the rug, constantly ignoring and even supporting questionable and downright awful calls. When Tom Coughlin tried to challenge the touchdown pass to Anquan Boldin because he thought there were ineligible linemen past the line of scrimmage, FOX showed a quick replay from an angle that could not possibly show where the line of scrimmage was. Johnston drew a messy yellow line and said “Oh yeah, you can clearly see that the linemen aren’t past this yellow line that I just hastily drew where the line of scrimmage might be. I’m Daryl Johnston. I used to block for Emmitt Smith when I played for the Dallas Cowboys.” Those weren’t his exact words, but you get the gist.
And then, to put the icing on the cake, the Cardinals organization showed off an inordinate flair for sore-loserness when they filed a complaint over the Giants not playing their best offensive player. This is the sort of sore-loserness usually reserved for the losing party after a presidential election. I believe I even saw some Cardinals players wearing a shirt featuring Eli Manning’s face and the words “not my Super Bowl XLII MVP.”
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