WOW! Talk about a playoff preview! The Giants defeated the Panthers by a score of 34-28 in OT this evening at Giants Stadium. With the win, the Giants locked up the #1 seed in the NFC Playoffs and assured themselves of homefield throughout.
After a few weeks of mediocre rushing games, Earth and Wind blew up tonight. Derrick Ward rushed for 215 yards, on 15 carries. Brandon Jacobs added 87 yards on the ground and got into the endzone three times.
Eli Manning gutted it out through the tough conditions tonight, throwing for 187 yards and a TD. The TD went to Kevin Boss.
Not to be discounted are the efforts of CB Corey Webster, who did a great job shutting down Pro Bowler Steve Smith. Smith only caught three balls for 47 yards. Webster added a team leading seven tackles.
Oh, and De’Angelo Williams had four rushing touchdowns for the Panthers, he’s pretty good.
With homefield locked up, the Giants head to Minnesota next week to face off against the Vikings.
This was a huge win, for two reasons. The Giants needed to show the world why they are still one of the best rushing attacks in the game with Earth in tact, and 2) the Panthers were 8-0 at home this year, and would have been extremely difficult to beat come playoff time.
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Great win tonight. So here’s my question, which has been on my mind for a few weeks. I hope some of you good fans can help with an answer. Where is Bradshaw? We saw Jacobs and Ward run up a storm tonight. We didn’t see Bradshaw run the ball once. He was such a big part of the post-season last year. Why don’t the Giants use him now? I know that Ward was hurt last year, but I have to think that Bradshaw is the most dynamic runner we have. Will he play a role again in the playoffs? Is he hurt? Does he not matter to the team that much anymore? Where is Bradshaw?
I agree, there were a few spots that I was thinking why Bradshaw wasn’t being used. What really bothers me is that he is being used on kick off returns and Hixon is not. HIXON HAS TO BE OUR KICK RETURNER. I cannot think of one legitimate excuse as to why he doesn’t get a chance to return. Injuries? BS. How many of our kick returners have gotten injured this year, or last year, or ever? It will tire him out? Yeah I’m sure the 3 or 4 kick offs he’ll do will tire him out for the rest of the game. The guy brings the ball out to the 40 yard line on every kick off and has a chance to take it to the house each and every time. He’s proved it time and time again yet they don’t give him more opportunities. Is there something I’m missing here? Why is he not used?
G_Lunt I think the reason Hixon hasn’t been returning kicks is because he has been favoring an ankle injury the last couple of weeks and I don’t think the Giants want to hurt it anymore now that he is the number one deep threat on the team….Another thing with Bradshaw we only seem to use him in the 4th Quarter when we are up. I gotta think this is a trust issue with the ball but after 200+ performance from Ward and a nice gritty performance from Brandon I am not gonna argue with not putting in Bradshaw down the stretch.
I checked with Tom Rock at Newsday and he thinks the Giants were doing just fine without him and played the hot hand with Ward and Jacobs.
The numbers sure prove that to be the case. 301 yards. You can’t argue with success.
I was thinking the same thing, where has Bradshaw been this year? But I’ve noticed that the few times he gets the rock, he doesn’t seem to have that burst/explosiveness that he had last year down the stretch. He does look a little bulkier this year, maybe he packed on too much muscle in the offseason? He just doesn’t seem to be able to outrun anybody, and he doesn’t hit holes as quickly as he did last year. Just my opinion from watching him run, but maybe he should lose some weight.