Monday, February 4, 2008

A Coronation

That’s it, the game is over, all the stories have been written and as we have argued over the last 2 months, the legend has been born. It is Eli time, nobody else. He is worth all the hype, he was worth the trade, worth the #1 pick. Only one other #1 draft pick has lead his team to a Super Bowl Championship in his fourth season, and that was Troy Aikman. Dan and Andrew your Eli jerseys are on order and will be at your houses in a few weeks, I can’t wait.

Oh, and Dan you can take all your manage the game bullshit and stick it where the sun don’t shine. And I know Dan fights with me more for the pleasure of it, rather than actually hating Eli, but I just hate when people use the term “managing the game.” It is a backhanded compliment, and Eli WON the game. The Patriots marched down the field and it looked like another Super Bowl game winning drive for the immortal Tom Brady. However, someone forgot to tell Eli Manning and the New York Giants.

Eli jogged onto the field, shoulders slumped, head bobbing and mostly staring down at the ground (you know the demeanor Giants fans hate about Eli) and as he entered the huddle he simply clapped his hands twice and began calling the play. That’s what we kept missing all along with Eli, it wasn’t the me, or Josh or Keith or my mother that had to believe in Eli, it was his teammates, and they did and always have. Guys like Toomer and Plaxico and Strahan kept telling us to believe in Eli, but we doubted sometimes, but they never did, not even after Brady connected with Moss and the Boston city council started planning the Pats parade route. \

Eli and the Giants offense set the tone right off the bat by marching down the field, even though they didn’t score a touchdown, they let the Pats know they were here to fight. Early in that drive (the third play) Eli faced a 3rd and 5 and he found Plaxico Burress over the middle for 14 yards and the game was on. Then with the game on the line, Eli again found Plaxico alone in the end zone for the game winner. Plax didn’t make any other catchs last night, he went 57:53 of game time and more than 3 hours of actual time between receptions. As they say, it’s all about timing, and Eli’s timing has been on for over 2 months. And now it is Eli’s time.
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3 comments:

Dan Filowitz said...

If you lead your team on a TD drive with less than 3 minutes left in the Super Bowl, you can say you won the game. It's not like they were using Jacobs or Bradshaw to get down the field.

He didn't have an amazing game overall - though you can credit a very good Pats defense for that, more than taking anything away from Eli. When it counted, though, he did what he had to do. And that play where he somehow avoided the sack and threw that pass to Tyree was awesome, and very much about him.

If you expect me to take back what I said earlier about him, I won't. Prior to, say, Week 16, Eli was a shaky and mistake-prone QB that was hard to trust. That is a fact.

It is also a fact that he had a tremendous 5 game stretch, starting with the Pats game in Week 17, through three playoff games, and ending with a well-earned Super Bowl MVP.

So good for him, and good for you Giants fans, who must be enjoying themselves quite a bit right now.

Of course, as a Jets fan, I was rooting for the Patriots to lose. I didn't want to hear about them and their perfect season for the rest of my freakin' life, literally. I enjoyed watching the Giants win, tremendously.

I also enjoyed watching Tom Brady get whacked around. If I was going to rank the NFL people I enjoy seeing hit hard, it would be Dan Marino #1, and Tom Brady #2.

So, yeah, great game, and a nice time to be a Giants fan.

February 4, 2008 at 11:36 AM
Twinkie said...

When did Amani Toomer push off the DB and make that sideline catch? It wasn't on that first drive, was it?

I ask because I was listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio and he was saying that Elisha didn't play great, that the Giants got lucky with that Toomer push off, which would have eliminated the field goal.
That Plaxican't caught and fumbled the ball that Rodney "I can't tackle Kevin Boss or Ahmad Bradshaw well" Harrison picked up and ran away with.
And that the Bradshaw fumble, where he fought and got the ball back, could have easily been given to the Patriots because they landed on it first.

Then I heard about how it was clearly evident that the ankle bothered Tom Brady. That while the Giants "punched him in the mouth" (Thanks and welcome back Michael Wilbon), they were fortunate that Brady wasn't 100 percent and you could see that because he overthrew people and didn't drop back with the same conviction as prior games.

I've also heard that the Pats peaked at the wrong time, that the Giants got hot at the right time and taht despite the big silver trophy FINALLY...COMING BACK to the Meadowlands, that the Pats are still historically great.

Add to that thought, that despite everyone with the exceptions of Wilbon, Dan Patrick (on Letterman in NYC) and Merrill Hodge, every other national media outlet outside of NYC picked the Patriots to win, most by about 14 to 20 points, that this wasn't a great upset, only in perception, not the reality of a 12-point underdog winning the biggest game in the sport by regaining the lead not once, but twice in the fourth quarter...

In NYC, the only place that matters to this team, they'll be remembered as champions. But it's clear that to the rest of the nation, they'll just be the team that knocked off the Patriots.

They'll use the excuse that while Elisha outplayed every quarterback on the other sideline this postseason, that Jeff "Giant Killer" Garcia was rusty after not playing for two, three weeks prior.

That Tony Romo was a) distracted by Jessica Simpson (like we all wouldn't be), b) he had a hand injury and c) Terrell Owens and Terry Glenn were also injured, despite starting the game and making catches in the first half to ringing praise from Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.

That Brett Farve was cold and Al Harris was blinded by his dreadlocks and other BS. I can't remember the excuses from the Green Bay game, but you get the point.

We could just say that the best team on Sunday night won the game. That despite three Pro Bowlers, the Patriots offensive line couldn't deal with the Giants front 7 and that if there aren't some horrible drops by Toomer, Burress and Steve Smith (Interception anyone?) that this game is a little more one-sided.

For all the noise about their offense, the Patriots defense was old and average. Samuels is a great CB, but give any NFL QB time and they'll pick you apart. Elisha had time and even when he didn't, he looked great moving around in the pocket. They are the champions until they're knocked out of the 2008 playoffs...

February 4, 2008 at 12:16 PM
Dan Filowitz said...

First, you should never listen to Colin Cowherd. He is beyond dumb, and an asshole to boot. Did you hear about the stuff he was saying after Sean Taylor was shot? He's one of these sports talk radio guys that mistakes douchebaggery for 'telling it like it is.'

The long pass to Toomer was on the second drive that ended in the INT. Play by Play HERE Sure, they could have called a penalty, but I'm sure we can find some penalties not called on both teams if we're looking

Burress definitely didn't fumble that catch - he didn't have possession. That was a correct call.

The Bradshaw fumble was more borderline, but the way I saw it was that the Pats guy never had it firmly after he fell on it. Anyway, Belichick could have challenged it, and didn't, so that tells you something.

The Giants won the game. They played incredibly well. No luck involved.

February 4, 2008 at 1:16 PM

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