Mikefan Gamegirl Reviews

Mikefan previews Week 5 - Rainy Days and Mondays - Click herel
Next week - Tampa Bay:
What are they saying about the Giants? Click here to find out.


Gamegirl was home watching this game on the box as the Giants were away, and none of her admirers had offered to send her to the west coast all expenses paid.
Being home, she kind of freaked out on sports yesterday, first catching the former super champs, Green Bay go up against Carolina in a closer game than might be expected.
Then there was the Giants game of course, and finally, she had to see the Ravens Bengals ESPN experiment where they light up the 1st down line like a hockey puck.
Throw in a dash of baseball excitement, from Mets blowing it in the stretch to Mark McGwire capping off his amazing achievement by getting not one, but two home runs in his final game, she had quite a day.

"A real good sports day, although I feel sorry for the Mets."

Well, enough chit chat. What about the Giants game, the reason we were here?
Gamegirl got down to business.

"I liked the quick counts and varied pace that Fassel put in to keep the San Diego defense off balance. In fact, I kind of wonder why he hadn't used it up until now."

We told her that Fassel's position was that the players have to really know their assignments before using this fast paced technique.
Mikefan later quipped, "Yeah, they have to learn to walk before they can run if you get my drift." - an obvious knock on the almost non existent Giants running game this season.

Gamegirl was glad to see the way they featured Gary Brown in the game, and thought that things seemed to be shaping up in this area, using both Way and Brown. Total yards of 105 isn't everything, but "after all, San Diego is supposed to be tough to run against no matter who you are. As usual, the defense kept the pressure off the offense in the game, but Kanell's guys did show improvement."

When asked about the opposing quarterback, her reply was "The Ryan Leaf thing was really something. San Diego's quarterback has a lot to learn, not only controlling his locker room temper, but figuring out how to play the game."

We reminded Gamegirl that no one is a better sport than her, so her high ideals might be hard to attain, although we have to admit Leaf has a long way to go.
She smiled that smile of hers, accepting our "good sport" compliment.

"I enjoyed watching the game on grass instead of turf."

Even with the pitcher's mound? We asked, but Gamegirl ignored our clever remark and continued with her observation that there seem to be an inordinate amount of injuries at the Meadowlands since the new artificial stuff was put down. Could it be that brand new astro turf is much more slippery right out of the box?
Well anyway, she has some theories, and we've learned to never count her observations out. She tends to notice things that other people let go by, which is one of the things that make her so successful at her job.

Tonight Gamegirl, and a lot of Giants fans will be checking out the competition for next week as Tampa Bay takes on Detroit in the Monday night limelight.


Mikefan was very satisfied with the game.
"It was a good effort coming off that loss to Dallas last week, but of course, any kind of effort would have looked good after that! The first quarter featured an impressive drive that had the Charger defense confused on the field. It mainly starred Hilliard, Calloway, Way and Brown, who drove the point - or should I say six points - home to his former teammates when he went in for the TD."

"I can't blame Leaf on the low snap that caused him to flub and toss an interception to Gray. The Giants followed that turnover up by Kanell throwing a real smooth looking pass to Calloway It seemed so easy, and was the kind that sticks with you, and you wonder why they can't do it all the time."

Mikefan's eyes seemed to glaze out as he replayed the scene in his head, and then he continued.

"I felt the Giants defense was guilty of a little too much prevent defense near the end of the half that allowed the Chargers to score two field goals and knock the lead down from an impressive 21 points to 15.
Then in the third quarter, the Giants did what they do best, which is keep the other team in the game, and they let the Chargers cut that lead down to 12."

Mikefan's sarcasm was duly noted.

"Ryan Leaf played himself out of the game with way too many miscues. Safety Percy Ellsworth, subbing for (an injured?, in the dog house?) Wooten, returned Leaf's fourth and final interception 20 yards for a score midway through the third quarter.
The fans gave Leaf a standing (and booing) ovation, and Ellsworth ended up with 2 interceptions for 42 yards.
Carlton Gray had 1 for 36 yards, and Phillippi Sparks reeled in 1 for 12 yards."
Overall, there was a lot of good effort put out by the Giants on both sides of the line. Percy Ellsworth was the standout and deserves more looks, but don't count Wooten out for just one bad outing. He is also a talent."

We could tell Mikefan was feeling good, because he was talking non stop now.

"There were a few big stories surrounding this game.
One was bad boy Ryan Leaf who gained national attention by berating and bullying a reporter.
The 'Wooten sitting it out, Ellsworth playing - thing',
the usual weekly story of 'can the Giants offense with all the talented players they have, finally put it all together today - thing',
the continuing 'does Wheatley have a future - thing'.

Another was Gary Brown going up against his former team.
After all, he was their leading rusher last year, rushing for 945 yards, and they opted to let him go.
Behind Brown, the Giants rushed for 105 yards, and they had gained only 209 yards on the ground in the previous three games.
By contrast, our defense, though a little sloppy against the pass ( no Jason Sehorn, no pass rush from an injury ridden Strahan), did great against the run. Natron Means, who was averaging 101 yards on the ground, had only 56 yards on 11 attempts against them.
All in all, the Giants could be shaping up very nicely for next week's outing against Tampa Bay."

Well, thanks for the review Mikefan.
We'll all have to see how the Bucs play tonight.