Mikefan Gamegirl Reviews

Mikefan previews Week 9 - - Click here!
Next week - Dallas:
What are they saying about the Giants? Click here to find out.


Gamegirl said, "It was the same old story for the Giants - no offense. As far as everything else goes, Mikefan was right in his game preview article.

Gamegirl was referring to Mikefan's preview Week 9

"Still, they almost pulled it out in the fourth quarter.
In fact, I'll let him fill you in on most of the stuff. I'm still not feeling totally great so I'll just focus on the last part of the game."

Gamegirl is still not feeling well? We know you think that she is taking on the persona of the unhealthy Giants team, but that's not it. We have the inside that she is killing herself at her job. You wonder how someone who sports the tag "Gamegirl" can be a hard worker, but we happen to know that it's true.
There are only so many hours in a day and Gamegirl is as dedicated to the job as she is to the Giants.
We gave her a quick vitamin check, which is about all we can prescribe around here to our sick friends, and she seems to have that covered. Anyway here's the rest of what she had to say.

"I just wanted to add, that in the last quarter, when the Giants had a shot, you almost got that old feeling back from last year. Calloway pulled out a tricky 3rd down pass, and the defense hung tough. A few times, it looked like maybe the Giants could come back and pull it out. It was a good feeling for as long as it lasted."

Anything else exciting to report? Gamegirl thought for a minute and then said.

"Well, on one of the commercials, I saw that Saturn has this nifty three door coupe. It looks like a two door Sportscar with a little hatch door on the driver's side. You can leave the front seat in place while people scoot in and out the back seat. Pretty neat!"

Ok Saturn, send a complementary sportscar to Gamegirl in care of Team Giants. Let's see now, watching the Giants on offense or flipping to commercials. Which is more exciting? We guess it's a toss up right now. Anyway, getting back to reality.
Did Gamegirl have any thoughts on next week's game at Dallas?

"Next week? Well, hopefully Michael Strahan will be healthy, and Dallas will be coming off a short week, and maybe, just maybe they'll be taking the Giants lightly, just as the Giants took the Redskins this week. Maybe we have a shot. I'll be watching the Cowboys vs Eagles game tonight."
We thanked Gamegirl and wished her good health as we headed off to see Mikefan.


We'll bow to Mikefan this week and quote a piece from his preview article.

"A fired up Washington team can easily blame the Giants for everything that has gone wrong for them in this entire lousy season, and they could turn this one game into a major cause."

When we caught up with him, he had more to say.

"The formula for this game was 'Giants - Strahan = Washington 1-7 Giants 3-5'.
That's not meant to be a knock on the Giants defense.
It's a known fact that the defense on this team is outstanding, but without Strahan, Sehorn and Miller, they can't make up for the weak offense like they've had to do.
In the last three games against the Redskins, the defense came up with 13 turnovers, but none of that happened this game, and as usual without those extra advantages the Giants offense couldn't put more than seven points on the board."

Mikefan filled us in on some of the game details.

"Early on, Michael Strahan had back spasms and had to leave the game, and the Redskins were playing without their best defensive lineman, Dana Stubblefield, and without their best receiver, Michael Westbrook.
The Giants fell behind right away, but the special teams came right in there with David Patten providing 7 points on a 90 yard kickoff return.
With about 6 minutes left in the second quarter the Redskins started to self destruct. They lined up for a 4th and 2, and came up with a false start. On the ensuing punt, they had another false start penalty. The punt was poor, and the Giants had it at their own 20 .
The Giants were stopped on their 41, but Maynard punts it 58 yards to the Redskins 1 yard line, and it looked like the game was about to turn in favor of the Giants.
The Redskins couldn't get a 1st down, but Matt Turk came up with a fantastic 65 yard punt to ruin the Giants field position and chances of scoring at the end of the half."

The longest Giants drive of the first half was 7 plays for 29 yards, and as Jerry Glanville pointed out, it was against the Redskins prevent defense. He's one of my favorite announcers, and I realized during the halftime break that the only enjoyment I was getting from this game was from his commentary."

You hear that Jerry? Send Mikefan a Sportscar or maybe an autographed picture in care of Team Giants when you get a chance. What's going on here today?

"You can make fun all you want, but I'd love to see that guy return to coaching somewhere, and it's not to just get him off the air. Bill Parcells would have to share the limelight with Glanville!"

With that Glanville commercial being over, Mikefan got back to the game.

"The best team always comes out of the locker room for the second half, and, it wasn't the Giants. The Redskins opened up the 3rd quarter with a strong 79 yard drive. In the process they discovered rookie Skip Hicks, who stepped in for the Redskins best running back, Terry Allen. Hicks ran for 50 of those yards and he completed his fine appearance with a four yard touchdown run.
You have to give the Giants defense credit though. They figured Hicks out, made their adjustments, and his game total was 15-65 yards.

Near the end of the 3rd quarter the Giants came up with their first offensive TD, 70 yards on 4 plays. It started with a Kanell pass to Hilliard for 46 yards, then a pass to Calloway for 10, followed by a run by Charles Way for 3 yards, and a touchdown pass to Hilliard for 11 yards.
They made it look so easy, you wonder why they can't do it all the time. Either nothing ever seems to develop downfield for very long, or Kanell just doesn't see it."

Mikefan shook his head, and we guess the whole coaching staff for the Giants are doing the same about now.

"The Giants offense had every opportunity to come from behind in the 4th quarter, trailing by just 7. On a 3rd and 10, Kanell passed to Calloway for 17 yards and that kept things going, but it was followed by three incompletes to Calloway, Patten, and Hilliard.
The Redskins killed some clock on their possession, and after they turned it over, Kanell passed to Calloway for 8 yards, and Brown drove up the middle twice, first for 1 yard and then for no gain for a three and out.
The Redskins did nothing on offense, but their special team play nailed the Giants on the 1 yard line with 4:09 left. A great 7 yard run by Way was followed up by 2 yard run by Brown, and a fumble on 3rd and 1. The Giants feeling no confidence, and having no real reason to feel any based on their whole season to date, kicked it away.
I think the next part of the game is what Gamegirl was referring to.

The Redskins had the ball with 2:51 on the NY42, and rookie Hicks got a 10 yard run to the NY32 for a first down. Then the Giants defense stepped it up by stuffing Hicks for no gain up the middle. Next Marcus Buckley came up big and killed the Skins chance for a field goal, by nailing Hicks for a 5 yard loss.
The befuddled Redskins killed themselves even more by getting a foolish 5 yard delay of game penalty. After that, Cedric Jones sacked Green for a 9 yard loss, leaving them with 4 down and 29, and the Redskins had to punt.
What a job by the Giants defense!

After the kick, the Giants were at their own 20 with 1:52 to go. It started bad with a 5 yard false start penalty. Danny Kanell passed to Calloway for 14 yards. They were 2nd and 1, and another pass to Calloway for 8 yards made the first down.
From the NY37, Kanell passed incomplete to Hilliard, then to Tiki Barber for 2, and to Barber again for 5. I should mention that Tiki Barber had good hands for this game and he looked great overall. You can see why Fassel likes him so much.
Anyway, the Giants were stuck with a 4th down and 3 with 58 seconds left. Kanell passed incomplete to Hilliard and that was it."

Overall Mikefan, what do you think?

"Overall, the Giants punted on 11 of their 13 possessions, and converted just 2 of 14 third downs. Other players picked up Tiki's old habit of dropping the ball, and Kanell was very inconsistent. The Giants could run, but not when they needed it the most, even for short yardage, and there were penalties.
Overall, I'd say it was pretty bad."