Gamegirl was home, all comfy and warm when we talked to her.
"It wasn't the nicest weather to sit in the stands, but it was well worth it! Just tell me the stats on Kent Graham again. "

Kent completed 14 of 23 passes for 269 yards and 2 TDs.
"... and that was all just in the first half. You should have seen the people near me when Kent was rolling out and snapping it downfield.
Then again, you wouldn't want to be around us in the second half when they were fumbling the ball all over the place.
One guy came back from getting refreshments and asked when the soccer game started?
It was very frustrating, but still pretty funny, and let me ask you....
'How can a game with 12 combined fumbles be a cliff hanger right down to the last play?"

All Giants fans know the answer to that one.
"Only in a Giants game right!
It was hard to watch that third quarter. The Giants were always on offense, and somehow, the Jaguars were always scoring.
At the end of the game with all the craziness, you forgot that the score was a nice 24-7 at the end of the first half with all the regulars in.

Any last thoughts Gamegirl?
"Yes, people get real edgy in the stands when instant replay is in use.
It seemed to take forever even though it's supposed to be improved, and a lot of people, including Jim Fassel on the sidelines thought the call was wrong anyway.
Also, when the Giants play the Jets next week, make sure that the footballs the refs bring in are marked with "K"s and not like the ones they brought in the second half of this game marked "F" for fumble."

Gamegirl told us you had some Team Mysteries to report?
"Yes - There are two mysteries on this team.
One is Tiki Barber for "inconsistency".
The other is Pete Mitchell for "where is he?

When you see Tiki breaking free on the run, and it's looking really good, you wonder "Why don't they give him the ball more because something is going to happen here".
Tiki Barber is big, and strong, and fast, and looks like he could give other teams fits, and then you see him dropping balls all over the place, and you know why they don't play him more.
My guess is that this is a make or break year for Tiki with the Giants. Someone will come up with an amazing solution like "make Tiki take piano lessons and it will give him good hands" and when it works, the whole thing will become a movie of the week and Tiki will end up spending an illustrious long career with the Giants.

So that's the fix Mikefan, piano lessons?
"It's either that or he'll bounce around from team to team, and Giants' fans will hear from time to time how he gave his new team some triumphs, breaking out for long returns and TDs and such, intermixed with news about the heartbreaks as his dropped balls killed crucial drives.
Tiki, If only you had taken those piano lessons, what might you have been?"

And the second mystery is?
"The second mystery is why aren't they using Pete Mitchell?
There was all the talk about what he can do for the team, and then you barely see him. I mean yes of course, it was an amazing catch and all last night, and he also had one against Minnesota, but I want to see more.
The Giants are ranked near last in the league in passing offense. Give me more Pete Mitchell"

Right, they're actually ranked 28th the last two years, up from 30th the two years prior.
"I guess maybe the Giants want to save Mitchell for the season opener against Tampa Bay. It's a good thing the Bucs don't have TV or tapes or read newspapers. They'll be completely fooled."

Are we done Mikefan?
"Just about, there's actually a third mystery that should be solved now.
It's why were there so many fans clamoring to replace Kent Graham with Kerry Collins from day one? Collins came here with all the hype, bright shiny new toy, $5 million dollar man and all but Kent Graham is the proven Giants talent!
He did it last year - went 5 - 1, including a win over unbeaten Denver with the meager tools he had available then.
Maybe fans just can't get the image out of their heads of Graham and Brown standing on the sidelines a few years ago, both looking like little kindergarten kids in the shadow of Phil Simms.
Well, kids grow up and Kent Graham is the proven Giants team player, and Kerry Collins is still an unknown entity.
Don't get me wrong, Collins has obvious skills and everyone has confidence in his abilities, but when he puts it all together and it's going all his way, will the rest of the team feel like they're all doing it together with him, or will it work for awhile and then fall apart?"

As far as unknown entities go, how about Mike Cherry?
"Are you kidding? He was one of the causalities out there last night along with the Jaguars. That kid can't catch a break. First the Europe thing and now this.
This was his big chance to run the team for the second half.
There was so much bad play around him with all those fumbles and all, it was impossible to evaluate his performance.
This week in practice, look for Mike Cherry to step on Kerry Collins foot so he gets another shot at the big time!"

Notes:
Kent Graham completed 14 of 23 passes for 269 yards and 2 TDs.
Mike Cherry completed 9 of 14 for 124 yds.

On Passing, Tiki Barber caught and held onto 4 for 44 yds, Amani Toomer was 4 for 37yds and 1 TD, Greg Comella 4-36, David Patten was looking good catching 2 for 69 yds.
Fred Brock had 2 for 58 yds, Ike Hilliard with 2 for 57 yds, and Pete Mitchell with 1 big TD catch for 40 yds. Sean Bennett was 1 for 18 yds, James Kidd 1 for 16 yds, big Howard Cross caught 1 for 11 yds, and Dan Campbell had 1 for 7 yds.

On Rushing, Most of the action was Sean Bennett running 15 for 54 yds, and Tiki Barber running 5 for 30 yds.

Fumbles totaled 7, by Sean Bennett, Tiki Barber, Greg Comella and Le-Shon Johnson including 1 in the handoff from Graham to Bennett.

Next Week - It's Giants against the Jets at 8PM.
Jets are will be the home team at the Meadowlands.

Preseason Game1 Review