Gamegirl, what was it like at the game?
"As you can imagine, not a lot of fun, and I'm not talking just about the game. From the start, it was real windy walking from the car in the parking lot over to the stadium. The flags were a little active for awhile, but then as the day wore on you could see them really start to blow and flip around.
The fans gave Joe Torre a standing ovation when he came out for the coin toss, and Brad Van Pelt was there as well. Everyone was looking forward to a good game, and of course they booed Dave Brown when he came out."

He's not a real crowd pleaser around here.
"No, and he probably hates the Giants, and he didn't get good responses from the fans sitting around me, including the fill-ins.
You start to see them show up around this time of year because of the weather. I mean, it was hot in the seats in our area for awhile but when the sun went down we started to freeze."

What do you mean by "the fill-ins"?
"Oh, I mean the people that show up this time of year and take the places of people I see week after week. For example the guy in front of me is always there and if he doesn't show up, you think he's in the hospital or something. He hasn't been there the last two games.
You know it's a bad season when the fill-ins start to show up early on, either that or it's time to bring your heavy coat."

Did the fans in the stands understand the refs on the kickoff return?
"No. Did you? They changed their minds a few times on it.
I don't know if they showed it all on TV, but every time the official announced the call, the others would all get excited and huddle around him.
This happened a few times, and from where I was sitting, it started to look like the clowns in the circus doing that clown-car routine.
They finally said something like, "We have the penalties correct now", and everyone started laughing.
I guess that one goes into the 'only in a Giants game' category.
These refs were actually pretty bad. It was like we had the 'refs in training' working game for us. A lot of the fans saw missed calls, and it gives new meaning to the refs doing the coin toss. Aren't they supposed to do that just to decide which team gets the ball instead of what call to make?"

How about the Giants on defense?
"Well, they held pretty good, even though they beat Sparks a few times. I mean the defense made a great goal line stand near the end of the half and the Cards had to settle for a field goal.
Then the Giants got the ball with less than 2 minutes left, and Collins led them down to around the 12 yard line and they got a field goal.
The Giants were winning 10-6 at the end of the half, and it looked like they had things in hand. Then things turned around."

The Cards put Plummer in to start the second half.
"It made a difference, and the defense couldn't hold them after that.
It seemed like there was no one around the Cards' receivers after they made a catch. The fans were very disappointed, but still there were a lot left deep into the fourth quarter.
I was freezing and staying at least in part for you guys, and maybe the rest of them stayed because they were fill-ins who never saw a Giants game before."

Mikefan, what did you think of Collins?
"He hasn't played enough. The receivers aren't used to him. He's not used to the windy stadium. We still need a better offensive line and running game to back up any quarterback that's in there. Charles Way was playing hurt, and he wasn't even able to play out the game. That didn't help."

How about the defense?
It's starting to look like they believe their own talk a little too much.
They held up well just as Gamegirl said in the first half, and I admit they were put into bad situations a few times but this was a must win game for a lot of reasons, and it was a time when they had to play smart and they didn't.
That started right away when Hamilton got a 'roughing the passer' call when the Cards were on a 3rd and 6 and Brown passed incomplete. That continued the drive and it ended up Cards 3- Giants 0.

Sparks was playing hurt, and up against Cards WR Rob Moore.
Somehow the defense got away with that for a while, but you knew it wasn't going to last. They were lucky to end the half winning 10-6.
Right away in the second half, a ball bounced off of Toomer, and the Giants defense was stuck with the Cards on their 16 yard line.
QB Jake Plummer got it to Moore in the endzone, and although Phillippi Sparks had his hands on it, he couldn't get it away. Of course, according to 'Slumbermore and Madman', it was 'stolen away from Sparks', but the camera showed that Moore had it all the way, for a touchdown and a Cards 13-10 lead.
How come we got those two guys anyway? I thought they put the big money announcers on the hot teams of the day. About the only thing I look forward to when the Giants are playing lousy is that I don't have to hear these two guys announcing the game."

The defense wasn't always put in bad spots like that.
"No, they weren't. There were some nice long drives by Plummer, and the Giants couldn't stop them. It doesn't say much for a defense when they can't stop a quarterback making his first start in a few weeks, coming off a number of injuries that are still bothering him.
You can understand giving up points to Washington and Indianapolis the way those teams are playing this year, but to the Cards?"

Anything else?
"It was good to see a Giants quarterback put up some big numbers (298 yards), even though some of it came in 'so-what time' against the Cards.
Kerry Collins did lead that 88 yard drive when it counted in the beginning of the 4th quarter, and the Giants were only down by 3.
The score was Cards 20, Giants 17 with only about 9 minutes left.
The offense had just showed that they could complete drives, move the ball downfield and score. The defense rested during that long drive, and now was the time for them to come up big and stop the Cards, and they didn't.
I guess the last thought I have is that RB Joe Montgomery is back next week. QB Kerry Collins and the receivers now have had more playing experience with each other, and you never know what can happen.

Notes

Passing
Giants - Kerry Collins 22-45 for 298 yards, 3 INT, 1 TD.
Cards - Dave Brown 11-17 for 126 yards, 0 INT, 0 TD, Jake Plummer 12-18 for 125 yards, 0 INT, 2 TD.

Rushing
Giants - Tiki Barber 10-37, Sean Bennett 5-16, Kerry Collins 1-1, Charles Way 1-0, Leshon Johnson 3-minus 2.
Cards - Mario Bates 16-37, Adrian Murrell 15-28, Dave Brown 1-4, Jake Plummer 2-0.

Receiving
Giants - Amani Toomer 6-87, Pete Mitchell 5-47, Ike Hilliard 4-72, Tiki Barber 3-64, David Patten 2-21, Sean Bennett 1-6, Greg Comella 1-1.
Cards - Rob Moore 7-102, Frank Sanders 6-73, Adrian Murrell 5-50, Johnny Mcwilliams 1-9, David Boston 1-9, Mac Cody 1-5, Terry Hardy 1-2, Joel Makovicka 1-1.

Fumbles lost
Giants - Kerry Collins
Cards - Dave Brown

Interceptions
Cards - Rob Fredrickson 1 for 23 yards, Eric Swann 1 for 42 yards, Aeneas Williams 1 for minus 3 yards

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