Sun Jan. 5, 4:30 pm (FOX) - Giants at San Francisco
How to get into the playoffs.
It seems to be simple. First you have to go into your last game of the season in a must win situation, against the newly crowned division championship team
that's riding a six game winning streak. Then, make sure you give up a touchdown in the first two minutes, turn the ball over four times, including twice in the red zone, have a pair of touchdown
passes called back because of holding penalties, lose both your replay challenges and the ensuing two timeouts, miss a field goal, and let their reliable field goal kicker have a shot at winning
with a 35 yard field goal.
Sounds easy, right? Of course, after giving up that first touchdown, you also have to hold the opposition scoreless for 61 minutes and 22 seconds for all this to work.
The Eagles should be thankful.
The Giants showed the Eagles and the world, that they shouldn't be thinking of going up against playoff competition without Donovan McNabb on the field.
Third stringer A.J. Feeley, did an admirable job in McNabb's absence, but his four straight victories came with a lot of help from the defense.
In this game, Feeley handled the Giants blitzes and was 13-25 for 150 yards. His receivers dropped some easy passes on him that killed some drives, or he likely would have finished up a bit
better.
This game wasn't like the others though, because even with the defense helping, Feeley's offense couldn't put points on the board. For the playoffs, the Eagles need someone who can do it all
on his own, even when his teammates are failing. There aren't many players like that who even exist, and for the Eagles, it's Donovan McNabb.
Reach out and touch someone.
That's just what Kenny Holmes did, and he made $400,000 with his one armed sack in overtime. To be fair, Holmes had to come up with two sacks in the game
before last to put him in this situation. His contract stipulates that he would receive $900,000 for coming up with eight sacks for the Giants this season. If the game had ended in regulation
time, Holmes wouldn't have made it.
Only three wildcard teams have ever won the Super Bowl.
They were the Super Bowl XV Raiders, the Super Bowl XXXII Broncos and the Super Bowl XXXV Ravens, who actually did it
by beating the NY Giants 34-7. After the Giants beat the Eagles 10-7 on Saturday, Michael Strahan said he was thinking Super Bowl. "That's the goal," Strahan
said. "One more step is not good enough." Strahan was asked if that is a realistic goal. "Of course," he said. Why? "Because it's realistic that we made the playoffs and nobody thought we
could. It's realistic we can make the Super Bowl when nobody thinks we can."
San Francisco last time out.
About four months ago, the Giants and 49ers met at the Meadowlands to begin the NFL season. The Giants were breaking in their new offensive line, and they couldn't
run the ball, gaining just 43 yards on the ground. Kerry Collins had to throw a lot to keep the offense going, and he threw 45 passes, completing 28 of them for 342 yards, and he also had
three interceptions.
Tiki Barber was still nursing a strained hamstring that almost kept him out of the game, and was held to 29 yards on 15 carries, hardly a Tiki night. Ron Dayne was no better with 6 carries
for 10 yards. Kerry Collins actually came away with the best rushing average. He ran one time, and picked up 4 yards. The quarterback being the star performer here is not what you're looking
for. Along this same line, the Giants couldn't convert a fourth down and inches on the ground.
Kerry Collins led the Giants on a dramatic 77-yard touchdown drive that took 6 minutes and 13 seconds. It and included three critical third down conversions on pass plays, and ended in Tiki
Barber's 1-yard run to tie the score at 13-13. Then Dhani Jones made a critical mistake letting Terrell Owens get free for a 33-yard pass after the Giants had contained him all night, and
San Francisco won the opening game thriller.
San Francisco this time out.
If you don't believe that San Francisco had an edge in that last game against the Giants just because the offensive line was new, it doesn't matter. In that game
linebacker Jamie Winborn came up big with 16 tackles, a sack, and a hit on receiver Ike Hilliard to produce a loose ball that was picked out
of the air by Julian Peterson for one of the defense's three interceptions.
Well, Winborn had injured ligaments in his left knee in San Francisco's victory over Washington on Sept. 22. The 49ers hoped the ligaments would heal on their own, but Winborn finally had
an operation three weeks ago, and though he even participated in practice, his knee was too sore to play in the season finale against St. Louis. In the last four games, the 49ers had to come
up with 21 fourth quarter points to beat the Cowboys, 31-27. They lost to the Packers 20-14. Edged out the Cardinals 17-14, and lost to the Rams 31-20. The 49ers have put Winborn on injured
reserve.
Michael Strahan and Scott Gragg.
Their first meeting was written up like this in the 49er papers. "Left alone at times against Strahan, who set a league record with 22 1/2 sacks last year, Gragg allowed Strahan a meager
four tackles and no sacks. Unofficially, the only time Strahan hit Jeff Garcia was after he gained 3 yards in the first quarter.
'I was nervous before this game,' said Gragg, who faced Strahan every day in practice during Gragg's five years with the Giants. Not only was Gragg lining up against one of the most fierce
pass rushers in the game, he also was going against his former team. 'Stoney (guard Ron Stone) was keeping an eye for him,' a clearly exhausted Gragg said. 'That allowed me to do things I
wouldn't normally do. I could be much more aggressive.' Gragg did get help, not only from Stone, but also from tight end Eric Johnson and running backs Garrison Hearst and Fred Beasley."
Gragg and his buddies went on to do well for the entire season. The 49er offensive line allowed just 22 sacks this season, third-fewest in the league. There could be less help for Gragg this
game as Kenny Holmes has come on strong of late, and will require a bit more attention.
Notes:
The Giants closed the season with four straight wins to earn a wild card berth.
Kerry Collins is 3-2 as a postseason starter. He was 2-1 for the Giants in 2000.
Kerry Collins was 1-1 in 1996 when he led the Carolina Panthers to the NFC Championship Game.
Giants head coach Fassel is 2-2 in the postseason
49ers head coach Steve Mariucci is 3-2.
Jeremy Shockey led all NFL rookies this season with 74 catches and 894 receiving yards.
Jeremy Shockey is just the third tight end to lead all rookies in both categories since the 1970 merger.
The others were Philadelphia’s Charlie Young in 1973 (55 receptions and 854 yards) and Philadelphia’s Keith Jackson in 1988 (81 catches and 869 yards).
Kicker Matt Bryant scored 108 points this season, the second-highest total ever.
Ali Haji-Sheikh scored 127 points in 1983.
Next Game
Check out the Falcons at Packers game at 8:00 pm on ABC on Saturday. Then on Sunday:
If the Giants win, and the Packers have won, the Giants head to Philadelphia to play the top-seeded Eagles.
If the Giants win and the the Falcons have won, the Giants travel to Tampa Bay to play the Buccaneers.
Jan. 11 NFC game, 8:00 pm on FOX
AFC game, 4:30 pm on CBS
Sunday, Jan. 12 NFC game, 1:00 pm on FOX
AFC game, 4:30 pm on CBS 4.
Last Week's review, game 16 - Giants 10 - Eagles 7
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