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| Jan 13 There
have been 91 meetings between the Giants and the Cowboys in a long, storied
rivalry that dates back to 1960. There have been playoff berths on the line. Sometimes
they've even played for the division title. But the stakes have never been bigger
than this. For the first time in history, the Giants (11-6) and the Dallas Cowboys
(13-3) will meet in the playoffs when they kick off their NFC divisional playoff
game at Texas Stadium this afternoon. No
longer content simply with making the postseason, the Giants head into Dallas
with the mind-set that they want more than memories of a couple of hard-fought
games at the tail end of their season. Their close loss to the Patriots showed
them they could stand toe-to-toe with the best, and their wild-card win last Sunday
in Tampa showed them they finally could win in the postseason. But now the expectations
have risen, as they always do with success. Bagging the top-seeded, 13-3 Cowboys
to advance to next week's conference championship against Green Bay is simply
the next step, as far as the Giants are concerned. The
Giants are playing their biggest game in seven years in Sunday's divisional
round at Texas Stadium. And it's the first time the Giants and Cowboys have met
in the postseason. Eli Manning, quite simply, is in the biggest game of his life.
This is why the Giants gave up so much to get him. It wasn't to beat the Bucs
- an offensively-challenged bunch of retreads - in the wild-card round. Kerry
Collins or Kurt Warner could have done that. They traded up for Eli because they
thought they were getting a big-time franchise quarterback. The
Giants (11-6) hit the turf at Texas Stadium riding an eight-game road winning
streak, believing the improvement they have made and momentum they have created
are the equalizing factors needed to knock off the NFC's top-seeded team, a team
that finished 13-3 despite coasting to the finish."I think the experts are
wrong a lot, and hopefully they will be wrong again this week," said receiver
Amani Toomer Amani Toomer, who came up big in last week's playoff victory in Tampa. Are the giants "better off" with Corey Webster on the field? Meaning, is Webster physically "capable" of playing at a higher level than Madison? Everybody's excited about what Webster's done the last few weeks, but I think we need to be a little careful. Sam Madison was having a pretty good season. Webster was awful at times before finding success in a snow storm in Buffalo against Trent Edwards and then again in Tampa when the pass rush was all over Jeff Garcia. The
Giants have a few new wrinkles to throw at the Cowboys, but not because they're
healthier; on the contrary, the Giants have had to adjust on the fly, with the
exception of running back Ahmad Bradshaw, who has given the running game a fleet-footed
presence who is especially hard to tackle. But Jeremy Shockey is out, replaced
by rookie Kevin Boss. On defense, Mathias Kiwanuka is gone, replaced by Reggie
Torbor. Sam Madison is unlikely to play with an abdominal strain, meaning Corey
Webster, who started the last game the teams played here, is back and likely to
draw Owens in coverage. But maybe all that means is that the Giants, who couldn't
beat the Cowboys twice at full strength, have some element of surprise. Few players do not start for their own team and get voted into the Pro Bowl but then, Marion Barber is not your typical player. Barber did not start a single game this season, but there's no question he's the Cowboys rushing leader, gaining 975 yards, averaging 4.8 yards per carry and scoring 10 touchdowns. Julius Jones starts at running back, but it is Barber who usually finishes. A hard-driving running style, a propensity to deliver a blow rather than avoid contact and powerful forward progress is what separates Barber from most others. That's not all. From what Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce has seen, Barber is the one player this afternoon who has to be kept under emotional wraps. The 250th pick has looked like a future starting running back in his past two games. The 153rd pick might make a Pro Bowl tight end expendable. The 20th pick will try to lockdown one of the best receivers in the game today, and if he needs help, the 224th pick could add a double team. These are the Giants, a team that is younger and leaner compared to this time last season and still in the second round of the playoffs against the Cowboys today. And the man responsible for retooling this roster -- most notably through his successful draft this spring -- would prefer that everyone ignore his role. Jeff Feagles gave a heartfelt talk the night before the Giants won their season finale against the Redskins in 2006, a win that propelled them into the postseason for the second straight year. Tom Coughlin hasn't asked Feagles to do anything like that again, but being part of the 11-man team leadership council has been just as satisfying for Feagles. "This team is so close; obviously, I've been on a lot of teams," he said. "But Tom has done something he should be commended for, which is making that kind of change in his personality so he doesn't have to be the one to get in guys' faces. The 11 of us on the leadership council, we're the ones who'll fly off the handle if someone gets out of line. That's made a huge difference." He has coached big games before, all the way back to when he beat Notre Dame one time as the Boston College coach when Notre Dame was still No. 1 in college football. There was another time when Tom Coughlin brought the Jacksonville Jaguars, in their second year of operation, into Foxborough to play Bill Parcells' Patriots with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line. Even two weeks ago, with the country watching, Coughlin's Giants played about as big a regular-season game as Giants Stadium has ever seen against the Patriots, showed everybody just how much team Coughlin has this season, a season that began with the Giants 0-2 and experts about as expert as political analysts saying they might not win a game until Atlanta on a Monday night in October. The
questions kept coming at him in waves, each and every one about Terrell Owens'
ankle. And through it all this past week, Wade Phillips politely and patiently
answered each inquiry. Phillips even cracked a smile at one point. His predecessor,
Bill Parcells, would have grown instantly cranky after just two questions about
"the player" and might have subjected a reporter to one of his piercing glares.
Phillips, though, is the anti-Tuna, the Bizarro version of Parcells. After all,
he didn't just allow Tony Romo to go to Mexico with Jessica Simpson the weekend
before the divisional playoff game against the Giants. He practically begged the
quarterback and his team to get away. Jan
12 The
Cowboys, while concerned Manning might have elevated his game just in time
for them, aren't changing their game plan: They're coming after him again. "That's
exactly what we plan to do," cornerback Anthony Henry said. Manning, with his
highest passer ratings of the season coming in the past two games, has been helped
by balanced and effective play-calling. The Giants' running game -- with bruising
Brandon Jacobs, slashing Ahmad Bradshaw and some deceptive play-action -- could
slow the pass rush. Jacobs rushed for only 66 yards against the Bucs, but he scored
twice -- on a catch and a run. There
would be no Friday cliffhanger in the Dallas Cowboys' soap opera, "All My
Ligaments." Unless he pulls an abdominal muscle doing sit-ups in his driveway,
WR Terrell Owens will play in tomorrow's NFC divisional playoff game against the
Giants. "See you Sunday," Owens told the media several times before disappearing
behind a curtained barrier in the locker room. When
the Birds and 'Boys met in Dallas Dec. 16, the high-powered Cowboys were held
without a touchdown for the first time since 2004 in a 10-6 loss. With Jessica
Simpson in her Texas Stadium box, the Eagles forced three interceptions by Tony
Romo, sacked him four times and held Terrell Owens to two catches, none until
the fourth quarter. Dallas was 1-for-13 on third down and was thrown off its game
with a 45-15 pass-to-run ratio that helped Philly control the clock for 33:56.
With
veteran Jim Finn and his replacement Robert Douglas out for the season, the
Giants needed someone to clear the way for Brandon Jacobs. When he bowled over
Tampa Bay linebacker Barrett Ruud, making way for Jacobs to score the go-ahead
touchdown last Sunday in the Giants' playoff win, it's safe to say Hedgecock has
filled the position. In 15 games with the Giants this season, Hedgecock, who is
6-3, 266 pounds, has made his presence known primarily by laying out the guy in
front of him. Over that span the Giants have had tremendous games running the
football. Jacobs has been the biggest beneficiary with five 100-yard rushing games.
But Hedgecock has even found success plowing the way for guys like Reuben Droughns
and rookie Ahmad Bradshaw. Patrick
Crayton was asked Thursday about Terrell Owens and whether the hobbled Cowboys
star will be a threat Sunday. "Even if he were 85, 90 [percent], his 85, 90 is
better than a lot of receivers in this league just because of his explosiveness,"
Crayton said. "He is always a threat to run by you. Ask Sam Madison." The stars must come out and shine if the Giants New York Giants are to upset the big, bad Cowboys in tomorrow's NFC divisional playoff game, but it may be one of the lesser lights who pounces on the ball or gets a fingertip on a pass or delivers a block that turns the tide and makes all the difference. Just ask Tank Daniels. "When the playoffs start, every time you're on the field, that could be the play to win a game or the play to lose a game," Daniels said. "Of course I want to be the guy to make that big play. I definitely want to experience that feeling again." This Texas-size drought has lasted more than 11 years. The players are aware of it, the coaches are aware of it and so is the owner. Especially the owner. The Cowboys, winners of three Super Bowls in the 1990s, have not won a playoff game since beating the Vikings in the wild-card round in December 1996. "The answer is, yes, a lot is on the line here," Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said Thursday. Jan
11 The
Giants have been having fun all week teasing about Tony Romo's weekend adventure
in Cabo with Jessica Simpson, drama queen Terrell Owens' superhuman recuperative
powers and being embarrassingly outnumbered by the Cowboys in the Pro Bowl. They
are taking Tom Coughlin's advice that he asked Michael Strahan to spread around
last week: It's the playoffs. Have fun. But one thing is clear: They are convinced
they are going to knock the Cowboys out of the playoffs on Sunday. During
his film study last week, Eli Manning had noticed the way Buccaneers cornerback
Ronde Barber likes to cheat to the inside in certain coverages. So Manning knew
if he pump faked toward tight end Kevin Boss in the middle, Barber would bite.
Manning was right. Barber slid one step to the inside, leaving plenty of room
on the right side of the end zone for Amani Toomer for the touchdown that put
the game out of reach -- the latest sign Manning's on-field vision and patience
are improving. The
pressure usually reserved for Tom Coughlin and Eli Manning's postseason failures
is now on the Cowboys after they dominated the NFC with a 13-3 record and earned
the No. 1 seed in the conference. Fox color analyst Troy Aikman said he believes
the Giants are playing with house money after their wild-card win over the Bucs,
the first playoff victory of the Coughlin-Manning era. On
his conference call Wednesday, Tony Romo deemed the Giants' defensive line
the best he has gone against in his two seasons as the Cowboys' starting quarterback.
"He's right," Giants defensive end Justin Tuck said yesterday, when presented
with the assessment. "But they (the Cowboys) have the best O-line we've faced
this year, too. They got the equalizer." On the eve of the biggest game of his suddenly charmed career, Romo doesn't field more than three questions about his second career playoff opponent, the Giants. Instead, he spends nearly 15 minutes explaining why his head is fixated on football and not on his gossip-magazine girlfriend, Jessica Simpson; why, while Eli Manning was busy carving up the Tampa Bay defense last weekend, Romo was canoodling with Simpson in Cabo San Lucas, the trendy Mexican playground for movie stars and celebrity quarterbacks who date pop starlets. Come Sunday afternoon, when the Giants invade Texas Stadium seeking to upset the Cowboys in an NFC divisional playoff clash, there's only one possible ingredient that can surface as a surprise factor, only one athlete who could come galloping out of the backfield as a brand-new and largely uncharted weapon. Enter Ahmad Bradshaw Ahmad Bradshaw . Scan all the numbers and stats filling up this season's Cowboys two-game sweep of the Giants and nowhere will you find a single rushing yard for Bradshaw. Or a single rushing attempt. Or a single pass reception. Nothing. Jan
10 Jeremy
Shockey did the most damage for the Giants the last time they played the Cowboys.
His replacement, rookie Kevin Boss, sees no reason why he can't do the same. "The
game plan will be relatively the same, so far," Boss said on Wednesday. "We used
Jeremy split out a lot against (Cowboys safety) Roy Williams. We've got a lot
of that same stuff in." The question is, can Boss execute those plays as well
as Shockey did on Nov. 11 when he had 12 catches for 129 yards and a touchdown
in the Giants' 31-20 loss. Shockey is out for the season with a broken left leg,
leaving Boss to learn from what Shockey did. Behind closed doors, they can't keep from reminding themselves that they are two steps from the Super Bowl, two steps from a shot at history, and the Giants New York Giants cannot wait to do the Texas Two Step Sunday on the Cowboys. "I most definitely think that we're playing 'em at the right time," Brandon Jacobs Brandon Jacobs said yesterday. "I think we've come together. ... jelled a little bit more since the last time we played them. I do think that this is the right time to beat 'em." You better believe the Giants believe the third time will be a charm. Here we go again, the Giants New York Giants lining up on defense, for the third - and most crucial - time trying to slow the hard-charging Cowboys offensive attack after the first two attempts were abject failures. Are the Giants hoping they will be better this time around? "We will be," assured defensive end Justin Tuck Justin Tuck . "It all comes down to execution. If we execute the way we've been executing just in the last three ballgames, that alone is going to be the difference." OK, but what about the incriminating evidence every time the Giants defense has gone up against an NFL heavyweight? It's Super Bowl XXXIX all over again. Will he or won't he? Terrell Owens' high ankle sprain could hold the key to Sunday's divisional playoff game between the Cowboys and Giants, and as of Wednesday, it wasn't looking all that good for America's Team. T.O. didn't come close to practicing, and coach Wade Phillips, who didn't even set eyes on his star wideout, could offer little hope that he will be able to suit up, a signal the Giants interpreted as pure and simple smoke. As defensive end Justin Tuck put it, they are not buying the head fake. "He will play," Tom Coughlin said. "There is no doubt in my mind he will play." The Giants understand the real threat is Dallas' hobbled receiver, and not some vixen sorceress who supposedly has the power to make the Cowboy quarterback go weak at the knees and daft in the head. Still, after marveling at the amount of drool leaking from so many talking heads (including more than a few ex-players who should know better) and perusing the blog world, it's a shock Tom Coughlin hasn't handed out copies of the "The Dukes of Hazzard" movie in addition to this week's playbook. The
locker room attendant tried to find a gap between the 50 reporters, six stepladders
and a dozen cameras in a semicircle around Tony Romo's empty locker, but the guy
looked like Brandon Jacobs being stuffed on the goal line. Frustrated, he lobbed
two towels over the reporters' heads and into the stall. Someone noticed. "You
want to get in here?" a reporter asked. "Come on." The crowd parted, and the attendant
slipped a mesh bag on a hook. "If you want to hang the laundry, I guess you'd
better do it now," the attendant said. "In two minutes, when he's talking, it'll
be too late." Tony Romo stayed at the Cowboys' Valley Ranch practice facility from morning into night on Monday and Tuesday studying the Giants. But all anyone in Dallas can talk about is where Romo was last weekend, who he was with and where his focus is. At his coach's urging, Romo and gal pal Jessica Simpson soaked up the sun in celebrity hot spot Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. With paparazzi photos surfacing from Romo's vacation, the QB's decision-making has come into question. Surely, his former coach, Bill Parcells, would not have stood for this with the Cowboys preparing for a divisional playoff game. Jan
9 Minutes
after beating the Buccaneers on Sunday, the Giants faced questions about whether,
after a pair of lopsided regular-season losses, they could beat the Cowboys. Dallas
won 45-35 on Sept. 9 and 31-20 on Nov. 11. If it wasn't on their minds already,
it is now. And it will continue to be as they answer questions on the matter for
the rest of the week. "It is just a matter of making the plays when they are there,"
said Giants coach Tom Coughlin, whose 1999 Jaguars lost only three games -- all
of them to the Titans, including a loss at home in the AFC Championship Game.
"I just think it's game-by-game and, of course, when the plays are there you have
to make them." At
this point last year, Steve Spagnuolo was a linebackers coach, discouraged
by his lack of opportunities to be a defensive coordinator. By this point next
week, he might be interviewing for a head-coaching job. Spagnuolo, whom the Giants
hired as their defensive coordinator late last January, is a candidate to become
the next head coach of the Atlanta Falcons. According to two people with knowledge
of the Falcons' interest in Spagnuolo, Atlanta asked the Giants for permission
to interview the 48-year-old assistant. But the people, who requested anonymity
because of the private nature of the coaching search, said the Giants declined
-- for now. Elii
Manning still makes too many mistakes. His 20 interceptions tied for the NFL
lead in 2007. So the assumption has always been that in a big game, Eli will fold.
He'll make the mistake that beats his team. But, according to The Dallas Morning
News, the numbers don't bear that out this season. The Giants played five division
champions -- Dallas twice, New England, Green Bay and Tampa Bay. The Giants are
1-4 in those games, but Manning has been at his best against the best. He was
109 of 163 for a 66.8 completion rate in those five games. His completion rate
for the regular season was 56.1 percent. When Jeremy Shockey crumpled to the turf with 1:11 left in the third quarter Dec. 16, his left leg broken, the Giants wondered what would become of their offense without its fiery leader. Uh, the offense is doing fine, thanks for asking. There's no doubt the Giants miss Shockey, whose 12 catches for 129 yards will be numbers brought up often this week. Those were his totals on Nov. 11, the last time the Giants and Cowboys played. The Dallas defense tried to take away Eli Manning's wide receivers and Shockey, matched mostly against Pro Bowl safety Roy Williams, found gaping holes in the secondary that afternoon. The
last time the Cowboys looked like the best team in the NFC was the week after
Thanksgiving, when they rode their high-powered offense to a victory over the
Packers. It has since been a slow and strange downward spiral. They split their
last four games, but barely escaped in both wins. Their offense was in a slump
the entire month of December. Terrell Owens has been out with a high ankle sprain.
And now all the talk in Dallas is centered around Tony Romo's trip to Mexico with
Jessica Simpson, and whether that will distract him on the field. We haven't had a Dream Team around these parts in far too long. We haven't honored a championship team since the Yankees beat the Mets in the 2000 Subway Series. The Jets are 39 years and counting. The Knicks are 34 years and people have given up counting. The Rangers are 13 years, which is hardly a drought for them, or for us. Now here are the Giants, 17 years without a championship, trying to be a New York Dream Team. . Barring a collapse of historic proportions (think San Francisco, 2002) the “Successful Season" label already is affixed to the 2007 Giants, and little or nothing that goes down Sunday at Texas Stadium can peel it away. If, sometime Monday morning, reality sets in that the season is indeed over and vacation time is upon the Giants, there will be no shortage of winners employed at Giants Stadium. Tom Coughlin will be presented with a fat new contract - no negotiations until after the season - that could secure his services until he's 64 years old, making this his last job before retirement. Eli Manning salvaged a difficult statistical campaign with strong work when his team needed it most. Jerry Reese, the first-year general manager, in an understated way began building a team to his liking. If there was any doubt before, Sunday's 24-14 wild-card win in Tampa assured Giants coach Tom Coughlin of a contract extension. The question now is, how long? And what are those negotiations going to look like? Answering those won't be easy, for one simple reason: Coughlin holds the hammer now. Last year, when the Giants extended him for one year after they stumbled into the postseason at 8-8 and then lost to the Eagles, the Giants dictated the terms. Coughlin had a choice: take the deal as offered, or take a walk. This year he has had double-digit regular-season success for the second time in three seasons. And he has taken the Giants to a place they haven't visited since the 2000 season - the NFC semifinals. So, it stands to reason the Giants will offer the 61-year-old Coughlin a multi-year extension, possibly up to three years, to take him near retirement age. NFC
East News Jan 8 There is still a looooong way to go from here to Super Bowl XLII, with plenty of time for dramatic twists and turns. But after what we've seen from the Giants the last three weeks, one thing we can now say is this: It is not absurd to place them in the discussion about which team will represent the NFC three weeks from Sunday. As general manager Jerry Reese said when the Giants were teetering after a loss to Minnesota dropped them to 7-4: "All you have to do is get in. You get hot and you can win some games." Tom
Coughlin expertly handled the difficult decision to forge ahead and play all-out
to win the regular-season finale against the unbeaten Patriots even though the
Giants' playoff positioning was immovable. The momentum gained in that 38-35 loss
clearly gave off positive vibes that the Giants soaked up and then unleashed in
their 24-14 demolition of the Buccaneers. Tom Coughlin immediately following the decisive 24-14 victory over the Buccaneers did not need to see one bit of tape to realize Eli Manning played a solid game to gain his first career playoff win. After reviewing the game, Coughlin was even more impressed with his quarterback. "I thought he did an excellent job, one of the best I've seen with regard to his utilization of his eyes and his pump-faking and his ability to recognize what he was trying to do, pulling defenders out of position so he could then go to other voids in the zone coverage," Coughlin said. "He had great confidence that his protection was going to allow him to and that followed through. A very, very impressive game." Eli
Manning's first career playoff win was more than a career-changing moment.
It also may have served as a warning to the Dallas Cowboys. If you're going to
dare Manning to beat you, you do so at your own risk. "Eli can beat you," said
Giants running back Brandon Jacobs. "Eli can beat a team singlehandedly." That's
not exactly what happened in the Giants' 24-14 wild-card win over the Buccaneers,
but it was clear the Bucs' NFC-best defense was far more worried about stopping
the 6-4, 264-pound Jacobs than they were about the Giants' quarterback. They stacked
the line of scrimmage and as a result, Jacobs struggled. But Manning made them
pay. This is sudden death now, and the pressure is on Tony Romo. He is the one expected to win. He is the one who has staggered (1 TD, 5 INTs) over the last three games. He is the one with the reputation as a fearless - and feared - gunslinger. Eli The Kid doesn't have to keep Terrell Owens (ankle, he's playing) from pouting and disrupting the best-laid plans of mice and Wade Phillips' men. Eli The Kid doesn't have to keep the paparazzi off Jessica Simpson. All he has to do is exactly what he did in Tampa - find a way to get out of town alive and book a ride into Green Bay or Seattle the next week. The Giants still have their injury concerns, but most of the eyes of Texas and beyond in Cowboys Nation are focused on Terrell Owens' sprained left ankle. Owens suffered a high ankle sprain Dec. 22 in Charlotte, and the injury, which usually requires several weeks for recovery, had him limping around the Cowboys' training complex yesterday. "It was a limp-through for him, a walk-through for us," Cowboys coach Wade Phillips said. "It looks to me like he's going to be a game-time decision. He probably couldn't have played today." Big D right now stands for Big Distraction, which is great news for the Giants. The Cowboys were the best team in the NFC during the regular season, beat the Giants twice by double digits as Romo lit them up for eight TDs and nearly 600 yards. But the 'Boys were dreadful in December and Terrell Owens was still limping around yesterday after suffering a high ankle sprain two weeks ago. And the buzz in Dallas Monday was about Romo's weekend just as the Cowboys are getting ready to make a Super Bowl run. Should he have been cuddling with his playbook instead? The Giants are peaking. The Cowboys peaked when they beat the Packers at the end of November. Winning
a playoff game was a big plus for Tom Coughlin in his quest to restore Giants
pride. The 24-14 victory Sunday over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was a step up from
the past two years, when Coughlin's teams were dismissed in the wild-card round.
It was an excellent day all-around for the Giants. The win was a huge boost in
morale for the team few thought would reach this stage. That kind of game sometimes
propels a team to bigger and better postseason achievements. If you sense there
is a "but" coming along here somewhere, you are right.
ESPN - Giants handle Bucs to improve to 8-1 on road. Giants.com - Giants defeat Bucs, 24-14. Tampabay.com - Good? Yes. But good enough? No. Tampabay.com - Rest in pieces. Tampabay.com - Pass rush flusters Bucs. StarLedger - No keeping 'em at bay. StarLedger - Bradshaw answers need for speed. StarLedger - Hits kept coming on Garcia. StarLedger - Toomer casts out playoff demons. Newsday - Tampa Bay's Barber has to eat his words. Newsday - Webster's return defined by physical play. Newsday - Giants rise at site of Super Bowl meltdown. Newsday - Eli earns his stripes with playoff win. Newsday - Buccaneers' Barber cut by his own words. Newsday - Giants rock Bucs for eighth road win in row. Newsday - Giants return to Dallas, face Cowboys a 3rd time. NYDailyNews - Giants sack Bucs, off to Dallas. NYDailyNews - Manning silences big-mouth Barbers. NYDailyNews - Now Giants must Cough up deal. NYDailyNews - Giants ready for Dallas. NYDailyNews - Webster's 2 huge plays stand tallest. NYDailyNews - Eli triumphs in Ronde-vous. NYDailyNews - Giant fans' Super dreams still alive. NYDailyNews - Garcia left feeling Blue. NYDailyNews - Cramps are raw Diehl. NYDailyNews - Live Blog: Giants at Tampa Bay. NYPost - Eli torches Tampa, sets up third date with Dallas. NYPost - Plaxico gets his revenge. NYPost - Webster steps up. NYPost - Rookie RB Bradshaw bashes Bucs. NYPost - Humble pie. NYPost - Oh 'Boy: Giants ready for third shot at Dallas. NYPost - Toom Terrific. NYPost - Strahan: Long wait made win sweet. NYPost - ’03 Little words. NYPost - Final-E! E-ffcient Eli just couldn't be had. TheRecord - Giants clear first hurdle. TheRecord - Filling in at cornerback, Webster helps shut down TB passing game. JournalNews - Taking a Giant load off. JournalNews - Webster makes Giants' backup plan work. JournalNews - Eli & Co. careful to avoid firing up Dallas. Game
Preview Giants
(10-6) vs Tampa Bay (9-7). Jan
6 Almost
is the most vile word in sports, and yet it is the word that best defines
the football Giants. They almost beat the unbeatable Patriots. They almost took
the Cowboys to the wire at home and on the road. They almost upset the Eagles
last year in the wild-card round. They almost showed up to compete against Carolina
in the playoffs the year before that. Today in Tampa, the Giants need to lose
that word from their playbook. Before
the season started, Giants general manager Jerry Reese asked, "Why not us?"
when talk turned to the possible NFC entry in Super Bowl XLII. Even though the
conference appeared wide open, few took the first-year GM's comments as more than
wishful thinking. Now the Giants get their chance to back their general manager's
plea not to forget them come playoff time. To do so, however, they have to get
over a hurdle that has tripped them the past two seasons. They have to win a wild-card
playoff game, this time against the Buccaneers today at Raymond James Stadium. As
if the first two times weren't agonizing enough, Jeff Garcia gets another
chance to haunt the Giants when he leads the Buccaneers in an NFC wild-card game
at Raymond James Stadium. "How do we get Jeff Garcia off our back? Win," Strahan
said. "Like I said, win. This is our third chance to defeat him, and hopefully,
that's what we'll do." Getting Garcia off their backs is a lot easier said than
done for the Giants. If he leads the Bucs to a win here this afternoon, Garcia
will complete a rare and embarrassing trifecta for the Giants - beating them in
the playoffs with three different teams. Once labeled a malcontent with the Steelers and then criticized for a lack of effort and several on-field displays of frustration in his first two years with the Giants, Burress has remained patient and hard-working through a season of injuries and double coverages. "He's happier. He comes to work smiling more," said linebacker Antonio Pierce, one of Plaxico Burress' closest friends on the team. "He's more driven." With a smirk, Pierce added: "With any receiver, whenever you feed them the ball, they smile more." Where
the Giants have thrived this season is away from home, posting a 7-1 record
with seven straight wins to close the season. Wait, it gets better: The last three
were come-from-behind victories, with the Giants' hosts scoring on their opening
drive in each game. So the environment here will be nothing new, even though Giants
blue could take up a fair bit of the seats in the stadium alongside the Bucs'
red and black. What will be different is the weather, with temperatures forecast
in the high 70s after three consecutive road games in wind and snow (Chicago),
wind and cold (Philadelphia) and wind, rain, snow, sleet and thunder (Buffalo). A
year ago, your famous big brother shook the monkey off his back when he won
Super Bowl XLI. Now, Eli Manning, it is time to shake the monkey off yours. Bring
it home. You can do this. Of course you can. If you can figure out Bill Belichick,
you can figure out the Bucs today. You can get that elusive first playoff win
as the quarterback of the Giants. You are as sick and tired answering questions
about it as we are asking about it. All you have to do today is get your team
to the divisional playoff round. As
the undersized defenders on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers watched film of the Giants
this week, their eyes stayed focused on big Brandon Jacobs. And after a week of
trying to figure out a way to stop him, they finally came up with a plan. "He
might be able to take on one guy," said Bucs safety Jermaine Phillips. "But he
can't take on all 11 of us." It may take most of them to stop the Giants' 6-4,
264-pound running back at Raymond James Stadium Sunday when the Giants (10-6)
take on the Bucs (9-7) in an NFC wild-card game. Tampa may have the No. 1 defense
in the NFC, but the Bucs have been vulnerable to a good running game all season
long. Nobody around the Giants wants what they got the past two years. That slap-across-the-face of reality when the final seconds tick away and the season is done, ended in the playoffs with a loss filled with frustration as the winners move on and the Giants, as the losers, head into the offseason wondering what went wrong. "Everyone knows if you don't win, the next day you have to come in the next day and pack up your bags and say goodbye for a couple of months," guard Chris Snee said. "Nobody wants to have that feeling we've had two of the past years. You don't want to be one and done." One
way or another, Eli Manning will cause annoyance and salivation, sometimes
in the same game, maybe even the same play. It doesn't help that he plays in the
New York metropolitan area, a city of extremes, where he's a bum one minute and
the solution the next, and seldom is defined by who he actually is: a young quarterback
still growing up. Can we keep that last part in mind today, regardless of what
Manning does? If Michael Strahan retires after this season, he'll do so with 141.5 career sacks - officially a team record, though unofficially a half-sack behind Lawrence Taylor (Taylor officially had 132.5 in his career, but that doesn't count 9.5 he had as a rookie, one year before sacks became an official NFL stat). Even this season, when he returned less than a year after a serious mid-foot sprain, Strahan had nine sacks and played at a level that some thought should have earned him a trip to the Pro Bowl for the eighth time in his career. Pat
Hanlon, the Giants' vice president of communications, spent hours discussing
media relations with Tom Coughlin after last season. He said there had been a
misperception that the coach actively cultivated a negative relationship with
the media when the reality was that he gave little attention to the subject. "You
have consistently and constantly told me you have no interest in being the focal
point of the media's attention and the fact is what we have achieved is the exact
opposite. You are the focal point in large part because of the relationship you've
had with them." Every postseason produces a number of important undrafted players. But there seem to be more this year. The Packers' Ryan Grant has 956 yards and a 5.1 average. Linebacker James Harrison leads the Steelers with 8.5 sacks. Jags defensive end Paul Spicer leads his club with 7.5 sacks. There are suspects at almost every position. Centers Shaun O'Hara of the Giants and Jeff Saturday of the Colts. Free safety Brian Russell at Seattle. Giants middle linebacker Antonio Pierce. Guard Kris Dielman of San Diego. Strong safeties Sammy Knight of Jacksonville and Atari Bigby of Green Bay. And defensive tackle Ed Johnson of Indianapolis. There's a bond among these men, even if they're not teammates. NFC
East News Jan 5 Tickets still were available to the Giants-Bucs game as of last night. The team said there were under 1,000 seats left, though there appeared to be many more than that. ... Patriots DT Vince Wilfork was fined $15,000 for poking at the eyes of Giants RB Brandon Jacobs Saturday night. Eli
Manning's 0-for-2, having played miserably (along with everyone else in a
Giants uniform) two years ago against the Panthers and much better in last year's
23-20 loss in Philadelphia. Manning led the Giants back from a 10-point fourth-quarter
deficit against the Eagles with a 65-yard drive for a field goal and an 80-yard
drive capped with a touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress with 5:04 remaining, but
that is largely is forgotten. So it is not as if Manning has no playoff success
to lean on, but he's searching for his first postseason victory. Big brother Peyton
waited six years and didn't get it until his fourth playoff game. Eli doesn't
want his journey to take that long, and Sunday at Raymond James Stadium he can
claim the prize when he goes up against the Buccaneers and their top-ranked passing
defense. The ticker tape parade that the Giants seemed to be throwing for themselves after they nearly beat the Patriots last weekend is finally over. Now it's time to clean up the mess. Lost amid the avalanche of accolades heaped on the Giants following their 38-35 loss to New England on Saturday was the fact that it was hardly their defense's finest hour. The Giants gave up 390 yards and 38 points, including 22 in a crucial 14-1/2-minute span late in the game. It
came out of nowhere. After a forgettable game against the Redskins in late
September, Corey Webster arrived at Giants Stadium and dragged himself off to
practice. But no one bothered to tell the cornerback he had lost his starting
job. So imagine Webster's shock when, all of a sudden, he was dispatched to practice
with the second-team players. "I would have felt better if somebody would have
told me," Webster said yesterday after the crowd around his locker had thinned.
"I just use it, like I said, for motivation. Just trying to get better." Retired
Giant running back Tiki Barber, so critical of his former team in the offseason,
now says he thinks they will win tomorrow's NFC wild-card matchup against the
Buccaneers and his brother, Ronde. Tiki, speaking to reporters in Midtown before
he received the Joe DiMaggio Award from Brooklyn's Xaverian High School, plans
to attend the game in Tampa but won't watch it entirely from the Bucs' sideline.
"He's my brother, but 10 years with the Giants doesn't leave your blood, either,"
Barber said. "I'll be rooting for my brother, but I'm a Giant and I think they're
going to win."
Bucs
cornerback Ronde Barber has had plenty to say this week and the Giants have
been paying attention. First, Barber's comments about Eli Manning's inconsistency
and propensity to make crucial mistakes made bulletin-board material. On Friday,
receiver Plaxico Burress had a quote he found annoying taped to his locker. Barber
isn't backing off his comments. "Eli looks good at times and he looks bad at times.
I'm not going to lie," the 11th-year pro said. "That's who he is. His completion
percentage speaks to that." Tom Coughlin returns tomorrow to the town where 17 long years ago he bore witness to the wonder of Giants Pride, and he returns with a snarling team that burns to bury the ghosts who have unceremoniously booted that Giants Pride wide right. He was there when they carried Bill Parcells off into the night, never to coach the Giants again; when the sight of Everson Walls and Steve DeOssie (the father of one of his current rookies) hugging and crying in the locker room moved him so much he felt compelled to summon his children so they could experience that delicious championship moment. He was the receivers coach on that Super Bowl XXV team that is the model for what he is building now. Jan
4 Giants
fans will now have the chance to cheer Eli Manning in Tampa. Ticketmaster
reversed its decision to sell tickets for Sunday's Giants-Buccaneers playoff game
only to Florida residents after being pressured by New York State Attorney General
Andrew Cuomo. "This was a clear foul and I'm glad we threw a flag on the play,"
Cuomo told the Daily News. "It's discriminatory." Bad
news: Only two teams in history have made the Super Bowl by winning three
straight road playoff games. Good news: It just happened only two years ago when
the Steelers did it. Three remain sidelined - LB Kawika Mitchell (knee), CB Sam Madison (stomach) and C Shaun O'Hara (knee) all remained on the sidelines Thursday as the Giants continued preparation for Sunday's playoff game against Tampa Bay. CB Kevin Dockery (hip) also did not practice but impressed Coughlin with his workout on the side. Dockery's availability would be important if Madison can't make the game. Otherwise untested rookie Geoffrey Pope may have to dress as a fourth cornerback. TE Michael Matthews (flu) also missed the practice. So
here it is, what figures to be a determining factor for Sunday's NFC wild
card playoff game, pitting the ravenous, battle-tested, sack-happy Giants defensive
line against a ridiculously youthful Buccaneers offensive front wall. If experience
counts, the Giants certainly have it going for them. "I think it's very much
an advantage," Justin Tuck said. "I feel as though experience wins most
of the time. We got a lot of experience and we got a lot of athletes on this defense.
This is probably one of the more athletic O-lines we're gonna face but I think
the experience, we have definitely gives us a little bit of lead in that one." Eli
Manning is among the six playoff quarterbacks in this year's group of 12 who
are looking for their first playoff victory. But four of the six have won a Super
Bowl and another has been to the Super Bowl: If
only the Giants can count on last week's Eli Manning, the one with patience
and poise, the one who made big throws in key spots against the Pats and played
close to his potential. Monte Kiffin's turnover-hungry Bucs will base their game
plan on making Manning uncertain. It's been fashionable to talk about all the ways Tom Coughlin has changed between the first week of last January and the first week of this one - about the way he became more accessible, more hands-on, about the Players Council he founded and bowling trip he dreamt up; about the way he convinced John Mara and Steve Tisch that he was capable of doing his business differently then followed through on those plans. You listen to enough of those stories, the only thing that's missing is nap time after morning meetings and "Kumbaya" singalongs. Season
Rewind: Wild ride for Giants, Bucs. Former
Giants Jan
3 As
Brandon Jacobs was talking about his elusiveness, the decreased number of
hits he has delivered this year, and the "physical" nature of the Buccaneers'
defense, there must have been a few images from last season's game against Tampa
Bay flashing in his mind. Like when he barreled into Ronde Barber, or when he
flattened Jermaine Phillips at the tail end of a run. Or how even at the end of
a modest 1-yard gain, he was still standing while four Buccaneers were lying on
the ground. Tiki
Barber said he's in a "quandary" this week: His brother, Ronde, will be playing
cornerback for the Buccaneers, who will face his former team, the Giants, on Sunday.
So he has decided to compromise. Tiki, the former Pro Bowl running back turned
NBC football analyst and "Today" show correspondent, will stand on the Buccaneers
sideline during the game. But he'll be wearing a bit of blue. "The Giants don't
claim me. I've got to be on your (sideline)," Tiki told Ronde last night on "The
Barber Shop," the Sirius Radio show co-hosted by the twin brothers. "I will have
a Giants hat on, though."
When
the Giants showed up yesterday to begin four days of preparation for Sunday's
playoff game in Tampa, they were greeted with this quote from Bucs cornerback
Ronde Barber: "Of course we want to play the Giants. They [win] ugly, Shockey's
hurt and Eli has been inconsistent." In the annals of bulletin-board material,
it's a mild jab, delivered Dec. 18 during Ronde and Tiki Barber's Sirius satellite
radio show, "The Barber Shop." Ronde made the remark after Tiki asked him whether
he'd prefer to face the Vikings or the Giants in the first round. As
good as everything seems to be set up for the Giants, as well as their offense
has been playing, as much as they feel good about hanging with the Patriots before
eventually losing to them, there is one statistic that could doom them if the
trend continues Sunday in Tampa. The Bucs are an NFC-best plus-15 in turnover
ratio. The Giants are minus-9. Yikes. Playoff games turn on turnovers. The Giants
cannot afford them. Against
the Buccaneers, Tom Coughlin finally can plant his flag in one of the league's
flagship franchises. His quarterback, Eli Manning, can do the same. Manning turns
27 today. He's old enough now to win a playoff game, if not two or three. "A good
next hurdle for this young guy," Coughlin called the prospect of Eli's first postseason
victory. A good next hurdle for this old coach, too. Coughlin hasn't won a playoff
game since 1999, his last big year in Jacksonville. But if he beats Jon Gruden,
suddenly Coughlin's defeats in the 2005 and 2006 postseasons can be viewed in
a different context. Suddenly three consecutive appearances in the playoffs would
sound more like a blessing and less like a curse. "It certainly would be nice
to advance in the tournament," Coughlin said. Unlike
Jeff Garcia, the quarterback he faces Sunday, Eli Manning started out famous.
The Manning family is about the closest thing the NFL has to the Kennedys. And
Eli, the son of one famous quarterback and the brother of another, showed early
that he knew how to flex his celebrity muscles, knew how to demand special treatment.
Before he played a down of football, Manning used his fame and pedigree to engineer
a trade that brought him from San Diego to the bright lights of big-market New
York. And then, that was it. Having
clinched the NFC South two weeks ago, Jon Gruden began selectively resting
key players in hopes of freshening up his team for Sunday's NFC wild-card game
against the Giants. Did Gruden rest his players too much? His own quarterback
thinks that might be the case. "I feel over-rested in a sense," Jeff Garcia said
yesterday. "I feel restless, so to speak. It seems like it's been a while since
I've actually played a complete game, and I don't really like that feeling. I'm
more of an old-school mentality. I like to play until I'm basically dragged off
the field." Give Garcia credit for speaking his mind, because what he said flies
in the face of Gruden's plan. Former
Giants Jan 2 If you're a Giants fan planning on going to Sunday's playoff game at Tampa Bay, the Buccaneers have a message for you: You're not welcome. Unless you live in Florida, that is. In an attempt to preserve their home-field advantage, the Buccaneers have instituted a policy in which only local fans may purchase tickets for Sunday's game. Anyone who logs on to Ticketmaster.com and goes to the purchase page for the Giants-Bucs game is greeted with the following message: "Raymond James Stadium is located in Tampa, FL. Sales to this event will be restricted to residents of Florida. Residency will be based on credit card billing address. Orders by residents outside Florida will be canceled without notice and refunds given." The
Giants' string of first-round losses would hit just three if they are defeated.
Even though that's a rut some other playoff-starved franchises wouldn't mind,
it's becoming a sign of underachievement for the Giants. They lost to Carolina
in the wild-card round in January 2006 after going 11-5 and winning the NFC East.
Last year they lost to the Eagles by a field goal after sneaking into the postseason
at 8-8. If they are going to break the habit, this must be the year. Never
has a team congratulated itself more for losing a game than the Giants have
done non-stop since Saturday after coming close against the Patriots. They have
conveniently overlooked that they blew a 12-point third-quarter lead. It's embarrassing
for such a proud franchise that has won two Super Bowls and is just one of four
teams to make the playoffs the last three years to all but throw itself a ticker-tape
parade for hanging tough and not getting blown out. Even Tom Coughlin, the supposed
voice of reason, has joined the party. Way back in June, at the start of minicamp, Tom Coughlin presented his Giants with a novel concept: Talk Is Cheap, Play the Game. It is a saying he gleaned from Tom Callahan's brilliant book "Johnny U: The Life And Times of John Unitas," the great Baltimore Colt who played the game of quarterback arguably as well as anyone has ever played it. More than anything, it was a desperate plea to put an end to the dysfunctional dope opera that was the 2006 season lowlighted by cheapshots fired inside and outside the Big Blue doors. And surprisingly, more often than not during their surprise playoff season, the 2007 Giants honored Talk Is Cheap, Play the Game. If
there's one lesson Eli should have learned while growing up a Manning it's
that nothing defines a quarterback more than postseason success. His father Archie
is remembered less for his stellar, 13-year career than he is for the fact that
he never played in the playoffs. And Eli's older brother Peyton, for all his Pro
Bowls and records, was saddled with the "Can't Win the Big One" tag until he won
the Super Bowl last February. Eli, who turns 27 tomorrow and has played in just
four NFL seasons, still has plenty of time. But with a fan base (and, to an extent,
an organization) that has grown increasingly impatient with his erratic play,
the pressure will be on him to finally deliver his first postseason victory when
he faces the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Sunday in the NFC wild-card round. Jeff Garcia walks and talks with a swagger. He is hardly timid when pointing out how he has been a winning quarterback for the majority of a nomadic career that started with a five-year banishment to Canada and has seen him hop around the NFL before landing this season with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. But the supremely confident Garcia speaks with reverence about the Giants defense -- in spite of the significant success he's had against the unit, especially in the postseason. Former
Giants Jan
1 One
year ago, the Giants knew their premier offensive player was about to play
a game that might have been his last. This year, they're not sure about the future
of one of their best defensive players of all time. Neither is he, actually. After
flirting with retirement in the off-season, defensive end Michael Strahan could
soon be facing the same dilemma. But right now, he said his focus is on the Buccaneers,
not what will happen if the Giants lose to them in Sunday's playoff game. The
team the Giants have to beat on Sunday is the Buccaneers, who as the No. 4
seed in the NFC, clinched a playoff berth after 14 games and then rested many
starters the past two weeks to finish up 9-7 after back-to-back losses. The Giants
(10-6) this weekend travel to sunny Tampa fresh off one of the most uplifting
losses they ever have experienced: Being beaten by the unbeaten Patriots 38-35
has been characterized as the positive momentum boost they said they needed. As
the Giants prepare for Sunday's wild-card game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,
their quarterback won't be able to avoid the spotlight. He is coming off a strong
performance against the Patriots, throwing four touchdowns in a near-upset of
the NFL's premier team. But he also will be reminded that his first playoff victory
-- Manning and the Giants have lost in the first round the past two seasons --
likely will come only if he can be successful against the league's best pass defense. If the Giants weren't afraid of the mighty New England Patriots, they're certainly not scared of anybody else. That's the message the Giants hoped they sent Saturday night, when they came close to knocking off the undefeated Patriots, falling 38-35. The Giants refused to run from the Patriots' challenge, even though the game meant nothing in the standings. Now that the playoffs are starting, they're ready to stand up to the best in the NFC. Shaun O'Hara, linebacker Kawika Mitchell (sprained knee) and cornerback Sam Madison (abdominal strain) figure to be limited or out when the team practices tomorrow. With the Giants thin in the secondary, Madison is a must to return, but Grey Ruegamer and Gerris Wilkinson played well as substitutes Saturday. Regardless of whether he can play, O'Hara knows Coughlin and the Giants will be second-guessed to death if they don't win in Tampa. "If we can win that game, then we'll all come out smelling like roses," he said. "Obviously, no player wanted to get hurt, and anytime anybody went down in that game against the Patriots, we all kind of held our breath hoping that they were going to get up." In 2005, the Giants won the NFC East but there was still some resentment between Coughlin and the players over all his rules. It spilled over after the Giants were shut out by Carolina at home in a wild-card game -- a game that might have been Manning's worst as a pro. The high hopes of the 2006 season were dashed by injuries in the second half of the season and a dysfunctional locker room that developed after halfback Tiki Barber announcement a planned retirement during the season. The Giants finished 2-6 down the stretch and barely made the playoffs with an 8-8 record. A week later, the postseason ended in Philadelphia. This year has been different. Former GiantsBill Parcells began the process of distancing himself from the Dolphins' nearly winless season by firing GM Randy Mueller Monday. But Baltimore's Brian Billick was the only coach fired on what was an unusually quiet first day of the offseason for the 20 teams that didn't make the playoffs.
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