Sat
Dec 29, 8:15 pm - Patriots at Giants
Giants
(10-5) vs New England (15-0).
Last week
the Giants locked up a playoff spot by beating the Buffalo Bills 38-21. The game
was a lot closer than the score indicated. Buffalo was winning 21-17 at the end
of the third quarter, and on the first play of the fourth quarter Eli Manning,
at the Buffalo 11 yard line, fumbled the ball back to them. Luckily the Giants
defense turned up the heat. Kawika Mitchell ran an interception back for a touchdown
and suddenly the Giants had a 24-21 lead. After that, Ahmad Bradshaw broke free
with an 88 yard touchdown run, and so not to be outdone by the offense, Corey
Webster intercepted a ball and also ran it back for a touchdown.
Meanwhile,
New England with a 28-7 win over the Miami Dolphins became the first team to go
15-0 in the regular season. In 1972, the Dolphins were unbeaten in their regular
season, which lasted 14 games at that time. The Patriots had an uncharacteristic
second half fade where Tom Brady went 4-of-15, and no points scored against a
one-win Miami team. They needed just six to break the single-season point record
of 556 set in 1998 by the Minnesota Vikings.The
Patriots - No big deal (maybe?).
Sure a
15-0 record sounds good, but do you really think the Jets, Dolphins or Bills are
very good teams this year? The Patriots are in that AFC East division and so they
played six of their games against them. Guess what? The Giants have also beaten
every team in that division as well. Also, maybe the Patriots are letting up,
having lost some interest with 'boring regular season play'. They can score big,
but their previous six wins were by 10 points or less and last game, once Miami
turned up the heat with some pressure on Tom Brady, the Patriots fell off the
scoreboard. It was the first time the Patriots have failed to score in a half
this season. Maybe being up 28-0 they were just toying with passing records, but
maybe a Giants pass rush can get the Patriots thinking 'Super Bowl' instead of
'16-0'. New England - Offense.
Last
year Tom Brady threw 24 touchdown passes to 11 different receivers. This year
he has thrown 21 alone just to Randy Moss. Brady needs two more to break the NFL
record for most passing touchdowns in a season. He's already set the mark for
combined passing (48) and rushing (2) touchdowns in a season with 50 last week,
and overall, the offense has scored a record 71 touchdowns. Last week, running
back Laurence Maroney gained 156 yards for an 11.1-yard average, but that was
against a Dolphins defense ranked 32nd in the league against the run. Giants
Defense.
Sure the Giants lead the league
with 51 sacks, and you just know that Osi Umenyiora (13 sacks) Michael Strahan
(9 sacks) and Justin Tuck (10 sacks) would love to take it to Tom Brady, but their
their secondary can be exploited when they miss. Tom Brady and Randy Moss would
like to break some records, and will that be the Giants fault? Will they be down
if that happens? Antonio Pierce has said. “Those 551 points, those 15 wins, that
wasn't against the New York Giants. This is just one game." Giants
- Offense.
The Giants haven't scored any
points in the first quarter in their last four games and they could really use
to get off to a faster start against the high scoring Patriots. Last week they
turned to the running game and picked up 289 yards on the ground (originally reported
as 291 yards) using a combination of running backs. That was the most they've
had since 1985, and keeping the ball out of the hands of Tom Brady with a good
running game sounds like a great idea.
On the other hand, with a playoff game
coming up the following week against Tampa Bay, Tom Coughlin might find it 'too
expensive' to overwork Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw. Eli Manning looks like
he could use some work, but doing well or poorly, Coughlin can yank him anytime
without criticism, excuse being a playoff need to look at the backup quarterback
situation, and also at his backup receivers. New
England - Defense.
The Patriots defense
takes the field knowing that their offense has not scored less than 20 points
in any game this season. In fact, the offense has gone over 30 points 11 times
so far, so that takes some pressure off. Still, the Patriots are second only to
the Giants with 46 sacks, and they certainly do their part being ranked first
in the NFL allowing less than 16 points a game on average. Interesting
article.
Mosty because it mentions some
football names and teams you've been hearing about lately, and what was going
on in 1991:
SPORTS OF THE TIMES; A
New York Super Bowl, Sort Of. New
England - Next year.
With the Steelers clinching
the AFC North last week, New England now knows who its opponents will be on the
2008 schedule:
Home Games: Bills, Broncos, Cardinals, Chiefs, Dolphins, Jets,
Rams, Steelers.
Road Games: Bills, Chargers, Colts, Dolphins, 49ers, Jets,
Raiders, Seahawks.
Check out.
The Team Giants Store,
and see some of the really unique items we put together. There are some items
you certainly haven't seen elsewhere, and each sale helps out our site.Notes.
Currently,
only the Patriots (7-0) and Cowboys (7-0) have better road records than the Giants
(7-1), and Colts (7-1). Giants are one
of only four teams to qualify for the playoffs three straight years, joining the
Patriots, Colts and Seahawks.
Giants did this for only the third time in their
franchise history, 1961-1963 and 1984-1986. Giants
previously stopped an unbeaten 13-0 Denver team on Dec. 13, 1998. Patriots
swept their division for the first time ever, going 6-0 against Miami, Buffalo
and the New York Jets. Patriots with
a win can join the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only teams to take an unbeaten record
into the playoffs. Patriots head coach
Bill Belichick spent 12 seasons on the Giants coaching staff.
He was their
defensive coordinator for victories in Super Bowl XXI and Super Bowl XXV. Patriots
Tom Brady needs two touchdown passes to break Peyton Manning's NFL record for
scoring passes in a season (49 in 2004). PatriotsRandy
Moss needs two touchdown receptions to break Jerry Rice's NFL record for scoring
catches in a season (22 in 1987). This
Game
Dec.29 New England at Giants, 8:15PM.
Giants
Tickets - Buy
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