Sun Nov 7, 4:00 pm (FOX) - Chicago at Giants
The curse of 'Inside the NFL'.
How dare the four sports experts on this show mention the ending of the New England Patriots 21-game streak, 'The Curse of the Bambino', and 'The Redskins Curse of the Incumbent'. Bob Costas,
Dan Marino, Cris Collinsworth and Cris Carter have turned in some of their worst performances, not on stage, but with their Giants game picks, to start their own insidious streak. Since week
2, whenever these experts all agree in unison on a Giants game, they have picked wrong every single time.
We're talking 22 out of 22 combined wrong picks by the hosts who share 80-90 years of playing and broadcasting experience. They have frequent access and visits to all the NFL clubs, talk in
front of the camera, view behind the scenes, and even engage in many off the record conversations.
The plus side of this Inside The NFL Curse is that they have all picked solidly against the Giants 5 times, which of course equaled 5 Giants wins. The downside is that the reverse has also held
true. Picking the Giants to win in week 6 equaled one in the loss column. Now the real bad news is they have all chosen the Giants to win this week against Chicago!
So it's up to the Giants to break 'The Curse of Inside The NFL', and as mentioned in their opening, this is the current timeframe for all streaks to be broken. Maybe these guys picked the Giants
on purpose. We'll see if they are all closet Giants fans on Sunday.
| Game |
|
Cris Carter 58-44 |
Cris Collinsworth 56-46 |
Bob Costas 50-52 |
Dan Marino 60-42 |
| 8 |
Chicago at NY Giants |
NY Giants |
NY Giants |
NY Giants |
NY Giants |
| 7-W |
NY Giants 34 at Minnesota 13 |
Minnesota |
TBA |
Minnesota |
Minnesota |
| 6-L |
Detroit 13 at NY Giants 28 |
NY Giants |
NY Giants |
NY Giants |
NY Giants |
| 5-W |
NY Giants 26 at Dallas 10 |
Dallas |
Dallas |
Dallas |
Dallas |
| 4-W |
NY Giants 14 at Green Bay 7 |
Green Bay |
Green Bay |
Green Bay |
Green Bay |
| 3-W |
Cleveland 10 at NY Giants 27 |
Cleveland |
NY Giants |
NY Giants |
Cleveland |
| 2-W |
Washington 14 at NY Giants 20 |
Washington |
TBA |
Washington |
Washington |
| 1-L |
NY Giants 17 at Philadelphia 31 |
Philadelphia |
Philadelphia |
Philadelphia |
Philadelphia |
Except for week 3 where they split the vote, none of them had the stand alone confidence to pick the Giants until the Detroit game - all wrong.
They have a column up - Didn't you used to be Kurt Warner?
Note that Cris Collinsworth gets no respect. They even spell his name wrong on his Bio page.
Chicago.
Coming off facing the hottest quarterback in the league and a 5-1 team, the Giants will now go against rookie quarterback Craig Krenzel who started in his first game against the 49ers just
last week. Krenzel, the third starting quarterback this year, went 13 of 25 for 168 yards with one touchdown and one interception to get his team up to a 2-5 record with a win over the 49ers.
Even still, the Bears are ranked 29th in the league in total offense and 30th in scoring.
You might feel comfortable, except you probably remember two short weeks ago when the Giants faced a Detroit team with an offense ranked 32nd and last in the league. They beat the Giants in
their game to the tune of 22 first downs, 325 yards and 28 points. Think back, Detroit's quarterback wasn't that highly rated either (until after that game).
Giants.
In beating the Vikings it's easy to forget that the Giants offense was not at it's best. Kurt Warner passed for only 144 yards. He was sacked 5 times and fumbled 3 times (all recovered by
the Giants), and the starting wide receivers combined for just 5 receptions for 39 yards.
Yes, that was the game you watched. Luckily, the defense and special teams played great recording 3 takeaways, partially blocking a punt and the team managed to start its drives, on average,
at its own 44-yard line. That helped the offense to 4 rushing touchdowns, the most for the Giants in one game since 1997, and to their highest score in 25 regular season games. Very nice,
but it will be hard for the Giants to turn this into a weekly event.
The worries.
On offense, the Giants have to deal with the Bears running game. Anthony Thomas was responsible for 144 yards of total offense last week against the 49-ers,
with 98 on 25 carries and a team-high 4 catches for 46 yards. The Giants rank 22nd against the run, have held only one opponent to under 100 yards rushing, and some of their defensive linebackers
are banged up.
On defense, the Bears were all over San Francisco quarterback Ken Dorsey last week, and there's no reason for them to change that style of play now. Behind the Giants offensive line, Kurt
Warner has limited time to throw, has been taking a lot of hits (27 sacks), has fumbled a number of times (10), and up to now the Giants have been getting away with it (only 2 fumbles lost).
If the worst happens and Eli Manning has to step in, he doesn't have any experience to draw on in dealing with true NFL grade quarterback pressure.
Opposing teams have a choice. Stop Tiki Barber, or stop Kurt Warner. They haven't really been able to stop Tiki all year, but have been able to get their hands on the quarterback. If they
went all out for Warner, what would happen?
Headlines we don't want to see on Monday.
Bears pass on Warner, but he can't pass on them.
Manning gets time on field, but not in time for Jints.
Giants fall into bear trap.
Giants bear little resemblance to team that played last week.
Notes.
Bears Craig Krenzel and Steelers Ben Roethlisberger, the only two rookie QBs to start games this year, have not lost a game.
Roethlisberger is 5-0, Krenzel is 1-0.
Bears had considered signing Kurt Warner as a free agent, but stayed with Rex Grossman who was lost for the season with a torn knee ligament in the third game.
Bears haven't played the Giants at the Meadowlands since Nov. 26, 1995, a 27-24 Chicago win.
Bears right tackle John Tait, formerly with Kansas City, missed some practice with a quad injury, and will face Michael Strahan for the first time.
Bears punter Brad Maynard, a third-round draft pick of the Giants in 1997, is 6th in the NFC with a 44.3-yard gross punting average, and 2nd in the NFL with
a 39.3 net average.
The Giants 10 interceptions to date match their total for all of 2003, when they set a franchise-record low.
Rookie safety Gibril Wilson has the team lead with 3. He also leads the team with 39 tackles.
Since missing 3 field goals in Green Bay, Steve Christie has made 8 in a row, including kicks of 51, 47 and 50 yards.
Giants have 11 rushing touchdowns this season. They had 6 all of last year.
The Giants (5-2) have the best record among non-division leaders in the NFC, which would make them the fifth playoff seed.
Next Game
Nov 14 at 4:15PM, Giants at Arizona.
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