I root for the Giants, and Kate roots for the Patriots, and at times in the last few years, it’s seemed like they had a zero-sum relationship. When the Giants win, the Pats lose, and when the Pats are playing well, the Giants look awful.
Yesterday wasn’t zero-sum, but the games were practically mirror images of one another. The Giants were dog-awful for three quarters, giving up sacks and stupid penalties, and appearing to have made their shaky secondary worse in the off-season. And then, they mounted a huge comeback, scoring seventeen points in the fourth quarter to force overtime, then getting a touchdown on a please-don’t-sack-me heave from Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress to knock off the Eagles (hey to Sean Carroll). And here’s another story on the game, if, like me, you can’t get enough.
The Pats, on the other hand, absolutely dominated the first three quarters of their game against the Jets, going up 24-0 before giving up 17 points, and holding on for a closer-than-expected win. A roller-coaster day in Chateau Steelypips.
The Giants will need to improve their play a lot in order to do anything next week, when they make the trek to Seattle to play the defending NFC champs. The offensive line in particular looked horrendous against the Eagles for most of the game. Even in overtime, they weren’t particularly good– Manning just did a better job of getting rid of the ball. If they’re going to let him get sacked eight times a game, it’s going to be a long season and a short career.
But, hey, they won.
God I hate my Eagles.
Nobody blows a game like they do!
I think I’d put my Giants up against the Eagles in a game-blowing competition…
As I said to Kate, I fully expected them to give up a kickoff return for a touchdown after the tying field goal.
I’ve never seen a giveaway like yesterday’s (at least since the Miracle of the Meadowlands). The Eagles were completely dominating, basically laughing and having a good time — how many times did they sack Manning, about 20? But they didn’t put it away, and all credit is due to the Giants, who kept battling when they could have packed it in. When they scored a touchdown by fumbling into the endzone (just like Coughlin drew it up), the Eagles looked shell-shocked and couldn’t recover.
It’s a long season!
The Kearse injury I think was key in helping NY Giants win in overtime. Got to give credit to the Giants though for tying the game up. Though that one pass Manning threw as he was being rushed into the middle of the field late in the fourth quarter was way too dangerous. Lucky it worked or he would have been the goat for the game for sure.
From the perspective of an Eagles fan, that was the most painful regular-season loss I can remember.