Skunked At Home

So we've made into the second round of the NFL playoffs and my beloved NY Giants failed to make it past Carolina. Actually, they really just failed to even show up by getting shutout 23-0. I prepared myself for a bad game by chalking it up to Eli's first playoff game in only his second season, but that didn't mean everyone else had a built-in excuse as well. There was no shame losing to Carolina, as it hits its stride at the right time after being a popular Super Bowl pick, but getting skunked at home is embarrassing. I turned off the TV a few minutes into the 3rd quarter.

Home field advantage is nice, but it doesn't matter when you're not playing well when it counts in the playoffs.

New York's front seven has been banged up all season so maybe it finally showed this weekend. Since the level of play in the playoffs is much higher than the regular season, the defense looked liked it just ran out of gas and they were happy just to make it. Somehow New York made it through the regular season with lots of non-starters, so it just caught up to them when they had to play even better against a quality opponent. Strahan and suprising DE Osi Umenyiora helped the defense all year long. However, that doesn't mean the defense is allowed to miss tackle after tackle in the playoffs.

Luckily for you (and us Giants fans), we'll buy the excuse and say "you're still learning and there's always next year" for a few more years.

I give Eli a pass (haha) this week because it is his first playoff game and it should be noted his brother didn't win a playoff game until his fourth try, so I can be patient with this kid. Quarterbacking in the NFL takes lots of time and a quick fix is rare, so Giants fans, as difficult as it'll be, should just take a deep breath and give him some time (like two to three years). Of course, I just hope that the team is still following Coughlin's discipline way of coaching by then. It's only a matter of time before his act grows old on the players and an entire year is wasted while they rebel by not following orders.

Yet another broken tackle.

It really seemed like the Panthers knew what the Giants were calling on every play. Besides the fact that the broadcast showed a clip of Carolina's QB, Jake Delhomme (or Del-Homey as I purposely mispronounce it) mimicking the Giants defensive playcalling hand signals, Carolina's coach was New York's defensive coordinator from 1997-2001, so this idea isn't much of a stretch. It's too bad really, b/c Tiki Barber had the 2nd highest total yardage in NFL history and it's unlikely he'll match that effort next year. Of course, he'll still have a strong year, but it would have been nice to ride his career year a little further into the playoffs.

I'm sure we'll hear tiki "take back" what he "didn't mean to say" in a few days once everyone calms down.

The worst thing about New York's loss is that the team from washington (TFW) went to Tampa Bay and won. The TFW is playing well despite its missing offense on Saturday and I still don't believe in Seattle which is probably due to the fact that the Giants almost won in Seattle (while the TFW did in OT) and that I haven't used the Seahawks in a videogame in the longest time. Granted, the most recent game I had until buying NFL Blitz: Pro yesterday was Madden '98 for Genesis, when I'd blitz their rediculously fast CB for an ungodly number of sacks, and then move Joey Galloway into the slot for lots of TDs because the CB wouldn't move in time when I put Galloway in motion. This Seattle team was legit, at least in the regular season, but the playoffs are much different than the regular season, so we'll see. At least for one week, I'm a Seattle fan and the early line favors Seattle by 9.

At least we know the "Giants" name isn't cursed thanks to Rick Moranis.