Monday Night Football was supposed to be a great matchup between two of the league’s best…. Instead, the Bears exposed and embarrassed the Cowboys.

The game was scoreless until the second quarter when Tony Romo threw one of his five interceptions on the night.  Charles Tillman picked it off and ran it back for a 25 yard interception return. Romo answered back quickly with a 10 yard touchdown pass to Miles Austin to make the game close before halftime.

Jay Cutler had a strong second half, throwing both of his touchdowns on the night during and ending the game going 18-24 with 275 yards. Romo was not as lucky. He threw another pick for six in the 3^rd quarter and was eventually taken out of the game at the end of the 4^th for former Bear’s quarterback, Kyle Orton.

Romo ended the game going 31-43 with 307 yards with one touchdown and five interceptions. His quarterback rating was a pathetic 14.2!

The Cowboy’s running game was also pathetic, getting only 24 yards out of running back DeMarco Murray. Murray started the season off strong against the Giants, but hasn’t provided anything since.

The only positive the Cowboys got out of this game was tight end Jason Witten’s coming out party.  He finally woke up and caught 13 passes for 112 yards and one touchdown.

After a great start to the season, the Cowboy’s are starting to look like their usually choke artist selves. If they focused on football rather than opening Victoria Secret stores in the stadium, maybe they would be atop the NFC East.

The Giants had 40 yards rushing, and 148 yards passing with Eli going 17/21 with two clear drops.  They had 13 first downs and possessed the ball for 17 plus minutes.  The Bears meanwhile managed just over 100 yards with 5 first downs in 12 and a half minutes.  The defense was without JPP.

The good news first:  Eli Manning had a stretch of 9 straight completions, with the 10th being one of the drops.  All this offense is being generated without Hakeem Nicks and Ahmad Bradshaw.

Ramses Barden may have taken the necessary steps last night to make this team.  He caught 3 passes for 46 yards and a TD, he also drew a pass interference call in the end zone.

David Wilson ran the ball well behind the starting O-Line that finally showed some life.  5 carries for 49 yards to go with 2 catches for 26 yards.  He is not only the future of this team, but a big part of the present.

David Douglas, a rookie out of Arizona may have won the punt return job last night as he is exactly what Tom Coughlin is looking for in a returner.  He secures the ball first, then is elusive enough to break a few tackles and has enough speed to make an impact.

Da’Rel Scott may be the main kick returner since David Wilson is probably now the number 2 back.

Rueben Randle showed how good his hands are, and that he has the ability to stretch the defense, along with Martellus Bennett who showed he will catch anything thrown his way.

Steve Weatherford showed why is such a valuable part of this team.  He was flawless last night.

The Bad News: Prince Amukamara is hurt again, and that leaves the Giants very thin at cornerback.  The extent of the ankle sprain he suffered is still to be determined, but either way it’s not good news.  Look for the Giants to maybe make a move this week to bring in a few guys.

Dan DePalma had a pretty bad game for a guy on the bubble.  He caught the pass that could have won the game, but then fumbled it away without being hit.  he also released too early out of punt protection allowing a punt to be partially blocked.

D. J. Ware also had a forgettable game with 1 carry for 4 yards and 1 catch for 3.

The first cut of 15 players comes Monday afternoon, and then on Friday it down to the final 53.

The offense continues to come together for the Giants. This week the spotlight was on the highly talked about rookie running back David Wilson. Wilson took reps with the first team this week and with Ahmad Bradshaw inactive because of a hand injury, he was expected to touch the football often tonight and he didn’t disappoint. Wilson looked elusive and explosive against the Bears first team defense. He broke tackles and showed a great change of pace. Wilson finished with 5 carries for 49 yards and 2 receptions for 26 yards. It was exactly what Tom Coughlin wanted to see from him tonight.

Right at the top of the list of concerns for the Giants has to be their secondary. It’s been an issue throughout the preseason and now it’s reaching red flag status. Cornerback Prince Amukamara went down after tackling wide receiver Brandon Marshall in the second quarter and had to be carted off the field. Amukamara went to the locker room for x-rays which came back negative, however Coughlin did announce that he suffered a high ankle sprain. The Giants are dangerously thin at secondary with Terrell Thomas already out and they were counting on Amukamara to step up. This injury could very well cause him to miss the regular season opener against Dallas.

Eli Manning played well tonight and shook off a slow start to get the Giants offense cranked up in the second quarter. He finished the night going 17 for 21, 148 yards and a touchdown. Manning caught fire with a 10-play drive that saw him go 7/7 for 59 yards, topped off with an 11 yard td pass to Ramses Barden. Barden made the most of his opportunities tonight. The 6’6 wide receiver made an array of dazzling catches, using his height to cause matchup problems in the Chicago secondary. Barden needed a big game, it seemed as if he could very well be on the bubble heading into this week and he may have brought himself some more time to start showing consistently that he can get it done.

Manning also continues to build chemistry with tight end Martellus Bennett. Bennett’s blocking will be key for the Giants, however the former Dallas Cowboy is shaping up to be another big target for Manning in the passing game.

The Giants first team defense put a hurting on the Bears first team offense in the 1st half. Quarterback Jay Cutler struggled to get any consistency with the passing game and running back Matt Forte couldn’t get going against the defensive line of the Giants. Forte was held to 4 rushing yards on 8 carries in the first half.

Special Teams came up big tonight for the Giants with a blocked punt by Da’ Rel Scott and recovery by Greg Jones. Mark Herzlich also forced a Bears fumble on a kickoff return.

The Giants have a short week to prepare for their preseason finale against the New England Patriots. Starters are most likely going to have the night off. It could be the last chance for players who are on the bubble as teams will soon begin trimming down their rosters for the regular season.

Location: MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey

TV: CBS Nationally (CBS 2 in NY, NJ, CT & WFSB in CT/MA)

Announcers:  Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf

Radio: WCBSFM 101.1 (WFAN has the Mets game)

Game Time Weather:

Kick Off: 77* 10% Chance of T-Storms

Half-Time: 75* 0% Chance of T-Storms

4th Quarter: 73* 0% Chance of T-Storms

Current Line: It’s the preseason….. However, this will be the “truest” test the preseason has to offer.

1. The Bears have a new offensive coordinator, do you feel that this will also help the offensive line?

As last season’s offensive line coach, Mike Tice knows that positional group inside and out.  Since the Bears didn’t make a lot of personnel changes to address one of their biggest weaknesses, Tice promises to address the concern through scheme.  Look for a lot of rollouts, moving pockets and short drops; a distant departure from Mike Martz’s 7-step dropbacks in the pocket.

2. Tell us about the young players on your team, and who we should watch for Friday night.

A couple of high round draft picks are worth keeping an eye on.  On the offensive side of the ball, Alshon Jeffery has been impressive throughout camp.  He’s caught just about everything in sight and looks to be the real deal to play opposite Brandon Marshall.  Look out for him in the red zone.

On the defensive side of the ball, rookie Shea McClellin has been under the microscope.  The Bears have been looking for a pass rush specialist to take advantage of the constant double teams that Julius Peppers draws.  The jury is still out on McClellin.  He’s shown some good speed and a motor to match and picked up a couple of sacks through speed and determination, but he’s not out-muscling anyone.  In the run game, he’s gotten mauled at the point of attack as he needs to bulk up and get used to playing with his hand on the ground.

3. What match-ups are you looking forward to against the Giants?

The matchup that interests me most is the Bears’ offensive line vs the Giants’ defensive line.  The G-men arguably have the best front four in the league and can bring pass rushers on in waves.  The Bears offensive line bounced back in their second preseason game against the Redskins after a clunker in their first outing against the Broncos.  In the always important third preseason game, I’m interested to see if the line is improving and can hold up to a relentless rush like the Giants will bring or if they’re still a work in progress.  I just hope for Cutler’s sake, it’s not another 9-sack outing like a couple of years ago.

4. Is the loss of Brian Urlacher concerning fans in Chicago?

Urlacher has been the face of the franchise for the better part of a decade and represents a key cog in Lovie Smith’s Cover-2 defense, so it’s natural that people a getting a little fidgety thinking about the Bears defense without #54 patrolling the middle of the field.  This Bears team is built to withstand an injury to Urlacher better than previous versions had been.  With Peppers, Briggs and Charles Tillman, the Bears still have Pro Bowl players at all levels of the defense while the offense is ready to blow up like we’ve never seen in Chicago with Cutler, Marshall and Forte ready to lead the way.  For me, I’m less worried about the loss of Urlacher than I am about his effectiveness when he does return.  I think he’ll be back, but if he’s lost a couple of steps, can he still cover the ground he needs to cover without hurting the defense.

5. How has Matt Forte looked in pre-season, and will we see a lot of him Friday night?

We haven’t seen too much out of Matt Forte this preseason.  Forte missed the preseason open as the Bears opted to sit out their stars from a rain-soaked night vs Denver and used him only sparingly last week.  He’s kind of the forgotten man on the offense, while Jay Cutler, Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery have been fine tuning the passing attack.  Forte looks like he’s bounced back from a late-season knee injury in better shape than ever.  I expect him to do what he does and pile up the yardage in the running game and in the short passing game during the season and wouldn’t be surprised to see him get 5-10 carries on Friday vs the Giants.

Week One: In Jacksonville TBA

Week Two: At Jets TBA

Week Three:  Friday August 24th vs Chicago on CBS

Week Four: Wednesday August 29th vs New England

Nov 8, 2009; East Rutherford, NJ, USA; New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning (left) and San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers talk prior to game at Giants Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jim O

Take a look at this brief off-season quarterback carousel just so that you can understand where I’m coming from:

• The Indianapolis Colts cut Peyton Manning so they can draft Andrew Luck.
• Peyton Manning signs with the Denver Broncos after putting the NFL on a three year waiting list. Wait, what? It wasn’t three years? Sure seemed like it.
• The St. Louis Rams got a fortune in return from the Washington Redskins so they can take RG3 right after the Colts select Luck.
• Matt Flynn signs with the Seattle Seahawks after being Aaron Rodgers’ backup.
• Jason Campbell leaves Oakland after having his starting job taken away and signs with the Chicago Bears to become Jay Cutler’s backup.
• Kyle Orton does the same thing and goes to backup Tony Romo in Dallas after starting for two teams last year: the Kansas City Chiefs and the Denver Broncos.
• Denver Broncos’ third string QB Brady Quinn moves to Kansas City to become that team’s newest backup QB.
• Chad Henne left the Dolphins to challenge for the starting QB job with the Jacksonville Jaguars.
• The New York Jets brought in Drew Stanton to be Mark Sanchez’s new body double.
• David Garrard comes back to the league after a one year absence to join the Miami Dolphins.

We have backups becoming starters, starters becoming backups, rookies being drafted presumably to start from day, guys out of the league for a year and one of the greatest QBs to ever play in the NFL cut for a player to have never played a down of professional football before. Confused yet? That’s because it is confusing to keep track of which quarterback is on which team now in the new quarterback driven NFL.

With the signing of Manning to the Broncos there is now another starting quarterback that could be had for the right price: Tim Tebow for a 5th round pick, presumably. The two teams with a most glaring need at a QB, if the 49ers don’t bring back Alex Smith, that is, are the Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins. You have to include Miami because a Matt Moore/David Garrard combo doesn’t scare anyone.

The Browns were never in the hunt for Manning but aren’t enamored with incumbent QB Colt McCoy and lost out on the RG3 sweepstakes. The Dolphins went all in on Manning but came back empty handed; then their second choice Flynn spurned them for the Seahawks. That leaves the potential of either one of those two teams signing Alex Smith, he of the 49ers, who has no idea of his job status thanks to the Peyton Derby, and the aforementioned Tebow.

Plus there are other potential first round quarterbacks besides Luck and RG3 that could be taken by the Browns or Dolphins like Ryan Tannehill or Brandon Weeden, both of whom, if you ask me aren’t worthy of being selected in the top ten of the draft but might be taken that early because the Dolphins (picking 8^th overall) and the Browns (picking 4^th overall) won’t have any choice other than dangling a future first round draft pick in order to trade back into the latter part of the upcoming 2012 NFL Draft.

By my calculations we might have a total of 11 teams with a new starting QB/quarterback question marks entering next season:

-Redskins – RG3, Vikings – Ponder/Webb?, Jaguars – Gabbert/Henne? Or maybe even Tebow?, San Fran – Smith/Kaepernick/Josh Johnson?, Arizona – Kolb/Skelton? Cleveland – McCoy?, Seattle – Flynn/T-Jax? Titans – Locker/Hasselbeck?, Indy – Luck, Miami – Moore/Garrard? and Denver – Peyton Manning.

11! That is a ridiculous amount of turnover at the most important position in football.

Now you can see why I’m pretty happy that the Giants have Eli Manning and we didn’t have to put up with the Peyton circus and the revolving game of quarterback musical chairs that teams like the Redskins and Dolphins plus players like Tebow and Smith have had to put up with this offseason. Heck, the Giants are even keeping their back-up QB David Carr.

Here is a quick look at the games that mean the most to the GIANTS this weekend (these games will be updated at halftime and conclusion):

Atlanta Falcons (8-5) at Carolina Panthers (4-9); The Atlanta Falcons won. The Atlanta Falcons currently are projected as the 6th and final seed in the NFC Play-Offs. They are a tie breaker behind the Bears and a tie breaker ahead of the Lions. They are one game ahead of the GIANTS.We want the Panthers to win this game.

Minnesota Vikings (2-11) at Detroit Lions (8-5); The Lions Won (huge missed face mask call at the end of the game). The Lions are currently a tie breaker behind the Bears and Lions. They are one game ahead of the GIANTS. We want the Vikings to win this game.

Chicago Bears (7-6) at Denver Broncos (8-5); Tim Tebow did it again. He did it again. Broncos won 13-10. The Chicago Bears currently are projected as the 5th seed in the NFC Play-offs. They are a tie breaker ahead of the Falcons and Lions and one game ahead of the GIANTS. We want the Broncos to win this game.

San Francisco 49ers (10-3) at Arizona Cardinals (6-7); The Cardinals won 27-19. The Cardinals are currently two games out of the final Play-Off spot and one game behind the GIANTS. We want the 49ers to win this game.  A loss by the Cardinals all but eliminates them from the Play-Offs.

St. Louis (2-10) at Seattle Seahwaks (5-7); 8:33 Monday Night. The Seahawks are currently two games out of the final Play-Off spot and one game behind the GIANTS. We want the Rams to win this game.  A loss by the Seahawks all but eliminates them from the Play-Offs.

Dallas Cowboys at Arizona Cardinals. Dallas lost in overtime. The Cowboys are 7-5. They are half game ahead of the GIANTS.

Detroit Lions at New Orleans Saints. The Lions are 7-4 and one game ahead of the GIANTS. The Lions are one game behind the Falcons/Bears for the final playoff spot.

Kansas City Chiefs at Chicago Bears. Kansas City won 10-3 . The Bears are 7-5 and are a tiebreaker ahead of the Lions and .5 games ahead of the Giants for the final playoff spot.

Atlanta Falcons at Houston Texans. Houston won 17-10. The Falcons are 7-5 and are a tiebreaker ahead of the Lions and .5 games ahead of the Giants for the final playoff spot.

New York Jets at Washington Redskins. The Jets won 34-19.  The Redskins are 4-8 and are  basically eliminated from the playoffs.

NFL Predictions Week 11 – The tides are definitely turning in the NFL. The results from last week are, as they say, the pudding to which the proof resides. If predicting the weekly winners of the NFL were the stock market, this thing crashed BIG time last week!

We’ll take a look at how the panel at ESPN did last week, along with myself, and we will look into the future to determine who are the teams to beat this week. Sit back, grab a cup o’ joe and check out who we think are the bee’s knees of Week 11.
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Are you ready for the second half of the 2011 NFL season? Do you think you can handle the adrenaline rush from the multitude of clutch comebacks? Or, for that matter, the overwhelming depression of staggering defeats?

If you answered, “Yes!” to these questions, then you are a true BLUE football fan! Let’s get it started! Week 10, or weak 10 for some teams around the league, finds us on our continuing mission to deliver you the winners of every NFL game, alongside the pigskin picking’ panel at ESPN. Who have we picked this week? Who won the battle of the predictions last week? You might be surprised at the results. read on…if you dare!
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OK fans, let’s get this out of the way right now. The Rams?! Really? The Rams beat the Saints. My head is still spinning on its neck like Linda Blair in The Exorcist. What can you say? Any given Sunday. Well, we’ve got another Sunday (and Monday) right around the corner and our picks are fresh out of the oven.

ESPN has baked up a tasty little batch of predictions for the upcoming week, as did I. Each week I go head to head with the experts and their two fortune telling robots. The race is pretty close and is still anyones game. Read on to see how they did, how I did and what teams we’re labeling as the easy wins, the fights to the finish and the upsets of the week. Check it out!
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The New York Giants sit atop of the NFC East in Week 7. They also find themselves with a much needed Bye Week. Fret not, football fans. There is still plenty of pigskin to go around this week! There are some great games that you won’t want to miss…and some that you would probably prefer to watch paint dry instead.

We hop over the fence to see what teams the experts over at ESPN are picking this week, as well as gawk at their results from last week. Naturally, we’ll be doing the same for yours truly. Each week, I go head to head with the big boys and live to tell about it. How did I do last week? Who am I picking this week? Come on in and take a look at my breakdown and analysis for each game.
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Of the six categories of weekly leaders in the NFL for Week 5, three of them were New York Giants (Eli Manning, Jason Pierre-Paul and Victor Cruz). That was then. This is now! Welcome to Week 6 of the 2011 NFL season. We are just over one-third of the way through and, as we have discovered already, ANYTHING can happen!

This week, we take another gander into the looking glass of the ESPN braintrust. Week 5 proved some of the ESPN pundits to be kings among men. It also proved that some of them are…well…not so much. How did I do? Who am I picking this week? Continue on for my break/down-beat down and analysis of all this week’s upcoming matchups.
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While the playoff race has begun in the MLB, football season has only just begun. This week we embark on the 2nd quarter of the 2011 NFL season. We’re beginning to see who’s hot and who’s…well…pretty damn awful. Those of you who tune into GmenHQ.com religiously have extra insight into each upcoming week of football before they happen.

Not only do we tap into the prize picking panel at ESPN to see who they favor each week, but the higher ups at Fansided.com have a unique extraction method that involves electrodes, Justin Bieber music and a plumbing snake, which is what brings you, our readers, my weekly predictions right here at GmenHQ.com. So, let’s take a look at how ESPN did last week, how I did and our collective predictions for Week 5. Quickly, I can’t take much more of this!
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Week 4 – the NFL lockout is slowly becoming a distant memory and the playoff race is taking shape…well not quite. But we are one quarter of that way done with a football season that almost didn’t happen. Tie flies when you’re having fun!

Keeping with tradition, we gaze into the crystal balls of the necromancers of the NFL over at ESPN. We’ll look into their picks from last week, this week and see how I rank among them. Who am I picking this week? What’s my record thus far? Read on for my breakdown and analysis of each game.
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Welcome to week 3 in the National Football League. The shapes of each conference are being to take form. The divisions themselves match up quite well at this stage of the season. But this week will begin to separate the men from the boys. Those professional pickers over at ESPN have cast their ballots and the results are in!

As usual, I have made my predictions right long side the likes of Mike Golic, Ron Jaworski, the two robots and the rest of the ESPN panel of pundits. Last week was a wild wind up of football. There were upsets along with easy pickings. How did I fare against the ESPN machine? Who am I picking this week? You just might be surprised. Read on.
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After a long, grueling offseason, the NFL kicked off its season opener…and what an opener it was. We witnessed the impossible, the improbable and the impartible. Yes, football season is upon us folks. That means that the guys over at ESPN are knee deep in their predictions once again. That also means that, so am I.

How did I match up against the pigskin parliamentarians last week? Was my Magic 8 Ball working as good or better than the big guys’? I bet you’ll be surprised at the results. Click the link below to find out the W/L ratios, my predictions for this coming week and the analysis of each game.
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