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Game Two: Dolphins 19 Cowboys 20

Joe Tufaro — Fri, 25 Nov 2011 00:23:25 +0000

Another game, another close first half. If not for a late turnover on a bad shotgun snap by the ‘Fins, the Cowboys could have been held to just three points. The Dolphin defense is continuing their fine play of late. Tony Romo threw two first half interceptions, and the Cowboy defense brought relentless pressure all half. A score of 10-6 brings us to the second half.
The second half started with a great drive from the Dolphins. Matt Moore looks like a veteran Qb completely in control of his offense. Reegis Bush had some big plays on the drive, but it resulted in only three points with 8:02 in the third quarter leaving the Cowboys with a 10-9 lead.
With 3 and a half minutes to go in the 3rd quarter the Dolphins finally finished a drive with a TD when Matt Moore hit Brandon Marshall for 35 yards over the head of Terrence Newman who was riding him into the end zone. The Dolphins take a 16-10 lead. The Cowboy offense seems out of sync as they continue to take false start penalties in their own building. After barely beating the Redskins last week in overtime, the Cowboys find themselves needing a comeback effort to be victorious on this Thanksgiving Day.
The Cowboys did lead off the 4th quarter with a drive that resulted in another TD. They have been shut down on the ground so far, and Tony Romo is taking some big shots as his O-Line is no match for the Dolphins front. This is turning into a great game to watch as the 4th quarter finds us with a score of 17-16 with the Cowboys in the lead. Rob Ryan’s defense is giving up massive amounts of yardage as the ‘Fins have gained 300 yards with 14 minutes to go in the game. After another long drive by the Dolphins that results in a FG, the Cowboys fail to move the ball and are forced to punt with 4:47 to go in the game. The Dolphins have brought all they have today and have lived up to their end of the bargain in this game. With two timeouts remaining the Cowboys take over with 3 minutes to go trailing by just two. If the Dolphins lose this game it will mirror the earlier game in that you can’t kick 4 field goals when you reach the red zone in this league. Production is the name of the game these days in the NFL. Bad news for the Giants as the Cowboys run down the clock and kick a short fied goal with no time on the clock. A great game to watch, but no change in the expected outcome. Two down and one more to go later this evening.

Game one in the Books: Pack 27 Lions 15

Joe Tufaro — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 20:41:46 +0000

The first of the Thanksgiving Day games is in the books, and for the first half was extremely competitive. The Lions held onto the ball for long drives and kept Aaron Rodgers and the Packer offense on the bench, however they failed to score on any of their drives. Penalties and missed opportunities in the first half would be a foreshadow of things to come. An interception by Clay Matthews set Green Bay up deep in Detroit territory and eventually led to a Green Bay Touchdown with 4:54 remaining in the half.
The third quarter saw Green Bay score 17 unanswered points while the Detroit Lions lost their poise while committing more penalties and having their star Defensive Tackle Ndamukong Suh ejected from the game for kicking an opposing player. Matthew Stafford struggled a bit, and the always opportunistic Green Bay defense picked him off three times.
The 4th quarter saw the Lions find the end zone early on and convert a two point conversion. However the Packer offense used a fantastic mix of run and pass to take time off the clock and leave the Lions with little time to mount a comeback. The Lions just couldn’t get the game started the way they wanted. Holding the Packers to 7 points and little yardage in the first half should have resulted in a lead for the Lions, but when they continued to fail to convert drives into points, the task became too great to achieve.
Of course this is good news for Giants fans on two levels…it reduces the record of a Wild Crad seeker, and doesn’t have the Packers travelling to New York off their first loss.

Live Chat Sunday Giants vs. Redskins!

Joe Tufaro — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 16:04:31 +0000

Live Chat Sunday Giants vs. Redskins! - GMEN HQ - GMEN HQ - A NY Giants Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and more.

Fantasy Update: Eli Manning

Mon, 05 Sep 2011 18:27:38 +0000

NY Giants franchise QB Eli Manning is on my fantasy football roster. As of right now, he is on the bench in favor of Houston’s Matt Schaub.

Here is how ESPN characterizes Eli heading into the 2011 season:

Manning completed 15-of-30 passes for 200 yards with two picks in Monday’s preseason game against the Jets. We won’t overreact to a pair of turnovers in a preseason game, but it’s a reminder that Manning’s 4,002 passing yards and 31 TD passes last season were accompanied by a league-high 25 picks.

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Now I had Eli last year on my roster as a starter, and at times he looked like the biggest sleeper in the game as far as qbs go. But the INTS killed. As a result, the Giants are going to really force Manning into better situations this year with some scheme changes.

Here are some thoughts on how they’ll do that:

1. The check down. I expect the Giants RBs to have a seriously stellar year in 2011. More designed screens, more checkdowns, more passes caught out of the backfield by necessity. Eli WILL look to the RBs more this year, force things a lot less. He must…

2. Different threats will emerge. Smith and Boss are out. Beckum and Hixon are in. The thing I point to with Hixon is that he’s a good slot receiver that can double as a deep threat. Slant, slant, slant, and then go…. That’s the way I see Eli utilizing Hixon as a weapon. First possession, then Hixon turns it up and get behind the defense when they least expect it. Smith NEVER could develop this facet and thus was too one dimensional. The Giants will look to Hixon and backup slot WR Victor Cruz to open up the offense to their advantage deep down field, but at the right times.

Beckum MUST become a Dallas Clark type of TE. The way that happens is with play action and Beckum chipping and getting out into space quickly with Eli taking his shots to the outside away from the heart of the defense. Beckum is small but quick, over the middle crossing routes will be reserved for Pascoe and Ballard, extending plays, where they can use their height to their advantage. I see a lot of both passing options from Giants TEs this year, but Eli really is comfortable along the seams of defenses toward the outside — and last year we saw glimpses of how this could be exploited with a bit of deception and commitment to getting Beckum the ball. I look forward to seeing it more in 2011.

3. Something to prove. Eli for better or worse called himself an elite QB — now it’s time to show the pundits he’s better than the criticism suggests. I see another 4,000 yard 30 TD year for Eli with far less INTs en route to another playoff appearance for the Giants.

As far as fantasy moves go:

Eli will hang on the bench for me week 1 until he returns home for the Metlife Stadium week 2 Monday Night game against the Rams. He always seems to show up big for these prime time games, and I predict that to be his first really decisive performance of the year. Not to mention, the Giants really love to run the ball against the Redskins and that will take points away from Eli week 1.

Best bet for playing Eli will be after managing the first game in Washington conservatively on the ground.

Giants Dominate Bears In 41-13 Blowout

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 14:56:59 +0000

The New York Giants took over on Monday Night Football when the Bears couldn’t stop the Giants offense from scoring 5 TDs while the defense gave up only 1 TD with minutes left in the 4th quarter.

The Giants scored three TDs on the ground and two through the air. The Bears 1 TD in garbage time with 2 minutes left came after rookie Da’Rel Scott ran in a 97 yard TD to seal the blowout by the Giants.

Here is the full highlight reel via via NFL Videos:

The New York “Jekyll” Giants Of January – “A Dose Of Reality”

Tue, 28 Dec 2010 16:08:37 +0000

There is no question that football fans, as well as players, around the league are as stupefied by the last two New York Giants losses as all of us here at home are. A feeling of uncertainty sinks in when a fan and its team sees the G-Men on their schedule before the start of the season. The reason being is that the New York Giants are a viable and competitive team that are capable of turning a stadium, crowd and team up on their ear. That, of course, is dependent on which Giants team shows up to play.

The Jekyll and Hyde Giants syndrome has been an unfortunate reality for the 30+ years that I have been a football fan. This enigmatic affliction wreaked havoc in 2009 and is beginning, or continuing as the case may be, to work its ominous chicanery. These last six quarters of football are clear, cut indicators that there is a silent but deadly assassin picking apart the success of this Giants football team.
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