Entries Tagged 'Football' ↓

Two million football fans called in sick, skipped school or just disappeared for a few hours today. They showed up to line the Canyon of Heroes in Lower Manhattan to celebrate the Giants Super Bowl victory today.

My office is just blocks from where the parade began. I stopped into work first, then made my way over there around 9:45. The streets were already packed ahead of the 11:00 am start. People amused themselves by throwing rolls of toilet tissue back and forth across the street, and spontaneously starting up chants of “Boston sucks” and “Brady sucks” and “18 and 1!”

By the time the parade started, the crowd had quadrupled in size where I was standing. When I got there, it was maybe three rows deep from the curb. At parade start, it was about 12 rows deep. Still more fans were watching from office windows, construction scaffolds and even window sills.

I had my digital camera and would love to tell you I took some great shots, but unfortunately, what I have came out either blurry or from too far away. I may be able to salvage some in iPhoto but it will take awhile.

In the meantime, you can enjoy still and video images from the parade at these websites:

New York Giants website

SportsNet New York

WNBC

New York Times

Pardon me while I crow!

All the so-called experts said it couldn’t be done. All the so-called experts said the New England Patriots were a team of destiny that had too many weapons. Everybody predicted a blowout on their way to a perfect season. Well guess what.

We here in New York knew the Giants could win this game. The Patriots are good, no doubt about, but no team is invincible. The odds were simply not in their favor. Nineteen wins without a defeat is a difficult feat to pull off, and as I said in my pre-game prediction, the Giants were getting their second chance at them after nearly winning the first time.

The Giants defense punched the Patriots in the face. They gave Tom Brady pressure like he hasn’t seen all season, never letting the high scoring Pats offense to get on track. They blitzed, pressured, hurried, sacked and knocked Brady off his feet 18 times.

On the other side, Eli Manning made his bones tonight. That winning drive with just over 2 minutes remaining was a thing of beauty. While even I get tired of the “Manning Mystique” hoopla, you have to hand it to him. He silenced all critics.

Plaxico Burress, David Tyree, Steve Smith, Ahmad Bradshaw, Brandon Jacobs and Kevin Boss, were all standouts on offense, making game saving and game winning catches, controlling the clock and picking up key Patriot blitzes.

Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Fred Robbins, Kawika Mitchell, Antonio Pierce, Corey Webster, Sam Madison and Gibril Wilson, were among the defensive stars who stymied and frustrated Brady and his receivers and negated their running game all evening.

Veterans Michael Strahan and Amani Toomer, who wondered if they’d ever get another shot at a Super Bowl after experiencing loss in 2000, now have their rings.

While I know not everyone was rooting for the Giants, I think there were a lot of football fans who were rooting against the Patriots. After spygate, the aloof and at times arrogant attitude of Bill Belichick, and just the perception that they were expected to win, I think many fans tired of their act. They 18-1 and go home with no trophy.

The New York Football Giants are the Champions of Super Bowl XLII, and I’m 8-3 in my post season picks.

The parade down the Canyon of Heroes is scheduled for Tuesday morning. I hope to be there.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time then surely you know I am a lifelong New York Giants fan. This is the fourth time I will witness my Gmen playing for the championship. We won Super Bowl XXI in 1986-87 over the Denver Broncos 39-20, then XXV in 1990-91 over the Buffalo Bills 20-19. Ten years later, we lost Super Bowl XXXV to the powerful Baltimore Ravens 34-7. A win on Sunday would take our wining percentage to .750; a loss drops us to .500.

The New England Patriots are a machine that has steamrolled all comers this year on the way to an undefeated 18-0 record. All the prognosticators have or will pick them and logically so.

Only three teams gave them a real scare this year. Philadelphia played physical but fell short 31-28 in Week 12. The following week the Ravens utilized the same game plan, before coming yards short of a winning score on the last play of a 27-24 loss. The final week of the regular season, in the game many feel re-shaped the attitude of the Giants going into the post season, New York put it all on the line but fell 38-35.

Three teams, all employing a very physical strategy, nearly broke the Patriots unbeaten streak, all of them losing by just three points. The Giants are the only team that will get a second chance.

It won’t be easy to defeat New England. They play 60 minutes of near error-free football every week. Tom Brady, Randy Moss, Wes Welker and the rest of their offense can move the ball and score seemingly at will. In the post season, they seemed to lull opponents into a false sense of confidence before storming back for a victory.

Their defense, while older, is also quite experienced. They’ve been here before and won’t fall victim to any Super Bowl rookie missteps. They force opponents into mistakes and then capitalize on them.

To beat the New England Patriots, you have to not turn the ball over, monopolize the clock to keep their offense off the field and score touchdowns not field goals. The 2:1 time of possession the Giants held over Green Bay will need to be repeated. The defense must pressure Brady and put him on the turf. If there really is anything to those ankle sprain rumors, they need to test his mobility.

All the pressure is really on New England. They are expected to win and would face the ultimate humiliation should they lose. A 19-0 record with a Super Bowl trophy at the end is a great accomplishment. An 18-1 record is a waste of a good season.

I am 7-3 in my post season predictions. Even if I’m wrong, I finish in the win column. My pick is in bold.

Sunday, February 3, 2008

SUPER BOWL XLII
Phoenix, AZ

New York vs New England (6:00 PM ET FOX)

Tom Coughlin and the New York Giants celebrate the winning field goal in overtime of the NFC championship game against the Green Bay Packers. The Giants advance to the Superbowl XLII. (Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images)

All the so-called football experts picked against the Giants during this year’s NFL post season.

First Jeff Garcia was supposed to outperform Eli Manning and take Tampa Bay to victory. Gmen won the Wild Card game 24-14. Then the Dallas Cowboys were supposed to have too many weapons and would overpower New York. Giants went into Dallas and beat them 21-17. Finally, a combination of cold weather and the near-God-like Brett Favre were suppose to be just too much for them. Giants 23, Green Bay 20 in OT. The New York Giants are NFC Champions and are going to Super Bowl XLII to face the AFC Champion New England Patriots.

As a long-suffering Giants fan—I have lived and died with this team every Sunday of my life since 1965—nothing makes me happier than to see people pick against us and pick wrong. This championship game was supposed to be a Favre farewell tour, the media was already writing that story. “Brett Favre takes Pack back” and stuff like that. Sorry suckers, but the Jints destroyed the fairytale.

New York dominated Green Bay in every aspect of the game, time of possession (40:01 – 22:34), total yards (380 – 264), Eli was 21/40 for 254 yards to Favre’s 19/35 for 236. Plaxico Burress, who has played all season on an injured ankle, had 11 receptions for 154 yards and used Al Harris and Darren Woodson, the defensive backs who were supposed to shut him down.

The Giants have now won 10 straight games on the road, a new NFL record. On defense, they shut down Green Bays running game to the point where they eventually abandoned it and relied on the pass. The supposedly weak Giants secondary handled the Packer passing game on all but a few plays. If you take out Donald Driver’s 90-yard TD catch, the Packers had only 174 total yards on 48 plays (a 3.63 yard per play average).

New York’s fortunes seemed to change this year in week 15 when they came back in the second half against the Buffalo Bills on the road, down 21-17 before scoring 21 points in the fourth quarter. Then in week 16, when they could have rested players and prepared for the playoffs, they battled the NFL’s best team, New England, down to the wire before losing 38-35. That willingness to play out the full schedule and the last game as hard as possible, has seemingly galvanized them and propelled them through this post season. Now they get a rematch against the Pats in Arizona.

The early betting line has New England by 14 1/2 points. I’m 7-3 in my picks this year. I think you already know who I’ll be picking but I’ll officially make it in two weeks.

And now there are four.

First to recap, we went 2-2 in our picks last week. Who would have figured San Diego could lose LaDainian Tomlinson and Philip Rivers and still beat Indianapolis, while I admittedly over-estimated the readiness of Seattle in their game against Green Bay. On the upside, all of the so-called experts told us how Dallas was going to win handily over the Giants. ALL of us in New York knew better and had the last laugh. And while it would have been nice to see Jacksonville upset New England, that pick was a no-brainer.

So I come into conference championship weekend 5-3 in post-season picks knowing the worst I can wind up after today is 5-5. But that’s not going to happen.

The early game has San Diego again in an up hill battle against a formidable adversary. As of this morning we are told it will be a game time decision whether Rivers will start at quarterback after injuring his knee last week. Tomlinson is probable while tight end Antonio Gates is doubtful, still dealing with a sprained big toe sustained two weeks ago. The Charger defense has had past success disrupting the passing of Patriots QB Tom Brady and will need to do that again in order to win. But they still have to figure out how to score.

While everybody is talking about Brett Favre and whether he’ll get one last chance to win a Super Bowl, there are two veterans in New York, Michael Strahan and Amani Toomer, who are still looking for their first ring (Favre has one as a member of the 1996 team that beat New England). Yeah, it’s going to be cold, harkening back to “the frozen tundra of Lanbeau Field” and the 1967 NFL Championship game, but this is a different year and a different era.

To win, the Giants defense will need to shut down the Packer rushing game to force Favre into throwing. Then their complex blitzing scheme need to put the kind of pressure on him that worked so well against a younger, more mobile Tony Romo last week. Putting the 38 year old on the turf a few times wouldn’t hurt either. On offense, New York needs to establish their running game both to wear down the Packer defense and open up passing opportunities. Failing to do that, it will be a long, cold evening.

My picks are in bold.

Sunday, January 20, 2008

AFC

San Diego at New England (3:00 PM ET CBS)

NFC

New York at Green Bay (6:30 PM ET FOX)

Sunday, February 3, 2008

SUPER BOWL XLII
Phoenix, AZ

AFC Champion vs NFC Champion (6:00 PM ET FOX)

NFL News: Mike Carey will be the first Black referee in Super Bowl history