Giants forced to wait another week
Due to the Dallas Cowboys win over the Seahawks on Thanksgiving, the Giants will not have a chance to clinch the NFC East this weekend at Washington. However, that isn’t a problem because they can do it next weekend at home in front of their fans against the Philadelphia Eagles.
If all fails, a win over Dallas two weeks from now will guarantee the Giants the NFC East division title.
Injury Update:
All indications are saying that the Giants will be without their number one wide receiver for the second week in a row, meaning Domenik Hixon will have another chance to Impress. I doubt he will, though, since defense will be able to adjust from what they saw him do to the Arizona Cardinals a week ago.
Playoff Scenarios: Giants clinch NFC East with win, Dallas loss
With a win over the Redskins and a Dallas Cowboys loss this weekend, the Giants will have clinched the NFC East division. The Seahawks are struggling and the Cowboys are on a bit of a hot streak, so I’m prepared to wait another week if Dallas wins. Besides, it would be better if the Giants could clinch it at home and in such a way that they don’t need to be watching the Dallas scoreboard. Instead, they could just win and clinch.
Here are all of the playoff scenarios for the weekend:
AFC SOUTH:
Tennessee Titans clinch AFC South Division Title with a win and Indianapolis loss
NFC EAST:
New York Giants clinch NFC East Division Title with a win and Dallas loss
NFC WEST:
Arizona Cardinals clinch NFC West Division Title with a:
Win/tie or San Francisco loss and Seattle loss
Giants improve to 10-1, now hold best record in NFL
Following the Jets’ victory over the Titans, the Giants had an opportunity to become tied with the Titans for the best record in the NFL.
The Giants began the game slow by giving up deep passes from Kurt Warner left and right. The passing defense seemed to be soft and allowed most of the Cardinals receivers to be wide open, but one thing saved them. They limited yards-after-catch, which helped them in the end. When the Cardinals would drive down the field in a matter of a few short minutes, the Giants would end up holding them to a field goal because there was no more room to pass. Holding a powerful offense like Arizona’s to a field goal has to feel good.
The Giants didn’t do much on offense without Brandon Jacobs, who was held out for precautionary reasons due to a small injury he suffered in the game agaisnt Baltimore last week. Although the offense was sputtering, the special teams crew was right there to help them. Domenik Hixon had three punt returns, averaging 60 yards per return. His longest return went 83 yards. If it wasn’t for these returns, the Giants may have ended up as the losing team in this battle.
That wasn’t all. Hixon also contributed as a wide receiver over the injured Plaxico Burress. Hixon led the team in receptions with six and ended the day with 57 receiving yards, a team high. Santana Moss, who had one catch this season coming into the game, had two nice receptions for 20 yards, including a 12-yard reception. Quarterback Eli Manning did a nice job of spreading the ball around to all of his receivers. Manning completed passes to seven different players, including a short pass to fullback Madison Hedgecock for his first career touchdown.
I was very surprised to see John Carney handling the kicking duties this week. I was more surprised to see Tynes last week, but I believe the Giants should choose a kicker instead of going back and forth (one of the reasons is because I just dropped Carney in all of my fantasy leagues and added Tynes, hehe).
The Giants will stay on the road and face division rival Washington Redskins this weekend at 1 p.m. at Fedex Field. The Giants and Redskins seem to have a pattern of winning and losing each season. The Redskins start off slow, which allows the Giants to win the first game, then the Redskins pick up their game and by the time they face the Giants the second time, the Redskins have more momentum heading into the game. Nevertheless, it will be a fun game to watch.
Big Blue plows through #1 rush defense
Just when you thought the Giants may have a bad day running the ball, they proved you wrong. Against the NFL’s number one rushing defense, the trio of Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward, and Ahmad Bradshaw left Ray Lewis and his teammates scratching their heads. The 207 rushing yards given up by the Ravens’ defense was the most against them in over a decade.
While the Ravens had been giving up an average of 65 yards per game, Giants running back Brandon Jacobs exceeded that rushing total in the first quarter alone. Jacobs had a pair of touchdowns before leaving with a minor leg injury. According to what I’ve heard, the injury to Jacobs is not serious, but because the Giants have several running backs and are not in a tight playoff race, they can afford to play it safe with Jacobs. Rumor has it that he may not play this week against the NFC West-leading Cardinals, which is probably the best choice.
Following Jacobs’ departure, the Giants mixed things up with Derrick Ward, who fearlessly slammed his way through the Ravens’ defensive line and had one run that went for 22 yards. Even with Jacobs and Ward shredding apart the NFL’s best defense, the Giants easily managed to throw in a little bit of Ahmad Bradshaw at the end of the game, who made some moves and broke free for a 77-yard run before being caught inside the five yard line.
After halftime, it was clear that the Ravens defense wasn’t going to let up. Although the Giants tore them apart in the first half, the Ravens came out of the locker room ready to play. They forced the Giants into a quick three and out, hoping to gain some momentum.
Gain some momentum, they did. The Ravens narrrowed the Giants lead to 20-10 on a wide open, all-alone touchdown pass to backup running back Le’Ron McClain. However, before the Ravens could steal any more momentum, Aaron Ross made his second interception of the day, a pick six, when a bobbled pass from Joe Flacco landed in his hands as he ran the ball back for a touchdown.
The once-close NFC East now has the Giants beginning to pull away. Three games ahead of each team in the division with six weeks to go has to feel good on Tom Coughlin. This week, the 9-1 Giants will travel to the site of Super Bowl XLII to face the 7-3 Arizona Cardinals, who can clinch their division with a win and some help.
What will Big Blue run into during final stretch?
It is no longer a matter of making it to the playoffs for the Giants. Instead, it is a matter of how good of a spot they can put themselves in before the postseason begins. If the playoffs ended today, Big Blue would be in position for, not only a first-round-bye, but home field advantage too. Let’s take a look at the remaining schedule for the Giants:
Week 11: Baltimore Ravens at New York Giants – This should be a good one with two first-place teams facing off at Giants Stadium. Giants have the edge by a little here.
Week 12: New York Giants at Arizona Cardinals – The Giants seem to find a way to beat this team each year, but this year things are different. However, even though the Cardinals have improved, so have the Giants.
Week 13: New York Giants @ Washington Redskins – It always seems to be difficult to beat this team late in the season. Each season, they seem to have entered the regular season unprepared and fall to the Giants in the early weeks. Then, by the time these two teams meet again, the Redskins always happen to have morphed into a dangerous team.
Week 14: Philadelphia Eagles @ New York Giants – Only time will tell what kind of match up this will turn out to be. Sure, the Eagles lost to the Giants last week, but this game is a long time from now. You never know what will happen.
Week 15: New York Giants @ Dallas Cowboys – Boy, this should be a classic. Following his finger injury, Tony Romo will return to the team only to be in the process of attempting to revive his dead teammates. Until the end of this week, it will be hard to know whether or not Dallas will make a successful comeback. If not, the Giants will most likely be wrapping up a first-round bye by this weekend.
Week 16: Carolina Panthers at New York Giants – Is this a playoff preview? I hope not. No Giants fans want to see a repeat of 2005 at the same exact stadium. However, the two teams have changed quite a bit over the course of three years. In 2005, Eli was still getting his feet wet. A win here would likely knock the Panthers out of the running for the Home-Field advantage, clinching it for the Giants.
Week 17: New York Giants at Minnesota Vikings – I’m guessing the Giants will just be happy to rest their players this week. No need for Eli Manning to break his leg in a meaningless game. Hmm, just imagine David Carr taking over the team with Home-Field advantage. Ooh, I don’t want to go there.
Everyone I talk to or everything I read tells me over and over that the Giants have an extremely difficult schedule down the stretch. Yes, don’t get me wrong, it isn’t easy, but it isn’t worth saying that it is extremely difficult. It is not like this team is fighting for it’s playoff hopes. It isn’t 2007 anymore.