Preseason Game #3: Jets @ Giants | Big Blue Biz

Time to retract my statement about the Giants kicking game. Good kickers are hard to come by. After watching the Giants blow the game by missing field goals (the infamous 49'ers game and at Seattle '05 game come to mind), I couldn't help but think that the Giants are similiar to the New York Mets in that former players of each respective club fare better once they have the LEFT the team. For example, Matt Bryant hit something like a 62 yarder last year to lift the Bucs at the end of a game. I can't help but feel that Jay Feely will do the same. For the Mets look at Melvin Mora (that's the biggest one) Isringhausen, Burnitz, and some guy named Nolan Ryan. There are countless others. I'm not worried about Vinshancoe being one of them.

My two favorite ex-Giants whom this was true with was Ed McCaffery when he went to the Broncos and Joe Jurvecius. It's tough to go through the growing pains with a player and then see them walk away and become significantly better. Don't forget about Chad Bratzke.

What's Mike Vanderjagt doing these days?

Anyways, I was in Vegas at the Venetian and had to TiVo the game as it was amazingly not being shown in the Sportsbook. I won my parlays twice and fared even on my straight bets. The Yankees 9-6 loss at Detroit was a killer w/ the Yanks getting 1.5. I knew it was over when Clemens walked Maybin and when Henn was put in it reinforced my thinking. However, I thought worst case was Detroit scores one run and wins 7-6 as the home team. I was wrong. I lost w/ Glavine, won w/ Peavy, El Duque, Perez, Petitte, Wang and Smoltz. Parlays are the way to play in Vegas or the over.

Apparently, Vegas agrees with me about the Eagles and has them one win better than the Giants at 9-7. The Giants are 8-8 and are 32 to 1 to reach the Superbowl.

After returning to NYC and watching the tape, here is my analysis: Eli played pretty well once again (once again w/o Shockey and Plax) and I really hope he can silence the critics w/ a big season. He has to put it all together this year, not just play a great half of a season. The Giants better draft an OT this year, heck there are to be alot of good ones around.

Tiki needs to lay off because although he was a great player he needs to shut his mouth. He wasn't saying much when he was fumbling machine was he? If he saw a void in leadership, he should've stepped up. He did always give 110% and picked-up the blitz well, but last year by announcing his retirement intentions early he hurt the team. Some idiot said the other day, "Who did Tiki throw under the bus? Not his teammates." In response to this, how would you feel if you were asked about somebody everyday at work. "Hey Steve! Steve-O. The Big Stevanator. Where is Mark today? Is he sick? Late? Is he coming in? I guess not. Steve, have you talked to Mark about if he is going to work here or leave? You haven't? Is your relationship w/ him strained?"

It begins to resemble Office Space, "Corporate Accounts Payable, Nina speaking. How might I direct your call?"

The receiving corps look good even without Shockey and Plax. Mix, Toomer and Smith picked-up the slack.

As far as the running game goes, it looks like Droughns will be used at FB b/c Douglas had his knee scoped and will be out for a few weeks. I'm cool w/ that. Especially with Bradshaw and Ryan Grant playing consistently well. Bradshaw ran 8 times for 42 yards which is 5.3 average. He had character issues which caused him to plummet.

If I were Tom Coughlin, I would keep two quarterbacks and load up on RBs, CBs and WRs. Already loaded at DL and DE. Hasselback sucks and I don't just say that b/c I can't stand has wife who is famous for nothing. Still, I like her a heck of a lot more than I do fat Rosie.

The D held the Jets (w/o Thomas Jones whose biceps are bigger than most people's heads) to 85 yards rushing but gave up 215 yards passing (mostly on the pass from Pennington to Leon Washington). For Pennington to throw a pass over 20 yards, you know the coverage was BADLY busted. I have a lot of friends and co-workers who are Jets fans and the cries for Kellen Clemens get louder everyday. I liked the D-Line pressure and aggressive schemes by Spagnulo. Got a gut feeling that the G-Men will surprise a lot of people this year, but that it will take a couple of weeks for that to show.

Waiting word now on the staus of Mr. Strahan which he promises will be forthcoming...