Week 14: Giants at Cowboys

"When is pitchers and catchers again?" I asked this question last night. I was slightly joking but mostly I was disgusted with the way the Giant were playing.

Offensively: The play calling was incredibly predictable. It's easy to do, folks. All you need to do is guess that every play will be a draw or screen pass and you'll be right over half the time. Gilbride calls for more draws than an outlaw from the wild west a kindergarten teacher. Also, Jacobs shouldn't have gotten eight touches taken away from him by Bradshaw. I know Bradshaw is the better, more versatile running back but Jacobs was back to his old hurdling, steamrolling self. Let him run wild.

Defensively: Demarco Murray broke his ankle and is out for the game. I don't root for injuries but that's a good thing right? Nope. Felix Jones was unstoppable against this Giants defense averaging 6.6 yards per carry. The Giants secondary looked like a bunch of amateurs. In the NFL receivers shouldn't be that open and that shouldn't happen multiple times a game. The terms "Chinese fire drill" or "complete clusterf*ck" come to mind but those sayings cannot begin to describe how bad those plays were.

All of this was going on and I decided to skip the Boardwalk Empire finale.

Then Romo overthrows a game sealing, possibly division sealing, 3rd down throw to a wide open Miles Austin. Now I start to think: The game isn't over. The season isn't over.

Que the Eli Time music (think of something with banjos or a slide guitar in it). Eli goes out and makes more clutch throws, and makes great pre-snap adjustments. He's like the Tim Tebow of quarterbacks.  All he does is win!

Week in and week out he builds a case to support his preseason comments. His makeshift offensive line has been giving him a lot of protection and has been making vertical holes to improve the running game. Also the receivers have stepped up, which is good considering every game might be a shootout. Hakeem Nicks has been on fire lately and is showing everyone how dangerous he can be when he's healthy.

Sure enough he drives down the field to set up a touchdown run by Jacobs. Who I think might have knocked up Cowboys Stadium, Jerry-atric World as I am now calling it, Sunday night after that first touchdown run.  It wasn't the classiest thing he's done but it was great to see Jacobs get back to his Juggernaut self again.

On the other side of the ball there was only one player who decided to show up... Jason Pierre-Paul (JP2). During this losing streak he has been the only Giants defensive player who hasn't quit. Every week he makes plays and does things that make me think he isn't all human. Personally I think his training is like what Blanka went through in the Street Fighter movie. Inject some super strength serum into his bloodstream and force him to watch videos of war and destruction.

All of that "training" pays off as he blocks Bailey's game tying field goal attempt to ensure the Giants victory and keep them in the playoff picture. This win makes the Giants 3-0 in Jerry-atric World. (Cut to Jerry Jones looking like he needs to change his diaper).



"Get me some more Opps I Crapped My Pants."



Since the Giants won, it seems like you need a degree from M.I.T. in order to fully understand how the playoffs can shake out. So here is what I say to them: Just win all of the remaining games and you'll make the playoffs.

I understand how difficult that is. Especially since the team displayed a lot of weaknesses despite getting the win in Dallas. They shouldn't take any of these remaining games lightly. The Redskins should suck but they have been competitive in a lot of games, including beating the Giants in week 1. The Jets are playing good football right now, and the Cowboys are still a really talented team.

This road to the playoffs is a tough one. But the win on Sunday night made it a little bit easier.