Week Five 2014: Giants vs Falcons

(Disclaimer: I didn’t watch any of this game. I was driving through New England, so obviously I couldn’t watch the FOX broadcast of it. So instead, I listened to Bob Papa and Carl Banks call the game on the radio as soon as I got into central Connecticut.
Apologies if the game recap isn’t as stellar as you’re accustomed to.)

Sunday’s win over the Falcons makes three in a row for the G-Men. This win in particular was just what they needed, a come from behind victory. This win wasn’t perfect, not by a long shot. But wins in this league are almost never easy, and the fact that the Giants finished strong on all sides of the ball is something to be positive about. 

As you can see, being Sagat isn't all that bad.

Eli Manning was on point again. He wasn’t in full on boss mode like he was last week, but he was still a boss. He wasn’t quite M. Bison, he was more like Sagat throwing around Tiger Uppercuts on Atlanta's secondary. He completed sixty-three percent of his passes, completed passes to seven different receivers, threw two touchdown passes, all without throwing a single interception.

The running attack was solid again. Between Jennings, Williams, and Hillis, they ran for one hundred and twenty seven yards, with Williams getting the majority of those yards with sixty-five. To clarify, Hillis only got seven of those yards. Jennings unfortunately went down with an injury in the third quarter. Luckily, the warrior poet took over the starting role with ease and ran over defenders.

Larry Donnell didn’t have a single catch this game. That being said, the rest of the receiving core played well. Everyone seems to be on the same page as Eli. They are getting open and they aren’t making many mistakes. More importantly, we all finally saw the shiny new toy that is Odell Beckham Jr., a.k.a. ODB. This smoothly running passing game has gotten stronger with the help of this rookie from LSU.

Blocking was successful again. For the quick passes Eli throws, he had all the time in the world to make good decisions. Eli only got sacked once, and if it had to be by anybody, I’m glad it was Osi. The front five also did a good job with creating running lanes for the rookie running back.

The Giants defense overall did a good job keeping a lid on the Atlanta offense. One of the two touchdowns scored was a result of Antrel Rolle blowing a tackle on a screen play that led to Falcons’ running back Antone Smith breaking a seventy-four yard touchdown.
Something like that is uncharacteristic of Rolle, like how making good movies is uncharacteristic of Nicholas Cage.
It took a while for the Giants’ defensive line to make Matt Ryan feel uncomfortable. Matty Ice was standing behind that terrible offensive line and was relatively unfazed for a majority of the game. In fact, he didn’t get sacked until there was a little less than five minutes left in the game. But that sack made all the difference in the game. While down by seven points, the Falcons decided to go for it on fourth and one. But defensive tackle Jonathan Hankins burst into the backfield like a grizzly bear on bath salts and dropped Matty Ice for a nine yard loss. That play put the game away.
The secondary played well.  Julio Jones got over one hundred yards, but it’s not easy to stop him. Besides that and Rolle’s missed tackled, I was happy with their performance.

Special teams, specifically the return game, is still in as bad a shape as Geno Smith’s grasp of time zones. Preston Parker fumbled a kickoff which lead to an easy three points for Atlanta. Josh Brown saved the special teams by nailing three field goals, one of which was a fifty yarder.

Overall, this was a great win. It was a “character win”. The Giants overcame adversity late and were able to dominate on both offense and defense.

Buy This Guy A Beer: Odell Beckham Jr. made an immediate impact with the Giants. He spent a lot of time on the sidelines so far this season. But when he finally stepped on that field, it was worth the wait. He made big catches, including a jump ball touchdown which gave Big Blue the lead.

"Odell is Groot."

It’s easy to fall short of the expectations, especially since it took so long to happen. Think Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Instead he fit right in the Giants game plan. I know it was only his first game, but so far ODB has met my high expectations. Think Guardians of the Galaxy.
This could be the beginning of a great tandem between Eli and Beckham. Think Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. You know, without the whole shootout in Boliva where they both die, thing.

On to the Next One:
The Philadelphia friggen Eagles. This rivalry has gotten so out of hand that Bradley Cooper feels like he needs to throw his hat in to defend Philly. Well ya know what, pretty boy? You can take your Oscar nominations, and your beautiful blue eyes, and your chiseled features, and mind your own damn business! It’s funny how all this started because of one picture that DRC and the Fresh Prince took with a fan, and JPP saying that the Eagles could theoretically (my words, not his) be winless this year. This isn’t really the spirited trash talk that everyone’s accustomed to between these two teams.

But let’s talk actual football now. For the most part I think the Giants can take care of business on offense. The Eagles just gave up twenty eight points to the Rams, I don’t think they’ll be able to stop the new look Giants’ offense.

Defensively, they gotta stop the running game. They’ve done a pretty good job keeping the opponents running game in check so far this season. They have their hands full this week though. Yes, Shady McCoy is a great running back, but he hasn’t been himself this year. Who I’m most concerned about is Sproles out of the backfield. He could easily catch a pass in the backfield and take it to the house. Jon “Liam” Beason will back this Sunday. I gave him that nickname because like Liam Neeson, Jon Beason does his job and leaves a pile of bodies in his wake. But the Giants need to terrorize Nick Foles. I want that horse-mouthed punk to fear the defensive line, like I fear Twisty the Clown. Every time the wind slams a door shut in his house, I want him to think JPP is lurking in the shadows or hiding under his bed.

This is Twisty the Clown from American Horror Story. He is the reason why my bedroom is booby trapped like the McAllister House.

The special teams could be problematic for the Giants. If you take Big Blue’s poor special teams play, and then throw in the inexplicable way the Eagles have been scoring a million special team touchdowns in previous weeks, it's going to be a big headache for the Giants.  

All I know is that this game is gonna be a war. It’s gonna make Rocky vs Drago look like a grade school girls' pillow fight. I do like the Giants‘ chances to win this game, but there’s no way I’d put money on it.  

So what have I learned?

It’s been a while for Giants’ fans to watch a meaningful game. Obviously this isn’t an “be all end all” game, but it’s does have a lot of weight to it.

The Giants’ offensive weapons are like whack-a-moles. Larry Donnell get’s bottles up by the Falcons and Odell Beckham Jr. is there to make plays. It looks like the amount of weapons Eli gets to use are endless.

This team is getting some swagger. As much as I like to see a self-assured Giants team, I always get nervous that they’ll take their eyes off the prize. The “us against the world” mentality seemed to work better over the years. But after losing their first six games last year, it’s refreshing to see the G-Men with confidence.  

Prince has become very brash ever since he got the d wet .