Week Five 2015: Giants vs 49ers

On Sunday night, the Giants found themselves in a game that was way closer than expected. Sometimes games are way closer than they should be. After all, this is the NFL, every team is good enough to suit up every Sunday, even the bad ones. But, it’s the good teams that find a way to win those games.

They needed a game like this. They needed a come from behind win. It builds character. The Giants showed that they had the grit and the guts to win a game in the final seconds. Even against teams like the 49ers, it’s still a good way to win.



About Last Week


There are a lot of things that went right for Big Blue, but it wouldn’t be a true Giants game if they didn’t make you want to rip your hair out a few times.
Since they played against the team from the bay area, I’m going to use two classic movies that use San Fransisco as their setting to talk about what worked and what didn’t work. So why don’t we cut the chit-chat... a-hole?!

The Rock

Eli delivered a clutch, NFC Offensive Player of the Week performance against the 49ers. In addition to cultivating a game winning touchdown drive, he completed 76 percent of his passes for 441 yards and 3 touchdowns, one of the touchdowns was thrown while being dragged down by his jersey.

Have you ever seen a toddler collide with running Golden Retriever?

But there were blemishes, of course. Of his few incomplete passes, there was that awful interception that he had no business throwing, and two more that were close to being picked off. Let’s not forget him scrambling for a first down and then bouncing off a defensive lineman like he ran into a force field.
But somehow, with all of the ill-advised throws he makes, most things seem to work out alright for him in a Captain Jack Sparrow kind of way.

Shane Vereen continues to look like the best free agent acquisition. He’s being used in the most perfect way for this offense. Now with a banged up receiver unit, he’s going to be the safety valve used by Eli.

This game was a show of guts, and grit from a few different people.
With the game on the line, Eli Manning took the field with Shane Vereen and a few receivers who didn’t see any playing time all year. In fact, Myles White was on the practice squad a week ago. Plus halfway through the drive Pugh limped off the field, too.   
After relying on Vereen to make plays on the drive, the Giants got close to red zone, or the “green zone” as Coughlin and company call it. Then Odell Beckham Jr. ran onto the field. Playing through a hammie injury that he got earlier in the game, he was able to get a crucial pass interference penalty that set up the Giants’ game winning score. Even if he was used more like a decoy, he was still instrumental part of the winning drive. Judging by his emotional post-game interview on the field, you can tell how much he cares about the team.  Either that or he was devastated because he injured his hamstring again.
Larry, Tha Don, Donnell also wanted to get into the mix of late game heroics and he makes an incredible catch, and somehow holds onto the ball to complete the catch while falling on his ass. After that he was all smiles, which shows off the beautiful work of his orthodontist.
Fun fact: This was Eli Manning’s 27th 4th quarter comeback. That’s the most in the league since 2004.

Eli Manning's late game heroics is right on par with Stanley Goodspeed's heroics. 

X-Men: The Last Stand

I’m not sure what happened on Sunday night, but at times the 49ers defense looked unstoppable. Was it the 9ers offense finally clicking, or was it the defense taking a step back. I understand that they were missing Ayers, Kennard, and Selvin to begin with. Plus, Jon Beason got a concussion on the first drive so he was out the entire game. So it’s understandable that the Giants defense was as disappointing. Not as disappointing as killing off Cyclops, or Professor X, but as disappointing as the way they used Angel. 

Watching different Giants go down with injuries last Sunday night was like watching Bret Ratner ruining a movie franchise so badly, that they made a movie 8 years later that basically erased that movie from existence.
Jon Beason, Odell Beckham Jr, Rueben Randle, Justin Pugh and Prince Amukamara are all important players for the Giants that got hurt against the 49ers. Amukamara suffering the worst injury of the group with an injured pectoral muscle. He’ll miss 2-4 weeks.



On to the next one

E-A-G-L-E-S EAGLES!!!

This Monday night, the Giants go down to Philadelphia to square off against the Eagles, the Florida of the NFC East. The last time the Giants played in Philly, the circumstances were very similar. The Giants were 3-2, coming off of a 3 game winning streak, and playing the Eagles in a prime time game. Let’s just say the results weren’t ideal. The offensive line got manhandled, Victor Cruz went down with a knee injury, and the Giants got completely spanked in front of a national audience.

Hopefully the results of this game are different, but I gotta be honest, I don’t feel that great about it. The fact that the G-Men are going into Philly as banged up as they are is a justified cause for concern.
Also, it’s hard to gauge what the Eagles can do on any given week. Sometimes they make Chip Kelly look like a genius, other times they make him look like a delusional egomaniac who would rather lose his way than win by changing his style.
The key to the game is ball control. The Giants’ best shot of winning this game is to win the turnover battle. This means a lot of short, high percentage plays from the offense.
“Crazy Eyes” Sam Bradford will make mistakes, the Giants defense needs to capitalize on those mistakes and take the crowd out of the game. The defense also needs to take control of the Eagles’ running backs catching passes, those plays have been killers for the Giants, and that’s something that the Eagles do very well.

People can talk about what they expect to happen on Monday night all week, but it doesn’t mean anything. These NFC East matches are anything but predictable. The only thing you can count on for Monday night is Jon Gruden saying something ridiculous, and acting like it was the best thing ever said by anyone at anytime... ever.

Gruden either made an excellent point, or he went poopie in his pants. I can't tell anymore.