NFL PLAYOFFS- DIVISIONAL ROUND RECAP
12 Jan
By, Michaela Ennis
After going an abysmal 0-4 this round, and more importantly, suffering a Giants loss that made me want to throw up, it’s time to break down why this all happened in the first place. I will start off with the Giants Eagles game, just to get it over with.
Let me start off by saying that our offensive play calling was absolutely atrocious. I knew what the next Giants play was going to be at least 50% of the time. And the other 50%, the play calls were just so dumbfounding I wouldn’t even expect our coaching staff to be so stupid. On 1st and 5 and relatively deep into Philadelphia territory, the Giants elected to pass the ball 3 straight times, and guess what came of that- a field goal. When you have 3 great backs, and Eli is having a terrible day, why throw it three straight times? if we would have used Jacobs the way we should have I believe we would have won. Jacobs averaged almost 5 yards per carry, but just wasn’t given the ball enough. Carney missed 2 field goals in this game, and he missed just 3 all season (and only 1 of those was a real miss, the other 2 were blocked). Most importantly though, we settled for field goals every time we got into Eagles territory. RIDICULOUS! We couldn’t score even one touchdown. The problems today for the New York Giants were obviously on offense. Both defenses played very well, and both offenses didn’t look that great, but the Eagles offense managed to look better than ours today (not much of a feat though). So, if Carney makes his kicks, Eli makes better throws, the coaching staff doesn’t call stupid plays, and we actually managed to get some touchdowns instead of field goals, we would have won. However, that didn’t happen, and Philadelphia pulled off the win. So since that I have rambled on about the Giants mishaps, maybe I should spend a little time on what Philadelphia did right. It was an ugly win for them for sure, but a win is a win, and they got the job done. Westbrook was non existant and McNabb didn’t play very well, but the Eagle offense was able to pull off a few key plays to compliment how well their D played. Philadelphia’s defense was a force, and won this game for them. Infact, they won last week’s game for them as well. So will the Philly D be able to stop Arizona? Only time will tell, but they sure as hell did a good job stopping one of the top offenses in the league in the regular season today.
#4 SAN DIEGO at #2 PITTSBURGH
Well, I wasn’t able to catch this game, but based on the highlights and stats, I will try to type up a short summary of what I think went right for Pittsburgh and wrong for San Diego. This really comes down to Pittsburgh’s D. They held SD to just 15 yards rushing! No team will rush for just 15 yards and win a game, it’s just impossible. On the other hand, Pittsburgh rushed very well and Parker had a big game. Big Ben also avoided making any mistakes, and the Steeler offensive line actually blocked for the most part today.
This game shocked me, and I’m sure it shocked many many others. Few expected Arizona to win, and I don’t think anyone expected them to crush the Panthers the way they did. Arizona has continued to do in the playoffs what they couldn’t in the regular season- establish the run. And that’s just the beginning of it! Fitzgerald was unstoppable last night, and Steve Smith was stopped, Jake Delhomme looked like he belonged on a pee wee football team, and Kurt Warner played very well. I think one stat says it all here though- Carolina had a -5 turnover margin (thanks to Delhomme’s 5 INTs and 1 fumble). How can you expect to win with that? You can’t! Arizona’s defense has finally stepped up the past two games, and they have proven that they do deserve that playoff spot. If I had said 1 month ago that the NFC Championship game would be Philadelphia at Arizona you probably would have thought that I was crazy. I guess this just goes to show that no team should be counted out unless they have already been mathematically eliminated.
Tennessee played a better game than Baltimore, but they didn’t win. This is because of turnovers- everytime Tennessee had the ball deep in Raven territory, they would turn the ball over. The Baltimore defense is so good because of the many turnovers they force. The Titans offense had over 200 yards in just the first half. Those yard did nothing for them though, because they’d find a way to screw themselves over with turnovers and penalties. They would play so well and then somehow avoid putting points on the board. This is why they lost. There were some questionable calls by the refs- even Ravens fans know that that was a delay of game by a mile, and Joe Flacco’s foot stepped out of bounds on that one play, which should have resulted in a safety. Either way, Baltimore forced turnovers when it mattered, and got the job done. Rookie Joe Flacco avoided making mistakes and came through when needed (which isn’t very often with the defense he has backing him).
This weekend was very depressing, but good football games were played, and there are still 3 more great football games to come.
Congratulations to Arizona, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore
And an optimistic thought for fellow Giants fans- New England Patriots 2001-2002 season: upset a heavily favored Rams team in the Super Bowl. 2002-2003 season: no Super Bowl (finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs). 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 seasons: back to back Super Bowl Champions. New York Giants: 2007-2008 season: upset a heavily favored Patriots team. 2008-2009 season: no Super Bowl (I think we all know what happened here) 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 seasons: ???
Could we be the next Patriots (minus the cheating part of course)? I have to be honest and say Eli is no Tom Brady, but I think we have the team to do it. Only time will tell, but I’m hoping.
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