NEW YORK – The Giants are now only two wins away from the rings. The Giants played their hearts out last night and beat the Green Bay Packers 37-20. I would have normally written this last night but I was celebrating all night long. The entire Giants community has been correctly stating that the team not only beat the Packers but also the refs. Is this what we have come to in the NFL? Teams losing to atrocious refereeing? Roger Goodell better look into this and hand out some punishment including a four game suspension or something to the effect of what a player would receive. This is the second round of the playoffs and completely inexcusable. If he wants to maintain the integrity of the game in the fans mind, something needs to be done about this. There were multiple blown calls and non-calls made last night but the Giants overcame it all and will play the San Francisco 49ers next week out west for the NFC championship.
The first half of football was pretty balanced and fun to watch. Both teams seemed to move the ball well and traded points a few times. The Packers defense was playing surprisingly well and I was a bit shocked by how many cheap shots they were taking on Eli Manning with no calls from the refs. Right before the teams headed into the locker room, Manning threw a Hail Mary pass into the endzone that WR Hakeem Nicks pulled down to give Big Blue a 20-10 halftime lead. The second half saw some of the same action with QB Aaron Rodgers moving the ball well but the fourth quarter was all about Big Blue. Everyone knows that Eli Manning owns the fourth quarter and he proved it again. The Giants defense also stepped up big time in the second half and started getting to Rodgers often and causing havoc on the field. The long break really seemed to make the Packers sluggish and out of sync.
This Giants victory sets up some very interesting scenarios for fans. The first being the San Francisco game next week. Giants fans still remember that playoff game in 2003 where another blown call by the refs cost the Giants the opportunity to win. This should be billed simply as a revenge game for the fans, although I doubt the media will look at it that way. If the Giants get their revenge and beat the 49ers an even more interesting scenario unfolds. The Patriots play the Ravens next week for the AFC championship. Regardless of who wins that game, the G-Men will see a Super Bowl rematch. I have no preference on who New York plays but a rematch against the Ravens would be billed as another revenge game (2000 Super Bowl loss) and the Patriots (2007 Super Bowl win) game would be another New York vs. Boston type of scenario. I’d be happy just to make it back to the Super Bowl regardless of who we play and of course take home the Lombardi trophy when the game is over. The Road Warriors have returned!
Let’s take a look at my notes from the game.
QB Eli Manning – Manning was simply brilliant once again and finished the game with 330 yards 3 TD’s and 1 INT. Manning is the hottest QB in the NFL right now.
RB Ahmad Bradshaw – Bradshaw was running hard as usual and made some critical plays late in the game. He finished with 63 yards on the ground and 21 yards receiving.
WR Hakeem Nicks – Nicks had a tremendous game and finished with 165 yards and 2 TD’s. He was clearly Manning’s favorite target last night.
LB Michael Boley – Boley is such a tough guy and great leader. He finished the night second on the team in tackles and had 2 sacks.
DE Justin Tuck – Tuck didn’t make very many tackles but he was disrupting QB Aaron Rodgers comfort zone the entire game.
WR Victor Cruz – The Salsa Man was garnering a lot of attention but still finished with 74 yards 0 TD’s.
S Antrel Rolle – Rolle made some key plays out there last night and was the leading tackler for Big Blue once again. Rolle = Beast.
RB Brandon Jacobs – Jacobs tried to stay busy in this game that was all about passing but he did get 22 yards and the dagger TD that finished off the Packers in the 4th quarter.
CB Corey Webster – Webster continues to play on another level this year and he had another great game last night.
S Deon Grant – Grant was hitting everything that came into his area and also had 1 INT. He got banged up but returned to the game.
DE Jason Pierre-Paul – JPP was getting double teamed for most of the game. This seems to be the story every week now. JPP = Beast!
WR Mario Manningham – Super Mario had a solid game and contributed 31 yards and 1 TD to the victory. Nice game Mario!
CB Aaron Ross – Ross was out there making plays and really took his game to another level last night. He made a few key plays that could have changed the game.
LB Jacquian Williams – Williams is having one heck of a season for a rookie and now finds himself in the NFC Championship game.
TE Jake Ballard – Ballard had a rough night and finished with 17 yards. I expect him to get more involved next week.
S Kenny Phillips – I love the way Phillips plays the game of football. The hard hitting safety finished with 1 forced fumble.
DE Osi Umenyiora – Osi gets my defensive game ball. The Giants need to pay this man. He finished with 2 sacks and 1 forced fumble.
DT Chris Canty – Canty was having a good game before leaving with a knee injury. He did not return to the game.
K Lawrence Tynes – Tynes went 3/4 on FG attempts with one blocked and 4/4 on extra point attempts. He also had a kickoff go out of bounds.
P Steve Weatherford – The Weatherman was brilliant once again and has really become the best special teams weapon on the team.
Giants Offense – What can I say? The Giants offense was awesome last night and put up 37 points on the best team in football.
Giants Defense – The Giants defense got off to a slow start in the first half but exploded in the second half to secure the victory.
Giants Special Teams – The special teams recovered two onside kicks and had a decent game but they still need improvement.
What did you think of the Giants performance last night?
RD – nygreporter.com
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What we have seen this year in officiating is horrendous. Especially where replay is involved. Not only yesterday, but if you recall the lions “fumble”. The lack of consistency with hits to the head and no calls when E was hit late.
But this team rose above and controlled the game from start to finish. Eli continues to play week in and week out.
Kudos to the secondary for playing excellent coverage when Rodgers had plenty of time to throw in the first half. Their O-line wore down in the second half under the relentless pressure from our front four.
8 more quarters!!
Good Morning AJ, something really needs to be done about the refs. You know it was bad and obvious when even the main stream sports media is calling the refs horrible. Boomer nd Carton, Mike and Mike, ESPN, SNY and all the rest were talking about it today. Roger Goodell needs to publicly address the refs. In fact, I’m going to tweet him about it right now. I agree with you, the G-Men beat all the odds, the Packers and the refs last night for the sweet victory!
A memorable day for us but it could’ve turned out so differently because of inept officials. I don’t understand how they could get something so wrong? Were they betting on the Packers or what? They should be demoted or banned from officiating for a certain amount of games if that’s the kind of horrendous decisions they make with replays.
Anyway the officials can try all they want but at the end of the game, this was all about the awesomeness of the Giants. The offense shreds their opponent’s to pieces. The defense was just incredible. Were it not for help from the officials, the Packers would’ve only scored 6 points! (The two TD’s coming from very poor decision-making by the officials.) Restricting the best offense in the country to that is simply amazing and the 49er’s will have their work cut out next week if they have any hope at all of progressing, which of course they won’t! Bring on the Ravens/Pats!
Good Morning Patrick, I sent Roger Goodell a tweet a little while ago about the refs and asked him to address it. It’s ridiculous in this day and age of technology, where refs have the ability to look under the hood, that they should ever get calls so wrong as they have this postseason. It makes people wonder about fixed games and all of that, which is bad for the game. I still do not watch the NBA as much as I used to over that whole ref scandal. Some of these NFL refs look like they might be doing the same thing. Horrible and atrocious officiating.
I feel extremely confident that the Giants can beat the 49ers. I really think they are going to the Super Bowl again this year. I’d rather play the 49ers then the Saints.
Incredible.but the best is yet to come buddy.
Early prediction.new york giants 37-san fran 14.not only will the g-men have knocked off the ryan brothers,but now they will knock off the harbough brothers.
lol I hope you’re right Bobby! I need to look over a few things first before my final prediction.
Rob,
Please let us know if you actually get a response from Roger, I won’t hold my breath though. It is bad enough to have to face the #1 team in the NFL and the Refs in the same game. If the NFL was so concerned about QB safety then where were the calls for the GIANTS? There were a few that I remember where Eli was hit with no flag. I am one who is seriously in doubt the Refs are not fixing games. I call it like I see it and that’s what I see right now. This has been an unfortunate “trend” this season, there is ABSOLUTELY NO EXCUSE to miss calls even after going under the hood. How did he not reverse that fumble yesterday?? Where’s the accountability with the officiating, oh wait, there isn’t any! As fans of the game, put aside the fact that I am a GIANTS fan, I want to see a game called within the rules, if the GIANTS commit a foul then flag it, but it needs to go both ways. Whoever the Ref was lastnight it is clear to me he was in some sort of way going for the Packers and this cannot be denied by anybody, it’s just to plain to see. My question is how can it be stopped? It has to come from within the league…
OK man, rant over. Oustanding game by the GIANTS last night. I think they have everybody’s attention right now, although I’m sure San Fran will be the favorites this week. But that is exaxctly what I want…let people keep on doubting and the GIANTS will push right on to the Super Bowl. The MOMENTUM is on their side and it keeps rolling in San Fran…and yes I do remember that game in ’02 was it? Clearly a pass interference not called.
I hope that the GIANTS play only againest the 49ers in that game and not againest two opponents.
Hey Dan, I’m not expecting any contact from Goodell but he sure as heck my voice and a bunch of other fans too. And I completely agree about all of the non-calls that Manning didn’t complain about. They got in at least 4 or 5 cheap shots on Eli and he didn’t complain once. It was really annoying to watch and I give Manning even more credit for being a tough guy. Really unacceptable when you consider the hundreds of millions of dollars teams spend to get to the post season and all the blood, sweat and tears these players give to make the playoffs. Those refs might be like the NBA refs and on the take. Atrocious!
Rodgers has no class,he didnt even give the g-men there do in his presser.he forget that they dont crown teams before games are played.and dont worry,the giants coaches are aware of the refs,there not going to let referees dictate the game sunday.the giants will beat the 49ers and they will do it soundly.
I think Rodgers is a nice guy but he should have given the Giants there due like you said. The Giants simply kicked their butts, admit it and move on I say! lol
Thats all we want buddy,they need to admit it and move on lol.
They never will though, no one has more haters then New York.
As if the officials weren’t already the worst, they also blew a non-call late in the 4th, the Packers James Starks fumbles on the last play before the 2 minute warning. The officials blow the whistle and say he was down. FOX never shows a replay and goes to commercial. Watching the game on DVR and it is clear the ball was loose before Starks knee touches. That crew should never work an NFL game again!
Hey Solomon, I know what you mean buddy. As I said before, I noticed about 4 or 5 cheap shots taken on Eli that were non-calls too. Then they called that bogus “roughing the QB” against us on a phantom hit. The integrity of the NFL is really in question because of the refs in this game. It makes me wonder if some of these officials aren’t the same as the NBA refs who caused a scandal by making bogus calls. It really does and it pains me to say that.
The thing that really eats me,is that these arent local games.these are national in front of the whole world games,and the officiating is like watching the 3 stooges out there.every single call they all seem to have to check with each other,thats when you go,uh oh here we go.not one ref takes control,there all over the place.how do you watch a replay and still get the call wrong.dont get me wrong,im ecstatic the g-men beat them,but if those calls swayed that game i would have been livid.actually im still livid about the calls.my wife is like,they won the game take it easy.and im like honey,if its a tight game you cant put any faith that the refs arent going to blow the game.i think coughlin and the whole giants organization know they have to win these games by 14 or 17 points and cannot play close to the vest games.im calling a giant blowout sunday.look for the g-men to open it up from start to finish,manningham is going to have a career game with the attention nicks and cruz will be getting.eli picks san fran apart at will in this one and alex smith finally shows he is a third string quarterback when the giants pass rush knoks him around all day..nygiants 37-san francisco 49ers 14.the nygiants are truly blessed and will knockout the other harbaugh brother in the superbowl.
Hey Bobby, the technology is getting so good that they can’t hide it anymore. I remember as a kid getting mad at the TV and that was before instant replay and sometimes they wouldn’t even show a TV replay back then. I don’t know what they can do about it or if they already know about it and choose to ignore it but it ruins the game. It’s horrible, simply horrible.
Even if teams now play mistake free football,there getting penalties that are non existent,the osi hit was 5 inches from the helmet and was called roughing the passer, besides the fumbles that were not called on the packers.the bottom line is you cant leave it up to the human element anymore,sad to say that if they cannot get 4 more refs on the field to cover the game right,then take the inept refs off the field and just go to the tape and have a head nfl rep make the call in the booth,so the rep sees what the viewers and fans see o the air.if its on tape,it has to be called right,otherwise the replay is a coin toss that could go either way.alright,i said my piece buddy.thanks for letting me vent,could you imagine if the g-men lost on those calls,these guys are driving me nuts lol.there also a little too quick blowing the whistle and not letting the play go all the way through for certain teams.ive been noticing this a lot also.thats alright rob,now the g-men just have too take matters in there own hand like they been and blow these teams out, and not leave it too the officials to decide.i know coughlin preaches this too the guys,never let a ref dictate the game.
I completely agree with you buddy. There will be a lot of people watching Sundays game very closely and if any more of this crap happens, the NFL will lose fans.