NFL 2011

[Chimpy]

The niners offense just doesn't seem to have it in the last half of this game. Smith has missed a bunch of throws by a mile.

[Ingmar]

What the fuck is with punt returners hanging around a ball that has bounced?

 

Our regular returner is out, Ginn wouldn't make that error probably.

 

[Nevermore]

What the fuck is with punt returners hanging around a ball that has bounced?

 

Our regular returner is out, Ginn wouldn't make that error probably.

Yeah, Ginn would have already been running out of bounds.

Edit: way to single-handedly lose the game, replacement punt return guy.

[Sjofn]

Kee-rist.

[Chimpy]

Oh joy a rematch of the last Patriots/Giants Super Bowl .

 

[Sjofn]

Hope it ends like the other one. 

I knew it would be Patriots/Giants when Paelos said it would be Ravens/49ers. 

[Margalis]

The 49ers should probably have stopped calling the "roll Alex Smith out to the right and have him throw the ball into the dirt 7 yards in front of the receiver" play.

[Nevermore]

But that's vintage Alex Smith!

[Paelos]

Hope it ends like the other one. 

I knew it would be Patriots/Giants when Paelos said it would be Ravens/49ers. 

Well, you're boned, because I have $20 riding if the Pats lose.

[Sjofn]

Fuck!

[Bunk]

"I used to be an NFL Punt Returner, until I took a football in the knee (and fumbled in OT)"

Crazy defense on both sides for the last 20 minutes of that game. Outcome sucks, but I guess that's what happens when I do weird shit like root for the 'niners.

[naum]

The 49ers should probably have stopped calling the "roll Alex Smith out to the right and have him throw the ball into the dirt 7 yards in front of the receiver" play.

A better call would have been not even keeping a punt returner back…

And, FUCK THE RAVENS EVERMORE!

[ghost]

Did anyone listen to Bob Kraft in the Pats post game award ceremony?  Man that motherfucker was drunk.   

[Slayerik]

Special teams, though often overlooked, decides many otherwise evenly matched games.

[HaemishM]

Christ, another fucking Giants/Pats Super Bowl. Eli has the chance to one-up his brother by winning a second Super Bowl. The 49ers actually miss Ted Ginn, Jr. and not with a high-powered rifle. Michael Crabtree spends an entire game holding out. Alex Smith channels Bill Murray and spends most of the game trying to kill groundhogs with the football. Punt returners really are important. The Ravens defense is still great, but it can't kick field goals, catch touchdown passes placed directly on the hands or convert 3rd and 1's. Joe Flacco doesn't lose the game for the Ravens but they still can't win with him. Billy Cundiff goes to sit on the bench with Mike Vanderjadt and Scott Norwood.

AND WE'RE STUCK WITH PATRIOTS/GIANTS. FUCK YOU, FOOTBALL GODS! RIGHT IN THE EARHOLE!

[Rasix]

Ravens/Niners would have been dreadful to watch.  It would have been like Steelers/Seahawks with a QB winning a SB with a single digit rating.

[Paelos]

Ravens/Niners would have been dreadful to watch.  It would have been like Steelers/Seahawks with a QB winning a SB with a single digit rating.

Don't care. At least it wouldn't be the northeastern creamy-pants debacle we're going to get from all the network fuckheads over this game.

I'm saying it right now, I'm not watching it. I can't stand either team.

[Trippy]

Not a fan of the Giants but I definitely want them to beat the Patriots again. Belichick is an asshole and a cheat and even though I like Tom Brady cause he's a local boy TERRY AND JOE ARE THE ONLY QBS THAT CAN HAVE 4 SUPER BOWL WINS

[JWIV]

Ravens/Niners would have been dreadful to watch.  It would have been like Steelers/Seahawks with a QB winning a SB with a single digit rating.

It wouldn't have been that bad - the Thanksgiving game was awesome to watch.

[naum]

Did Giants Strategically Concuss Kyle Williams?

The Giants' win over the 49ers in a magnificent throwback conference championship game at Candlestick Park yesterday turned on two fumbles by 49ers punt returner Kyle Williams, an obscure second-year player. That made Kyle Williams personally responsible for ten points in a game that ended 20-17. And the Giants, interviewed in the happy haze of the winning locker room, casually noted a provocative element of their game plan: They'd targeted Williams for extra violence because they knew he had suffered several concussions in the past, and they think it worked.

After the game, reporters crowded around the locker of Jacquian Williams, who'd forced the second fumble, hoping for an angle: Had the Giants noticed something about Kyle Williams's technique, some weakness in the 49ers punt-return scheme? "Nah," Williams said. "The thing is, we knew he had four concussions, so that was our biggest thing, was to take him outta the game."

Devin Thomas, the reserve wide receiver who recovered both of Kyle Williams's fumbles, was even more explicit. “He’s had a lot of concussions," Thomas told the Star-Ledger columnist Steve Politi. "We were just like, ‘We gotta put a hit on that guy.’ ... [Giants reserve safety Tyler] Sash did a great job hitting him early and he looked kind of dazed when he got up. I feel like that made a difference and he coughed it up.”

It certainly sounds like the Giants' special teams players were told about Williams's history of concussions, and that they went after him because of it. (That this has so far drawn no attention from beat reporters suggests that such planning is commonplace). It's impossible to know whether Thomas is right — if Williams in fact was concussed or woozy during the game — but he didn't look himself yesterday: There was the third-quarter punt that skimmed off his knee after he seemed to dawdle, unsure whether to pick it up or let it roll, and at least two punts that he fair-caught though he had plenty of room to run. Sports Illustrated's Ann Killion also noticed "a fumble on a reverse that he fell on, a strange sideways diving catch on another punt that could have been disaster." Williams played virtually the whole game at wide receiver and didn't register a single catch.

[ghost]

Not a fan of the Giants but I definitely want them to beat the Patriots again. Belichick is an asshole and a cheat and even though I like Tom Brady cause he's a local boy TERRY AND JOE ARE THE ONLY QBS THAT CAN HAVE 4 SUPER BOWL WINS

Plus it would be awesome to see Eli upstage his brother.

[Paelos]

Put Peyton or Eli on the same team, and tell me who you're starting.

[Rasix]

Well with his neck, I'm not starting Peyton right now.   Plus, he's gotta be a little rusty.   

[Paelos]

My point being that Eli's success has nothing to do with Eli and everything to do with his team. QBs like that are no gamechangers, where Peyton absolutely is a game-changer.

[Rasix]

Have you been watching football this year?

[ghost]

Eli is money in the fourth quarter.  I dispute your statement, Paelos. 

[Paelos]

A lot of it, yeah. Quarterbacks got a lot of OMG LALALALA AWESOME YEAR OF THE QB.

That is until the top two in the NFL got run out of the playoffs after it turned out they couldn't play D.

Eli is on a top 10 passing team that survived on explosive plays and great defensive play with tons of sacks and turnovers. He's a good QB, but I could put Matt Stafford or Cam Newton on that team and they don't miss a beat. His biggest quality is he's slippery.

[HaemishM]

I'm actually going to stick up for Eli on this one. He's been the driving force behind that team this year. They had NO running game most of the year. Manningham, Nicks and Cruz have ALL missed time with injuries, and only Cruz has really be consistently good all year. Eli still throws more INT's than I'd be comfortable with, but I don't think he's interchangeable. And Stafford and Newton? You put either of those guys on a shitty team and they'll make that team better. Your point would be more appropriate if you'd said Rex Grossman instead.

[Paelos]

Rex Grossman isn't good, though.

Eli is a good QB, but his team is what's getting the job done. He's not the driving force in the playoffs, the D is by far.

They are +5 in turnover margin. They are holding teams to 28% on 3rd downs. They've stopped all four 4th down conversion attempts. Do you realize how ridiculous that rate is on defense in the playoffs against the best talent?? Very few teams hold to that low of a 3rd and 4th down rates in the playoffs in history.

[ghost]

Let's see.  The Giants have scored 9 touchdowns in the post season, of which only one is on the ground.  Eli has thrown one interception in this year's postseason.  That's pretty goddamned good.  In fact, it's spectacular.  The only real knock on him is that he's taken 8 sacks.  And it's silly to say that it's because of their defense.  You don't win championships without a decent defense.  

And for the other Manning brother:

I have to say that the Colts would be nuts to pick up a $28 million option on Peyton right now.  Sure, it may come back and burn them, but neck injuries can lead to early retirement...

[Paelos]

Ahem:

1st passing TD - Giants run for 55 yards, Eli makes 4 passes for 18 yards, a 4y one for a TD.
2nd TD - Eli dumps the ball shot to Nicks on a 4 yard pass, defender falls on his fucking face. Nicks goes 72 yards for the TD.
3rd TD - Eli goes deep to Manningham for 27 yards on a passing possession. This was a great series and his best of the game, killed the Falcs for good.
4th TD - Eli goes deep to Nicks for 50+ because Green Bay blows coverage. Good toss, easy TD.
5th TD - HAIL MARY. You saw it, you know it was hilariously bad on GB's part just as much as it was a good play. Still, Eli gets credit.
6th TD - Defense forces the fumble and gets the ball at the 4. Eli throws a 4 yard TD. All defense there.
7th TD - Great drive, good TD on a 6 yard pass. Solid Eli Offensive drive to tie it.
8th TD - Came off a muffed punt. Still, Eli made a redonkulous throw right over the middle in a tight spot.

Here's what seems to get glossed over about that 4th quarter. Other than that awesome throw to take the lead, there were still over 8 minutes left on the clock. What happened then? Eli passes 3 times, has to punt. Gets the ball again, sacked, 2 passes, has to punt. Gets the ball AGAIN. He still can't get them in FG range and has to punt. I mean at what point do you say to yourself, man I wish it was Aaron Rodgers with the ball because it's not going to OT.

[ghost]

And he managed to have that stuff happen and still win against the fourth best defense in the league.   

Also, during all this talk about how he's not carrying the team (that it was the defense or the spectacular running game) it was glossed over that the Giants had the 27th best defense in the NFL this year.  Only 5 better than the illustrious Green Bay Packers.   

[Draegan]

Paelos the retarded Cowboy in you is showing again.  

I'm happy to see you're not bitter still.

 

edit: I mean you can't really be serious right?  Eli has the most 4th quarter TDs in NFL history.  Eli has the 6th highest passing yards in a single season (I think).  Eli has the most road wins in the post season.. ever.  Eli made an undrafted 2nd year WR into one of the league's elite. 

edit2:  You're probably trolling.

[Johny Cee]

Ahem:

1st passing TD - Giants run for 55 yards, Eli makes 4 passes for 18 yards, a 4y one for a TD.
2nd TD - Eli dumps the ball shot to Nicks on a 4 yard pass, defender falls on his fucking face. Nicks goes 72 yards for the TD.
3rd TD - Eli goes deep to Manningham for 27 yards on a passing possession. This was a great series and his best of the game, killed the Falcs for good.
4th TD - Eli goes deep to Nicks for 50+ because Green Bay blows coverage. Good toss, easy TD.
5th TD - HAIL MARY. You saw it, you know it was hilariously bad on GB's part just as much as it was a good play. Still, Eli gets credit.
6th TD - Defense forces the fumble and gets the ball at the 4. Eli throws a 4 yard TD. All defense there.
7th TD - Great drive, good TD on a 6 yard pass. Solid Eli Offensive drive to tie it.
8th TD - Came off a muffed punt. Still, Eli made a redonkulous throw right over the middle in a tight spot.

Here's what seems to get glossed over about that 4th quarter. Other than that awesome throw to take the lead, there were still over 8 minutes left on the clock. What happened then? Eli passes 3 times, has to punt. Gets the ball again, sacked, 2 passes, has to punt. Gets the ball AGAIN. He still can't get them in FG range and has to punt. I mean at what point do you say to yourself, man I wish it was Aaron Rodgers with the ball because it's not going to OT.

Seriously monkey, this is why no one likes Cowboys fans.  

Throughout the regular season, mostly due to injuries, the Giants had one of the worst defenses in the league (as ghost pointed out), the running game was inconsistent, and the WR corps was untested and injured for most of the season.  The fact the Giants performed as well as they did rests pretty squarely on Eli's shoulders... and that schedule was a fucking nightmare where one of the "easy" matchups was the Cowboys.  

Yes, the playoff resurgence is due in large part to the WR/Defense getting healthy and pulling together, and no Eli isn't a top 2/3 QB....  But you are seriously underestimating how much their success was entirely on Eli.  I mean, in shootouts, he beat Brady and gave Rodgers a scare.

[ghost]

no Eli isn't a top 2/3 QB....

But he probably is a top 4-6 QB.  Seriously, in this list of top performers I can't think of anyone other than Brees, Rodgers and Brady that I'd take ahead of him.