All signs point to a Giants win
Bob Glauber
FOOTBALL
Published December 1 2006
From the Giants' three-game losing streak, to their bickering with each other and with the media, to Tony Romo's brilliant run as the Cowboys' starter, this all adds up to as big a lock as there is in the NFL: The Cowboys will clobber the Giants on Sunday at Giants Stadium.
Or so it would seem.
The Giants can't get out of their own way on the field, they're feuding with each other and with the media in the wake of Michael Strahan's choice of words about Plaxico Burress, and Dallas has won three out of its last four to take a one-game lead over the Giants in the NFC East. So how else are you supposed to figure Sunday's huge divisional game?
Here's how else you're supposed to figure it: The Giants will win.
In fact, I'm so convinced that the NFL's reverse logic - sort of like George Costanza's theory that doing everything opposite is the best on "Seinfeld" - will work in the Giants' favor, that I'm making them my best bet this weekend. I've seen too many of these supposed can't-miss situations, where one team is coming in red hot and the other is all screwed up both on and off the field, to fall into the trap that this game creates.
The Giants were an ornery group yesterday, a day after Strahan's diatribe on his remarks about Burress, in which he referred to him as "a quitter" because he pulled up on a route in Sunday's 24-21 meltdown in Tennessee that led to a Pacman Jones interception and an eventual Titans win. Strahan was a no-show after he bullied an ESPN reporter looking for reaction to his incendiary remarks about Burress, but his teammates who did show up sounded the refrain that they hope will carry them to an upset win over the Cowboys: It's us-against-the-world.
In the end, the tumultuous events of the week might end up being a good thing for this team. After all, just about every other time an off-field controversy flared, the Giants seemed to thrive on the field. Consider:
After a 42-30 loss in Seattle in Week 3, in which the Giants were behind at one point 42-3, Jeremy Shockey told reporters to quote him as saying the Giants were outcoached. The Giants then began what turned into a five-game winning streak, starting with a 19-3 win over the Redskins after the bye week.
When word got out that Tiki Barber was indeed going to retire after this season a few days before the Giants were to play the Cowboys in Dallas, there were suggestions that his admission would create a distraction. Barber responded by rushing for 114 yards on 27 carries, and the Giants trounced the Cowboys in a Monday night game, 36-22. Afterward, Dallas coach Bill Parcells said he was ashamed at how poorly his team had performed.
Two days after the game, Barber ignited even more controversy when he labeled as "idiots" anyone who had suggested his retirement was a distraction. The Giants won the next week, too, beating Tampa Bay at home.
The point here: Sometimes controversy isn't such a bad thing, especially for a team with the kind of strong egos the Giants have. Then again, the Giants eventually imploded the game after Barber ripped the coaches for not running the ball enough against Jacksonville (see the collapse in Tennessee). But this time, I get the sense that the intensity of this week's media circus will eventually be followed by a win over the surging Cowboys and their new quarterback, who has yet to experience any disappointment as a starter, unless you consider his admission this week that he's really not dating Jessica Simpson.
The Giants' focus is back, and so is Osi Umenyiora, a game-changing type defensive end who has been out since the last Cowboys game. Linebackers Brandon Short and Carlos Emmons are expected back, and cornerback Sam Madison might play. And linebacker Antonio Pierce expects Eli Manning, mired in a slump that has led to questioning of the Giants' decision to trade for him, to play his best game of the season. "You can only take so much being pounded," Pierce said. "Eventually you're going to stand up."
Strahan is still making more news with his mouth than the injured foot he stuck in it, but the players seem to be rallying around him in spite of his remarks Wednesday. Even Giants coach Tom Coughlin got into the act, saying he told the players not to allow the media to be a distraction.
"We're in the final five games of the season," he said. "It's an exciting time of the year, despite what's being pulled here."
Now it's up to the Giants to put their own positive spin on the events come game day.
It says here they'll do just that.
Giants 28, Cowboys 21.
FOOTBALL
Published December 1 2006
From the Giants' three-game losing streak, to their bickering with each other and with the media, to Tony Romo's brilliant run as the Cowboys' starter, this all adds up to as big a lock as there is in the NFL: The Cowboys will clobber the Giants on Sunday at Giants Stadium.
Or so it would seem.
The Giants can't get out of their own way on the field, they're feuding with each other and with the media in the wake of Michael Strahan's choice of words about Plaxico Burress, and Dallas has won three out of its last four to take a one-game lead over the Giants in the NFC East. So how else are you supposed to figure Sunday's huge divisional game?
Here's how else you're supposed to figure it: The Giants will win.
In fact, I'm so convinced that the NFL's reverse logic - sort of like George Costanza's theory that doing everything opposite is the best on "Seinfeld" - will work in the Giants' favor, that I'm making them my best bet this weekend. I've seen too many of these supposed can't-miss situations, where one team is coming in red hot and the other is all screwed up both on and off the field, to fall into the trap that this game creates.
The Giants were an ornery group yesterday, a day after Strahan's diatribe on his remarks about Burress, in which he referred to him as "a quitter" because he pulled up on a route in Sunday's 24-21 meltdown in Tennessee that led to a Pacman Jones interception and an eventual Titans win. Strahan was a no-show after he bullied an ESPN reporter looking for reaction to his incendiary remarks about Burress, but his teammates who did show up sounded the refrain that they hope will carry them to an upset win over the Cowboys: It's us-against-the-world.
In the end, the tumultuous events of the week might end up being a good thing for this team. After all, just about every other time an off-field controversy flared, the Giants seemed to thrive on the field. Consider:
After a 42-30 loss in Seattle in Week 3, in which the Giants were behind at one point 42-3, Jeremy Shockey told reporters to quote him as saying the Giants were outcoached. The Giants then began what turned into a five-game winning streak, starting with a 19-3 win over the Redskins after the bye week.
When word got out that Tiki Barber was indeed going to retire after this season a few days before the Giants were to play the Cowboys in Dallas, there were suggestions that his admission would create a distraction. Barber responded by rushing for 114 yards on 27 carries, and the Giants trounced the Cowboys in a Monday night game, 36-22. Afterward, Dallas coach Bill Parcells said he was ashamed at how poorly his team had performed.
Two days after the game, Barber ignited even more controversy when he labeled as "idiots" anyone who had suggested his retirement was a distraction. The Giants won the next week, too, beating Tampa Bay at home.
The point here: Sometimes controversy isn't such a bad thing, especially for a team with the kind of strong egos the Giants have. Then again, the Giants eventually imploded the game after Barber ripped the coaches for not running the ball enough against Jacksonville (see the collapse in Tennessee). But this time, I get the sense that the intensity of this week's media circus will eventually be followed by a win over the surging Cowboys and their new quarterback, who has yet to experience any disappointment as a starter, unless you consider his admission this week that he's really not dating Jessica Simpson.
The Giants' focus is back, and so is Osi Umenyiora, a game-changing type defensive end who has been out since the last Cowboys game. Linebackers Brandon Short and Carlos Emmons are expected back, and cornerback Sam Madison might play. And linebacker Antonio Pierce expects Eli Manning, mired in a slump that has led to questioning of the Giants' decision to trade for him, to play his best game of the season. "You can only take so much being pounded," Pierce said. "Eventually you're going to stand up."
Strahan is still making more news with his mouth than the injured foot he stuck in it, but the players seem to be rallying around him in spite of his remarks Wednesday. Even Giants coach Tom Coughlin got into the act, saying he told the players not to allow the media to be a distraction.
"We're in the final five games of the season," he said. "It's an exciting time of the year, despite what's being pulled here."
Now it's up to the Giants to put their own positive spin on the events come game day.
It says here they'll do just that.
Giants 28, Cowboys 21.
posted by The Gryphon at 7:16 PM
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