Monday, December 12, 2005

Giants fail to impress back home

Check out what they're saying up north about the Giants after their less-than-dominant, 26-23 victory over the injury-depleted Eagles on Sunday:

From the Asbury Park Press:
Winning without impressing
The Giants set out on an improbable mission on Sunday, trying to make a star out of a tiny running back named Ryan Moats. While they were at it they also delved into the highly unlikely, attempting the daring feat of turning Mike McMahon into a reasonable facsimile of an NFL quarterback.

While their efforts were commendable, the Giants came up short.

They failed to pull off the impossible as well: As hard as they might have tried, they could not lose to the Eagles, a team that most recently got smoked by a score of 42-0 at home, on Monday Night Football, in front of God and country and the ghost of Howard Cosell."
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From Newsday:
Given a leg to stand on
At least Jay Feely found some measure of redemption. Were it not for his 36-yard field goal that beat the Eagles in overtime, 26-23, this easily could have been another lost day on the road for the Giants.

Lost as in: four players, including linebacker Antonio Pierce and offensive linemen Luke Petitgout and Kareem McKenzie, lost to injuries; three lost passes by Eli Manning, who barely threw the ball deep all day and still managed to be picked off three times, and a lost first half by the Giants' defense, which allowed a second-tier Eagles offense to run wild for two quarters.

"That was . . . terrible," said linebacker Carlos Emmons (a former Eagle), who moved from strong-side to weak-side linebacker after Pierce went down with a sprained right ankle with 4:18 left in the first quarter. "We won, but we're not happy with it. I know I'm not. We came back as a defense and played well in the second half, but it's still not a game you can be happy about."
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From the New York Daily News:
Manning, Tom nearly Cough one up
Tom Coughlin has rescued a floundering franchise in less than two seasons. Eli Manning is the foundation of the revival. They have the Giants on the verge of making the playoffs and positioned to make a run deep into January.

But to make more than a quick one-and-done playoff appearance, Coughlin and Manning have to pick up their games. Their decision-making yesterday in the Giants' 26-23 overtime victory over the Eagles, a team with no hope, put the game on the right foot of Jay Feely, which has been an adventure the last couple of weeks.

Manning has passed the point where his mistakes are excused by his inexperience. Nobody wants to hear that anymore. The Giants are in a pennant race.

No coach prepares a team better than Coughlin, but his game-management skills need some refining.
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From the New York Post:
AN UGLY WIN IN FEELY-DELPHIA
Forget pretty. Forget crisp. Most definitely forget dominant. The playoff race is on and the Giants remain alone atop the NFC East, somehow, some way.
They cling to their one-game lead over the Cowboys because they built a lead, blew a lead and got down-and-dirty in a rock-'em, sock-'em scrum with the Eagles yesterday at Lincoln Financial Field. They won a game because their defense finally awakened, they won largely in spite of Eli Manning and mostly because a kicker named Jay Feely was able to come up big after coming up small the past two weeks.
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