Die Hard Giants Fan

The Giants won their first Playoff game in seven years.  They won their first game with Tom Coughlin as their Coach and with Eli Manning as their Quarterback.  Big Blue played poorly early on, and then they just poured it on the Bucs until the clock ran out.  I felt like Brandon Jacobs wouldn’t have much success early on because Jon Gruden would shut down the run.  I stated that correctly.  However, I felt like the Giants would need to stick with the run the entire game to get it going and to wear out the Bucs defense which is not what happened.  I felt like Eli would’ve throw very little, and when he did he would need to throw it to an unknown hero like Steve Smith.  I was wrong about how much Manning ended up passing, and I was right about how he would throw to somebody like Smith (at least in the first half).  The Bucs were overwhelmingly determined to shut down the run, and they dared Eli to beat them…and Eli came through for the second week in a row.  Die Hard Giants Fan is giving the Wild Card Weekend (2008 Playoffs) Game Ball to Eli Manning.  Early in the second quarter, Manning decided to take control of the game by putting together long drives that took time off the clock and resulted in points.  Manning came out of the second quarter with a 14-7 lead.  The Giants forced a fumble on the kickoff return to start off the second half, and the Giants were able to tack on another 3 points.  Early in the fourth quarter, Manning drove the Giants down the field again for a touch down.  With a 24-7 point lead, the defense sat back in prevent.  The Bucs were able to score another touch down to make it 24-14.  I called it 24-17 thinking that the Bucs would’ve had another field goal in addition to two strikes to Galloway.  The two strikes to Galloway never took place.  Eli was not a non-factor in this game.  He was dared to play well, and he rose to the challenge.  Eli Manning’s stats line looked like: Completed 20 of 27, 185 Yards, 2 Touch Downs, 0 Interceptions.  That’s right, zero interceptions, zero fumbles, which means zero turnovers.  The stats were provided by NFL.com.

The defense played great as well.  They allowed the Bucs to score on the opening drive and then they shut them down the entire game until the Bucs scored their garbage points at the end.  Tank Daniels forced a fumble on kickoff coverage that Corey Webster recovered to set up a Field Goal.  Corey Webster also had an interception in the end zone in the third quarter.  R.W. McQuarters had an interception on the Bucs final drive of the game.  Michael Strahan had the games only sack.  Props to the entire team, coaching staff, owners, organization, and the fans.  The Giants are going to Dallas to take on the Cowboys in the Divisional Round.

Props to Eli Manning and Happy Birthday once again (Go party like a Rock Star)

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