Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Pam Oliver will be calling the game. We got the #1 team, though something tells me it has more to do with New York than anything.
Injury Report - Eli is playing, Brandon Jacobs is out for NY. Jennings and Morency still out for the Pack, along with Spitz.
The sad thing about these national announcers is their obvious talking points for each game. It's good to be prepared guys but hey, guess what? Things don't always go according to your storyline so stop arguing about it and watch the game.
Talking Point #1 - Favre is not a game manager. I love that they breathlessly report this like we don't know already.
Okay, as always, opponent's on offense = italics.
1st Quarter
14:55 - Back to back 19 yard plays for the Giants. No bueno. Plus a 15 yard penalty on Poppinga for throwing Plaxico around like a ragdoll. He had tagged Hawk from behind for no apparent reason on the play and got a smack in the mouth. I'm okay with this. Talking Point #2 - Eli's shoulder. Curiously missing from the TP's? How bad the Giants D looked last week and whether a weak Packer offense can exploit it.
12:21 - The D forces a 4th down after two run stuffs and a terrible pass from Eli that goes out of bounds. Not sure if that's injury related or just the normal scatter arm of Eli showing there. Tynes hooks his kick from 34. No good!
9:29 - The Packers are driving and they seem to have an actual plan. Oh goodie. The announcers have mentioned about 9 times that the Giants LB's suffer in coverage. And there's Donald Lee for a 1st down. Nice work boys!
7:03 - Wynn gets stuffed on 3rd and 1. Not his fault, O-Line got destroyed on that play. Are the Packers planning on using Wynn on short yardage? I like his shiftiness and size. Crosby follows up the poor play with yank of his own from 43. Fugly sequence there. Bad snap, bad kick.
:05 - The Giants can move the ball in spurts but the D is locking them down. These guys put up 35 on Dallas last week and there's no way that happens today. No way. The Packers have the ball and thanks to a flakey Pass Interference call have moved from their own 4 yard line out to the 30 or so. I'll take it.
2nd Quarter
14:52 - Favre has all day to pass. The O-Line is still struggling mightily with the run but the pass protection has been above average so far. Last week they no-assed it, this week they're half-assing it. Against the Chargers we're gonna need to whole-ass it. For further ass analysis please check me out at www.itcamefrombehind.com.
13:26 - The Giants' Gibril Wilson roughs Jon Ryan and then picks off a deflected pass from Driver's shoulder on the ensuing play. I guess that's one way out of the coach's doghouse. The other way would be the little door at the front.
10:51 - This could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship, Favre to JJ for 46 yards. That's the first completion over 15 yards on the season that didn't require a lot of running after the catch. Nice to see.
9:46 - Ryan Grant takes a screen 15 yards to set up 1st and goal. I have no idea if he'll be any good but that was cool. I love these immediate vengeance games after a trade. It adds so much to something as innocuous as a screen pass.
8:19 - And the offense is on the board! DeShawn Wynn from the 6 on a nice little run.
GREEN BAY 7 - NEW YORK 0
7:16 - The Giants march down the field and tie it up with a pretty 25 yard completion to Plaxico. He was double covered. But he was not, it should be noted, double covered by guys 6 foot 5 like he is.
GREEN BAY 7 - NEW YORK 7
1:38 - This is not going well. After some poor play from D we get lucky as Nick Collins does just enough to break up a pass to Shockey that could have given the Giants the ball on the 4. Tynes from 48. Burress limps off. Not a bad trade.
GREEN BAY 7 - NEW YORK 10
3rd Quarter
14:52 - Tramon Williams has some speed. 42 yard return and he looked...dangerous? Have we had a returner seem even mildly threatening in the past decade? Our best returners seemed to be about as fierce as an angry kitten. Put down that yarn kitty! Put it down! Tramon looks like a moderately sized cat, like a Lynx or a very small Jaguar. I consider it progress.
9:07 - The offense manages a drive despite being stuffed for 1 yard on every 1st down run call they had. Lots of passes to fullbacks, tight ends and over the middle stuff. Y'know, where the LB's play. Bubba for 6! Welcome back to the end zone sir.
GREEN BAY 14 - NEW YORK 10
4:25 - Well that was mildly depressing. That's the second time the Giants have given up a score and then marched down the field for points of their own. This time it's just a field goal though as Manning managed to miss his receiver by 10 yards. Note to small, angry generals everywhere, if you're planning a coup give Eli a call, he knows all about violent overthrows. Tynes from 32.
GREEN BAY 14 - NEW YORK 13
4th Quarter
14:45 - The Packers are marching with short throws to the TE's over the middle, some crossing routes to the WR's and an occasional run. Offense is definitely looking good though.
13:33 - Donald Lee gets open on a beautiful touch pass from the 3 for a touchdown. It'll be interesting to see if the D can hold after this one.
GREEN BAY 21 - NEW YORK 13
13:26 - The D won't get a chance. Ahmad Bradshaw fumbles the return on the New York 30. Charlie Peprah jarred the ball loose and Tracy White has his second fumble recovery in two weeks on special teams. He's feeling kind of invincible right now.
11:41 - Another short drive with passes to Bubba and Driver. The country of Favre has a dispute with the tiny Republic of Driveria and sends a small rocket to wipe them off the face of the earth. The Republic of Driveria survives, but the surrounding countryside of New York is decimated for 6.
GREEN BAY 28 - NEW YORK 13
4:12 - The Packers try to run out the clock and fail initially. The Giants stand around in stunned silence and try to figure out how the heck Corey Williams came up with an interception. Answer? Eli gave it to him with a big bow on top and a card with a picture of a train that says "I choo-choo-choose you." Tom Coughlin had a coronary but his corpse is doing the same thing his alive version would. Losing. DeShawn Wynn busts off a 38 yard TD just for the heck of it.
GREEN BAY 35 - NEW YORK 13
Nothing else much happens. The D refuses to give up late points. Jared Lorenzen comes in and all 300 pounds of him gets beaten to holy hell in just under 10 snaps. Favre looked great today, completed something like 14 in a row in the second half to seal the deal. The only negative was Joe Buck welcoming in viewers from other games by saying that the score was "not a mistake". I'm not quite sure when it was determined that the Packers were going to be dominated in this game but he made it sound like Appalachian State vs. Michigan with that pithy comment. Joe, this is why people think you're a tool.
No comments:
Post a Comment