Dear the Jets

You're welcome. Yeah, that's right. You beat the Patriots. Way to go. Good on you. You slayed the Brady-Manning dragon in successive weeks, and now everyone is pulling for you to pull the AFC hat trick en route to the Superbowl by cutting the always classy Ben Roethlisberger down a few pegs.

So I say again: you're welcome.

In December of 2008 the New York football Giants gave up a ton of points and lost to these same (or similar) New England Patriots in a regular season game, only to beat them a few weeks later in the greatest game thing that has ever been played happened. Sound familiar?

There are still no words.

How did the Giants do it? How did they beat the team of the 21st century? They did something that no team had been able to do for most of the last decade: they designed a game plan that neutralized Tom Brady.

First, you run the ball. It eats the clock and keeps Brady off of the field. Next, you blitz like crazy. Brady hates to throw under pressure, hates to get hit, and needs time to adjust to it. And third -- and by far the most important -- is that you change it up before he can adjust to the pressure. You mix it up at the line of scrimmage with defensive audibles and fake looks. So when you've blitzed him every down for three, four, five series in a row, you drop back into coverage and he has nowhere to go.

Sound familiar? It should, because that's exactly what the Jets did to the P-EE-triots (Simms, Phil) on Sunday night. They were a bit less effective with the run than the Giants were in 2008 (though they still would have held the ball longer than the Pats but for a seven-plus minute drive in the fourth quarter). But they were almost perfect on defense: Brady was hit seven times, sacked five and forced to throw his first interception since he was eight years old. He was under pressure from every angle, but then suddenly he wasn't. Expecting pressure, he would instead have all day to throw, but no one was open. Of his sixteen incomplete passes, at least five or six were balls that were just thrown away.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Patriots were the best team in the NFL this year. To beat them, the Jets needed to execute a perfect game plan perfectly. The players get credit for the execution, but they have the 2007-08 Giants to thank for the blueprints.

In Defense of Eli

In the weeks leading up to the Superbowl - and then last night as we all gathered to watch it - there was a lot of talk about Peyton Manning. He is, by all accounts, one of the very best quarterbacks ever to play in the NFL. His numbers are great, his comebacks legendary, and his four MVPs a league record. And the pass he threw to Dallas Clark in what looked like triple coverage late in the game yesterday was just sick.

As Giants fans we occasionally lament that we have the younger, good brother instead of the older, incredible brother (a feeling Mrs. Side Bar presumably knows all too well). But I have always maintained that Peyton grew into his greatness slowly, and entered the league as a good, but not great, quarterback. Likewise, I have always insisted that while Eli may never quite reach the level that Peyton has been on for the past few years, he is on a trajectory to develop into a great quarterback in his own right.

The numbers support my theory (to some extent, anyway). Eli has played five full seasons in the NFL (I am discounting the seven games he started in 2004 as a mid-season replacement for the struggling-but-then-of-course-became-fantastic-again-when-he-left-the-Giants Kurt Warner); Peyton has played 12 full seasons in the NFL. So comparing Eli to Peyton now is a no-brainer --- Peyton is light years better. But that is an apples to oranges comparison. If you consider their numbers over the same period in their respective careers, the distinctions become much finer.

Just give me my fucking keys; I am not guessing which hand

In Peyton's first five seasons in the NFL his numbers were better, but definitely not much better than Eli's. Peyton's completion percentage was about four percentage points higher than Eli's over those first five years. That's four more completed passes per 100 attempts, or about 15-20 more per season. That's probably statistically significant (care to run the numbers, Chuck?), but not by much. Similarly, his passer rating was, on average, about five points higher than Eli's over those first five seasons. But in two of the five Eli actually posted a better passer rating than Peyton did, it is just that a miserable 2007 season (yes, that 2007 season) stands as an outlier and reduces Eli's overall average. Peyton threw 19 more TDs in his first five seasons in the NFL than Eli did, but he also threw 21 more interceptions than Eli during that span. (Both the TD and interception numbers are probably explained by the fact that Peyton attempted 221 more passes in his first five seasons than Eli did in his). And of course, Eli won a Superbowl in his third year, while Peyton won his first (and only, suck it) in his seventh year.

Are Peyton's numbers better over that span? Sure. But as I said at the top, they are certainly within the range of what Eli has done over the course of his first five years in the league. Now add in the fact that Peyton plays in a dome, on a pass-first team, and for the period in question he was choosing between Reggie Wayne and Marvin Harrison as his targets. By comparison, the Giants are (or were, until this year, when Eli had by far the best season of his career) a running team, playing a lot of games in weather that makes it tougher to pass, and have never had an elite corps of receivers (except the often-disgruntled and now incarcerated Plaxico Burress).

Of course, there is one very important number I haven't touched on yet -- 4, the number of MVP awards that Peyton has won in his career. Eli has none. But interestingly enough, Peyton won his first MVP award in 2003 . . . . his sixth full season in the league. And seeing as how the Mets are going to be --- spoiler alert --- fucking terrible this year, it seems now is as good a time as any to start getting fired up about Eli's MVP campaign in 2010.

Giant Disappointment

OB's picture is worth 1,000 words, but I wanted to add a few thoughts with almost 24 hours of hindsight to reflect on yesterday's Giants-Eagles game.

First of all, I think it is worth noting that virtually every facet of the Giants' game was off yesterday - there is lots and lots of blame to go around for this loss. In no particular order:

• Eli was shite for almost all of the game;
• Carney's two missed FG's made a comeback virtually impossible in the 4th quarter;
• Gilbride's inexplicable decision to pass more and run less in the second and third quarters was and is astounding (I think he calls the plays, if not, my bad);
• The defensive line failed to sack McNabb even one time (or just hit him late and take the 15 yards - anything to break his rhythm);
• The secondary couldn't stop the medium passing game over the middle for the last 30 minutes of the game; and
• The offense failed to convert two crucial fourth downs when Eli couldn't get low enough to convert a fourth down that a high schooler could have made on the first, and Brandon Jacobs ignored a wide open left side and instead dove for the middle on the second.

And that's just a few of the problems. Which is why even though I know the Eagles won, I will remember this as a Giants' loss.

But I disagree with OB and anyone else who was stunned and/or crushed by this loss. Despite some frustration for the above-chronicled collective bed-shitting by this team, I don't feel too badly today, and I have none but love for our G-Men. The Giants had a great season, and it was really fun to watch them dominate the NFC all year. The Carolina win was about as exciting as a regular season game gets. And I don't care what anyone says, when you lose a guy like Burress - especially in the manner the Giants lost him - it has a huge impact. Throw in the fact that Jacobs was breaking down, Tuck was hurt, and we were battling a number of other injuries, and the handwriting was on the wall shortly after Thanksgiving: this was not a team that was going to go all the way. I mean, 1-3 to end the season really does not inspire too much confidence, even when the one win is more important than all three losses combined. I haven't looked it up, but I cannot imagine too many Super Bowl winners ended their season with a .250 winning percentage over their final four games.

This was a solid team, but I am not sure they were the best in the NFC, and they definitely were not the best when it mattered most. The comparisons between the 2007-08 Giants and the 2008-09 Eagles may have drawn complaints from the players and coaches of both teams this week, but they are spot on. This Eagles team was uninspiring for much of the regular season, snuck into the playoffs on luck and some nice wins down the stretch, and caught fire at exactly the right time.

And before you get too down about the end of the Giants' season, consider this: after pulling off a shocking upset in the 2002 Super Bowl (a win that was frequently compared to the Giants' Super Bowl win in 2008), the Patriots had a disappointing campaign the following year, only to win consecutive Super Bowls in the two years that followed. And if that's not enough, consider this: one of the top defenses in the NFC is getting Osi Umenyiora back in 2009. I will distract myself with a mediocre Mets team over the summer, but I am already looking forward to the 2009 Giants.

The Drop That Follows The Catch

After missing the first six weeks of the season recovering from knee surgery, David Tyree was placed on injured reserve on Wednesday, effectively ending his season. Tyree's future with the Giants - who have an embarrassment of riches of sorts at the wide receiver position - is far from certain.

If Tyree can make it back next season, he will have millions of local fans rooting for him every step of the way. If not, he will be remembered for one of the singular, defining moments in the history of New York sports.

Good luck, David.

UPDATE: The Catch

Side Bar asked what we should call the amazing play from the Super Bowl where Eli Manning escaped a sack and then threw the ball seemingly wildly down the field to David Tyree who pinned it against his helmet before securing the catch. Also yesterday on Mike and the Mad Dog, Francesa spent about 3 hours taking calls offering suggestions on what to call the play. Incidentally, Mad Dog was off yesterday and Francesa would sometimes just sit in silence for literally 10 seconds at a time pondering the suggestions people were making. Is he that big of a fucking deal that he can't follow rule number one of radio, never stop talking?

Most of the suggestions from Francessa were pretty bad, but there were some good ones. I wanted to maybe just list a few of the possible names for the sake of fun, and also perhaps to get the picture of the girl peeing in the middle of the street with her breasts hanging out below the fold of the page in the hopes that I can again blog at work.

Here are a couple of ideas, starting with the bad ones:

Flight of the Phoenix (get it, the super bowl was in arizona, near phoenix?)

The Escape Catch (get it, like escape hatch?)

Let's not forget my suggestion to pull in the Fox cross promotion: Prison Break

Those are only a couple of the bad ones I can think of. There were some much worse suggestions on the radio show. Here are some of the better ones:

Catch-42 (get it, for Super Bowl 42?)

Eli to D-Ty, Oh My.

The Helmet Catch

The Tyree-ception

So far I think "Catch-42" is my favorite.

UPDATE: Look what I (Open Bar, that is) did. On the left side of the screen, I set up a friggin' POLL to determine the answer. Should we now takes bets on the Over/Under of what day we reach double-digit responses? Suggestions for both new names for the catch and for what the O/U date should be in the comments, por favor.

The Giants

I have honestly never been as excited being a sports fan as I was in the fourth quarter of that game. That David Tyree catch was the greatest play I can think of in the history of sport. The Giants won the Super Bowl.

I think that was a Haiku.

A-Mazing

As documented in our blog, I'm not necessarily the biggest sports fan going but I couldn't help but get caught up in tonight's Super Bowl and the Giant's gripping playoff run.

My more avid Giant-fans co-bloggers will expand but I just want to take a moment to revel in tonight's win.

Congratulations to the whole Giants team, especially Eli Manning who overcame mad doubters (myself included, admittedly) to win the Super Bowl - becoming the Super Bowl MVP in the process.

Also, props to Plaxico for standing up for the G-Men during the week and not backing down.

A GIANT fuck you to Bill Belichick, you sore losing, fuck-you-touchdown scoring, cheating, Jets abandoning, home wrecking fucking douche bag.

Luke, I am your cheater.

Also, a GIANT fuck you goes out to Tiki Barber, you announcing your retirement half-way through the seasoning, shit talking your former team while Today Show hosting, caterpillar eyebrow having, coach hating even though he taught you how not to be fumbling and going down like a Chuck Knoblauch, rooting for the other teaming and Eli Manning clowning after you're retired bitch!

Don't worry Tiki, you may never win a Super Bowl but you could still land a spot on The View when Babarbara Walters retires.

NNN