With all due respect to the AFC, the most intriguing, thrilling, bone-numbing, anticipated match-up of the mid 1980s annually was when Parcell's New York Giants took on the San Francisco 49ers.  Before Dallas' 90s resurrection and the subsequent string of championship games , New York and San Francisco were the class of the NFC.  Both squads faced off no less than 9 times between 1985 and 1991, including the playoffs, and showcased some of the NFL's All-Time players, like Ronnie Lott, Joe Montana, Lawrence Taylor, and Mark Bavaro.  When it came to this rivalry, their annual meeting was circled on the calendar by August.  

But for the better part of  two decades the rivalry fell into decay and, even worse, afterthought.  Since then, while the Giants and 49ers have had their respective moments of success, no NYG vs SF game has been as equally matched as in the days of Parcells and Walsh.  Those bouts lived on only in the memories of the players of those days, the lucky fans who remembered them so well, and on the dusty racks of the NFL film vault. 

And 22 years is a long time to wait.

This Sunday, the New York Giants and the San Francisco 49ers will face off in the most widely anticipated meeting since the 1990 NFC Championship game.  Both teams have bare-knuckle defenses.  Both teams have explosive, offensive weapons.  Both teams are leading their respective divisions.  Both teams are looking to storm back into the playoffs.  And both teams could really play this game out in the parking lot.

For true fans of professional football that should excite you.  It's been a long time since a Giants vs. 49ers game has been so equally matched, with much on the line for both teams.  The 2002 Wild Card game really was the final stand of the great 49er dynasty of the 80s and the death knell for the Giants 2000 Championship squad.  Both franchises underwent major changes shortly thereafter, and pro football in many ways hasn't been the same since.

The San Francisco 49ers once-proud organization has been given new breath by the league's most dynamic new head coach, Jim Harbaugh.  The 49ers are 7-1, off to their best start in 15 years while the Giants stormed into New England last week and handed the Patriots another 18-1 record they won't soon forget:  the first NFC team to beat them in Foxboro in 19 tries.  Both teams are looking to steamroll into the playoffs and a win on Sunday will serve notice to the rest of the league:  New York and San Francisco are not to be taken lightly.

The 49ers defensive front seven--McDonald, Sopoaga, Smith, Brooks, Patrick Willis, Bowman, and Aldon Smith--cement San Francisco's defense and have largely contributed to their 7-1 start.  The Giants, on the other hand, have the league's most explosive, and ever-rotating, front 4--Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, Jason Pierre-Paul, and Chris Canty, and Mathias Kiwanuka; either one can single-handedly wreak havoc on the opposing offense.  

49er Quarterback Alex Smith is perhaps the most changed player on the San Francisco roster.  His improvement under Harbaugh has been exceptional and presents a tall order for the New York Giants secondary.  But for the league's most exciting 4th quarter QB, yet another chance for Eli Manning to climb out of the long shadow of his older brother Peyton and prove just how dangerous he can be.  He's been doing just that all season.

In August, no one thought this meeting would carry any importance, or be very intriguing and yet here we are:  early November and opportunity enough for these two teams to write another thrilling chapter in the long historic rivalry between two storied franchises.  May the best team win.

It's been suggested by the NY media, and to some degree on BBV, that how the 2010 season ends would determine the fate of Giants' HC Tom Coughlin.  Well, as a fan, I'd hope that lesser elements around the Giants would dispense with this white noise chat that Tom Coughlin should be fired.  Or that he should be held accountable.  Or that this ridiculous notion that the Giants should even consider removing Coughlin wasn't soundly repudiated.

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So the agonizing week that was to conclude with the Giants playing in Minnesota will have to wait one more day.  The NFL just announced that due to the weather conditions in and around Minneapolis, the Giants and Vikings will take the field in a Monday Night football showdown instead of their scheduled 1:00pm EST Sunday slot.

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Rex Ryan could not refrain from making the championship comparison:  Monday night's Jets loss to the Patriots channeled the '85 Bears lone defeat to the Dolphins.  And then, the 3-word outcry echoed in every corner of the NFL world:  "ARE YOU SERIOUS?!"

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In 2000, the Giants were 7-4 heading into December's first game.  HC Jim Fassel made his guarantee that New York was going to the playoffs.  10 years later, and how familiar this position should feel.  After two abysmal losses in which the Giants, by all rights, should have won if not for their own mistakes, the Giants rebounded by beating Jacksonville.  Now we have 5 games, just like in 2000, to determine whether we go the playoffs.

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The New York Giants began the 2010 NFL season one of 32 teams in the playoff chase.  As Autumn's colors give way to November's chill, lesser teams have already been eliminated from playoff contention; as we roll into week 10, others are on the postseason knife edge. 

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Down goes Phillips!  Down Goes Phillips!  Down Goes Phillips!

The sacking of Cowboys head coach Wade Phillips by their mercurial owner Jerry Jones proves only one thing:  in the NFL, you can get away with the most egregious offenses so long as you have the word "owner" before your name.  Not that firing Wade is an offense worthy of criticism.   By no stretch am I defending Wade.

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Here is the link to a (not-so-recent) video that analyzed the Eli Manning, Philip Rivers 2004 Draft day trade and the team that subsequently won/lost in the deal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FJT4s5COX4Q&feature=grec_index

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Through Week 8 of the season, the NFL's toughest division is a perennial talking point.  And since there is no real rubric to measure all 8 divisions, the best tool would be to look at the cumulative records.

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With the Cowboys' season hanging by a sling, the New York Giants delivered the knockout.  If Dallas was looking for a decisive moment to say goodbye to the season, it came on 10/25/2010 at 12:17 in the 2nd Quarter. 

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The cry from the Madison Avenue media--"throw the coach out, throw the quarterback out"--has been replaced with "throw the records out."  The Giants and the Cowboys, nothing else can add to this bitter division rivalry...except for one thing: put the game in primetime.  All Monday Night Football does is bring a match into the Giants-Cowboys barn house already filled to the brim with dynamite.  So throw the records out, it might as well be week 1.

Much has been made about the Cowboys' 1-4 start, with almost everyone in agreement that Dallas plays better than their record indicates.  And it isn't easy winning in Texas to begin with, I don't care how piss poorly the Cowboys play.  The key to a Giants victory is simple:  get to Tony Romo.  Behind a reinvigorated Giants defense, New York certainly has the personnel to bring big time pressure on Dallas under the big time lights of MNF. 

Statistics--though deceptive (see "2010 Cowboys)--still can be a useful metric to judge a team's strengths.  Since the Giants' turnaround in a Week 4 win over the then-unbeaten Bears, the Giants hallmark defense has grown together exponentially  And opposing quarterbacks have paid the price.

Week 1:  Carolina QB Matt Moore--Concussed and KOed

Week 4:  Bears QB Jay Cutler-- Concussed and KOed

                 Bears backup QB Todd Collins-- KOed

Week 5:  Texans QB Matt Schaub-- rendered irrelevant

Week 6:  Lions QB Shaun Hill--Broken arm and KOed

Year end numbers look like this.  So do sack totals:

Justin Tuck: 4

Osi Umenyiora: 8

Jonathan Goff: 0.5

Barry Cofield: 2

Chris Canty: 1.5

Aaron Ross: 1

Mathias Kiwanuka: 4

What is scary (to the opposition) is we're not even half way through the 2010 Season.  The Giants defense already has half the number of total sacks as all last year.  This in conjunction with a dominant Giants run defense that's yielding absolutely zero yards per carry against the oppositions' run game.  It's 1st or 2nd in the League.  When you do that, against some great running teams, boy that's saying something.  And the Cowboys should be put on notice already, since they don't like to run the ball or establish the run so far this season.

Statistics only I would care about:

1.  Osi Umenyiora, with his 2 forced fumbles against the Lions, already has 7 for the season.  More impressively, last week he surpassed Michael Strahan as the Giants' All-Time leader in FF with 25.  Aside from Strahan, no one else is even close in this category.

2.  Giants Defensive interceptions in 2009:  13

     Giants Defensive interceptions in 2010 (6 games): 7 

3.  Eli Manning's record at Dallas since 2004: 3-3

The last time the New York Giants defeated the Chicago Bears in New York/New Jersey, Richard M. Nixon was President of the United States (bonus points or kudos to the one who remembers Nixon's middle name first).  1969.  41 years.  When the Giants traveled to Houston and knocked off the Texans the following week, it was their first win in that city since 1994- when Dan Reeves was head coach.  On Sunday, they face the Detroit Lions, who last lost to New York in the Meadowlands in 1990.  While this Giants team is as yet unused to setting records on the road or at home--compared to the 2007 Giants--one thing is clear:  this New York squad has had no trouble breaking these (miserable) losing streaks.  

If that weren't enough, in 5 games the Giants defense has concussed or cold-cocked 3 quarterbacks.  Anyone remember what Carl Banks, one of the captains of the Super Bowl XXV team said about the '90 Giants?  There was a stretch during that season where starting quarterbacks couldn't finish the game against Big Blue.  This year, it could almost be 4 QBs kayoed (Shaub wasn't knocked out, but he might as well have been, I think Matt Moore had a better day against New York). 

I think this little bit of history is worth knowing, particularly now that the focus rightly so has been on the performance of the defense.  I sense, someone can fact check this, that we're getting many more interceptions and fumble recoveries this year than last--though with offensive turnovers the ratio is skewed.  On defense we don't have any griping over the starting lineup, sideline confrontations between players and coaches, no threats of walking off the team.  So in short, chemistry, chemistry, chemistry.  Notice this season how piss poorly the Redskins and Cowboys have been playing on one side of the ball or the other, and that should tell you how important, yet elusive, playing as a team really is.

By the Numb3rs for Sunday, October 17 vs. Detroit Lions:

54--Number of passing yards needed for Eli Manning to join Phil Simms as the only Giants quarterbacks in franchise history to record at least 20,000 yards.

2--Number of forced fumbles Osi Umenyiora needs for the rest of the season to become the Giants All-Time leader in that category, surpassing Michael Strahan (24).

1.6--Average number of TDs needed per game by Hakeem Nicks to surpass Homer Jones (13) and into first place on the Giants All-Time list of single season touchdown receptions.

5:  Number of weeks into the 2010 NFL Season

3: Number of teams tied for 1st place in the NFC East (as of Oct 10)

1: Number of Dallas Cowboys victories notched

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via cdn.bleacherreport.net

In August of 2007, I was a junior leaning over my balcony at the University of San Francisco.  Across the courtyard was my friend on his balcony.  He was a huge Minnesota Vikings fan, and I knew that, but he asked me anyway who I felt had the best chance at Super Bowl XLII?  I said, "Dude, I'm telling you, you'll think I'm nuts, but the Giants have a good a chance as anyone."  "You're a Giants fan!" he replied, "Of course you'll say that.  How about my Vikings?"  

"Yeah," I said, but I didn't back down from my earlier opinion, "but the Giants always hang around in games, clutching victory from the jaws of defeat.  I wouldn't be surprised, especially since they've been to the playoffs the past two years."

Well, I didn't have Direct TV, and living on the Left Coast, prevented me from watching most of New York's horrible performances that year.  But 21 years was a long time to wait, and I didn't have to anymore:  the Giants were once again world champs the very night I celebrated my 21st birthday.  And that friend from San Francisco?  Well, I'm Nostradamus so far as he's concerned.

The purpose of this anecdote is simple:  I believe that the 2010 Giants have a better team compiled than in '07 and '08, and if It took two terrible performances to right their ship, I'm on board for the ride.  3 years ago, New York's win in Washington seemed benign, but it jump-started the turnaround.  Who's to say we didn't witness the same thing this week against Houston? 

Strahan said following the 2007 Championship that believing in the coaches' system will make you a winner. Maybe it took a few weeks for the Giants Defense to buy into Fewell's system, to build on their chemistry, and their pride.  Their offensive weapons gathered, a running game with two very pissed off backs, and a defense that's allowed 1 touchdown in two games to the 2 best offenses in the league:  what isn't their to smile about?

By the Numb3ers--Keep these in mind for next week and the rest of the season:

• 54 - Passing yards needed by Eli Manning to join Phil Simms as the only Giants QBs in franchise history to throw for at least 20,000 yards.
• 8 - Touchdowns needed by Hakeem Nicks to surpass Homer Jones as the Giants All-Time single season leader in receiving touchdowns.
• 1 - Wins needed by Tom Coughlin to surpass Jim Fassel and into 3rd-best on the Giants All-Time coaching victories list. 
  

Given that 7 new players will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame this weekend, it's worth discussing the merits of Giants players who might make the trip to Canton in the (near) future.  Interestingly, the Giants' have three solid players who continually appear on the HOF nominee list; and each deserve meritorious debate.

First up, a true Giant if there ever was one and, personally, my favorite Giant of all-time, Mark Bavaro.  A solid piece of offensive granite on the Giants' 2 Super Bowl victories, Bavaro is easily the most recognizable tight end in Giants' history.  Incidentally, he is the metric by which all other Giants tight ends are measured.  He played 5 seasons with the Giants, 1985-1990, and led the team to two championships.  He was a 2x Pro Bowl starter and All-Pro before brief stints with the Browns and Eagles.  He was so consistent, and so tough to defense, that famed 49ers coach Bill Walsh once described Bavaro as the "premier tight end" in the NFL.

via assets.nydailynews.com

Second, an old horse who made the Giants champions again:  Ottis Anderson.  Selected as the 8th overall pick in the 1979 NFL Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals, Ottis Anderson rushed for over 1,600 yards that year and was named the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.  He is a 2x Pro Bowl selection, 2x Super Bowl champion, the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year (1989) and is the Cardinals all-time leading rusher.  Most importantly, perhaps, he was named the MVP of Super Bowl XXV. 

If accolades aren't the only determining factor in earning the yellow jacket, than try this:  Anderson, who carried the ball 739 times for the Giants between 1987-1992, fumbled 3 times: three measly times.  He is one of only 22 backs with over 10,000 career rushing yards and ranks 14th all-time in rushing.

via media.tbo.com

Finally, Phil Simms.  In my humble opinion, he doesn't need any introduction.  He made the Giants world champions after New York's 30 year exile in the NFL cellar.  The HOF selection committee might have the hardest time with this one, since Simms is typically regarded highly only within Giant circles.  The MVP of Super Bowl XXI, who also was the most accurate passer in the 44 year history of the Super Bowl, Simms might not have been the player he became if it wasn't for Bill Parcells.  Still, being one of only 44 MVPs of the "only game that really matters when real history is written" has to count for something.  He's the Giants' all-time leading passer in yards and completions.  Interestingly, Sports Illustrated named him the Most Underrated Quarterback in NFL history in 2001. 

via www.lalanternadelpopolo.it

While these 3 players have been on the HOF nominee list for sometime, they've not reached the second round of voting.  This is likely to change in the future, as the selection committee over time begins to value the contributions of players on the NFL  from yesteryear.  Still, as a sendoff, there is one player who is up for HOF honors in 2013 and is a shoe-in for enshrinement (anyone who thinks differently should be stripped of their vote, tarred, and feathered):

via blog.nj.com

Roger Goodell is the most powerful league commissioner in American sports. 

And this is regardless of the NFL's preeminence as America's favorite sport.  Goodell in the short time he has been commissioner--< 4 years--has wielded tremendous clout within the league.  Before becoming commissioner, he was heavily involved with the NFL realignment in 2002, which ecumenically balanced the league's divisions. 

Once he was selected to succeed Paul Tagliabue, in 2006, Goodell has muscled and implemented his vision for the NFL with little failure or backlash.  Consider for me if you will the new rules or policies Goodell adopted:

1.  Goodell has instituted the strictest HGH/performance enhancing drug policy of all the four major American sports.  Subsequently, he's backed up this rhetoric with substantial fines and suspensions for offending players (Michael Vick, Pacman Jones, Ben Rothlisberger).

2.  Goodell was the force behind the NFL Network channel as well as muscling T.V. cable providers like Comcast who threatened to remove the Network from their packages because they were not getting "adequate" revenue.   Comcast lost that trial and the NFL Network remains for even the lowest tiered cable packages.

3.  Goodell instituted the NFL's international series in London, England that has increased in viewership since the first game, when our NY Giants defeated the Miami Dolphins, in 2007.

4.  Goodell wanted to change the Overtime Sudden Death rule for playoff games after the 2009 NFC Championship game and the NFL owners adopted the policy in 2010. 

5.  The Commissioner expressed support for the NY Giants and NY Jets to submit a Super Bowl bid for the 2014 League Title.  He had the owners wave the 50 degree/F rule so that the New Meadowlands Stadium may compete for the bid, and New York/New Jersey was selected to host Super Bowl XLVIII in May 2010.

6.  The Commissioner wanted to overhaul the regular season schedule by expanding it from 16 games to 18 and eliminating 2 preseason games.  The League submitted an official proposal to the NFL Player's Association in June 2010 (while we may be at least 5 years away from an 18-game schedule, NFL executives, team owners, and players have all acknowledged off the record that an 18 game season is a reality.  It is going to happen).

7.  The NFL returning to the Los Angeles area seems more of a reality now than it did 5 years ago and if anyone doesn't think Goodell is working tirelessly behind the scenes to achieve this is woefully naive. 

Last but not least, which thus brings me to the real meat-and-potatoes of this post:  in an effort to "unify" and "modernize" the NFL postseason, Goodell set up a commission to revamp the playoff Logos and Trophy designs to better reflect the preeminence of the Super Bowl. This means that, for the first time since 1984, the George H. Halas and Lamar Hunt trophies will have a new design.  He and the NFL contracted Tiffany & Co. to design these new trophies along with revamping the Playoff, Wildcard, and Divisional playoff round logos. 

I'm not given in to defending anyone pro bono so reading this post as a defense of Goodell would be incorrect.  I'm merely pointing out the Commish's clout vis-a-vis his accomplishments.   Now the real test will be whether Goodell can steer the NFL and NFLPA away from a lockout for the 2011 season....

via farm3.static.flickr.com

via farm5.static.flickr.com

Longevity and loyalty seem to sell for so little in the NFL these days, Jerry Seinfeld once jokingly reduced football to a match-up of "our city's jersey against another city's jersey."  He was right to a point:  players often stayed with one team for a long time, if not their entire career.  Coaches were no different:  Giants coach Steve Owen was on board for 22 years, same with George Halas, Bill Walsh, and a host of others. 

This all didn't change much until free agency was implemented and now the turn-over rate of players moving from team to team is an every season occurrence. 

Which is why I believe New York Giants tightends coach Mike Pope deserves a special mention here.  Flipping through all my Giants Yearbooks, I realized his picture was a constant.  I never thought to read much into his bio, but Mike Pope has been with the Giants for nearly 20 years, on two separate occasions.  In fact, he is the only coach to have been with the Giants for all 4 of their Super Bowl trips.  Along the way, his coached and mentored 4 great Giants tightends:Zeke Mowatt, Mark Bavaro, Howard Cross, and Jeremy Shockey.  Kevin Boss, his current pupil, may be himself on the way to greatness as he has improved his contributions since joining the G-Men in 07. (Incidentally, all 5 of the tightends that Pope has coached have been part of the Giants Super Bowl seasons, with each TE contributing in all of them).

There is a nice bio about Pope in the Giants 2009 Yearbook.  He came with the Giants when Parcells was named coach in 1983 and stayed until 1991.  In 2000, Pope was asked to come back by Jim Fassel and was then the only coached retained in 2004 when Tom Coughlin became HC. 

So here's to you, Mike Pope.  As Coughlin said in 04, "He's the best tightends coach in the league."

via cache.daylife.com

Sorry if this seems a little late, but I'm tired of basketball and as the summer is upon us, a countdown to the 2010 NFL season never seems premature.  So, with the closing of Giants Stadium, Giants.com ran a survey of the Top 10 plays in stadium history.  I'm sure fans contributed, but I feel there are more plays worthy of discussion.  So I want to hear from you!  What plays or memories rank as the best in Giants Stadium history?  I have a few thoughts but would love some feedback.

via i.cdn.turner.com

Since no one seems to have mentioned this yet, let me be the first to pose the question:  2010 will mark the Giants' 85th year in the NFL- why isn't this receiving any attention or notoriety?

With the Giants moving into their new stadium in 2010, and with criticism swirling around their defense's poor performance the year before, New York's 85th anniversary might be on the back-burner.  Nevertheless, this been nagging at me for a while, so I'm posting it now. 

The League recognized the 50th anniversary of the AFL (a year early) last season, equipped with commemorative patches on the certain teams' jerseys and throwback games all season long.  Maybe it seems premature to commemorate 85 seasons since the Giants just acknowledged 80 seasons back in 2004, but still.  New York is one of the oldest franchises in the League, a league that presently wouldn't be in such a strong position if it wasn't for the Giants and the Mara family.  85 years doesn't happen everyday, or overnight, so I think it be fitting that the Giants do something to commemorate 85 years in 2010, just as they are opening their new diggs.

What would be more amazing then to see the Giants running out onto their new field, the first week of September wearing their 1980s/90s uniforms?