SB Nation User Blog: SBakerTheTouchdownMaker

GIANTS AT COWBOYS: OPEN THREAD

SBakerTheTouchdownMaker — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:28:55 -0000

G-MEN!

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Giants = 2000's Bengals?

SBakerTheTouchdownMaker — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 11:56:31 -0000

Need a Wet Willie for this week? How about NY Daily News writer Gary Myers?

In today's NY Daily News article Myers compares the 2008 Giants to the Bengals of this decade and the 1990's Cowboys after the latest incident involving Plaxico Burress. Myers has to rack his brain just to come up with enough incidents to list - my favorite being Ahmad Bradshaw's arrest which occurred three years ago while he was at Marshall. He also cites Kareem McKenzie's DUI from last week.

The comparison to the Bengals is absolutely ridiculous considering that Chris Henry by himself has more arrests than every Giant combined over the past five years. Cincinnati once had ten players arrested in the 14-month span from 2006-07. TEN! Meanwhile the Cowboys of the 90's generally were free to do whatever they pleased under Jimmie Johnson (who previously ran a glorified penitentiary at U of Miami during the 80's) and the clueless Barry Switzer. Hell, why even limit it to the 1990's Cowboys? This year's team has Tank Johnson and Pacman Jones - two players the Giants (or any other team) wouldn't touch with a ten-foot pole. The article is a slap in the face to Tom Coughlin, who is a disciplinarian, and the Giants organization which has repeatedly fined or suspended players for breaking the rules. Also, Plaxico likely will never play for the Giants again, whereas in Dallas or Cincinnati I'm sure he'd be given a fifth chance.

I'm sure Jerry Jones would love to add someone like Plax

The Plaxico/AP incident is a serious one, and both players should be reprimanded by the Giants and the law for their involvement. But, it's just one incident. It's nowhere near the Bengals of this decade. Leave it to the New York media to try to smear an 11-1 football team. Unfortunately for the reporters, there is no Tiki retirement, no Shockey locker room tirades, no Coughlin job security storylines (and no Stephon Marbury) to fall back on.

Unbeaten in the NFC East? Best team in the NFL? 15-1 in the last 16 road games? I guess those headlines just don't sell papers.

Tuck fined for hit on Bollinger

SBakerTheTouchdownMaker — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 18:33:23 -0000

From ESPN:

"Tuck was fined $7,500 for driving the Cowboys' Brooks Bollinger into the turf in the second half. Replays show Tuck wrapping up Bollinger the moment the quarterback released the ball, then partly releasing his grasp on their way down before landing on Bollinger with his full weight.

NFL information manager Randall Liu, quoted in Friday's New York Times, said Tuck was fined because "he unnecessarily drove the opposing quarterback to the ground."

Though it doesn't appear in the ESPN article, Tuck is quoted as to saying, "we can't hit them in the head, we can't hit them below the knees, and apparently we can't hit them hard either." The play occurred in the 3rd quarter and drew the ire of head coach Tom Coughlin. He was clearly upset with the referee's judgement. It was also a play that we alluded to in the actual Game Thread (I think I may have used the word "bullshit"...).

This is starting to get way out of hand. I would hope that the NFLPA and perhaps the owners as well would get involved to curb this trend. If not, pretty soon we'll have quarterbacks wearing the red jerseys they wear in practice.

It's absolutely ridiculous to me that Tuck could get fined for a hit like this while Jared Allen's hit on Matt Schaub and Kimo Von Oelhoffen's hit on Carson Palmer go completely unnoticed. Good, clean, hard hits get fines and flags while potential career-ending cheap shots draw nothing.

What a joke.

UPDATE: The fine was thrown out (props to Phildo). Justice served. I guess I shouldn't have flipped over that cop car in protest...

Phillips drawing a fine for his "illegal" hit?

SBakerTheTouchdownMaker — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:03:38 -0000

from Ralph Vacchiano's NY Daily News Blue Screen blog:

The unnecessary roughness penalty that S Kenny Phillips took in the second quarter, when he laid out Mewelde Moore along the sidelines, was the correct call. I understand that there was probably no way Phillips could stop his momentum or recognize in time that Moore didn’t have the ball. But he has to. That’s the rule. It’s designed to force defensive players to make the impossible on-a-dime stop. Maybe it’s a faulty rule, but it was called correctly by the officials. Phillips also didn’t help his cause by leading with his head. For that alone, he can expect a fine later this week.

I think Ralph does a great job, and he may indeed be right about that ruling (um, if that's correct then then could throw the flag on every hit), but there's absolutely no way that Phillips gets fined for that. I completely disagree that he led with his head, and I watched the replay several times this afternoon (check out the video via YouTube). While running into Moore, Phillips actually turned his head at the last second to avoid a helmet-to-to-helmet hit. Never did Phillips' helmet ever come close to coming in contact with Moore's. Instead, Phillips led more with his shoulder. Was it a late hit? I think it was by a split-second, but it was not an illegal hit.

(Photo via the LA Times)

I respect Ralph's opinion, but there's a reason why Tom Coughlin had some choice words for the officials on the sidelines and Troy "I hate the Giants with every fiber of my being" Aikman was scolding the officials for an awful call. That should not have warranted a flag, and I'll be floored if it warrants a fine from the NFL.

If Phillips does get fined, then they should fine Bob Sanders and Ronnie Lott $172.6 trillion dollars retroactively for big hits that they amassed over their careers.

This is football. This isn't badminton.

Remember the Good Times with Shock

SBakerTheTouchdownMaker — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 10:52:35 -0000

like this sick catch against the Eagles in 2002 which clinched a playoff berth during the regular season finale at Giants Stadium.

via images.usatoday.com

remember Shockey coming down with the ball and just nodding his head on the ground while he was laying next to a defeated Brian Dawkins? probably one of my top five favorite Giants moments ever. that year, Shockey shattered Mark Bavaro's record for receptions with 74 in his rookie season (if you're feeling especially nostalgic, Tiki fumbled three times in that game vs. Philly. ah, memories).

sometimes a move is made which is beneficial for both sides. instead of trashing on Shockey, who was a great player that always played his ass off, let's just move on. i think Kevin Boss has proven he can be a starter, and i'm confident Reese (and Couglin) will find a way to make it work.

good luck Shock. hopefully we won't have to see you in the postseason.

Everyone take a second today

SBakerTheTouchdownMaker — Wed, 18 Jun 2008 13:19:50 -0000

to thank the New York Giants for preventing a Boston sweep of the three major sports championships.

Thank you, Justin Tuck (via media.2theadvocate.com)

If you are a Yankees/Knicks (ugh) fan like myself, thank the New York Giants today.

If you hate ESPN (the Boston Al-Jazeera network), thank the New York Giants today.

If you rolled your eyes at Paul Pierce's bullshit dramatic "injury" performance in Game 1, thank the New York Giants today.

If you wish someone would drill Manny Ramirez in the ribs while he stands at home plate admiring a home run, thank the New York Giants today.

If you have a fat friend named Bobby from Worcester that hasn't yet taken the price tags off his Kevin Garnett jersey, thank the New York Giants today.

If you believe in SpyGate and the fact Kevin McHale handed his franchise player to Danny Ainge, thank the New York Giants.

If you can imagine the dark, cold, and incredibly annoying world we would all be forced to live in had the city of Boston swept all three major sports championships, thank the New York Giants.

Giants #7 in first preseason rankings

SBakerTheTouchdownMaker — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 10:32:35 -0000

http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=ArQ.S94_Y8T3Ywry6t9IgAlDubYF?slug=cr-rankings032408&prov=y hoo&type=lgns

I actually don't have a ton of problems with this because the Giants are listed as the 2nd best in the NFC (behind Dallas, who hasn't won a playoff game since I had braces). What I do have a problem with however is who is at #6....

Cleveland?

"...Rex Hadnot and Donte Stallworth should make the Browns much better. Anything less than competing at the top of the AFC is a disappointment."

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Right.

Other notables: Patriots 2nd, Redskins 14th, Eagles 16th (too low in my opinion), Jets 22nd.

Giants fair-weather fans

SBakerTheTouchdownMaker — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:25:14 -0000

from Stampede Blue (an Indianapolis Colts blog): "I'm not bashing Giants fans, per say. I live in New York part of the year and I can tell you from first hand experience that Giants fans are THE most fair weather fans in football. It's a major reason why the Giants are so good on the road and so bad at home. Regardless of whether the Giants play poorly, ok, decent, or good... they get booed. Giants fans always doubt their players, always wish they had this guy or that guy, and always wish the NFL was more like the MLB (so that the Giants could just buy championships, like the Yankees did)."

Hmmm, fair-weather eh? Coming from a Colts fan? The same Colts fans that didn't start selling out the tiny RCA Dome until they were 6-0 in the 2003 season? The same fans that didn't give a shit about their team until the '03 AFC Championship game appearance? The same fans from a city where they have already given up on the Pacers after they missed the playoffs for the first time in ten years?

Those Colts fans were really coming out in 1984-2001 to the RCA Dome to support their team. But, those fair-weather Giants fans don't support their team at all. Their season-ticket waiting list is only 17 years long, no big deal.

Fair-weather eh? Coming from a Colts fan, that's fucking hilarious. Look in the mirror.

Cowboys/Giants Predicition

SBakerTheTouchdownMaker — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 21:51:30 -0000

first off, let me say that im surprised how many people are picking the giants. i mean, i knew that they would win some people over with that fine performance against TB last weekend but i think everyone agrees that tampa was the worst team in the playoffs. maybe it's just the NY media: pile on when times are bad - all kisses and gumdrops when times are good.

to be totally honest, im happy that they're playing in dallas. i hate watching this team play at home. also, they're playing with house money while all the pressure is on dallas, especially romo. not that there's no pressure on eli, but there's considerably less after getting the playoff win monkey off his back last week. i think the giants have a good shot but im fighting with my homerism and trying to be objective. it's hard to pick against dallas because they beat up the NFC pretty bad this year, they have as much talent as any team in the NFL, and they were able to score points at will against the giants in the regular season.

here are the rest PROs and CONs that i listed out for dallas:

PROs for dallas:

dallas' time spent in the giants endzone this season.
back-to-back four TD performances against the giants in the back of tony romo's mind.
jessica simpson's sexually-explicit voicemails wishing tony romo good luck on sunday.
giants secondary is weak and injury-riddled.
terrence newman's coverage ability.
two weeks to get over that performance in washington.
wade phillips' playoff record.
RW mcquarters getting playing time.
no shockey.
no derrick ward (126 total yards, TD in first meeting)
beat the crap out of the giants in dallas.
their offensive line is huge and very physical.
nick folk's automaticism (is that a word?)

CONS for dallas:

tony romo's time spent drinking himself into oblivion in mexico.
jessica simpson's tits in the back of tony romo's mind (nice mental picture, but distracting).
terry's sexually-explicit voicemails wishing tony romo good luck on sunday.
T.O. is playing on one leg.
roy williams' coverage ability.
two weeks to think about that performance in washington.
kevin gilbride's play-calling.
spags not sleeping all week trying to disguise the defense so the cowboys don't see RW mcquarters on the field.
they don't know who/how good kevin boss is.
derrick who? ahmad bradshaw.
giants haven't lost on the road since.
giants stellar pass rush.
jeff feagles' surgical placement of punted footballs.

im leaning towards picking dallas, but im going to mull it over for at least another 20 hours.

anything im missing?

More QB ranking fun!

SBakerTheTouchdownMaker — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:45:37 -0000

Those of you that have been here awhile have seen me post all of these QB rankings that come out because they are really fun to debate.

ESPN.com just did a list of the top 64 - http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/insider/news/story?id=3147842 (insider only) and Eli checks in at #17.

I don't have too much of a problem with where Eli is at, I just have a problem with the two quarterbacks in front of him: Vince Young and Phillip Rivers.

First of all, Rivers is a joke. The Chargers win in spite of him and he has more talent than Eli does around him, yet has slightly worse numbers. Rivers is about to take San Diego to the playoffs but that's not saying much considering that they play in the worst division in the AFC.

Here are Vince's numbers compared to Eli this season:

Vince - 2,032 yds, 7 TD, 16 INT, 62% comp. (also 343 yds rushing, 3 TD, 4 fumbles)
Eli - 2,790 yds, 18 TD, 17 IN, 59% comp.

I know VY has had injury problems this season but he has looked as lost as Eli in a few games this year. I think he will eventually be a very good player, but at this point in his career, he is egregiously overrated.

What is your take? Eli too low/too high? I think you can make an arguement both ways.

As a side note, I think it is stupid to definitively put Brady #1 and Manning #2. Maybe it's just because I live in Indianapolis (even though I hate the Colts) but I think they are 1 and 1A. If I had to win a big playoff game tomorrow, I would take Brady, but Peyton is going to end up having the best career numbers-wise of any QB in NFL history. It's like comparing Montana and Marino. It can go either way.

I love QB rankings.