Final Thoughts on Championship Weekend...And what the Giants must do to beat the Pats

[WISfinfan13]

First off I want to give props to the Giants...They came into Lambeau (handled the weather better than the Packers) and out played the Packers...With that being said I am dissapointed the Giants won because I believe the Packers match up better against the Pats...

The Packers played one of their worst games of the season...The coaching staff abandoned the run. Grant had 201 yards and 3tds against Seattle. This week for some reason Grant only had 14 running attempts. The Packers D played one of the worst games of the year, No pressure on Eli, and Al Harris (who has a history of shuting down elite recievers) played like crap and allowed Plax to get in his head. Finally and most importantly Favre has proved he cant play in the cold anymore. Last week and the Bears game late in the year proved it. When they showed the players on the field and on the sidelines Favre clearly looked like he was freezing and couldnt handle the cold like the younger player. The Packers probably would have been better off going into Dallas as Favre is 0-9 at Dallas, he would have felt like he had something to prove, and wouldnt have had to deal with the cold weather. I think Favre would have given the Cowboys more respect where as with the Giants he thought the Packers where the better team.

Now on to the Giants. They have been playing excellent football lately. Eli who was in Jeopardy of being cut this offseason now will probably get a big contract extention to stay with the Giants. If the Giants continue to play at the high level they have the last 4 or 5 weeks they definately can give the Patriots a ball game. But there are 4 major improvements they must make in watching their play agianst the Packers. If they want to beat the Patriots.

1) Get more pressure on the QB. They did a decent job of this against the Packers, but I believe this is your best chance to beat Brady. He has a tendency of getting rattled so hit him early and often and make him know your coming for him.

2) The kicking game. I will give Tynes a break because of the cold. But you cant miss oppurtunities to put points on the board. Missing field goals is unexcusable and Tynes must make every field goal.

3) Turnovers. I know the Giants only turned the ball over once against the Packers. And that was after a Favre interception which led to a Packers touchdown. They also fumbled the ball on two other occasions and luckly got the ball back. One was the on the touchdown on the first drive of the third quarter and the other was on a punt return by R.W. which ended in the Tynes missing the field goal at the end of regulation. If the Packers recover one/both of those fumbles the Packers are probably on their way to Arizona.

4) The run game. As good as Eli looked the past few weeks he will not be able to out gun Brady and the Patriots passing game. They must essablish the run early and keep the Patriots offense on the sideline while. This also keeps the aging Patriots D on the field which will cause them to tire by the end of the game.

If the Giants can achieve the previous four bench marks there is no reason they cant be in the game. If they allow the Patriots to get an early lead the the game will get ugly in a hurry.

[bkbuffet]

Here's something to keep in mind... This is probably Strahan's last game. How badly do you think he wants a SB ring? How dirty do you think he will play? Are we gonna see a late hit on Brady early on that breaks a leg or something?

[WISfinfan13]

Not exactly what I was getting to when I started the thread...I was paying more attention to the annalysis of the games.

But going by that logic...Its possibly Brushski, Seau, and Rodney Harrisons last games...How bad you think they want it?

[bkbuffet]

Good point... could be ugly!

[WISfinfan13]

It definately could

[Johnny Blaze]

the giants need to get more touchdowns to beat the pats

[Roman529]

The Giants have the talent to beat the Pats but they have to play 60 smart minutes of football. Eli Manning has to stay focused.....no crappy passes, no INT's, no fumbles, especially if he is sacked. They had the Patriots beat in the game towards the end of the season, but then they fell asleep and the Pats came back to beat them. It all comes down to execution and playing smart....I like the Giants to end the Pat's perfect season.

[ChambersWI]

let's just remember this about the G-Men when they played the Pats week 17, they had the game in hand with Madison hurt (forget if he played, but he was hurting), Wilson hurting, and Pierce hurting. 3 really good players on defense. The Pats didn't take the lead until Kawika Mitchell (starter), Sean O'Hara (starter), and Sean(?) Seubert (starter) all left the game with injuries. I believe Justin Tuck and Aaron Ross also got hurt during the game. I'd also like to add that Ahmad Bradshaw did not play. Still had it not been for James Butler being out of position on a long bomb to Randy Moss, the G-Men would've won.

Since that game, Kevin Boss, Ahmad Bradshaw, and Steve Smith have all seen their roles on offense increase and they have become solid players. Corey Webster (who was pretting much a dead man walking) has become a very good CB during the post season. Brandon Jacobs has also started to run a lot more physical, and the Giants OL is still vastly underrated.

There are a couple things I'd do.

1) Watch Kevin Faulk and Wes Welker. Neither are getting big plays cause they're beating their men, they're getting big plays cause they're uncovered.

2)Use Boss and Smith over the middle and get Bruschi and Seau dropping into coverage.

3)Run Jacobs and Bradshaw all day.

[sn9ke.eyes]

The Giants also only kept the Patriots from scoring on 2 out of 9 drives in the previous game. Say what you want about when they took the lead but the bottom line is you have to force more punts.