The Aftermath
I have been asked to give some thoughts regarding the NFC Championship game. Apparently, Mr. Clifford/Gonzo think I did a little too much talking prior to the game, and then went silent. If you look at my post “Today’s Matchup” you will see that all I basically said was that the main strength of the Giants was their ability to pressure the quarterback, and that the Packers have two stud offensive tackles that would neutralize that strength. The D-backs of the Giants were banged up and Favre should have a field day.
So, what happened? The Giants had a total of ZERO sacks in the game. I remember Favre was hurried on one play, but I don’t think he was even knocked down the entire game. The O-Line played a great game in the passing game. The Packers game plan was to throw the ball on 1st down, and then if they didn’t get the first down, to then throw the ball on second down, and then to throw the ball on third down.
Unfortunately, the HOF QB was not having a good day. Early in the year that would have been a disaster for this team, but down the stretch they had the league’s leading rusher over the last 11 games, so the obvious thought would be to establish the run at some point. That is not so much the way McCarthy handled the situation. Final tally: 13 runs for Grant. Favre was missing wide open receivers, and leaving himself in a lot of 3rd and longs. With play-action not working too well, Favre needed to be far more accurate than he was. They lost the game on third down.
Now, back to the game. The Giants should have won this game by 20 points. They played a lot better, but didn’t take advantage in the red zone in the first quarter, and missed some field goals, and had a crucial idiot penalty that ended up costing them a TD, and dropped some easy passes. They also fumbled a punt which easily could have cost them the game had Poppinga recovered the fumble. Eli played very well, and Burress abused Al Harris. Another interesting coaching decision was McCarthy’s decision not to give Harris any help. Unlike the Packers, the Giants converted a couple very crucial third downs.
That should be enough… as I said…. it is officially baseball season
January 29th, 2008 at 11:22 am
“If you look at my post “Today’s Matchup” you will see that all I basically said was that the main strength of the Giants was their ability to pressure the quarterback, and that the Packers have two stud offensive tackles that would neutralize that strength. The D-backs of the Giants were banged up and Favre should have a field day.”
What about your smack talk in email, where you said Giants were “below average” and Packers “will roll”.
And just to nitpick, there were at least 3 hurries on Favre (i’ll have to check tape to see if there were more), one of which led to the first INT (of course, McQuarters coughed it right back up, but still…)
January 29th, 2008 at 11:36 am
OK….. 3 hurries, no sacks, no knockdowns in 35 pass attempts. I would say Clifton and Tauscher more than held there own against Osi and Strahan.
Packers should have rolled, but the QB played an awful game, McCarthy was outcoached, and Burriss abused Harris. I said above that the Giants should have won by 20, but that has nothing to do with the play of the D-Line against the pass. Favre had plenty of time.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:19 am
So… you’re with Gonzo: The Packers choked?
January 30th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
Choked? That isn’t the right word. They were beaten… Choking is when you are up by 14 points going into the fourth and blow it.
January 30th, 2008 at 9:30 pm
They were the better team, they were at home, they had the HOF QB, the weather favored them (Favre was 34-5 when temp < 34 degrees) yet, as you noted, they should have lost by 20.
IMO, when you lose a game to a clearly inferior team, that is choking. Not Yankees in ‘04 choking, but choking nonetheless…