Wings For Wheels

I was kind of hoping the Giants would tank the season.  This way I could stop caring by November, and they could do some housecleaning in the off-season.  Then, I could just admire Kim’s Patriots and laugh at the Redskins fans, their former-genius-cum-befuddled-fundie of a coach (as if prayer can make Jason Campbell an NFL quarterback), and their poor Napoleon of an owner.  As long as the Giants finish ahead of the Foreskins, which they’ve done in 12 of the 17 years I’ve been here (thankfully, my time at Maryland sandwiched their Super Bowl victories), I can accept whatever mediocrity they put on the field.  It’s the deal I made for Scott Norwood.

And it seemed that was going to be the case a month ago, when they gave up 80 points in their first two games, unheard of for a franchise historically known for bonecrushing defense.  But man, what a turnaround!  Of the 54 points they’ve given up in the last four games, at least 21 can’t be blamed on the defense (one kickoff return, two fumble recoveries – one returned for a touchdown, the other recovered inside the 10).  The 12 sacks against the Eagles might have been an anomaly, but there’s no doubt that Steve Spagnuolo has turned around the defense.

Last night’s 31-10 victory, the 600th win in team history, over the Falcons wasn’t even that close.  The Giants essentially gave up two drives that stalled at the 30, and one play (a 67-yard touchdown run by Jerious Norwood (no relation)), all in the first 20 minutes of the game.  The Falcons did not run a play inside the 25.  The offense did the opposite of what it’s supposed to do, establishing the pass in the first half before pounding a tired defense with the run late in the third quarter.  That’s a really smart game plan by Kevin Gilbride.

I didn’t feel like watching it at home, so I went to Ventnor Sports Cafe down the block.  We watched last Sunday’s games there and had a good time, so I went back.  The food’s a little overpriced, but the crowd was fun – not too much of the usual sports bar douchebags – and the service was good.  It’s also small, so it’s got a neighborhood feel to it, and I’ll definitely continue to go back there, although maybe not every week.

They were showing the Red Sox-Indians games on most of the TVs, but they switched the one by me to the Giants in time.  The waitress told me that they were going to keep the audio up on the baseball, though.  I said that was fine with me, because I didn’t really want to hear the announcing.  But there were other Giants fans there, and they wound up turning up the volume on Monday Night Football.

Damn, were they stupid.   Yes, they made a good, if obvious, point by pointing out how efficient Eli was on play-action passes (credit goes to the stats guys in the truck, actually), but never came to the conclusion that it might have had something to do with the fact that the Giants have a great and diverse running game.  Of course you can repeatedly fake the middle linebacker if he has somebody worth worrying about.

Kornheiser kept on trying to suggest that this was Eli Manning’s breakout game, saying that he wouldn’t have these expectations on him if not for his last name, as if he was the only person to have ever said that!  It also has to do with the pressure of playing for the tough crowds and media in New York, which is entirely different from the clueless optimists here in DC.

Worse was that, in Tony Kornheiser’s attempts to anoint Eli as having finally arrived, neither Mike Tirico nor Ron Jaworski pointed out that Eli’s numbers were largely the result of the Falcons being a crappy team.  Yes, they talked a lot about their recent problems, but didn’t make the connection between the two.  No, it was all Eli this and Eli that.  To his credit, Jaws did eventually say that he thought Eli was a good quarterback, but would probably never be an elite one. That’s a fair assessment.

Anyway, so now the Giants are on the rise.  Because they finished third in the East last year (but still ahead of the Redskins), they have a weak schedule, which always leads average teams to think that they’re better than they are.   But it’s tough to argue with a four-game winning streak, so I’m starting to believe again, and I know it’s going to make me miserable come January.