New York Giants 20
at
Atlanta Falcons 23
at
Atlanta Falcons 23
Monday Night Football
Atlanta 23, N.Y. Giants 20 - Sometimes, it feels like I am a broken record. That is the case, or feels like the case, when I talk about the Giants lately, particularly these past two seasons. Last year, the Giants entered the season with high expectations. After all, they had qualified for the playoffs the year before, and had picked up some hot, young, explosive talent on offense. A lot of people expected them to make the playoffs again, quite a few predicted that they would win the division, and some even were talking about a Super Bowl appearance. But seven games in, the Giants were 1-6, and nobody was talking like that anymore. And no one was talking playoffs this season, either. They still are not. Once again, the G-Men are 1-6, and for all intents and purposes, are all but officially eliminated from playoff contention. Before the official mid-season point. And it is the same, glaring problem that has been nagging at them for years now: the offensive line. Careless play at inopportune times from players on both sides of the field. Defensive lapses, and offensive inefficiency. Both of those doomed the Giants on this Monday Night Football game, as well. It is strange, because not all that long ago, the Giants and Falcons had a strange history together. For whatever the reason, it was always the road team that enjoyed success and won games. In fact, I think that the rivalry - such as it was - had the longest streak between any two teams of the road team always winning. The Giants defeated the Falcons in Atlanta in the 1981 season, and the Falcons returned the favor at the old Giants Stadium the next season. And so it went, for 12 straight games between these two teams, that the road team managed to win every game, a streak that finally ended when the Giants managed to defeat the Falcons in a regular season game in 2009. The fact that these two teams rarely seemed to play one another perhaps was a major contributing fact. But it was a bit bizarre. Yet for all that, the two teams were tied at 12 wins apiece in their all-time rivalry, with the Giants having won the only playoff meeting between the two teams, a 24-2 win back in the 2011-12 season, which also happened to be the only NFL postseason game that I have ever been to to date. But the Falcons win last night helped lift them to a winning record all-time in their rivalry against the Big Blue. Everyone will remember the ridiculously slow quarterback sneaks towards the end, where the Giants seemed to lack any sense of urgency when down by 11 points, with the clock winding down. They had less than a minute left, and burned more than 40 valuable seconds trying to sneak a touchdown in. They did get that touchdown, with Eli Manning completing a touchdown pass to Odell Beckham, but there were five seconds left, and the offside kick was one of the strangest that I have seen, not giving New York much of any chance to recover. So, everyone will focus on that. For me, at least they rallied and made a game of it. For most of the game, the Giants had put up only field goals, and it was some semblance of offensive efficiency right at the end that helped to get them somewhat back in the game. But for more than three quarters, the Giants looked dead in the water, particularly on offense. Two field goals was all that they had to show for their efforts, even though the defense was playing very solidly, and containing Atlanta's very dangerous offense. In other words, a typical game with offensive inefficiency, with miscues and mistakes, and just frustration. Same old story. Now, the G-Men are 1-6, and once again, looking like just about the worst team in the league. It grows a bit tiresome. For their part, the Falcons also got off to a horrendous start, but have since won two straight to become a bit of a factor once again at 3-4. My pick: Accurate
No comments:
Post a Comment