MNF Liveblog: Giants vs. Jags

By Brett | Permalink | No Comments | November 20th, 2006 | Trackback

It’s been a while, but we’re getting back on the livebloggin’ horse. After a hiatus of a few weeks, we’re back and badder than ever…or something like that.

Tonights game should be a good one. What this rivalry lacks in mystique, it should make up for in desperation — both of these teams need this win to keep pace in their respective divisions. New York needs to hold of the surging Cowboys, and Jacksonville needs to keep their playoff hopes alive. They say that the more desperate team usually wins. Guess we’ll find out which team wants it more.

Here are a few of the things we stoked about in tonight’s game:

Tiki Barber and Fred Taylor
These guys have been two of the most consistently solid backs in the NFL for a long time now. Taylor gets a bad rap because he’s injury prone, but he’s a heck of a back when he has the ball in his hands. Barber banged up his thumb last week against the Bears, so it will be interesting to see how well he’s able to protect the ball. Both teams are going to be looking for strong ground games tonight to take the pressure off their struggling quarterbacks.

The Jags Defense
This is a fun group to watch, starting with John Henderson and Marcus Stroud up front. Rashean Mathis is one of the better corners in the NFL, and Donovin Darius always brings the lumber. We admit we have a bit of a rooting interest when it comes to the Jags D — we’re sitting a decent but not insurmountable lead in our fantasy game. Our opponent, the guy running in last place in our league, has both Tiki and Plaxico going tonight. We need the Jags to keep those guys bottled up if we’re going to eek out of this week with a W.

Thanksgiving Week
It’s been a epic weekend of watching football. Frankly, we’re stoked that we get to extend that for one more night, take two days off, and then watch more football on Thursday. And then a little bit more on Saturday. And then more on Sunday. Seriously, is there a better week for watching football than this one? We think not.

Alright, we’ve got all your livebloggin’ needs covered in 30.

NYG 10 — JAX 26

Pregame
Hate the red numbers on the Giants gear. Their helmets are top 5. Jerseys are bottom 5.

Jags, on the other hand, are looking badass, rockin’ the all blacks. Tough.

And Del Rio’s sporting the suit. Very Tom Landry.

1st Quarter

Jags Ball deep on their own 10

Jags go to Taylor on 1st two plays. With so many guys missing from the Giants front seven, we gotta believe that’s going to there all night for them.

Garrard loses the ball on the shotgun snap, barely avoids a safety or a defensive TD. Theisman, of course, blames the center.

Giants Ball on the Jags 30

Jags with a good line push on the first play.

John Henderson looking like an old Eddie Murphy SNL character. Of course, you didn’t that from us.

Manning to Burress incomplete in the end zone, a cameraman gets trucked at the end of the play. Burress had inside position on that one.

Feely boots a FG, 3-0 Giants. Good job by the Jags of holding them to a FG.

Jags ball on their own 27

The overhead camera…what a great innovation. Great angles with that camera.

Wierd little “Free Bird” Tom Coughlin montage there. What the hell was that?

Taylor looks a little indecisive on a 2nd down draw play. There was a big hole on the left side, but Taylor missed it.

Garrard stands in nicely against the blitz on 3rd down. Great job of hanging in the pocket. That’s a big time throw.

Garrard misses an open guy in the end zone. Joe says “I don’t think he was led too much.” Gimme a fucking break! The guy was wide open, and had to lay out completely to try to grab it. It could’ve been caught…but it would have been an amazing catch.

Drive stalls out, Jags tie it up on the FG.

Theisman and Kolber all over the Jags receivers. You can tell they’ve been waiting to jump on that storyline all night. You know what? You wanna know Wrightster didn’t catch that ball in the end zone? It was Theisman’s fault. What a fucking douche. Wonder if they’ve tabbed him to announce the Summer’s Eve Bowl in a few weeks.

Giants ball on their own 25
Kornholio calls out Theisman for hanging too much on the collective sack of every NFL QB. It’s a good call by Tony, but these guys are so freakin’ tired. Gimme Jaws and Vermeil (or Greg Kinnear…whatever).

Donovin Darius is down with an injury. Can’t tell what he’s got yet, but, if it’s serious, it’s a big blow to the Jags D.

And they’ve got him on the cart. They’re goes his season. Replay looks nasty.

Dirty block on that play. Wasn’t a penalty, but it was still a dirty play.

Jags stuff Brandon Jacobs on 3rd and 1. Another good defensive series for the Jags.

Jags ball on their own 27
Taylor finding running room hard to come by in the middle of the defense. Giants are missing a lot of good players up front, but they’re stacking the box on 1st and 2nd down right now.

Kolber absolutely effervescent talking about Taylor and MoJo Drew…dare we say, mellifellous?

3rd and short, Jags pick it up on the sneak with a great line push. Right now, the Jags are winning the battles up front.

Fans are starting to boo after a Reggie Williams dropped pass. For all the talk about the drops that Jags are having, that’s the first real drop of the game.

Giants ball on their own 20
Eli on play-action, has all day. Finds Plaxico in the middle of the field, gets smacked, loses the ball. Play ruled a fumble, but it looks more like an incomplete pass. We’re pretty sure that this one is going to get overruled.

It looks like to us that it’s a catch and he’s down before the ball comes out. It’s possible that it might be called incomplete. Complete and a fumble is probably the worst call that could be made here.

Giants keep the ball, played call incomplete. We’re fine with that call.

Giants with a nice looking play off right tackle, but the Jags do a great job of pursuing and turning the play back inside.

2nd Quarter
After an hour long quarter, the Giants punt to the Jags. Jags start with the ball in good field, on their own 43 yard line.

Manning looked terrible in the first quarter, and the Giants are inexplicably ignoring Jeremy Shockey early in the game again. Wonder if maybe Coughlin is slowly working Shockey out of the offense as payback for all the shit that Shockey was talking on Coughlin earlier this year?

Jags moving the ball again on the Giants, inside their 35. They’ve been moving the ball well between the 30’s, but they’ve been stalling out when they get in close.

3rd and 3, Jags go the shotgun. Garrard hit Wilford underneath, who breaks a tackle for the 1st down. We don’t like the call, but it worked.

Jags are working the play-action. They’re not getting a ton on the ground, but they’re showing how working the ground game opens up the play-action. Jags ball on around the 10.

Taylor with a great run up the gut for a TD!!!! Nice hole, great downhill run by Taylor. Looked like a trap play, maybe? Whatever it was, it got the job done. Very nice drive by the Jags.

Giants ball on their own 20
Eli finally tries to go to Shockey for the first time, has it go through has his hands.

Why the hell are four dudes talking about one of them being sexy? You’re like to smacked upside if the head if you start talking crazy like that around NFL Logue HQ. Jesus, guys.

Giants go three and out. Do they have a first down yet? Doesn’t seem like it.

Jags ball on their own 30-ish

Garrard goes play-action again, gets a lot of time, but no one’s open. He takes off running for the first time and picks up the first down.

Fred Robbins with an amazing bull rush, going right through two guys and completely blowing up the pocket. Garrard takes off again and gets 4.

Kornholio talking about pageants, and sexy men…what the hell is going on here?

Matt Jones drops the ball on 3rd down. Terrible fundamentals there, as Jones lets the ball get in on his pads. Another Jags drive stalls out.

At the very least, though, they’re controlling the clock and winning the field position battle. Still they’re only one score up, even though they’ve been dominating the action.

Giants ball inside their own 10

3rd and long, inside their own 5. If we were Tom Coughlin, we’d be calling a draw to Tiki right here. Eli in the gun. Screen to Brandon Jacobs, and they pick it up. Great play call.

How were the Jags not prepared for that?

Eli flushed, looking for Plaxico Burress deep, and Eli throws a pick! Terrible throw by Manning, as Plaxico had gotten behind the coverage.

Jags ball on the Giants 30

Jags need to get at least 3 out of this one. Garrard with a nice choice, as they had a double move called, wasn’t there, and he checks down. That’s a good example of the QB knowing what he needs to do.

How the hell is that not PI? Jason Webster jacks up Matt Jones right in front of the ref down the sideline.

Garrard to Wrightster for the first, inside the red zone. Good throw, good protection, good catch. Garrard has looked pretty sharp so far. Giants don’t look like they can hold the Jags back.

Jags run a screen to Taylor, looks like it’s going to go for 6, but Taylor fumbles at the goal line! Huge play for the Giants. That play keeps them in the game right now.

Giants ball on their own 20
Less than 1:30 left in the half, Giants tyring to move the ball down the field and at least get in to field goal range before halftime.

Jags pick up a 15 yard penalty, putting the Giants past midfield. Giants give 5 of it back after a false start.

Giants set up a screen, have it set up nicely, but Tiki drops it. Whatever can go wrong will go wrong.

3rd and 3 coming up. Burress open on the slant, but Eli can’t hit him. Theisman blaming Burress for not running hard, but it looks like to us that Burress just settled down in the zone and Eli led him as if the Jags were in man coverage. Bottom line, they’re not on the same page. It’s someone’s fault, but it’s so freaking annoying how Theismand ALWAYS blames the receiver.

Jags ball on their own 15, 49 seconds left in the 1st half
What the hell are the Jags doing? We hate this play calling right here? They’re running half-assed pass plays, not calling timeouts, and not trying to get out of bounds. With two timeouts, there was enough time to try to get into field goal range. We hate the half-assed effort at the end of the first half. Terrible clock management.

Halftime
The Jags have absolutely dominated every aspect of this game, but only have a 7 point lead to show for it. Taylor’s fumble could be huge, but overall the Jags are playing a very fundamentally solid game (minus a couple dropped passes). They’re protecting the passer very well, they’re running the ball effectively, and they’re really working the play action passing game.

Defensively, they’re tackling, covering, and rushing the passer very well. They look tough. It’s the black gear. You can’t mess with the black, baby.

We’re gonna grab a brew. Will be back in a few.

3rd Quarter
Giants return man fumbles the ball out of bounds. Giants start deep in their own territory. We expect them to try to get the ground game going.

Wow, they’re going from bad to worse. Manning effs up the hand off.

3rd and 12, Eli gets time and goes downfield to Burress. Mathis with great coverage, though, and the Giants go 3 and out again.

Jags ball on the Giants side of midfield
Well, so far, more of the same. Jags are getting the better field position, and the Giants can’t hang on to the ball for more than 3 downs.

Jags go right back to the play-action game. Garrard have a very effecient, if not flashy, game.

Garrard finds Wrightster again on 3rd down, with the blitz coming off the edge. Wrightster then makes a very unathletic and painful looking move on RW McQuarters.

Taylor up the gut two times in a row inside the 10, nothing doing. Giants stiffen up. Big 3rd down coming up.

Garrard throws a fade to Wilford, out of the back of the end zone. We hate that call on 3rd down. There’s only one option. On third down, you need more than one option. Run that play on 1st or 2nd down. It’s just not a good third down play.

Jags have been getting really conservative inside the red zone. All those lanky, long striding receivers might limit their playbook a little bit. The screen to Taylor was the best red zone play they’ve called all night. Jags boot a FG, makes it 13-3. The Jags should probably have around 24 points right now, though.

Giants ball on their own 30

Eli under pressure from Stroud on 2nd down, pisses himself, and chucks it underhanded toward the line.

Jags bring the blitz, the guy comes untouched, Eli fumbles trying to get rid of it. Jags pick it up and take in to the house!!!!! But, there’s a penalty on the Jags, so instead of 20-3 Jags, we’ve got first down Giants.

Ugg. We feel sick right now. We’re so happy we’re not a Jags fan right now.

3rd and 1. Jacobs picks it, absolutely trucks a Jags linebacker in the hole. Giants starting to move the ball juuuuusst a little bit.

Giants have a favorable match up right now with Plaxico lining across from Brian Williams. Also going no-huddle and having some success. A couple nice adjustments by the Giants look like they’re paying off.

Manning goes for Shockey, who wasn’t open on the deep post.

Burress in for the score!!! Caught the ball out in the flat, makes a couple guys miss and takes it in from about 20 yards out. didn’t even look like he was running. All the sudden, we’ve got a ballgame. 13-10, Jags. We can’t believe this is a 3 point game.

Jags ball on their own 37
Jags working the play-action on 1st down. Jags break out the no-huddle.

MoJo Drew with a couple nice runs.

Garrard makes his first mistake, throwing a bad pass in the middle of the field. Gets away with it, though, as the pass falls incomplete.

On 3rd down, Garrard somehow avoids getting sacked. He held the ball too long, got hit, and bounced off for 20 yards. Theisman declares “that’s a play you wouldn’t see Byron Leftwich make.” Thanks, Captain Obvious. There’s not a QB in the league that could have gotten out of that.

Courtesy of Hydro: Shockey looks like he’d be right at home in a double-wide, wearing a wife-beater, suckin’ down 40’s. He’s a man of few words, but when he speaks, you should listen.

Jags with a 1st and goal. Up the gut with Taylor for around 5.

Garrard looks for MoJo out of the backfield, threw it maybe half a second too late. Jags settle for a FG again. 16-10 Jags, but this game should be completely out of hand by now.

Giants ball on their own 20

Eli goes deep to Plax, finds him on the deep post. Great throw. Great effort by Burress, but the replay shows that he didn’t have control coming down. This one’s going to get overturned.

Call overturned, Plax looking dejected. That’s the right call though.

3rd and 7, blitz comes in free on Manning, forces a bad throw. Giants punting again, last play of the 3rd quarter.

4th Quarter

Jags ball on their own 44
Garrard finds Jones on 3rd and 8, moving across the middle. Play goes for 49. That’s the way to use that guy…get him the ball once he has a head of steam, and just let him rumble. They guy is too big for most DBs to tackle. RW McQuarters actually did a really nice job of slowing him down once he got down inside the 10.

MoJo Drew hits paydirt on a run up the gut! That hole was big enough for the mascot to run through. 23-10 Jags. That’s more like it.

Giants have only had the ball for 13 minutes and change through 3 plus quarters, which means that the Jags are more than doubling up on them in time of possession. Wow. That’s a sign of a bigtime ass-beating.

Giants ball on their own 34
Eli sacked on 1st down. Great jump off the ball by DE Bobby McCray.

3rd and long. Eli with a great touch throw to Shockey on the flag route. There’s a flag down, though. Looks like it’s against the Giants.

OK, nevermind. No penalty, 1st down Giants.

Coughlin has some choice words for the refs as they miss a very obvious pass interference penalty.

Jags bring the blitz again, and stuff Tiki. Great defensive play call, just when it looked like they were going to be content to sit in a deep zone.

3rd and long, Manning throws a pick!!! Looks like the Jags had him confused right there, because Eli threw it right to the Jags defender.

Jags ball on their own 36
Garrard on the boot, being chased by Kiwanuka. Great throw, great catch by some guy named Cortez Hankton. We’re pretty sure that guy was working at the local post office last week.

Jags startingt to play clock ball at this point, working the middle of the field with Fred Taylor between the tackles.

Kolber positively giddy as she busts out this gem: “Manning killing himself on the sideline…no seriously, he’s slitting his wrists as we speak. I’m not joking. Right now. Killing himself. Back to you guys.”

Garrard with a tough, gutty run, comes up 1 yard short of the first down. You gotta admire the stones on the guy, but that’s a good way to separate your shoulder….looks like he fumbled forward, and scored himself a cheap first down. Coughlin’s going to challenge the spot.

4th down coming up. Refs have f’d up some calls tonight, but at least they’ve been big enough to overturn their stupidity. Take a note Ed Hochuli, you freaking tool.

Jags were going to go for it there, but a false start moves them back 5 yards. Jags get a 48 yard field goal out of the deal, extending their lead. 26-10 Jags. Can we just call this one at this point? We have a feeling this is going to be a long 5 minutes .

Giants ball on their own 40
Giants going no-huddle, moving the chains. Wonder if maybe they shouldn’t be going no-huddle a little bit more?

Manning finds Drew Carter down inside the 10, he takes one step, and fumbles. And Shockey is not a happy camper.

Korholio’s starting to get on a little role now. He’s at his best when he’s poking away at Theisman. We’d love to see more of that.

Jags ball inside their own 10 yard line

Garrard damn near throws a pick in the middle of the field. Incomplete, Jags punt coming up.

Giants ball around midfield
Giants trying to move the ball, with around 3 minutes left to go. This is where the game gets long.

Giants have the ball inside the 20, still banging away. We’re at the 2 minute warning.

Jags defense holds, Giants give it up on downs, and we’re mercifully finding ourselves at the end of this one. Jags dominated every aspect of this one. This game should’ve been around 41-10, but the Jags will take 26-10. We’ve seen the Jags play twice this year, and both times they’ve been very impressive. Good thing they don’t have to play the Texans again this year.

That’s all we got for tonight. We’re out.

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