'Kudos & Wet Willies,' Patriots are Perfect Edition

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 12:24 AM EST in Kudos & Wet Willies

The New York Giants came close, but they couldn't quite do enough to stop the New England Patriots from finishing off their perfect 16-0 regular season.

I will have more thoughts later on the Giants' 38-35 loss to New England Saturday -- probably after I've had a chance to sleep on it -- but here is a very quickly put together list of 'Kudos & Wet Willies' for you.

Kudos to ...

• The New England Patriots: Going 16-0 and recording the first unbeaten regular season since the 1972 Miami Dolphins is truly historic. The Giants made them earn it, opening a 28-16 lead, but the Patriots showed why they are a great team. They are an easy team to hate, but you still have to tip your cap to them for a great achievement.

• Domenic Hixon: Returning kickoffs for the first time as a Giant Hixon had a 74-yard return for a touchdown. He also had a couple of other nice returns and ended up with 221 yards on 8 runbacks. I suspect we will see him back there along with Ahmad Bradshaw next week against Tampa Bay.

• Eli Manning: Played one of his best games as a Giant. His numbers (22-of-32, 251 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT) were excellent. I was impressed by his decision-making, a couple of the throws he made on the move and his presence. He played like a big-time quarterback which, hopefully, will carry over to next week.

• Plaxico Burress: What more can be said about Burress? Four catches, 84 yards, 2 touchdowns. The man has had an amazing season playing on one healthy leg, and that continued last night.

• Kevin Boss: Showed the hands and play-making ability the Giants have been excited about since the pre-season, with four catches for 50 yards. The Giants now know they do have somebody they can throw the ball to in the middle of the field with Jeremy Shockey gone.

• Gerris Wilkinson: After watching this guy last night I have to ask -- why haven't the Giants gotten him on the field more? Replacing the injured Kawika Mitchell, Wilkinson made 9 tackles and even managed to show enough speed to hold his own covering Randy Moss downfield. He did have one penalty in pass coverage, but I am not going to kill him for that since he was trying to cover Moss.

• Aaron Ross: The rookie cornerback is going to be a fixture on the Giants' defense for years to come. He was solid last night with 6 tackles, including several excellent ones in open-field situations.

• Reggie Torbor: Nine tackles and a sack for Torbor. He is only playing because of the season-ending injury to Mathias Kiwanuka, and he has filled in pretty capably. Torbor has failed in other opportunities with the Giants, but not this time. He has played well, and was a force last night.

Wet Willies to ...

• James Butler: What on earth was Butler doing on the 65-yard touchdown from Tom Brady to Moss that put the Patriots ahead in the fourth quarter? Geez, he had over the top responsibility in a Cover 2 and didn't get anywhere close to Moss. The Giants desperately need to upgrade at that spot. Butler simply doesn't make enough plays.

• NFL Network: This was my first experience with the NFL Network, and I was incredibly annoyed by watching commercial after commercial campaigning for cable companies to carry the channel. Oh, and there were also several comments about it during the broadcast. Just do the game, dammit, and stop hitting us with all your political self-promotion.

• The officials: They are not to be faulted in any way for the Giants' loss. That said, it seemed like they didn't have a clue much of the second half. I'm not going to bother recounting all the questionable calls, but let's just say it was not this crew's best night.

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Comments

No shame

I was at the game, and I lost my voice... We dominated that game except for that Eli turnover. Man, was that a turning point. Eli and the Giants played a great game I have to say. We played to win, but one turn over to a great team cost us the win. Keep your head up Giant fans, no shame at all.... Awesome game...

by Max G-Men on Dec 30, 2007 4:02 AM EST reply actions

By the way

Boss played a great game! Excited game to watch!

by Max G-Men on Dec 30, 2007 4:05 AM EST up reply actions

Absolutely

The Giants should be proud of their effrt. And, should realize that they are a pretty good team themselves.

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 8:29 AM EST up reply actions

Two more kudos...

Let's not forget the crowd. That might be the most support a Giant team has ever had from the stands. They never let the Pats take them out of the game.

And I give "giant" kudos to Coughlin. Yes, he's the guy I routinely complain about but he (and all the coaching staff) did a great job. He knew that this was never a meaningless game, and has given the Giants the confidence to go out next week and hammer Garcia who, while good, is no Brady.

Maybe Reese should announce word of an upcoming extension for Coughlin Monday. The way the team now backs him it might provide an emotional lift just before the playoff games.

Gruden may have seen most of what we plan to do to his team, but they'll all be scrambling around next week in Tampa turning their game plan around to figure out how to stop what we showed last night.

by giant fan since 57 on Dec 30, 2007 6:17 AM EST reply actions

Agreed

TC deserves a lot of credit. That was an outstanding effort by a team that really had no reason to give one. If they can repeat that against Tampa Bay the Giants will be moving on to the second round.

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 8:30 AM EST up reply actions

what about spags?

is there anything that he can't do?

ive watched at least half of the patriots games this year and im not sure if brady got hit that many times in all of those games combined.

tough loss, but you have to be encouraged by the way they played. im already over it and ready for chuckie and the bucs.

by SBakerTheTouchdownMaker on Dec 30, 2007 8:48 AM EST reply actions

Kudos

I'm glad you gave a big kudos to Wilkinson. He was all over the field. Get this kid some playing time!

Also, agreed on the crowd. I've never seen it like that. We didn't sit down the entire game.

If the Giants use all these weapons that have come to the forefront in the last few weeks (Bradshaw, Boss, Wilkinson, Hixon), then we just might make some noise in the playoffs!

If I'm going to break them, I'm going to break them both. - LT

by potroast on Dec 30, 2007 9:20 AM EST reply actions

Weapons

Agreed that as the season has gone on the Giants have developed lots of new weapons, both offensively and defensively. Another guy who showed up last night was Steve Smith. All of this has to make you optimistic not only for next week, but for the foreseeable future.

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 9:41 AM EST up reply actions

Good to see so many young guy get deserved kudos.

Bodes well for the future. I don't agree about Eli. We saw both Elis in this game. I didn't like the fumble, the TO. and when the pressure heightened the reversion to backpedaling. If you pressure Eli, he'll make mistakes. I'm not saying he deserved a Wet Willie, either. Rugamear (SP?) deserves praise. Center might be the toughest position to come in and play cold. He did fine, except for the fumble(that could have been his fault.)
The crowd raised the (non-existent) roof.
Yes, the coaching deserves praise.
Butler's spot is probably the first hole that needs to be addressed for next year.
The play of the tight ends make me think Shockey (who's unhappy anyway) will be trade bait. He's the kind of player Parcells loves.
As for the refs, the NFL better not use this crew in the SB. They folded under the pressure of a big game. What was that penalty in Toomer? Did anyone at the game see it?

by george cronin on Dec 30, 2007 10:49 AM EST reply actions

Oh, by the way, seeing all those young guys coming

through calls attention to the great job Reese is doing.

by george cronin on Dec 30, 2007 10:51 AM EST up reply actions

Yes

At some point this week I will do a full post on Reese. He deserves huge praise.

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 10:54 AM EST up reply actions

Eli

Give him a pass on the fumble. It's the first time he's ever worked with Ruegemar as his center in a game. That stuff happens all the time w/unfamiliar centers. As for the INT, he made one bad throw all night and that was it. I thought he was brilliant.

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 10:53 AM EST up reply actions

Maybe I expect too much

The backpedaling drives me crazy. You can't make plays that way. If pressure comes up the middle, he always does it. You want to stop the Giants offense? Pressure Eli up the middle.

by george cronin on Dec 30, 2007 11:12 AM EST reply actions

Agreed

He did that once last night. But, I stand by my earlier thought that last night was as good as I've seen him.

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 12:02 PM EST up reply actions

That I'll agree with. He has had games just as

good, but never vs. so good a team. So, maybe the kudos are deserved. However, both the fumble and the TO came at crucial points in the game. The fumble series was awful.

by george cronin on Dec 30, 2007 12:34 PM EST reply actions

Yes, it was

To me, that was the series that swung the game. They needed points, and to kill some clock, and they couldn't get it done.

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 7:34 PM EST up reply actions

My only problem with the way they played....

How was Moss not matched up with a corner? At least 4 times they threw to him, he was either covered by Wilkinson, Butler, or both. Gotta get a corner on him, in his face, up his rear, in his cornrows.

Other than that, Giants played their absolute hearts out on both sides of the ball, they couldn't do much more than they did. Maybe, just maybe, Eli grew up a little bit Saturday night

I think its going to be very interesting to see how the Giants play on Sunday.

by Jim Schmiedeberg on Dec 31, 2007 8:31 AM EST reply actions

That's a good point

I think the key to the game was that the defense was on the field too long. Despite the points the Giants offense rolled up, they didn't control the ball long enough to give the defense the rest it needed. Those guys played their hearts out. By the fourth quarter they didn't have the energy to put the kind of pressure on Brady that they were putting on him earlier in the game.

by george cronin on Dec 31, 2007 10:39 AM EST up reply actions

Here's a "wet willie"

to all of you who wanted to rest everyone for the playoffs! This is the first time in history a team will be going in to the playoffs gaining momentum after a loss. Despite the injuries, we are in a lot bettter shape and with a better frame of mind than 2 weeks ago. If we play this good again we'll stomp Tampa. If I were them I'd be crapping myself........

by big blue wrecking crew on Jan 1, 2008 1:20 PM EST reply actions