New York Giants News and Notes: The In Between Edition

Good morning fellow Giants fans. It's the week between in the two-week wait until Super Bowl 46, and while there is no shortage of Big Blue news, it sure seems like a long time until the Giants play again--nine days to be exact. Does anyone care about the Pro Bowl on Sunday? I can't imagine any of us do, other than to watch and gloat about how none of our players are in the game. But if your football jones runs deep, I can see you looking forward to the game. But next weekend is the big one, one that we look forward to, hoping our Giants lift the Lombardi trophy again. Let's see what's being said this morning....

NY Giants' Eli Manning makes phone call to put Victor Cruz on route to succeed - NY Daily News
Victor Cruz hadn’t caught a pass from a quarterback in months, when his cell phone rang one day during the NFL lockout. He looked down and saw it was Eli Manning. It was not a call he was expecting to get. "I looked at it and I was like, ‘Eli Manning?’ Is this working?" Cruz recalled. "It was cool to see his name pop up on my phone." That was back when Cruz was an unknown, unsure of his spot on the Giants’ roster, and still hoping for his first reception in the league. This phone call wasn’t just a thrill, though. It was one of the most important calls he ever received

Giants get a kick out of Steve Weatherford - NFC East Blog - ESPN
"He was animated. We got that penalty and moved back, which was great because now we had grass, and he's jumping around and pointing and saying, 'Lawrence, this is a Super Bowl spot right here! We're going to the [expletive] Super Bowl! Then he ran over and was yelling the same thing at [Giants coach Tom] Coughlin, and Coughlin was like, 'OK, get back out there.' And he comes back and he's like, 'Let's [expletive] make this kick! We're going to the Super Bowl!" Good thing for Weatherford and the Giants that Tynes had been in this situation before. Neither the sight of Cundiff's 32-yard miss hours earlier nor the hyperactive lunacy of the man charged with securing the snap at the moment could rattle the Giants' kicker. His second career overtime NFC Championship Game winner was true and sent Weatherford sprinting around the field screaming celebratory profanities into Fox's cameras. "Just unbridled joy," Weatherford said. "That was my soul. You saw my soul on TV."

Absolutely hilarious. Can you guys picture Weatherford bouncing around and yelling at his coach that they would be going to the Super Bowl in a few minutes?

D'Alessandro: Giants' John Mara has brought his father's team into a new era | NJ.com

"But you know what the worst thing about that was — it wasn’t so much what mom did, it was the expression on my face. It was like I was watching something happen on live TV, and I’m powerless to stop it, and the cameras catch me searching around for an escape. ...".

Break It Down, Super Bowl Matchups: Ahmad Bradshaw, Hakeem Nicks – Audibles
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the Giants’ Week 9 win in New England was that they pulled off that victory without the services of either running back Ahmad Bradshaw or wide receiver Hakeem Nicks.

Steve Serby on Super Bowl XLVI Giants holding grudge against Tom Brady - NYPOST.com
It happened inside their sprawling hotel headquarters two days prior to Super Bowl XLII when a group of defenders that included Osi Umenyiora and Justin Tuck finally got around to watching a clip of Brady from Media Day openly scoffing at Plaxico Burress’ prediction: Giants 23, Patriots 17. "I remember the arrogance of the whole way he scoffed ... I remember that making us particularly angry," Umenyiora told The Post yesterday.

Giants Focus on Super Bowl Plans for Their Families - NYTimes.com
They divvied up their allotment of tickets. They figured out hotel accommodations. They discussed flights and transportation and dinner reservations and all of the logistics that demanded attention before the players could resume focusing on, you know, the biggest game of their lives.

Giants' Devin Thomas, Michael Clayton connect as kindred spirits | NJ.com
These two were supposed to be much more. They were high draft picks — Clayton a first-round selection, Thomas a second-rounder — who foresaw big numbers and big plays into their 30s. Last year, they arrived in East Rutherford, having been dumped by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (Clayton) and the Washington Redskins and Carolina Panthers (Thomas) and realizing their immediate futures lied in special teams.

On Super Bowl XXI's 25th anniversary, former NY Giants' quarterback Phil Simms reflects on spotless performance vs. Denver Broncos - NY Daily News
The clear-cut Super Bowl MVP for a team that got there with a nasty defense and a powerful running game, Simms put the Giants on his right arm that day and led them past the Broncos to their first championship in 30 years.

Giants' Manning among the elite QBs - Fall River, MA - The Herald News
The debate raged for years: Who was the NFL’s best quarterback, New England’s Tom Brady or Indianapolis’ Peyton Manning? This year, the debate died. Peyton is no longer even the best quarterback in his family. In a season in which his big brother was sidelined by a neck injury, New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning has proven to be a major pain in the neck to opposing defenses.

The New York Giants can teach college football a lot about how not to conduct a playoff | Dr. Saturday - Yahoo! Sports
But of course, thanks to the inviolable sanctity of the playoffs, the only streak that matters in the end is the Giants' three-game run in January. So here they are, and almost no one blinks. What a story!

NJ camel predicts Giants will win the Super Bowl - WSJ.com
People use all sorts of ways to try to predict the winner of the Super Bowl: comparing regular season records, judging who looked stronger in the post-season run-up to the big game, or watching the betting lines from Las Vegas oddsmakers. But the closest thing to a sure thing may come from a camel in New Jersey.

I'm not by any means suggesting you guys take the advice of a camel. I only hope that freaking camel is right.

NY Giants coach Tom Coughlin says he's not thinking about retirement entering Super XLVI vs. New England Patriots - NY Daily News
On the phone now I tell him about something a Giants fan I know said to me the other day, the fan saying his words that if Coughlin wins this Super Bowl he might "ride off into the sunset." The answer comes at you faster than Victor Cruz. "I have honestly never thought about doing that," he says. "And I’ll tell you why: I am having the time of my life."

Patriots' Vince Wilfork will give Giants' offensive line a challenge in Super Bowl | NJ.com
Vince Wilfork’s teammates know what Vince Wilfork’s opponents see, and they don’t envy the guys lining up across from him.

Isn't this the guy who poked Brandon Jacobs in the eye during the last Super Bowl they played in?

Chris Snee, Giants offensive line want Eli Manning upright in Super Bowl XLVI against Patriots - NYPOST.com
Going over tape of a game that propelled your team into a Super Bowl is supposed to be easy on the eyes, but Chris Snee and his offensive line teammates did not like much of what they saw in the 20-17 overtime victory against the 49ers in the NFC title game. The line broke down more often than it had all season, as Eli Manning was sacked six times and hit another 12 times by a defensive front that got meaner and tougher as the game wore on

I want to leave you with a story I saw come up on a search engine this morning, from the NY Daily News this past August. Manning sure proved this writer that he could get to the playoffs, and then some, didn't he? Of course, most of us felt the same way.....

Giants shouldn't panic yet, but Eli Manning's decision-making must improve to have shot at playoffs - NY Daily News
Manning has been the MVP in the Super Bowl, so there is no reason for the Giants to panic just because he's looked so out of rhythm in the preseason. But he's got to get better for the Giants to have a chance to make the playoffs. He tossed two bad interceptions when the Jets were blitzing in the first half. The turnovers were a flashback to last season when he led the NFL with a career-high 25 picks.

Have a great weekend, everyone. The party is really just about to start.....