LaTunaNostra
He Made the Difference
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There are some funny ones today, but this one is just flat out hysterical.
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BLAME STARTS AND ENDS WITH ELI
by Steve Serby
November 27, 2006 --
NASHVILLE
Forget the Giants.
When your reeling quarterback wrecks the game after you bend over backwards for him not to wreck it, you deserve every bit of New York's scorn and derision.
Eli Manning, a 24-21 loser, could not put the dismembered Titans away, and in the end, at the end, he put the Giants away.
When you blow a 21-0 fourth quarter lead to the Vince Young Titans, you have no killer instinct, and you do not deserve to call yourselves a Super Bowl contender.
If Manning makes a play, at a time when the Titans sent everybody except Elvis at Tiki Barber (25-82), if Manning converts a third down, or a fourth down, if Manning gets his team a field goal, the Giants survive.
He was 2-for-7 for 13 yards and two picks in the fourth quarter.
This was a collapse of unconscionable, unacceptable proportions, and The Good Ship Coughlin is sinking at a time when a man-eating Tuna is once again lurking in the NFC East waters. :laugh2:
You can blame Mathias Kiwanuka for giving up a game-deciding fourth-and-10 sack because he thought Vince Young threw the ball on the play that ignited the drive that tied the game with 44 seconds left. You can blame Frank Walker for roughing Young unnecessarily out of bounds to keep alive the Titans' first TD drive. You can blame the battered, ragtag bunch that made Young feel like he was back again at Texas and needs to be sitting on the bench behind Coughlin more than it needs to be disgracing the uniform.
Blame the quarterback instead.
Blame the quarterback because he threw the momentum away and eventually threw the game, and maybe even the Super Bowl dream, away.
Tom Coughlin played scared of his quarterback for most of the game, with a game plan seemingly devised by Tiki Barber . . . smashmouth football designed to keep the heat off Manning, and a passing game that featured checkdowns, screens and safe throws, short and intermediate only.
With 40 seconds and all three timeouts left, he played scared of his defense, and scared of overtime, and who could blame him?
Manning with the ball in his hands at his 19 was the lesser of two evils.
If you don't think your quarterback can win the game, if you don't show your team you believe in him, then you have no quarterback, and no hope.
It blew up in the coach's face.
Manning, second-and-1 at his 28, two timeouts left, underthrew one down the right sidelines for David Tyree. Pacman Jones intercepted. Soon Rob Biranas was kicking the 49-yard field goal with six seconds left that just might haunt Coughlin forever. Or longer.
"There's no way you can throw an interception under that circumstance at the end of the game," an incredulous and shellshocked Coughlin barked. "There's no way. I mean, if you are rolling and don't like what you see, throw it out of bounds. You can always go into overtime."
Manning was looking first for Barber, but he was covered. "Just didn't get enough on it," he said.
Someone in the press room asked him if he thought about throwing it out of bounds. "That's what I should have done," Manning said. "Don't give them the ball. Comes worse, take it in overtime and you try to win there. Just a bad decision on my part. If you're gonna miss, you miss long and high rather than short."
Manning's meltdown began with the first play of the fourth quarter, fourth-and-three from the Tennessee 31, when he threw under pressure for David Tyree and nearly had it intercepted. "Tried to hit the curl and the guy kinda got at my feet and couldn't get anything on the ball," Manning said.
Early in the fourth quarter, second-and-4 from his 35, Manning heaved one down the right sidelines for Burress, who gave up early on it. "I just thought the ball was going over my head; I should have maybe just tackled him," Burress said. The interception changed the game and gave the comatose Titans sudden life. "They had a blitz zero, just one-on-one, had a fade route to Plaxico," Manning said. "The guy made a good play."
Tell that to Coughlin. "The ball wasn't supposed to go there," Coughlin said. "He went over on that side because there was pressure."
Pressure is the first-place Cowboys Sunday. "To me, I think it was just 10; I don't know who else to talk about besides 10," Antonio Pierce said. He was talking about Young. The Titans' 10. Not his 10.
steve.serby@nypost.com
http://www.nypost.com/seven/1127200...arts_and_ends_with_eli_giants_steve_serby.htm
________________________________
BLAME STARTS AND ENDS WITH ELI
by Steve Serby
November 27, 2006 --
NASHVILLE
Forget the Giants.
When your reeling quarterback wrecks the game after you bend over backwards for him not to wreck it, you deserve every bit of New York's scorn and derision.
Eli Manning, a 24-21 loser, could not put the dismembered Titans away, and in the end, at the end, he put the Giants away.
When you blow a 21-0 fourth quarter lead to the Vince Young Titans, you have no killer instinct, and you do not deserve to call yourselves a Super Bowl contender.
If Manning makes a play, at a time when the Titans sent everybody except Elvis at Tiki Barber (25-82), if Manning converts a third down, or a fourth down, if Manning gets his team a field goal, the Giants survive.
He was 2-for-7 for 13 yards and two picks in the fourth quarter.
This was a collapse of unconscionable, unacceptable proportions, and The Good Ship Coughlin is sinking at a time when a man-eating Tuna is once again lurking in the NFC East waters. :laugh2:
You can blame Mathias Kiwanuka for giving up a game-deciding fourth-and-10 sack because he thought Vince Young threw the ball on the play that ignited the drive that tied the game with 44 seconds left. You can blame Frank Walker for roughing Young unnecessarily out of bounds to keep alive the Titans' first TD drive. You can blame the battered, ragtag bunch that made Young feel like he was back again at Texas and needs to be sitting on the bench behind Coughlin more than it needs to be disgracing the uniform.
Blame the quarterback instead.
Blame the quarterback because he threw the momentum away and eventually threw the game, and maybe even the Super Bowl dream, away.
Tom Coughlin played scared of his quarterback for most of the game, with a game plan seemingly devised by Tiki Barber . . . smashmouth football designed to keep the heat off Manning, and a passing game that featured checkdowns, screens and safe throws, short and intermediate only.
With 40 seconds and all three timeouts left, he played scared of his defense, and scared of overtime, and who could blame him?
Manning with the ball in his hands at his 19 was the lesser of two evils.
If you don't think your quarterback can win the game, if you don't show your team you believe in him, then you have no quarterback, and no hope.
It blew up in the coach's face.
Manning, second-and-1 at his 28, two timeouts left, underthrew one down the right sidelines for David Tyree. Pacman Jones intercepted. Soon Rob Biranas was kicking the 49-yard field goal with six seconds left that just might haunt Coughlin forever. Or longer.
"There's no way you can throw an interception under that circumstance at the end of the game," an incredulous and shellshocked Coughlin barked. "There's no way. I mean, if you are rolling and don't like what you see, throw it out of bounds. You can always go into overtime."
Manning was looking first for Barber, but he was covered. "Just didn't get enough on it," he said.
Someone in the press room asked him if he thought about throwing it out of bounds. "That's what I should have done," Manning said. "Don't give them the ball. Comes worse, take it in overtime and you try to win there. Just a bad decision on my part. If you're gonna miss, you miss long and high rather than short."
Manning's meltdown began with the first play of the fourth quarter, fourth-and-three from the Tennessee 31, when he threw under pressure for David Tyree and nearly had it intercepted. "Tried to hit the curl and the guy kinda got at my feet and couldn't get anything on the ball," Manning said.
Early in the fourth quarter, second-and-4 from his 35, Manning heaved one down the right sidelines for Burress, who gave up early on it. "I just thought the ball was going over my head; I should have maybe just tackled him," Burress said. The interception changed the game and gave the comatose Titans sudden life. "They had a blitz zero, just one-on-one, had a fade route to Plaxico," Manning said. "The guy made a good play."
Tell that to Coughlin. "The ball wasn't supposed to go there," Coughlin said. "He went over on that side because there was pressure."
Pressure is the first-place Cowboys Sunday. "To me, I think it was just 10; I don't know who else to talk about besides 10," Antonio Pierce said. He was talking about Young. The Titans' 10. Not his 10.
steve.serby@nypost.com
http://www.nypost.com/seven/1127200...arts_and_ends_with_eli_giants_steve_serby.htm
