Saturday, January 12, 2008

NFL: Eli Must Play Well for Giants to Win

If the New York Giants want to keep their season alive, they will have to do something that they have not been able to do so far this season: beat the Dallas Cowboys.
After watching the talk shows with the so-called experts stating what their keys to the game are, I noticed that they all left out an ingredient that is key for the Giants to win: Eli Manning must play well.
You may say that there is nothing profound in that statement, that anyone could have said it, but guess what – they didn’t, but I did.
The panel of ESPN’s NFL crew – Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Keyshawn Johnson, and Emmitt Smith, all spoke of different aspects of the game that they thought were most important – the Giants’ pass rush, Michael Strahan, the Dallas running game, etc., etc.
But what the point that they all failed to bring up is how Manning is such a perfect example of the Jeckyl and Hyde syndrome. From week to week, you don’t know what you’re going to get out of Eli until the game is played.
The Giants lost just one game on the road this year, and it was week 1 against Dallas. Manning played well in that game as he was 28-for-41 for 312 yards, four touchdowns, and a pick.
Plaxico Burress had one of his best games of the season, with eight receptions for 144 yards and three TD’s, and they ran the ball for more than 100 yards.
The Giants lost that game because the secondary simply fell apart in the fourth quarter. The Giants lost the game by 10 points, and two fourth-quarter touchdowns by the Cowboys were the difference.
Entering the final period, the Giants were trailing 31-19. A Giants’ field goal made it 31-22, but then Romo connected with T.O. for a 47-yard strike, as Dallas went 71 yards in three plays and less than two minutes. That made it 38-22, and things didn’t look good for New York.
However, the Giants came back after that, as two straight touchdown passes by Manning pulled the Giants to within 38-35 with time winding down. New York needed a defensive stop and a score to tie or win the game.
But, the secondary let the team down for the second time in the quarter, as Romo hit Sam Hurd (who?) for a 51-yard bomb that put the game away.
Week 2 was another disappointment, as the Giants were beaten by a Green Bay team that nobody expected anything from. Eli’s numbers were average, going 16-for-29 for 211 yards, a TD, and a pick. The offense wasn’t terrible in the loss, but for the defense, it was a complete meltdown.
Brett Favre played the game that propelled the Packers to the unbelievable season that they have had. Favre was 29-for-38 with three TD’s, and his confidence was completely restored.
After six straight wins, the Giants went into the bye week on an incredible high. I was left with a bitter taste in my mouth from New York defeating the then 0-7 Miami Dolphins by a mere three points in London.
The rest didn’t seem to help New York, because the Giants were again thumped by Dallas. The Giants stayed with the Cowboys for most of the game, but another meltdown gave Dallas the easy win.
Manning threw a pair of picks, and the defense collapsed, giving Owens two more touchdowns in the final 25 minutes. One was in the third quarter that went for 25 yards about midway through the quarter, and then in the fourth another bomb, this one for 50 yards, completed the scoring as Dallas outscored the Giants 14-3 in the last quarter-and-a-half to make it look easy.
New York lost three more games down the stretch, against Minnesota, Washington, and New England. And all three of those games were played at Giants Stadium.
The game against the Vikings was simply awful, and by far Manning’s worst outing of the season. He went 21-for-49 for a mere 273 yards one TD, and four – count ‘em – four picks – and three of them, including one in the fourth quarter that was returned 93 yards, went for touchdowns.
Against Washington, Manning was again poor, completing just 18 out of 52 passes for 184 yards, a lost fumble, and a TD. Even Brandon Jacobs’ big game of 130 yards couldn’t give the G-men a win and his fine performance went to waste.
Eli was good against the Patriots, as the Giants scored more points against New England than any other team that the Pats faced all year.
Of course, Manning had to throw a fourth-quarter interception that killed a Giants’ drive and helped lead to the loss.
The defense didn’t help, however. In the fourth quarter, they gave up a 65-yard touchdown to Moss, and then with less than five minutes left they gave up a score on the ground to Maroney for the game-winner.
So, as we see the pattern, it’s quite clear. It doesn’t matter how stingy the defense is, and it doesn’t matter if Jacobs runs for 500 yards. If Manning doesn’t play well and protect the ball even better, the Giants have no chance to beat Dallas.

NHL: Atlantic Division Strongest in the League

Most of this year’s attention in the National Hockey League has been paid to the standout teams – e.g. the Detroit Red Wings, and the game’s superstars – e.g. the Sydney Crosbys et al, but few headlines or discussions have mentioned the best division in the league, and that would be the Atlantic Division.
The Atlantic Division is the only division that can boast that all of its teams are over .500, and that they all have at least 20 wins. The teams in the Northwest Division, which consists of Minnesota, Vancouver, Calgary, Colorado, and Edmonton, have all won a minimum of 20 games, but Edmonton is one game under .500.
Only three teams in the league have surrendered less than 100 goals, and one of them is the New Jersey Devils, with 99. The Red Wings have allowed 96 and the Sharks have given up 95.
As a division, they have allowed fewer goals than any other division in hockey, giving up 568. The Central Division, with Detroit’s 96, are the only other division to surrender less than 600, at 572.
Sydney Crosby of Pittsburgh leads the league in assists, with 41, and he is also fourth in the league with 59 points. Philadelphia’s Mike Knuble is tied for fifth with 10 power-play goals. Those are the only players in the division who rank highly on any major offensive stat sheet.
The Atlantic is doing it with a phrase that’s most associated with football: defense and special teams.
If you take a look at the numbers, most or all of the teams in the Atlantic rank in the top 50 percent in categories that are most associated with winning games (other than obviously goals scored).
Goaltending can win a championship, and the Atlantic has plenty of it.
In the category of goals against average, Martin Brodeur ranks sixth at 2.11. Henrik Lundqvist is 14th in the league at 2.41, and Rick DiPietro of the Islanders sits in the 16th position with a goals-against average of 2.56.
Looking at the wins list, Brodeur is ranked 2nd with 23, Lundqvist is tied for eighth with 18, and DiPietro is tied for 10th with 17.
The save-percentage stat is very strong in the Atlantic as well. Brodeur again leads the way in the division, tied for 7th in the NHL at .920. Matthew Biron of the Flyers is 9th with a percentage of .919, and DiPietro is 16th with a .911.
Moving on to shutouts, Lundqvist is tied for 2nd with six, Brodeur is 4th with four, DiPietro is tied for the 12th spot with two, and both Pittsburgh goalies have two shutouts apiece. One of them, Dany Sabourin, is tied for 2nd with four shootout wins.
Brodeur is seventh with three wins in the shootout, and DiPietro is tied for eighth as he has won two games for New York via the shootout.
With all of these rankings, keep in mind that there are 44 goalies ranked in these lists, so if a goalie is ranked even as low as 22nd, he’s in the top half of the goalies in the league.
Now let’s take a look at special teams, an intangible part of hockey that can turn a game around in a flash.
The teams in the Atlantic Division rank among the best in these departments, and there are at least three teams from the division that are in the top half of the league.
On the power play, Philadelphia is ranked 2nd, scoring at a clip of 23.5 percent. The Penguins are 8th at 18.9 percent, the Rangers rank 15th at 17.4, and the Islanders sit in the 22nd spot at 16.3. Not bad numbers for a division in a league of 30 teams.
The penalty-kill numbers are even better, with four clubs ranked in the top 14 spots.
The Islanders are the 4th-best team in the NHL at killing penalties, squashing 86.4 percent of their opponents’ opportunities. Three other teams from the Atlantic are bunched in right behind each other. The Rangers ranked 12th at 83.3, followed by the Devils at 83.1, and Philly at 82.7.
So, other teams may score more goals, have flashier players, or, except for the Rangers, spend more money, but as strong as the defense and special teams are for the teams in the Atlantic Division, I’ll take my chances with any of these clubs against any of the other high-octane teams in the league
.