Giants Near Perfect Win in Minnesota

This time, there was no last second 61 yard field goal to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. This time, the better team won the game.

The New York Giants flew into Minnesota and played a near perfect playoff game against the Vikings Sunday. And for their efforts, they move on to the Divisional round. The final score was 31-24, Big Blue.

Let's be honest. This was the best playoff matchup the Giants could've hoped for. The Vikings, despite an impressive 13-4 regular-season record, were quite possibly the weakest division winner in the NFL, and that includes the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Their defense was tied for third worst in the league along with the Colts and Lions, surrendering 427 points. A look under hood revealed a team that had been playing with fire all season long, and this time they got burned. The fact is had the Giants not committed two turnovers and had a punt blocked in week 16, they would've won that game, too. For the Jints, it came down to not shooting themselves in the foot.

But just because the Vikes were a paper tiger, that shouldn't diminish what the Giants accomplished here. Put succinctly, this was the best postseason game this franchise has played in since the 2011 season: the last time they won the Super Bowl. Just look at these stats: The Giants led in first downs: 28-21; rushing yards: 142-61; total yards: 431-332; and time of possession: 33:36-26:24. They literally made two mistakes the entire game: a procedural penalty in the red zone that wiped out a touchdown and a dropped pass by Darius Slayton late in the 4th quarter that would've allowed them to run out the clock. In the end, neither proved costly.

It goes without saying that the job Brain Daboll and his staff have done with this team is nothing short of miraculous. They literally took a 4-13 team and in less than a year transformed it into a 9-7-1 playoff team. But more than that, they have changed the culture in a locker room that for the better part of a decade had gotten used to losing. These players now believe in themselves and it shows on the field. As I wrote last October, we haven't seen such discipline from a Giants team since "the glory days of Bill Parcels."

Mike Kafka called a perfect game, dialing up just the right plays to exploit a porous Vikings defense. Daniel Jones had his best game as a Giant, completing 24 of 35 passes for 301 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions. He also rushed for 78 yards. Saquon Barkly had over 100 all-purpose yards; 53 on the ground and 56 through the air.

And on the other side of the ball, Wink Martindale's defense held the league's number one receiver, Justin Jefferson, to a paltry 47 yards. In the week 16 game, Jefferson lit up the Giants secondary for 133 yards. And while the Giants didn't record a single sack against Kirk Cousins, they pressured him on virtually every passing down. It will be very difficult for Joe Schoen to keep both coordinators from jumping ship next season.

But while the Giants deserve to bask in the glory of their well-deserved win, their next opponent, the Philadelphia Eagles, will be far more formidable. The only game this season in which the Giants were thoroughly dominated from start to finish was against the Eagles at Met Life in week 14. Philly cruised to a 48-22 rout. Believe me when I say the score didn't remotely reflect just how bad a whooping the Eagles put on the G-Men. If the Giants have any chance at pulling off the upset Saturday, they will have to be more than just perfect; they are going to have to hope that Jalen Hurts's injured right shoulder is still bothering him. Because the Eagles, unlike the Vikings, can play defense and they know how to rush the quarterback. They led the NFL with 70 sacks this season.

No doubt about it, this will be Daboll's toughest challenge since becoming Giants' head coach. 

It's Not "Just" A Game

What happened to Damar Hamlin in Monday night's football game between the Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals has no precedent in NFL history. Not even the brutal hit by Jack Tatum on Darryl Stingley in a 1978 preseason game that left Stingley paralyzed comes close.

An entire nation saw a football player suffer a cardiac arrest after making what looked like a routine tackle. And had it not been for the quick and skilled response of medical professionals in the stadium, he would never have made it to the hospital alive. Even now, this young man remains in critical condition. Assuming he survives, he is in for a very long recovery. Every decent and caring human being, fan of the sport or not, needs to keep him, his family and teammates in their prayers.

But while it was correct for the league to postpone the game Monday night after it was obvious the players and coaches were too distraught to continue, its subsequent decision Tuesday to not resume it this week is a mistake. Let me explain.

This was no mere game between two AFC rivals. It had playoff implications for no fewer than four teams: the Bills, the Bengals, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Baltimore Ravens. Going into last weekend, the AFC standings were as follows: 1. Buffalo, 2. Kansas City, 3. Cincinnati, 4. Jacksonville, 5. Los Angeles, 6. Baltimore, 7 New England. Buffalo owns the tiebreaker over K.C. by virtue of a win against them in week six.

Had the Bengals beaten the Bills, they would've leapfrogged past them into the number two seed in the conference. Why is that important? Because the number two seed gets an additional home game in the playoffs. Had the Bills won, they likely would've clinched the number one seed, assuming they beat the Patriots this Sunday.

But here's the problem. Without this game in the standings, the Chiefs are now the number one seed in the conference by a half game, meaning if the Chiefs and Bills both win on Sunday, Buffalo's path to the Super Bowl would, once more, have to go through Arrow Head Stadium where they are 0 for 2 in the postseason.

But wait, it gets worse. The Ravens, who have already beaten the Bengals once this season, could've captured the AFC North with a win over them on Sunday coupled with a Bengals loss on Monday night. Now, thanks to the suits at Park Avenue, the Ravens will have to go on the road as a Wild Card.

You see how one ill-advised decision can have a domino effect?

Why would the league do such a thing knowing the ramifications? Public image, that's why. Let's be honest here for a moment. For years, the NFL has had a reputation for not giving a shit about its players. And to be honest, they haven't. The way they initially handled the concussion issue was a disgrace. 

I have no doubt that ESPN's reporting about the NFL's wanting to resume Monday night's game in five minutes is accurate. It was only after both teams walked off the field and into their respective locker rooms that the league knew it had fucked up. So they went into damage control mode, which is what they seem to excel at. If you want to know why Roger Goodell constantly gets booed at every Draft, this is why. No other professional sports commissioner is more loathe by both fans and players alike than him.

So rather than just admit they made a mistake, they decided to compound the mistake by making another, worse mistake. Mark my words, the very same people who are now self-righteously beating their chests proclaiming that "it's just a game" or "it doesn't matter" will be the first to scream bloody murder when their team loses in the playoffs because they had to play on the road instead of at home. I know fans; I know how they think, because I'm one of them.

The fact is football isn't "just" a game. It hasn't been for a very long time. It's a multi-billion dollar enterprise that is the number one sport in North America and the number two sport in Europe. You think ESPN pried Joe Buck and Troy Aikman away from Fox because they had a few extra million laying around in petty cash? They did it because it was a smart business decision. In fact, ESPN spends pretty much the entire calendar year talking incessantly about football. Even during the World Series, it got more attention.

Call me silly, but I happen to think it's possible to walk and chew gum at the same time. You can sympathize with what Hamlin and his family are going through while at the same time wanting a consequential game to be completed. It shouldn't be either or. That's a false choice, in my opinion. The correct course of action would be for the league to resume the game Thursday night and then push back both teams' subsequent Sunday games to Monday night. That way every team would play a full compliment of 17 games. More importantly, the playoff seeding would be accurate.

Knowing the NFL and its propensity for fucking up a sunset, that isn't likely to happen.

Giants in Control of Their Own Destiny

To be clear, the Giants deserved a better fate than the one they got in Minnesota on Saturday. For most of the game, they were the better team. They out-gained the Vikings, both on the ground and in the air. Despite throwing only his first interception in the last five games, Daniel Jones was the better quarterback. Indeed, with a receiving corps that consisted of Richie James, Isaiah Hodgins, Darius Clayton and Daniel Bellinger, Jones still managed to complete 30 of 42 pass attempts for 334 yards. Imagine the stats he could've put up if he had Justin Jefferson to throw to.

But, alas, Jones did throw that pick, early in the 4th quarter with his team trailing 17-13. And while it didn't lead to any points by the Vikes, it nonetheless deprived the Jints of what surely would've been at the very least a field goal and quite possibly the go-ahead touchdown. Though it wasn't the only turnover of the game - Bellinger coughed up the ball at the Minnesota 39 early in the 2nd quarter, which led to a Vikings field goal - it proved to be the most costly.

Still, if you are a fan of this team, you had to be impressed with the resiliency you saw on that field. After a blocked punt led to a Vikings touchdown that ninety-nine times out of a hundred would've iced the game, the Giants drove 75 yards in 59 seconds to score a touchdown and two-point conversion that tied the score with just over two minutes remaining. Saquon Barkley capped off the possession with a 27 yard run on 4th and 2. In the end, a 61-yard field goal as time expired was the backbreaker. 27-24, Vikings. Like I said, they deserved a better fate.

But as cruel as the football gods were to the Giants in Minnesota, they are still in control of their own destiny. That's because the Lions (7-8), Seahawks (7-8) and Commanders (7-7-1) each lost as well. All the Giants have to do this Sunday is beat the Colts and they will make the postseason for the first time since 2016. It doesn't get any simpler than that. Win and in. If that slogan isn't plastered all over walls of the Giants locker room before the game, someone needs to be fired.

There will be no excuses for not winning. None! The Colts are a hapless team in the midst of a terrible season in which their head coach, Frank Reich, was fired and replaced by ESPN analyst Jeff Saturday, who clearly should've kept his day job. Their 4-9-1 record speaks for itself. 

The Giants, on the other hand, at 8-6-1, have been one of the most overachieving and hardest working teams in the NFL this season. Only once have they lost a game in which they were favored going in: the Lions in week eleven, 31-18. And it's worth noting that Lions team is considerably better than the Colts team that will be limping into MetLife Stadium this Sunday. 

Head coach Brian Daboll - who should be on the short list for coach of the year - will have his troops ready when they take the field in front of 82,000 screaming fans. Let's put it this way: If they bring the same level of intensity to this game that they showed in Minnesota on Saturday, Big Blue will punch its ticket to the playoffs.

Look, I know nothing is ever etched in stone. Let's not forget this is the same franchise that gave us "The Fumble" back in 1978. Anything is possible. But given what we've seen so far from this Giants team, they should be able to take care of business against the Colts. If they don't; if they squander this opportunity, it will be a very, very long off season - even for an organization that is in year one of yet another rebuild.

Four Great Games, Four Wild Finishes

I've been watching football since the mid-1970s and I can honestly say, without hesitation, that this past weekend's playoff games were the best I've ever seen. Period! I defy anyone to prove me wrong.

You might find one game that matched what we saw yesterday; hell, you might even find two; but you'll never find four. If you're a fan of the game, this was special; this was a treat.

Consider the following: Each game was decided on the last play and the combined margin for all four games was 15 points: three field goals and an overtime touchdown. 

Game one: Cincinnati at Tennessee

Joe "Cool" Burrow against Derrick "King" Henry. If ever there was a player with ice water in his veins it's Burrow. The Bengals quarterback was sacked nine times, yet still hung in the pocket to complete 28 of 37 pass attempts for 348 yards.

But as good as Burrow was, the reason the Bengals won this game was because for some strange reason, Titans' head coach Mike Vrabel thought his quarterback was Peyton Manning. With the best running game in the NFL, Vrabel allowed Ryan Tannehill to throw the ball 24 times, resulting in three picks; the last one led to the winning field goal. 

Look, I wasn't a big believer in Tennessee going all the way. In this game you need an elite quarterback to have a shot at a Super Bowl, but this was a winnable game for the Titans and their coach chose a particular inopportune time to have a bad day. Dumb, simply dumb.

Game two: San Francisco at Green Bay 

January at Lambeau, the frozen tundra, scene of the infamous ice bowl. Game-time temps in the single digits, wind chill below zero. The team from the Bay area taking on the team that was built for this weather. There was just one tiny problem: the team from the fair-weather city seemed to handle the elements better, or at least came better prepared, than the home-town team.

Yes, the blocked field goal and the blocked punt hurt, but that was not the reason the Packers lost. They lost because they scored only ten points; and they scored only ten points because the most celebrated quarterback in a generation played like shit when his team needed him most. The fact is in the middle of a snow squall, with 3:40 left in regulation, and the scored tied at 10, with the ball at his own 28 and needing only 11 yards for a first down, Aaron Rodgers decided to heave a 40-yard pass downfield to Davante Adams that the Niners were all over. The pass was broken up and the Packers were forced to punt.

That gave Jimmy Garoppolo three minutes to navigate his team down field and set up the game-winning field goal. Yes, as strange as it may seem, Jimmy G, God's gift to defensive coordinators, looked like the king of the two-minute drill, while his counterpart looked like Daniel Jones.

If that sounds harsh, it was meant to. There's a reason why Rodgers has only one Super Bowl ring despite a plethora of opportunities to get more. He's simply not a clutch performer when it counts. Think about it. He could've chosen to, as Hank Stram used to say, "matriculate the football down the field." But, alas, his ego got in the way. So he forced a play he had no business forcing and cost his team a win they should've had going away. Chalk this one up to sheer arrogance. 

Oh, and by the way, Aaron, Brandon sends his love.

Game three: Los Angeles at Tampa Bay

Matt Stafford versus the GOAT. The last time Sean McVay went head to head with Tom Brady, Brady beat him in the Super Bowl. This time around, he brought his own gun slinger with him. To be honest, I wasn't much of a Stafford fan, but he showed me something yesterday. Stafford was a cool customer, besting Brady in yards and completion percentage. Indeed, the only interception in the game was thrown by Brady.

The fact is, had it not been for the four turnovers the Rams committed, none of which were Stafford's fault, this game would've been a rout. Even after the Bucs mounted a successful comeback to tie the game, Stafford had enough composure to throw a strike to a wide open Cooper Kupp at the 12 yard line line to set up the winning field goal as time expired. Not bad for a guy everybody, including yours truly, thought was overrated.

Didn't think it could get any better? Well...

Game four: Buffalo at Kansas City

Now we come to the pièce de résistance. If you missed this game, you missed one helluva match. Three lead changes in the final two minutes of regulation; both quarterbacks combining for 707 yards, 7 touchdowns and no picks. 

This was not a game for the faint of heart, believe me. I must've said "Holy shit" at least a dozen times. Hey, Giants and Jets fans, this is how football was meant to be played.

It's a shame that one of these quarterbacks had to lose; that's how great both Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen were. We might never see a performance like this again. But if you're a Buffalo Bills fan, you have a right to be pissed at your coaching staff, particularly the special teams coaching staff.

After Mahomes threw a slant to Tyreek Hill that he took all the way to the end zone goal for the go-ahead touchdown with 1:02 left, Allen successfully navigated his team downfield and threw his 4th touchdown of the night with 13 seconds remaining to put the Bills ahead 36-33. All the Bills had to do was protect that lead for a lousy 13 seconds - a lousy 13 seconds!

But rather than attempt a squib kick and force the Chiefs to field the ball, thus running some time off the clock, the Bills elected to kick the ball into the end zone, which gave Mahomes the full 13 seconds to get his team in position to kick the game-tying field goal and force overtime. And that's exactly what Mahomes did. And after the Chiefs won the coin toss, Mahomes sliced and diced his way through an exhausted Buffalo defense and connected with Travis Kelce for the game-winning touchdown.

It was a heartbreaking loss for a Bills team that, two years in a row, has lost to the Chiefs in the postseason. They deserved a better fate this time around. But for the majority of us football fans who didn't have a horse in this race, this was a game for the ages.

Memo to Joe Schoen, new GM of the New York Giants: as you continue your search for the team's next head coach, Chiefs offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy and Bills offensive coordinator Brian Daboll should be at the top of your list. Both men have done an outstanding job with their respective teams, and either would make a great choice, especially for an organization that hasn't had a functioning offense in more than a decade.

One and Done in Dallas

Normally, I wouldn't give a shit about what happens in a playoff game involving the Dallas Cowboys, especially since my team has been dreadful for most of the last ten years. But given the travesty that occurred yesterday, I thought I'd put in my two cents.

That the Cowboys lost to the San Francisco 49ers should surprise no one. Let's be honest, given the playoff seeding, the Niners were the last team the Cowboys wanted to face in the playoffs. But the manner in which they lost is revealing of a team that has multiple issues, all of which came back to haunt them when push came to shove.

Let's start with the offensive coordinator. You have a two-headed monster in Ezekiel Elliott and Tony Pollard that at one point in the season was averaging 6 yards a pop from the line of scrimmage and you only call their number 16 times for a total of 45 yards, while at the same time calling 43 pass plays? Kellen Moore should be fired for being this inept.

Secondly, can we just admit that Dak Prescott is not an elite quarterback? Jerry Jones can pay him all the money he wants, he's not Tom Brady; nor is he Aaron Rodgers, or Patrick Mahomes, or Josh Allen, or Juston Herbert. All of the above QBs would've taken advantage of the multiple opportunities the Niners presented them and propelled their team to victory yesterday. The ugly truth is if you are depending on Dak to lead you to victory, get used to being disappointed. And that's saying something, given that my team still thinks Daniel Jones is a franchise quarterback.

Third, the officials didn't cost the Cowboys the game; poor clock management and bad play calling did. Think about it: With 14 seconds left in regulation, no timeouts and the ball at the Niners 41 yard line, instead of throwing a quick pass to the sidelines to get closer to the end zone, or attempting a couple of Hail Mary's from where they were, the Cowboys elected to call a quarterback draw up the middle for 17 yards to Niners 24 yard line. What happened next was bizarre. Apparently no one on this team knew that before they could spike the ball the umpire had to first spot it. So while the ump was doing his job, time ran out on the Cowboys season.

One and done!

How typical for a Mike McCarthy-led team. Despite all their talent and accolades, this was one of the most undisciplined and unprepared teams in the NFL this season. I'll say it again, this was a winnable game against an opponent that made its fair-share of mistakes and was minus its best defensive player Nick Bosa for most of the second half. Like I mentioned above, Brady or Rodgers would've found a way to win under similar conditions. Bottom line, the 49ers exposed the Cowboys for what they were: an overrated team that took advantage of playing in a poor division.

But rather than accept responsibility, McCarthy and his perennial underachiever Prescott deflected and blamed the officiating. Worse, Prescott, when informed that some fans had thrown things at the officials as they were headed off the field, approved of it, which in itself is a disgrace and worthy of a fine by the league. 

Never mind that McCarthy didn't know where the hell the ball was when the ill-fated play was run; he said in his press conference that it was on the 50 yard line when it was actually on the 41 yard line. Never mimd that he apparently doesn't think his quarterback has a good enough arm to successfully reach the end zone from midfield. Regardless of whoever called in that horrific play, he, as head coach, is responsible for the outcome. If he didn't know what the play was, shame on him for not knowing; and if he did know and signed off on it, shame on him for being that stupid.

Look, it's no sweat off my nose that the Dallas Cowboys were eliminated from the postseason. Truth be told, I revel in their fans' pain. But the group of players we saw on the field yesterday looked more like the Keystone Cops than a professional football team, and if I were Jerry Jones, I'd be real pissed right now.