Congrats to the Giants

[JonUrban]

The Dolphins have an unbeaten season and this year almost went winless.The Gators were down in basketball when I went there and dregs later; now they are two time defending champions (when did we become Duke?). The Gators football team went 0-10-1 in 1979; now they have won 2 national titles. Remember when Nebraska and Miami dominated and USC was a little down? LSU wanted to "fire Curly early" (I think I have the right program). The Marlins have won as many World Series as the Red sox since 1918 (and since 1997).

Enjoy the winning now...

I have thought this over and decided that New England did not choke. The Giants should be hailed for playing a great game. They were hot and good. New England had the big 4th quarter drive to get the lead back and then Eli Manning and David Tyree made 1 of the great plays in NFL history to put the Giants in position to win. New England lost to a hot team which played a great game and it took a herculean play to beat them.


As for the close games the Pats played the last weeks of the season, everyone was "up" and "gunning" for them. I remember how "hard" the teams played against Miami when it was unbeaten in 1972-- including the Giants in the second to last week of the season.

It just goes to show how hard it is to go unbeaten in the NFL. Any week, a team can come up with a great play and win.

In my view, the Giants realized how good they were when they almost beat New England in week 17. The Giants had that game won until Sam Madison got hurt and the Pats hit big passes at the end. It was nice to see a team "go all out" in what was a "meaningless" game for them.

Excellent post. While the NY sports talk show talking heads were screaming that the Giants should rest everyone for that season ending game against the Pats, the coach and team geared up for and almost beat the Patriots. This gave them the confidence and attitude that got them past Tampa Bay, Dallas, and Green Bay - all teams they were supposed to lose to. The Super Bowl was just a great game and one of the first in ages that was actually exciting to watch for the entire time of the game.

 

[BlackHitachi]

Get ready to get pounded next season by us, we are playing the Raiders.

I'm READY!! I will be there LIVE!:

 

[salsadancer7]

I believe the word you were looking for (as far as the Lions are concerned) would be CURSED.

I wanted you to say it because I didn't wanna kick a franchise while they were down. I am in the thinking that only YOU should say your team sucks, when they do, not someone else. It's like that old saying in the 'hood I use to hear all the time...."don't you call MY 'ho a bitch!!!"

 

[Paul Wozniak]

I wanted you to say it because I didn't wanna kick a franchise while they were down. I am in the thinking that only YOU should say your team sucks, when they do, not someone else. It's like that old saying in the 'hood I use to hear all the time...."don't you call MY 'ho a bitch!!!"

Why? It's not like it's some kind of secret. Certainly not after 50 freakin' years!

 

[duchen]

Thanks..

JonUrban, for your nice words. I agree with you, too and have always believed that it is useful to play starters the last week to keep them sharp.

It is also important for the integrity of the game, which is why I respect what Coughlin did. When Don Shula had his Super Bowl teams, he always played his regulars in games that counted for the other team-- even after Miami clinched.

In 1972, he never pulled his starters. Of course, Miami was unbeaten.

In 1973, Miami clinched the AFC East (and home field) in week 10 (with one loss; home field in the playoffs was decided on a rotating basis and in 1973, the AFC East champ had the home field throught the playoffs). Miami then had to play Dallas on Thanksgiving & Pittsburgh on Monday night in back to back games (those were 2 of the other four great teams between 1971 and 1980; the Raiders were the 4th team; those 4 teams accounted for all 10 Super Bowl titles from the 1971 season through the 1980 season).

Shula played Miami's starters because the games mattered to Dallas' and Pittsbugh's competition (in those years, Cincinatti and Washington, who later made the playoffs as wild cards). They won both games.

Miami pulled their starters in the second to last game (against a non-contender that year, the Colts) and lost (the loss was one of their two losses over that 2 year period; the other loss was a 12-7 loss in week 2 to the Raiders, who Miami beat in the AFC Championship game 27-10; that was a scary record of domination very few people remember).

Miami then played their starters in the last regular season game of the season. It should be noted that there was no "bye week" for the top 2 finishers then.

On the other hand, there have been many Super Bowl titlists who rested their starters. I simply respect Coughlin's integrity and I think, in the end, they were rewarded for it.