Joe Public
Gabibbo's Finest
As an Eagle fan, this matchup both excites me and worries me.
As has been said before, but cannot be said enough, thank you Plex for shooting yourself right out of this season. Even with Asante Samuel out there and maybe the best secondary in the NFC, the Eagles still can't cover Plex. He's too big and he feels invincible against the Birds. Only and until there's a Ray Lewis on Eddie George moment will that dynamic change.
But without him, the Eagles can single up the Giants' WRs and play straight man. This is a good thing because they're going to need the extra help to stop Brandon Jacobs.
Make no mistake, the Eagles won the last meeting, the Giants didn't lose it. In fact, if you watched that game, you know the Giants were never really in it save for the blocked FG. They never got anything going offensively, but that's mostly and almost exclusively because the Birds didn't have to respect them offensively. They could play man on the WRs and they could send blitzers all day because without Jacobs there wasn't enough of a threat in the backfield. So Eli was kind of f**ked. And when he makes bad choices against the Eagles they almost always, historically, make him pay.
That won't happen tomorrow. The Giants will be a much tougher out because Jacobs will get yards.
Personally I think this game comes down to a couple of things, mostly falling on both QBs.
Can Donovan/Eli make enough plays on third down to move the chains. Secondarily, whose TEs will have the better day. In the past you'd look for LJ Smith to potentially have a good day tomorrow. But he seems to have totally lost the confidence of the team, for what reason I don't know, but he was a healthy scratch last week.
So that means Brent 'Don't Call Me Tom' Celek vs. Kevin Boss (who I'm assuming is healthy). Guy who has the better day is likely on the winning team.
Because the Giants will do everything they can to shadow Westbrook. He'll still probably get his, but I'd be surprised if he dominates the game the way he did a month ago.
My feeling on the game goes like this. Donovan plays his normally frustrating playoff game on the road. Occasionally making plays (look for how many times he goes to Avant tomorrow, that guy's becoming his safety valve), but occasionally almost killing drives single-handedly. The Giants run the ball, Eli makes some plays, and it comes down to the 4th quarter. If Donovan can get the Eagles to 20 points, I think they have a good chance to win the game.
I do think the Eagles will try to run. I think they'll use both Westbrook and Buck, and I don't think they'll give up on it and solely rely on Donovan.
But Runyan is dinged up and the team here that's going to run well, by all rights, should be NY. That should make for a more plodding pace.
These teams know each other so well, I look for a game that ends up 20-17, 23-20, 17-14, something like that.
My guess is that the Giants win, but I will not be surprised at all if the Eagles pull it off.
If I could get seven I'd take it. I would not lay more than three with the Giants. I've teased the Eagles to 10, would tease the total up rather than down, though both might hit.
I will bet the Eagles very small on the ML, trying to get as close to +190 or +200 as a I can because I think this is a FG game either way.
Go Birds.
Good luck tomorrow everybody.
As has been said before, but cannot be said enough, thank you Plex for shooting yourself right out of this season. Even with Asante Samuel out there and maybe the best secondary in the NFC, the Eagles still can't cover Plex. He's too big and he feels invincible against the Birds. Only and until there's a Ray Lewis on Eddie George moment will that dynamic change.
But without him, the Eagles can single up the Giants' WRs and play straight man. This is a good thing because they're going to need the extra help to stop Brandon Jacobs.
Make no mistake, the Eagles won the last meeting, the Giants didn't lose it. In fact, if you watched that game, you know the Giants were never really in it save for the blocked FG. They never got anything going offensively, but that's mostly and almost exclusively because the Birds didn't have to respect them offensively. They could play man on the WRs and they could send blitzers all day because without Jacobs there wasn't enough of a threat in the backfield. So Eli was kind of f**ked. And when he makes bad choices against the Eagles they almost always, historically, make him pay.
That won't happen tomorrow. The Giants will be a much tougher out because Jacobs will get yards.
Personally I think this game comes down to a couple of things, mostly falling on both QBs.
Can Donovan/Eli make enough plays on third down to move the chains. Secondarily, whose TEs will have the better day. In the past you'd look for LJ Smith to potentially have a good day tomorrow. But he seems to have totally lost the confidence of the team, for what reason I don't know, but he was a healthy scratch last week.
So that means Brent 'Don't Call Me Tom' Celek vs. Kevin Boss (who I'm assuming is healthy). Guy who has the better day is likely on the winning team.
Because the Giants will do everything they can to shadow Westbrook. He'll still probably get his, but I'd be surprised if he dominates the game the way he did a month ago.
My feeling on the game goes like this. Donovan plays his normally frustrating playoff game on the road. Occasionally making plays (look for how many times he goes to Avant tomorrow, that guy's becoming his safety valve), but occasionally almost killing drives single-handedly. The Giants run the ball, Eli makes some plays, and it comes down to the 4th quarter. If Donovan can get the Eagles to 20 points, I think they have a good chance to win the game.
I do think the Eagles will try to run. I think they'll use both Westbrook and Buck, and I don't think they'll give up on it and solely rely on Donovan.
But Runyan is dinged up and the team here that's going to run well, by all rights, should be NY. That should make for a more plodding pace.
These teams know each other so well, I look for a game that ends up 20-17, 23-20, 17-14, something like that.
My guess is that the Giants win, but I will not be surprised at all if the Eagles pull it off.
If I could get seven I'd take it. I would not lay more than three with the Giants. I've teased the Eagles to 10, would tease the total up rather than down, though both might hit.
I will bet the Eagles very small on the ML, trying to get as close to +190 or +200 as a I can because I think this is a FG game either way.
Go Birds.
Good luck tomorrow everybody.
