xenophobe

Injuries are a fair consideration which every Giants fan is more than aware of. Last season they lost Shockey, Ward, and Kiwanuka to season ending injuries, and it was the first season since 2002 where they weren't devistated by injuries in the second half of the season. Overall, I'd say the Cowboys have enjoyed ~relative~ good health the past few years.

Here is a link from the Dallas morning news: http://cowboysblog.dallasnews.com/

Who is giving him a free pass now? I have no idea who you are talking to, because every Giants fan I know has had enough of him, and so have his teammates.

I've no doubt next week will be a tough game for the Giants. The Pitt win was nice, but the next two are more important and will be just as tough. Sunday was just the first in a brutal stretch for the Giants. Burress had better start getting himself focused.

Great win by the G-Men, but the next two are more important, and Washington is only a half a game behind. As I've been saying, they'll befighting it out in the East all year.

They must have been talking about McFadden, because as far as I know Troy P. is supposed to play (concussion). He's not even on the injury report: http://www.giants.com/injuryreport.asp This is also going to be a sloppy field (will rain hard today with the Pitt/Rutgers game tearing up the field) and with 20MPH winds.

This article is speculationg that he won't play: http://www.timesonline.com/articles/2008/1...3d635831091.txt

I don't know about that. Dallas has to be pissed off at they way they've played the past two weeks. They still have so many explosive elements to their offense. They're playing at home with their backs against the wall so I'm expecting an offensive explosion from Dallas this week. I wouldn't suggest sitting TO this week.

No problem. Good luck.

ESPN Radio reported that Burress said he felt OK today and that a team source said Burress is very likely to play on Sunday.

I agree with that, but I don't necessarily agree that who was in coverage or how good the defense was is all that important. I'm more concerned with the big picture here, and what I saw was something that can be taken as a start and gives the QB and WR something to build on. This was an offense that was absolutely abysmal all preseason, but that wasn't a concern because we all knew Tom Brady would be starting in week 1. Well week one came and Brady went down, and suddenly that abysmal offense was pretty much what Moss owners were staring at there on out. Soon enough, QB and WR are each struggling and the panic sets in that this had become another Oakland amidst reports of Moss not giving the same effort. Well last night, there was effort there, for sure, and regardless of CBs or defense, this may prove to be exactly what this offense needed to get things going. When you are talking about young QBs in particular, you will often find that a little bit of success can go a long way.

I didn't see the game, but the Broncos don't match Champ up against their opponent's best receiver. He covers one side of the field and Bly covers the other. So if Bly was the guy covering Moss in the TD pass, Champ being out likely had NOTHING to do with it. Plus for the record, Moss happens to be quite capable of beating quality CBs. What this game does for Moss and Cassel is help build confidence. Bitter owners can spin it how ever they want, but this was a big step in the right direction for anyone holding on to Moss.

He's fine. No worries.

Where am I to see the sarcasm? It looked like a stupid question with no hint you weren't serious.

This is a talented team, though perhaps not as talented than they think they are. They are a collection of egos and they lack leadership. The result? They're a mediocre 6-6 in their last 12 games and have not looked like the elite team everyone thinks they should be since beating GB last November.

Yes, he'll play. He's not hurt. They just have a RBBC in Houston with a slight favor to Slaton. Unless Green gets hurt, you can pretty much expect that the rest of the way.

Tenn is an impressive football team. It's a long season though, and I'm not sure the need for fans and media to crown teams in October. They are putting themselves in excellent position to succeed, so I'm not sure what more a fan should be looking for. Dallas was all but crowned the SB champ by virtually every analyst, and can't seem to get out of their own way. Hype can be a curse, so be careful what you wish for. If I were a Titan fan, I'd be just fine with things as they stand.

Eli has had good chemestry with Smith right from the start. People talk about the loss of Shockey and the lack of production from the Giants TE position, but what they don't seem to realize is that the balls that used to go to Shockey -the 3rd down move the chains stuff, now goes to Smith, not the TEs. The problem with Smith is that he mostly comes in in 3-wides and mostly runs the underneath over the middle stuff, so he's not used a lot as a down field guy, or as a big red zone target (zero TD catches). Toomer failed to catch a pass on Monday, which happened twice last season. He's a veteran guy who does some very nice things, but I think it's clear the young guys -Smith and Hixon are just more explosive players and need to see the bulk of the work. This transition is happening, but with an old school coach like Coughlin, its going to happen slower than you might expect. For the time being, Burress is the only Giants receiver who can be counted on to perform consistently, and may remain so for the rest of the season. But both Smith and Hoxon have the ability to become legitimate FF players should they get the opportunities.

Moore got the bulk of the carries two weeks ago, and performed well. But Davenport was just returning to the team after being out of football for a while, and has now had two more weeks to get himself ready. How do people see the carries distributed if Parker is not available this week?

Now it looks like TC is saying not so fast to Tynes. Says he'll let them kick all week and make a decision at the end of the week. http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/football...t_lawrence.html

Another link: http://njmg.typepad.com/trueblue/2008/10/t...-will-kick.html "Lawrence Tynes said after Wednesday's practice he has been told by the coaches he will be the Giants placekicker Sunday against the 49ers." David Tyree is about ready to return, so my guess is Carney will be released shortly.

Denver doesn't match Champ up against their opponent's top receiver. Champ plays the same side of the field every week and matches up against whoever the offense sends over there. That's why he's been targeted only 13 times this year to som ething like 43 for Bly. Denver allows the offense to dictate the coverage matchups.

I honestly don't know. I'm not surprised by the outcome at all -this one had all the tell tell signs, and the Giants were getting fattend up reading all the headlines and was only a matter of time before someone knocked them back down to earth. They'll probably crush SF next week, but I won't put much stock in that. I've said we won't find out what this Giants team is made of until we see them compete in the meat of their schedule where they have a brutal back ten, and this loss doesn't change my thinking there.

I know they do. Just hard to overlook anyone, especially after yesterday. But I certainly do hope you're right.

I'm not so certain. The Browns are going to have their o-line healthy for the first time this year. They'll have Stallworth back as well. The Giants also utterly manhandled them physically when they played in the preseason. The Browns were no doubt embarrased. I have no idea how it will go down, but I would not be shocked to see the Giants have their hands full against a Browns team with their backs against the wall, playing at home, in a spotlight game, with two weeks to prepare. As big as the differential is between the teams, there are just too many dynamic varaibles in this one to simply assume it will be a route, IMO.