I'm not superstitious, but...

For the past few weeks, I've done a post about the Giants, and they've won the next Sunday. Now, there may be plenty of reasons for Big Blue to lose, but let it go on record that HKHWR is doing his part to keep this nice run going.

Not boastful in either of the first two rounds, I am certainly not going to change my tone here. I will note that I like the way the Giants are playing on all three sides of the ball--offense, defense and special teams. A wise coach from a division rival once said you had to win two out of three to win, and the Giants don't look overmatched in any of them.

For most of the season, I had thought the Giants special teams were average at best. They're certainly not an elite group, but they are playing more competently than they have all season.

I am very happy happy with the way the offense is going. The running and passing games are both solid. The two-back rotation does take a quarter or so to start moving, but they seem to get stronger as the game goes on. No worries there. As for the passing game, well, it's becoming clear that the Giants have two talented receivers in Nicks and Cruz that frequently command double teams, and then they have the speed in #82, who can be a difference maker himself. The line is solid, the tight end position is solid, and the man running the show is ELIte. Some may say it is a dELIght the way he is playing, and others simply bELIeve he can do no wrong.

The defense seems better by the week. The healthy front four, the return of Boley, and the improvement of the DB play absolutely belies the 32nd place ranking this team had at season's end. They gave up no points to the Falcons, and then 20 to the explosive Packers (and who knows if they'd have had half of that were it not for the worst officiating I can remember seeing).

No doubt, this team has gotten hot at the right time. They are clearly better than they were when they lost by a TD in San Francisco in November. The only problem I see is that the same is true for San Fran. I can't sum up my thoughts better than what I heard their QB say today: neither team is better than the other, and the winner will only be decided by who executes Sunday evening.

Championship Sunday. The Final Four. I certainly didn't see my team here a month ago. It's all gravy now.

Go Blue! I've done my part with this post, now it's up to you!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revisiting the great state-border-crossing challenge

Image
When I posted this at the beginning of 2020, the pandemic hadn't cut into any travel plans and I hadn't really identified paths to getting to the last bunch of state border crossings I needed. However, after crossing a few more in the last year, being close but not too close to a few others I was missing, and especially talking to more folks interested in this idea, well, the quest has gained some traction. One of the things that remains both fun and frustrating about this venture is how recently it came into my consciousness. Decades of road tripping led me so close to some of these state borders I'm still missing. If I had any inkling this would be something I'd end up pursuing, at least another half dozen crossings would have been completed. But it's also a reason to go back to some of these areas, which works well with other travel goals. After all, I keep finding more things to do in many states—NPS sites, ballparks, breweries, etc.—so I know I'll be plann
Read more

New York counties, and then some

Image
 <I wrote this while on a flight to Chicago around this time last year, and just noticed it in my drafts much closer to finished than I recalled... 😀> At the start of 2021, one of my two posts was about my progress for reaching every corner of New York: I had set the goal of doing something in each of the state’s 62 counties. By "something", I meant an NPS site, a state park, a sporting event, a brewery or something else (for me, "something else" included the Corning Museum of Glass, the Baseball Hall of Fame, Howe Caverns, county fairs, etc.). At the time, 55 of them could be considered done. Since I had updated my other post of early 2021 early in 2022—the great state border challenge—it seemed appropriate to update my New York county post too, especially since it's now two years since I've completed that quest. Yes, I went 62 for 62 in June of 2021, when my quest was completed with a state park and brewery in Chautauqua, the state’s westernmost c
Read more

Tipping and ripping the cap

A belated tip of the cap to this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame inductees. I know the NFL and NBA Halls had their 2010 inductions more recently, and an eventual nodding of the helmets to the former may follow. It’s just that a recent conversation prompted this post. In this era of free agency, the need for players to don one team’s cap over another when their plaque is created seems to be something of a relic, especially when a player has left an indelible mark on multiple teams. Even if the bulk of his career or prime numbers rest mainly with one team, should that team be solely associated with that player when he gave another some great years? Conversely, if, say, a contract or personal quarrel leaves bad blood between a player and the team where his HOF numbers were earned, should that player have the right to select some team where he had less impact? Admittedly, most inductees do lean to one team or another in terms of career dominance, and Wikipedia, under the "Players with mu
Read more