Giants vs Buccaneers Halftime Report
Sunny skies, bring sunshine to the New York Football Giants. Down 7-0, and looking lost on offense in the first quarter, Eli Manning decided he would will the Giants to second quarter lead. Putting the team on his shoulders and moving the chains downfield, he led the Giants to 14 unanswered points. Many fans were screaming and yelling at the television early, but as you may know, the defense usually allows that methodical drive downfield early in the game. This week, they did not disappoint, and allowed Jeff Garcia, Earnest Graham, and Michael Clayton to dictate the pace and score of the game. The Giants defense settled into the game and allowed the offense to get in a rhythm and put some points up of their own.Â
Kevin Glbride had some problems creating some momentum early in the game, which led to 3 stalled drives, but he finally found the key ingredient: a heavy dose of Ahmad Bradshaw. AB came into the game, and immediately made his claim in “who he was”, as a Tampa Bay defender asked “who he was” in-between runs. Eli has been magnificent in the second half, an has routinely found an open guy in space, or fitting a tight spiral into coverage, right between the numbers. He is locked in, and you can tell in his eyes. Numerous times the camera has caught #10’s eyes, and I have see that fire and passion, not the scared, timid look he often gives the cameras. Steve Smith has begin to atone for his early drops, and Amani Toomer has looked like an All-Pro. While Plaxico hasn’t made Ronde look completely foolish yet, he is winning his battle once coverage loosens up a bit.
Players of the half:
Eli Manning - A great sign when #10 is the player of the half. He is really feeling what he is doing right now and is 9 out of 10 on the two scoring drives. He is fitting the ball into tight sections of the field, and is really tearing up the famed Tampa 2.Â
Michael Strahan- Is this guy 27 or what? Michael Strahan is creating all kinds of havoc on the Tampa Bay offensive line, and is putting CONSTANT pressure on Jeff Garcia. The TB coaches have to figure out how to contain Strahan, Osi, and Tuck, because right now, he is getting hit on almost every dropback. Garcia cannot win this game from his backside, simple as that.
Amani Toomer- The score would not be in the Giants favor without this guy.  He has controlled the middle of the field for key conversions. He has been very dependable and was the spark plus on the first scoring drive.  Gilbride will have to find a way to keep the ball going his way, Plax’s way, and mix in heavy doses of BJ and AB. TO me, that is a great problem to have.
Up next:
Tampa Bay gets the ball back after the half, and the defense will have to come out with the same fire they ended the half with, and get after the Garcia and shut down Graham. If that doesn’t happen, it could be another frustrating start of the half. I think the Bucs will move a bit down the field, but the Giants will bend, not break. The story of their season. Enjoy the second half, and get ready to cheer your hearts out.Â
Hope you already did your “refreshment” run, because this is going to be an exciting half of football.
This entry was posted
on Sunday, January 6th, 2008 at 2:35 pm and is filed under Brandon Jacobs, Osi Umenyiora, Steve Smith, Ahmad Bradshaw, Kevin Gilbride, Plaxico Burress, Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning, Giants 101 Originals, Michael Strahan, Giants 101.
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32 Responses to “Giants vs Buccaneers Halftime Report”
January 6th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
wow! huge turnover!!!
January 6th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
who the hell is tank daniels?
January 6th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Need to punch this in.
January 6th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Lob to Plax!
January 6th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Bad penalty. Should have called timeout.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
that was a nice drive. all I can say is wow!
January 6th, 2008 at 3:34 pm
Dude!! I hate Joe Buck he just brought up the Giants v. 49ers in 2001. That is not going to happen in this game Bucky.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I hate the PREVENT DEFENSE!!!!!! It should be illegal in the NFL.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
so close!
January 6th, 2008 at 3:41 pm
one first down wins the game. Do you run or pass?
January 6th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
no balls Coughlin
January 6th, 2008 at 3:43 pm
Screw the Fuccaneers
January 6th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
I hate the PREVENT OFFENSE TOO BY GILBRIDE. Put the ball back in Eli’s hands for once. He got you to this point in the game. Trust him for the love of god.
January 6th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
That is the one thing missing from this team. And it is the KILLER INSTINCT. That type of attitude starts w/ the head coach and filters down to all the players. You must have it to close out games. Especially in the playoffs.
January 6th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
24 points wont be enough against the cowboys.. Over, under will be around 60 pts…
Can the giants keep the cowboys under 30pts in dallas?! Depends on T.O… As you know, T.O has absolutely killed the Giants for 10 years!
Hoping the Giants win in Dallas, but wont be easy!
January 6th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
My hat goes off to Eli and Corey Webster. They have both been RIPPED repeatedly the last few years. And they both stepped up big today. I think everyone should give them their props that they earned today. Especially if you are one of those guys who ripped them. Otherwise you have no balls in my opinion.
January 6th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
Mike lets just enjoy this win for now ok. I don’t want to hear from AnalMike until later in the week.
January 6th, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Take it easy Mike TO hasn’t killed us that bad. Not to mention everyone thought we woul lose this game. Any way offense (especially Eli) and defense (especially Strahan) both steped up. BALLIN’ ! Man I’m excited.
January 6th, 2008 at 4:42 pm
Hey where did dan and the rest of ? Sorry I have been absent for a while.
January 6th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
The rest of them go. Sorry got a bit ahead of myself.
January 6th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
MikeinMiami: Dallas doesn’t have the second best defense in the NFL (like the Bucs). It’ll be a shootout.
January 6th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
As Jimmy Johnson said in the post game.. 80 percent of teams with a bye at home in the playoffs win… So, we will go in as the underdogs..
Positives is that eli plays well in dallas, we are away… We know Dallas… I agree Factcheck, game will be a shootout(31-30, 28-26 kinda game)
But 80 percent chance that Dallas wins at home with an extra weeks rest…
Enjoying the victory, nervous about Dallas…
Anyone know T.O’s stats against the Giants in the last few games, I disagree he has single handedly destroyed in the last few games…
I would actually give Tom Coughlin and the Giants some huge props if they can pull of an huge upset…
Early spread is 5-6 pts For Dallas, so the Giants will be a huge underdog, but hey thats a good thing!
Early poll results show that 77 percent of the country thinks that Dallas is going to win…
The question is, if we win against Dallas, who do you guys prefer to play… Would you rather play Seattle at Seattle or Green bay in the frozen Tundra?!
January 6th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
how good did eli look today, i told ya the tampa D was overated and uh…. dale anderson can suck eli’s nutz and lick his taint have fun w/ that buddy
hopefully jessica shows up in dallas and distract romo some more for us
January 6th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
heres a cool tidbit unrelated to the game:
FOXSports.com’s Jay Glazer reports the Falcons have asked permission to interview Giants front office member Chris Mara about their GM vacancy.
Mara’s family owns half the Giants, so the idea of him going to another team is surprising. The gig in Atlanta is reportedly viewed as great one around the NFL because the owner is willing to spend and the GM will have final say.
January 6th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
phh, who fuckin cares, let Mara go, we got Jerry Reese
January 6th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
but also wanna add i doubt mara will be the guy in ATL
January 6th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
sorry, i mean i think he wont be the guy in ATL
January 6th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
this is hazem’s comment from the other site but worth repeating:
Did anyone see the Eli Manning press conference?
Eli: “No more stupid questions, please”
January 6th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
so whimper was in the game what did u guys think?
January 6th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Did Ronde even suit up today? Funny, I didn’t recall the announcers call his name once…. it’s gonna be a long radio show this week. Any chance Ohara and Madison will be available for the Dallas game? Webster played a great game but the secondry will need more help covering the Dallas wideouts.
January 6th, 2008 at 6:59 pm
hell yeah he did … just plax owned him when it was thrown to them or they avoided him
January 6th, 2008 at 7:37 pm
Dude,
The Giants are always a huge underdog. Isn’t that the way we like it? IF you ask me I wouldn’t have any other way. I love this ” Us Against the World” attitude they have going on. Not many people believed this team would even make the playoffs. Let alone win a game in the playoffs. So, why can’t they beat Dallas? If you ask me the Giants has Dallas right where they want them. Dallas is probaly happy they aren’t playing the Redskins. But they better watch out cus WE ARE BAAAALLLLINNNN!!!!!!!
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