0 Falcons on road fell short against the Giants in OT! Posted by DieHardFans | at 10:43 PM

In a matchup with possible playoff implications, the Atlanta Falcons lose 34-31 in overtime to the New York Giants in New Jersey. Both teams hoped to build on their success from last season and entered the regular season with very high expectations. Right now, they are both in the thick of the young wild-card race and the Falcons did not help their cause with today’s outcome. Without its top two running backs, the Falcons relied on New Jersey native Jason Spelling to fill their void. The third year fullback/tailback gained 76 yards on the ground and had 2 touchdowns.

Needless to say, it was not enough. Eli Manning’s career high 384 yards and 3 touchdowns bested quarterback Matt Ryan‘s 268 yards and 2 touchdown passes. Tony Gonzalez hauled in 8 catches for 82 yards and 1 touchdown. He has 52 receptions for 583 yards and 5 touchdowns this season. After a promising 4-1 start, the Falcons are 1-4 in their last 5 games. Barring an unprecedented miracle, the Falcons have no chance of winning their division. To gain ground on the wild-card race, the Falcons must turn things around and start winning games. They play their next three games at the Georgia Dome where they are 4-0 so far this season.

0 Giants Stunned at the Meadowlands 21-20 by the Chargers! Posted by DieHardFans | at 10:42 PM

You could cut the atmosphere for this match up with a butter knife. Eli Manning and Phillip Rivers have never met head to head. Ever since the 2004 draft, both fans and experts have debated whether the Chargers or Giants had been more successful in the big trade that day. To date, it would appear that the Chargers are on top, having beaten the Giants on the last drive of the game.



The standard of the passing was pretty indistinguishable between the two quarterbacks. Rivers threw 24/36 for 209 yards and 3 TD’s and 2 interceptions. While Manning threw for 2 TD’s going 25/33 for 215 yards.

The Chargers didn’t seem to have much luck in managing to get a run together. They only had a total of 34 yards rushing with 15 of those yards coming from Phillip Rivers scrambling for a first down. Tomlinson ran the ball 12 times for 22 yards. Meanwhile, Giants ran for 116 yards total.

Jacobs ran 11 times for 67 yards and Bradshaw carried it 14 times for 39 yards. It looked like the Chargers were going to score more through the air but both Malcolm Floyd and Antonio Gates dropped key passes that cost them dearly, and forcing them to punt the ball to the Giants. Smith and Boss caught Eli Manning’s two touchdown passes.

The Giants sacked Phillip Rivers twice while the Chargers got to Eli Manning 5 times. They have now lost 4 games in a row. They are due to host the Atlanta Falcons while the Chargers find themselves in the middle of a 3 game winning streak and they host the Philadelphia Eagles next Sunday.

0 Giants beaten 40-17 as the Giants climb the ranks... Posted by DieHardFans | at 10:15 PM

The recent performance by the NY Giants has prompted a number of critics to question whether they are going downhill. After suffering a beating at the hands of the Eagles (40-17), the offense looked weak. The defense couldn’t get a single stop, and kick-off coverage was atrocious. The Giants truly need to get their act together and it’s safe to say they need to do it fast. The Eagles started off the scoring a minute and a half in, with a 41 yard run by fullback Leonard Weaver.

They did appear to pick up the pace later on in the half, and got a touchdown on an 18 yard pass to Kevin Boss. This only ruffled some feathers for a brief moment, and the Philadelphia Eagles scored on a 54 yard bomb to DeSean Jackson just 14 seconds later.

The Eagles led 30-7 at the end of the half but started off scoring in the third quarter, as the Giants gave away a fumble which turned in to a 35 yard field goal. The Giants added a touchdown late in the 3rd quarter, off the back of a 1 yard run from Ahmad Bradshaw. The Eagles started off the 4th quarter with another touchdown, this time on a 66 yard run by LeSean McCoy.

The defense was just as bad, if not worse. The tackling was horrible. Downfield coverage was worse. Eli looked a shadow of himself. There was no running game whatsoever and it’s fair to say that the Giants are a team in trouble. Both defense and offense are struggling. The Giants have been exposed in their three straight losses, all of which were against the bigger teams. Their wins, save for the Dallas Cowboys, were against the worst of the worst. We’re now wondering, can this Giants team beat the good teams? Or are they a mediocre team, capable of beating the bad teams, but not beating the good teams. The Giants will be debating that all week. And so will all the fans.

0 Giant stumble at home as they embraced a loss against the Cards... Posted by DieHardFans | at 3:45 AM

The New York Giants spent the week shrugging off the last week’s loss and promised to be better this week at home against the Cardinals as it was a ‘Get Right” game. The defense promised more blitzing and less trepidation. The offense promised to be sharper. To a man, the Giants were certain they'd come up with a big win Sunday night over the reigning NFC champs... and then they lost.

The Cardinals played their own style of takeaway on Sunday night at the Meadowlands against the Giants, stunning the big blue with a 24-17 win. It’s the third straight win on the road for the Cards. They stopped Giants QB Eli Manning all night, forcing four Giants turnovers, including two on their last two possessions as Ahmad Bradshaw fumbled and then Manning threw a pick after the Giants appeared to be driving towards what could have been the tying score.“Tonight,”, “we definitely fed off our defense” said Kurt Warner who was 20-for-36 for 231 yards with a touchdown to running back Jason Wright that put the team up 24-14 with 2:32 left in the third quarter.

The Cards were outgained by New York 327 to 288 in the passing dept., but the turnovers by Manning helped the birds take advantage of the chances they were given. Safety Adrian Wilson had an interception and a fumble recovery, Antrel Rolle picked off Manning to seal the win for Arizona. The Arizona Cardinals (4-2) scored 17 straight points from the end of the second quarter to late in the third quarter to go up 10 points at 24-14, putting all the pressure on Manning and the Giants offense.

Arizona spent most of the night taking advantage of great field position. They had three touchdown drives that went no farther than 55 yards, taking advantage of field position via poor punting and turnovers. Their drives of 46, 55, and 20 yards were enough to hand the Giants their second straight loss to drop them to 5-2 after a 5-0 start. The Cards are now by themselves in the NFC West, a game up on the 49ers. Next week they host the Carolina Panthers (2-4). It's all part of a weird and surprisingly substandard vibe the Giants are giving off the past couple of weeks.

After two years as a dominant NFC force, they have looked lately like a team that still has a ways to go before we can call it a Super Bowl contender.

0 Tons to work on as the Cowboys go into BYE WEEK... Posted by DieHardFans | at 2:41 AM

Heading into the bye week, the Dallas Cowboys are carrying a modest 3-2 record. After successive victories against teams that are a combined 1-13, they have also had a string of defeats against teams that are 10-0.

Commentators are often left questioning their consistency after watching them steam roll the Buccaneers, only to suffer a heart breaker at the hands of the Giants. After winning against the Panthers; they went on to let the Denver Broncos slip through their hands.

They did however manage to keep the Chiefs in check, and to go on to win the game in what was to be an overtime thriller. The boys of Dallas still have a fair bit of work to do and LB Bradie James admitted as much during a press conference on Monday.

Let’s see how the Cowboys have been playing the field:

So far, the Cowboys have committed 68 penalties in the 5 games played according to NFL.com. They currently rank in the top three in the league for most penalized team. In the first five games of the season, four of them have come down to the last possession, forcing overtime on 3 separate occasions. Whilst the defense was excellent in the overtime period against Kansas City on Sunday, it was the failure to stop the Chiefs from scoring a touchdown with under a minute to play that knocked them down a peg or 2.

0 Eli Manning & Matthew Stafford leaves Sunday with Leg Injury’s Posted by DieHardFans | at 11:53 PM

New York Giants QB; Eli Manning has suffered a setback this week, injuring his heel during Sunday’s game against the Kansas City Chiefs. Manning who left the game in the 4th quarter implied that it was a non-contact injury and is not going to miss any games. He was replaced by David Carr. It was at this stage that the Giants had almost sealed a 27-16 win over the chiefs. The question of whether he will be fit for Sunday’s match up has been answered this week. His MRI results haven’t revealed any major injuries, leaving the New York Giants fans breathing sigh of relief.

Another player to be blighted by injury is Detroit Lions rookie; Matthew Stafford. After twisting his knee against the Chicago Bears, he has been referred to a specialist for tests and the Lions have said they will assess his injury in due course.