Justin Tuck

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Stick a fork in the 2013 Giants…Their season is done!

Posted by fantasyfurnace on October 6, 2013
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , . 5 Comments

Jimmy Carter was the President and gasoline was $0.90 a gallon the last time the N.Y. football Giants were 0-5. That was back in 1979 when more than half of our readers weren’t even born yet! And now, history has repeated itself as the team once again has arrived at that dubious milestone.

This season has been going downhill for the Giants every week as this merciless season has unfolded. The only real bright spot took place in game one when three Giants receivers had 100+ receiving yards. There really haven’t been any other bright spots over their next four games.

The Giants have struggled on both sides of the ball but the most glaring common denominator has been turnovers. The team has 20 turnovers to lead the league in that category while 12 of those have come through interceptions by the once very elite quarterback & captain Eli Manning, who threw 15 all of last season!. (Eli has never lost five games in a row since coming into the league back in 2004).  Those turnovers have resulted in 54 points scored by their opponents which also leads the league.

#10 Eli Manning dejectedly leaves the field after throwing one of his three picks vs Dallas in game one this season. Photo: Rueters

#10 Eli Manning dejectedly leaves the field after throwing one of his three picks vs Dallas in Game 1 this season. Photo: Rueters

Some could raise the argument that the club has suffered more than their share of injuries but that’s just the nature of the game. Fact is their offensive line has not protected Manning enough as he has been sacked 15 times this season (19 all of last year). They also have not been able to open any lanes consistently for the Giants running game to get off the ground as David Wilson and Brandon Jacobs have proven to be a major disappointment on offense.

Their defense has been, well, in a word, “offensive”. Their secondary has been as porous as swiss cheese and rushing the passer has become as extinct as the dinosaur. Jason Pierre-Paul and Justin Tuck are a shell of what they once were. Here’s a stat that exemplifies how their complete lack of defense has helped them actually make the record books: The 182 points allowed so far this season are the most through five games by ANY team since the Raiders gave up 187 in 1961…That’s over 50 years ago folks! 

It’s most shocking to see a Tom Coughlin team perform this badly, even going back to his early days in Jacksonville when he brought respectability to that franchise for the first time ever, they played hard every game for the fiery coach. Were the two Giants Super Bowl wins under Coughlin just flukes? Has the team lost its passion and hunger for another championship? Or has Tom Coughlin just lost his team?

Head coach Tom Coughlin now in his 10th season with the Giants, might be losing his team to bad case of ANDREW THEODORAKIS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS. Photo:

Head coach Tom Coughlin, now in his 10th season with the Giants, might be losing his team to bad case of complacency. Photo: ANDREW THEODORAKIS/NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Good questions all. We’ll have to wait and see what happens by the end of the season to realize any definitive answers. One thing is perfectly clear; no team that has begun the season 0-5 has ever made the playoffs and this bunch will be no exception to that rule. Can General Manager Jerry Reese work his magic and bring in some key replacements in time to at least salvage the season by making the Giants relevant or has that ship already sailed?

Meantime, that smoke you see coming out of Met Life Stadium means that the Giants season is done….WELL done!

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NFL Week #15: This week’s Five Best Bets

Posted by fantasyfurnace on December 14, 2012
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

Just three weeks to go in the NFL regualr season. Teams on the bubble need wins this week while those that are out of contention for a playoff berth just play for pride. We went with all favorites last week and paid the price by going 2-3 bringing our season total to 44-26. We’re going with two ‘Dogs this week and are looking to improve! Here are this week’s Five Best Bets-Good luck!

*Home team in CAPS

Giants over the FALCONS-atlanta-falcons-vs-new-york-giants

Our first underdog this week are the 8-5 Giants going up vs the 11-2 Falcons. There are actually more reasons to pick Atlanta than New York such as: the Falcons have won their last 10 straight home games, they are the least penalized team in the NFL, they rank eighth in offense, they give up 19.9 points per game on defense and Matt Ryan is 32-4 as a starting QB at the Georgia Dome. So why are we going with the Giants? They are the better team beating the 49ers 26-3 & the Packers 38-10 but more importantly they need this game much more than Atlanta does. If they lose they could miss the playoffs…

From left to right Osi Umenyiora, JPP, and Justin Tuck will need to pressure Matt Ryan to prevent the ball from sailing downfield on Sunday. Photo: nydailynews.com

From left to right Osi Umenyiora, JPP, and Justin Tuck will need to pressure Matt Ryan to prevent the ball from sailing downfield on Sunday. Photo: nydailynews.com

Packers over the BEARS- The Bears are riddled with injuries; so much so that the team failed to have a practice on Wednesday! They started the season  coasting at 7-1, winning many of those games on turnovers. They have gone 1-4 over their last five while the Pack is starting to ‘come on’. In their first meeting, the Bears only managed 168 yards of total offense at Lambeau Field and now given all their injuries, should not do much better.

Vikings over the RAMS- Minnesota, our second underdog this week, travels southeast to St. Louis and brings superstud Adrian Peterson with them. He needs 505 rushing yards over these next three games in order to match Eric Dickerson’s NFL record-setting 2105 rushing yards. Just over 150 yards per game and he’ll own that prestigious record. QB Christian Ponder needs to be able to throw the rock successfully so that AP and the Vikes will have a well balanced attack and a better chance at the upset.

#28 Star Vikings RB Adrian Perterson will be looking to add to his 1600 rushing yards vs the Rams. Photo: twincities.com

#28 Star Vikings RB Adrian Peterson will be looking to add to his 1600 rushing yards vs the Rams. Photo: twincities.com

Seahawks over the BILLS- Seattle goes cross-country this weekend and even without the warm and noisy confines of CenturyLink Field, their defense could just be enough to help them dismantle the Bills. QB Russell Wilson has been on a tear and Ground Player of the Week, Marshawn Lynch, who ironically enough was drafted by these same Buffalo Bills in the 2007 draft, is one of the top five elite RB’s in the league. We don’t expect a high scoring affair but a Seahawks win nontheless.

TEXANS over the Colts- After an embarassing Monday Night loss 42-14 at the hands of the New England Patriots, the Texans should bounce right back just like they did after getting trounced on by Green Bay earlier in the season when they came back the following week to manhandle the Ravens by 30, 43-13. Colts QB Andrew Luck has had little of it on the road this season amassing 8 touchdowns while tossing 13 INT’s. Facing the league’s seventh ranked defense will not make it any easier for the 1st round pick. Texans by double-digits!

had his problems on the road this year completing only 54.5% of his passes. Photo: nfl.si.com

#12 Andrew Luck has had his problems on the road this year completing only 54.5% of his passes. Photo: nfl.si.com

NFL WEEK #2-This Week’s Five Best Bets

Posted by fantasyfurnace on September 14, 2012
Posted in: NFL. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , . 8 Comments

We finished the first week of the season going a respectable 4-1. Our only loss coming in the Bucs 16-10 win over the disappointing Carolina Panthers. No one figured on QB Cam Newton’s total of 10 rushing yards for the game and that Tampa’s defense  would prove too much for the visiting Panthers. Here are our picks for week #2:

*Home team in CAPS:

Ravens over the EAGLES: If coach Andy Reid needs to finish the season at better than 8-8 in order to return next year, then he’s going to be off to an inauspicious 0-2 start if we’re right. Watching veterans Ray Lewis, Ed Reed and company on defense even without Terrell Suggs, is a lot for any team to handle. QB Joe Flacco looked more like Joe Montana passing for 299 yards,( no INTs) and 2 touchdowns. The 44-13 rout made the Ravens only the fifth team in NFL history to score 40 or more points in a season opener. The Eagles just barely beat the lowly Browns 17-16 in a game that saw Michael Vick throw 4 picks. They’ll need more than 17 points to defeat Baltimore this Sunday.

Even without LB Terrell Suggs, the Ravens defense is still one of the best in the league & will be after Michael Vick all day. Photo: Baltimoreravens.com

CHARGERS over the Titans: San Diego, who usually starts the season off very slowly out of the gate, might be finally bucking that trend . In 2011 they won 4 out of their first 5 and we think they’ll go 2-0 after this week’s contest vs the Titans. RB Chris Johnson had a poor showing  vs the Patriots last week rushing 11 times for a net of only 4 yards! He said before the season began that we would see the 2010 version of C.J. but it didn’t look like it in week 1. QB Jake Locker who injured his shoulder on opening day practiced this week and said he felt no pain. Besides the Chargers, history goes against Tennessee as the Bolts have beaten the Titans/Oilers franchise six straight times by 17 or more points. Do you believe in history?

GIANTS over Buccaneers: The Dallas Cowboys simply outplayed the G-Men in East Rutherford in their first meeting of the season. The Giants will not be outplayed by Tampa Bay in their building this week. The defensive tandem of Osi Umenyiora, Justin Tuck, and JPP didn’t record a sack or knockdown of QB Tony Romo and we don’t think that will happen on Sunday vs QB Josh Freeman. Nor do we think that WR Victor Cruz drops three passes again this week. They will need to run the ball successfully against a very stout Tampa defense and the 10 days that the Giants had to prepare for this one should help to do that. Big Blue will ruin coach Greg Schiano’s return to N.J. with a convincing win but will have only four days rest before they face the Panthers on Thursday night.

The big three on ‘D’: JPP, Osi Umenyiora, and Justin Tuck will not go another week without a sack or two vs QB Josh Freeman. Photo: corner.bigblueinteractive.com

Redskins over the RAMS: Although the ‘Skins gave up a ton of points to the Saints last week, they still managed to do some great things on defense like picking off stud QB Drew Brees twice and sacking him a couple of times as well. But the most impressive part of the Redskins game  was the play of the two rookies; QB Robert Griffin (320 yards and 2 touchdowns-10 rushes -42 yards) and RB Albert Morris (96 rushing yards and 2 TDs). The Rams defense will not be able to keep them both in check and we expect another two amazing performances by the first year duo. The Rams could only manage 251 total net yards and 14 first downs vs the Lions in week one and they’ll need more than that to topple Washington who put up 40 points vs the Saints a week ago.

COLTS over the Vikings: Indianapolis, our second underdog pick this week, features rookie QB Andrew Luck in his home opener. In his debut last week against the Bears at Chicago, Luck made some rookie mistakes (3 interceptions-2 fumbles) but that wasn’t too shocking considering he was going up vs one of the premier defenses in the NFL. However it wasn’t all bad for the Colts. They had 11 less minutes in time of possession and still were able to amass almost as many 1st downs as the Bears  (22 vs 26) so they did move the ball. Luck threw for 309 yards and a TD and RB Donald Brown out of UCONN had a rushing TD and averaged 5.3 yards per carry. The Vikings just pulled out an OT win over the Jaguars at home last week which is no great feat because if you can barely win at home you’ll probably lose on the road.

We think that #12 QB Andrew Luck’s homecoming will result in his first win in the Pros vs the Vikings. Photo: wibc.com