10 Reasons Why The Giants Should Win

So we got 5 reasons from me and 5 from Erik on why the Eagles will win. Now for my 10 reasons that the Giants should win...

1. The Giants are the #1 seed. #1 seeds just don't lose this game in the NFC, they don't. And especially not to #6 seeds. It's never happened in the NFC. Never (not to mention that little stat of those teams that couldn't win more than 9 games in the regular season). And the reason the Giants were the #1 seed? They were the better team in the regular season. As Ralph Vacchiano says in the Daily News Blue Screen blog: "In case you forgot, the Giants are #1". Let's not forget that. Regardless of how hot the Eagles are playing, they are still the underdog (as the LoHud Giants blog points out). The Giants played better, beat really good teams throughout the season, and finished the season with 10 consecutive games against teams with a winning record. They needed the bye before facing the 11th consecutive team. The original spread out in this game was 4 1/2. Probably based on the fact that the first matchup had a close score, but, as Matt Mosely's NFC Blog at ESPN.com described: "If there's such a thing as a dominating narrow win, that's what we witnessed Sunday." And that was in Philly. And...
2. ...The Giants are playing at home. Let's not forget this. I'll be at the game (as will my dad, Ari and Wolinsky...among many others). It will be cold, windy, maybe snowy...but definitely frigid winds. It will be loud. If the Giants lose, this will be the final home game played by an NFL team inside this Giants Stadium. And, according to The Blue Screen, no team has ever beaten the Giants twice at home in the same season. The G-men were able to win on the road last year, but games in this weather are usually won with good running attacks. And as much success as the Eagles had against the Vikings, they did so with only 67 yards of rushing...against a team missing their two best run stoppers, including huge Pat Williams. And if Westbrook is really hurt (I think they just put him on the injured list every week...like he's already typed in there before they even complile the report), he'll have a tough game. Meanwhile, the Giants will throw three backs out there to dictate the pace (see reason 5). And the swirling winds certainly affacted David Akers in the last matchup as the Giants returned a blocked field goal for a TD
3. The Giants were a litttttttle distracted in their last matchup. I'm still convinced Plaxico had something to do with this matchup. If he hadn't shot himself in the leg, there's no way these two teams meet in this game. The Giants win that game at Giants Stadium and the Eagles have no way to make the playoffs. And Plax might as well have shot Antonio Pierce in the leg with the speed he ran after Brian Westbrook. If Pierce is matched up one-on-one again on Westbrook in the open field, I'm going to gauge my eyes out. But the problem was that Pierce is the captain of the defense and when your captain is answering question for the police and worrying about being prosecuted right before a game, it's not really a great combination. And Pierce wasn't the only one distracted...
4. ...Domenik Hixon had the weight of the world put on his shoulders. Hixon went from being a fill-in player to the #1 wide receiving option for Big Blue. Coaches, teammates, experts said that he would be fine and they wouldn't be missing much without Plax. What were they smoking? Plax may have been a headcase, but he set a Giants record in the NFC Championship game for receptions...in ridiculous cold condititons. Hixon was thrown out onto the field with the weight of the world on his shoulders. And he could have carried the Giants to victory. But one bomb by Eli Manning into the wind slipped through his fingers. I'm convinced (and Ari will back me up) it would have been a touchdown and the Giants would have won the game. After he dropped that pass, the other receivers (Steve Smith, Amani Toomer, Kevin Boss, Sinorice Moss...all supposed to be complimentary) felt pressure to step up. They couldn't respond. Now they've all gotten acclimated to live without Burress (who took away some of the coverage with double teams. It's a huge difference.
5. The Giants lost Brandos Jacobs at halftime of the last Giants/Eagles game. I'm just going to let The Blue Screen say it because it's much more clearly stated than I could have: "His production against the Eagles has been pretty good this year. He gained 126 yards on 22 carries (5.7 yards per rush) and scored twice in the Giants’ 36-31 win in Philly back in November. And on Dec. 7, midway through the third quarter, he had gained 52 yards on just 10 carries - - 5.2 yards per rush. But then he hurt his knee and missed the final 22 ½ minutes, and without him, the Giants rushed just six more times for 16 yards. Jacobs wouldn’t say whether he felt he could’ve made a difference. But considering the Giants were down only 10-7 as the fourth quarter opened, it’s a good bet he could’ve helped." Jacobs, Ward (with confidence after a huge game against Carolina), and a very well rested Ahmad Bradshaw should be big for the Giants in this game.
   
6. Tom Coughlin is a better coach than Andy Reid. Let's just put that out there. Andy Reid is the worst coach at the challenge since Jim Fassel roamed the sidelines for the G-men. And he only does it to get Bloody Mary's (for more explination, read my breakdown of the divisional matchups. While Brad Childress tried to hand the game to the Giants, at times it seemed like Reid wanted to give it right back. For some reason this team has abandoned the run at times this season. Totally inexplicably, I might add. And then they sometimes just relegate Correll Buckhalter to the bench/don't run any plays for him. Buckhalter is the Eagles' Ward. And let's stop calling Andy Reid's benching of McNabb such a genius move. The guy was horrible. Horrendous. He was killing his team. But the guy who replaced him was worse. So Reid put in the guy who was bad, but slightly better? And this is some genius motivational technique? Please. Also, the Tom Coughlin challenge this season where Eli Manning kept his foot behind the line was one of the those Coughlin plays. Is there any way Andy Reid challenges that play? (well, maybe...depends how many Bloody Mary's he's gotten through...)
7. Because Bill Simmons explained it all very well. I'm just going to quote Bill Simmons (excuse me for being a bit lazy here)...I'll leave out the drive charts, but worth a look over on his blog:
   

   GIANTS (-4) over Eagles
   The most perplexing line of the playoffs. Because Philly shocked New York in a must-win Week 15 game that meant nothing to the Giants -- when they were dealing with the single biggest distraction of the season (Cheddar Plaxgate), no less -- that means Week 19 will be tight? Really? Doesn't matter that the Giants have been the best team all season, or that they thrive in those "We aren't getting enough respect" situations? You really think the Eagles will be moving the ball in Giants Stadium when they could barely move it in the Metrodome against a Vikings defense that was missing Pat Williams and Darren Sharper?...Really, that's going to cut it in Giants Stadium? I don't see how the Eagles score more than 14 points unless Eli helps them.

8. Jeff Fealges, Justin Tuck and Brandon Jacobs are the three most important players on the field for the Giants (and they all should be healthy). I watched every second of the EPIC Giants/Panthers game. I watched a lot of ESPN highlights of it. I read analysis all over the internet. I'm still convinced the Giants would never had won had it not been for the Jeff Feagles punt that pinned the Panthers back right before the Giants game-tying drive. The great equalizer for the dangerous DeSean Jackson. Justin Tuck is injured, but if he can be on the field AND get pressure on McNabb, it'll be a tough day for the Eagles. The success teams have had recently is being able to stop the Giants pass rush. With Fred Robbins and Barry Cofield now healthy, Tuck should be seeing a few more one-on-ones. And he needs to dominate to help the Giants win. And Jacobs not only is a monster when he rushes, but he makes the rest of his team better. He wears down defeneses, he takes the pressure off of Ward and Bradshaw, and he takes pressure off of Eli which is probably the biggest. Who was at Eli Manning's birthday party at Tenjune according to Page Six? Yup, Brandon Jacobs. The rest of the guys there you expect to be there, but don't you think it means something that Jacobs was there? I do.
9. The Giants needed to go through the Eagles. Last year the Giants beat two #1 seeds, a #2 seed and a #5 seed (the highest seedings they could have faced) to win the Super Bowl. If the Giants had played, Arizona, for example, don't you think they would have been caught looking ahead to the NFC Championship game? Wouldn't that be the typical Giant let-down game of the past decade? Last year they didn't have a chance to cruise through any games. And they had to go through their arch-rival Cowboys. And play all their games on the road. It was all a supreme challenge. Sam Borden at the Giants LoHud blog put it best: "That is what the Giants get now. One of those games. One of those chances for the sweetest kind of victory there is."
10. I can't see how the Giants will lose. Not that I don't see how the Giants could lose, I mean I wrote a blog post about how the Eagles could win. I just have been playing out this game in the my mind and I just don't see the Eagles winning. This is the PERFECT Giants statement game. The Eagles are getting all the love (far cry from after the crap they were getting from the critics after the Bengals tie and the Ravens debacle--remember when McNabb was inept and didn't know the rules?). The Giants have been sitting, waiting, getting healthy, and hearing all these great things about the Eagles. This is usually when they pounce. Especially in the Coughlin era. I wouldn't go to the game if I didn't think they had a great chance of winning. I just would hate to lose to this team. But I don't think they will. This game has all the makings of a big Giants win. If not...let's just not think about that...