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[ Watch The Birdie, Episode IV - A New Hope (Page 13) ] Week 13 - New York Giants (6-5) @ Arizona Cardinals (11-0) -9 Why does this bloody game insist on doing this to me? WHY? Last year it decided to cripple a revitalised Akili Smith late on in the year, forcing me to use Jon "Freaking" Kitna as my starting quarterback in our (very short) playoff run, this time out it nails Jeff Blake in the middle of his career year, meaning that I have to go to war with Brian "Couldn't Beat Jay Fiedler Out For A Starting Spot" Griese under centre. Jesus frigging wept. All those "He's no worse than Josh McCown would have been" and "If push comes to shove, Brian can do a job for us" statements I made at the start of the year suddenly seem so very long ago. What's that? The Giants? Oh, alright then. Tiki Barber's injured, so they're relying on rookie Dusty McGuire (YEEEEEEEE-HAW! Git ALONG, l'il dogie! Etcetera) at RB, who's very quick but basically useless, particularly behind an o-line that's LT Luke Pettigout plus four revolving turnstiles. There's a triple-threat at receiver, though (Toomer/Hilliard/Shockey), and the defence is decent plus, of course, we've got Brian bloody Griese starting at quarterback. A disaster waiting to happen, then. - Or then again, maybe not. Following a first quarter of largely futile struggling, we blow the game open in the second. Following a couple of good runs from Marcel, the Giants pack the area between the tackles, giving Johnno room aplenty to sprint, hook, catch, spin, punch and run for a 37-yard score to add to the two Thingamigummy field-goals from earlier in the period.
The Giants' only decent drive of the half comes to an end on the two-minute warning, with a 45-yard Matt Bryant figgie try that hits the crossbar and bounces back out. To add insult to injury, Brian Griese puts up a prayer down the right sideline that Anquan Boldin goes up and gets to the tune of a 40-yard pickup, setting up It's On The Tip Of My Tongue for his third trey of the day - halftime, NYG 0-16 ARI - Now, far be it from me to point out another team's foibles - let he who is without rubbish starters cast the first stone - but I dunno, I think this might be a sign that the Giants have problems on the offensive line. Driving early in the third quarter, they face a third and ten. We go to a three-man line, and drop tackle Wendell Bryant into a short under zone, leaving a grand total of two players rushing the quarterback. The play ends in a Larry Dickerson sack. Hmmm. We practically end the game with a seven-minute drive that ends in yet another field-goal, and really end it when Dusty McGuire (Oooh, giiiive me a hoooome where the buffalo roooooam, etcetera) finally breaks a tackle, sees open field ahead of him, starts striding for the endzone and gets the ball punched out of his grip by Levar Fisher. No Mark collects the fumble, and that's pretty much your lot - the first shutout we've managed in the three seasons I've been in Arizona. Griese's been reliable if unspectacular (17 of 25, 212 yards, 1 score and no picks), but for the second week in a row it's been the defence that's done the job - most notably, holding the Giants to 23 yards on just 10 rushing attempts, and I think I can confidently predict that our days of giving up thirty-plus points and just about managing to outscore the opposition are behind us. Who've we got next week, then? Oh. Only Indianapolis. Final score - NYG 0-19 ARI. 12-0 on the year. [
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