Start of the Defense
The start of the football season had threatened to take me by surprise. Between the Carlos Delgado revival show, the trip to Pittsburgh for both matters of family and baseball, and just the general mayhem that is summer time, I was mildly surprised to note that last Thursday was going to be opening night.
It’s not that I had been ignoring my Giants. I had kept abreast of the latest news, whether it be the draft, Michael Strahan’s retirement, Osi’s season-ending injury, Strahan’s possible return…..oh…..and the trade of Jeremy Shockey. It’s just that my Mets had made this a much more interesting baseball season than I could’ve hoped for after the blase` first half.
Still, with the Mets having an off day ahead of the showdown with the hated Phillies (yes, they’ve reached that status), and having come off a great stretch of baseball, I was able to turn my attention to Opening Night.
Redskins-Giants. Primetime. Division Game. Home Game. Defending Super Bowl Champs!
It never gets old.
Watching from the comfort of my favorite karaoke watering hole (hey, it was Thursday night after all), I noted the positives; the Giants moved the ball with relative ease, the running game was very strong, the passing game was effective, the defense was relentless, the kicker was accurate even if he was ancient.
I noted the negatives as well; too many drives stalling and ending in a field goal instead of a touchdown, a few miscommunications nearly leading to interceptions, a lack of points in the second half, a late TD in the first half by the Skins making the game closer than it needed to be.
Yet when all was said and done, when the half time show had come and gone, and the Skins had one last 4th quarter drive fizzle in vain, the Giants stood victorious at 16-7. The title defense began with a 1-0 record overall. They were 1-0 in the division and 1-0 at home. The last part seems a bit innocuous until one remembers that the one victory equal 1/3 of their home victories last year.
All in all, the title defense had begun and a good beginning it was.
Tags: football, New York Giants, Redskins