Larry Brown Sports

When Eli Manning connected with Victor Cruz for a 77-yard touchdown that gave the New York Giants and comeback win over the Washington Redskins, DeAngelo Hall was not impressed. Rather than seeing it as another tremendous fourth-quarter comeback from a resilient Giants team, Hall saw it as a gift from his team.

“Ultimately he did because he made the play to beat us, but I don’t feel like he made that play,” Hall told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. “I feel we gave him that play. We just had one guy set his feet and one guy not do this. I could have thrown that ball and he would have scored. It wasn’t something where he was a rocket scientist and he figured something out. We just played that as bad as possible.”

You don’t have to look at the play all that closely to know that it was terrible coverage, so in a way you can see what Hall is referring to. That being said, the Giants and Manning still had to call the right play based on the defense they saw and then execute it. That’s why some New York players feel that Hall’s comments were disrespectful.

“DeAngelo Hall is not that smart,” Justin tuck said according to Ralph Vacchiano of the NY Daily News.

USA TODAY’s Mike Garafolo said Victor Cruz called Hall’s comments “a little disrespectful” and Manning even stepped out of character a bit and fired back at the Redskins corner.

“I didn’t think it took a rocket scientist to figure it out either,” Manning said. “That was the coverage they messed up. As an offense, you have to take advantage of that.”

The “we beat ourselves” excuse is one of the lamest in sports, and one that the Giants have heard before on numerous occasions. Hall is also known for having a big mouth, so it doesn’t surprise me that he tried to take credit away from his division rivals. All that matters is the Giants got one in the win column and Washington took a loss. Whether Hall feels they earned it or not really isn’t relevant.

Helmet smack to Pro Football Talk
Photo credit: Howard Smith-US PRESSWIRE

The defending Super Bowl champion Giants probably didn’t need any added motivation to make them want to beat the Cowboys this upcoming season, but they got it anyway. Speaking to a group of fans about a month ago, Jerry Jones urged people to come on out to Cowboys Stadium and watch Dallas beat New York’s ass this season. The comment did not sit well with the Giants locker room, but most of them laughed it off. Linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka says he understands why Jones would say something like that.

“He should. I mean, the Giants have been whupping his ass for a long time,” Kiwanuka told the Boomer and Carton Show according to The Star-Ledger. “It’s gotta be tough on the outside looking in on all of these championships lately. That’s the feeling I feel like everybody in the league has and everybody should have because we’re here on top and everybody should be wanting to knock you off.”

Trading shots back and forth leading up to and during the season is certainly nothing new for these two rivals. Given the recent history of the two franchises, Jerry would have probably been wise to not make that comment. New York has won two Super Bowls this decade. The Cowboys have won nothing.

Does the banter mean anything at the end of the day? Not really, but I wouldn’t be surprised if a newspaper headline of Jerruh saying his team is going to whoop New York’s ass is hanging in the Giants locker room when the season opens on Sept. 5.

H/T Pro Football Talk
Photo credit: Jason O. Watson-US PRESSWIRE

Whenever a team wins multiple championships with most of the same key players, people are bound to start throwing the word “dynasty” around. It happened with the Patriots earlier in the 21st century and it is happening with the Giants now. New York has won two championships in four seasons. If they win a third within the next year or two, you can expect even more people to call the Giants a dynasty. However, Eli Manning says his team has not gotten there yet.

“No, no, we’re not (a dynasty),” he said on NFL AM Wednesday according to Pro Football Talk. “We had a little break — the two years prior to last year we didn’t make the playoffs. We’ve got work to do. We have good players on this team, we have the potential to be a playoff team and to make a run once we get into the playoffs.

“It’s a matter of going out there and proving that, and everybody going out there and playing to their level of play. That’s what our challenge is, and we know each year if you don’t come out and give it your all and play to the best of your ability you’re not going to win football games. So we’ve got to maximize our talents.”

As you can see, Manning tried his best to avoid the question. Ultimately, he gave the right answer. Even if he believes the Giants are a dynasty, taking the Michael Vick approach and telling everyone about it doesn’t benefit the team in any way. If Manning says New York is a dynasty, that means he already feels like the team’s place is cemented in history and they have very little left to accomplish. While that may be true, what happened last year has no bearing on the 2012 season.

Photo credit: Kirby Lee-US PRESSWIRE

As long as the Giants and Jets continue to share a venue, the debate surrounding who owns MetLife Stadium will continue to add a spark to the New York rivalry. This year, the Giants have the better argument. The Jets missed the playoffs and the G-Men went on to win their second Super Bowl in four seasons. If ownership of the New Meadowlands hinges on recent success, you have to give the Giants the nod. The green teamers were reminded of that when the Giants’ parade stopped at MetLife on Tuesday.

“Last time we did this it was in Giants Stadium,” Justin Tuck told the crowd according to the NY Daily News. “Now we’re in MetLife Stadium. But one thing you can be sure of is whose house this is.”

In front of a crowd of more than 40,000 Giants fans, Tuck’s words rang true. Ownership agreed with him.

“Nobody asked me if the Jets were about to take over this town, or I would’ve had my own answer,” co-owner Steve Tisch added. “Actually we answered it two nights ago.”

The NFL playoffs could not have gone any worse for Rex Ryan and the New York Jets this year. For starters, they didn’t make it. After reaching the AFC Championship the last two seasons, the Jets took a step backward and missed the playoffs. Not only that, but their two biggest rivals — the Patriots and the Giants — made it to Indianapolis. Ouch. On Wednesday, the Jets actually showed some humility by congratulating the Giants with a full-page ad in the NY Daily News. Here is a shot of the ad that Darren Rovell passed along:

It couldn’t have been easy for the Jets to watch Super Bowl 46, but they did a nice job of pretending they weren’t insanely jealous. Watching the G-Men parade down the exact same route that Rex guarantees he’ll be parading down every season must be incredibly difficult.

The New York Giants are the most confident team in America. Considering they are two days removed from winning their second Super Bowl in four years, they have every right to be. In fact, they were just as confident leading up to the game and managed to back up every bit of their trash talk. The G-Men are enjoying their huge win over the Patriots this week, but that hasn’t stopped them from already thinking repeat.

“The big thing for us is to get one next year,” linebacker Mathias Kiwanuka said according to the NY Post. “We had a great season a couple years ago, and we had a letdown the year after. We’ve got to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”

Is Tom Coughlin’s job safe now? Since we’re talking about New York, probably not. No one is really ever safe. Coughlin should be able to coach as long as he pleases, however, regardless of how well or poorly the Giants start off the year.  The Giants are so confident that despite making the playoffs after starting out 7-7, blowing out the Packers at Lambeau Field, and knocking off the Patriots in the Super Bowl, defensive tackle Linval Joseph believes their best football lies ahead.

“Actually we won the game, but I still don’t feel like we played our best game yet this whole season,” Joseph said. “I feel like next year is going to be a good year. Just everybody stays focused and everybody stays hungry, and I think we should have a good season next year, too.”

Many of the Giants’ games this year were not their best, but they did enough when it mattered to hoist the Lombardi Trophy. Repeating as champion is one of the hardest things to do in sports, but if New York can limit their mental lapses next season and Eli Manning continues to improve, they have every right to feel great about their chances of winning another ring with this roster.

The Giants may have won the Super Bowl, but does that mean Las Vegas sports books believe they’re the best team in the NFL? Apparently not.

According to RJ Bell of Pregame.com, if the Patriots and Giants rematched in a Super Bowl next week, the Pats would still be favored by 2.5 points.

Bell says both the Packers and Saints would be even greater favorites against the Giants on a neutral field. If those teams were to play the Giants, they each would be favored by 3.5 points.

Does this mean the sports books are still underestimating the Giants? Or is this just further confirmation that the Giants got hot at the right time and had a few breaks go their way (e.g. Kyle Williams in the NFC title game, Wes Welker’s drop).

The Giants beat the Pats twice this season and they beat the Packers in the playoffs. They did get hammered by the Saints, but you have to acknowledge they got it done when it counted the most — the postseason.

Photo Credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images