Well, the NFL playoffs just got a lot less exciting...

Blitzkrieg

I know.. I'm not really expecting Jake to be much of a factor either way, it's just funny. "Winning Super Bowl QB Jake Plummer".. That sentence seems..well..weird to me. I guess no different than Trent Dilfer though..lol

Denver is a tough place to play, but I'm buying into this Pitt team. I'm probably making a mistake thinking they are world beaters all of a sudden but oh well..

I like the team. Cowher is hard nosed. I love Ward. I like Randle El. I'm liking Heath. I love Troy Palamalu. I gotta root for them..

Side note, I know GP mentioned this, but I wa totally laughing my ass off when Ben Watson popped Champ Bailey the other night. What the hell was Bailey doing?

Dr. Giganto

I think I heard that this is Bill Cowher's 7th AFC championship appearance in 14 years. I realize he's only made the Super Bowl once, but that's quite an accomplishment. I think he's pretty underrated as a coach.

Dr. Giganto

Oh, and I also forgot to mention Big Ben's open-field tackle on Bettis's fumble at the end. That saved the Steelers season right there. Wow. Great play

Blitzkrieg

Definitely. I thought for sure Harper was gone. That would've been UNREAL. Ditto on Cowher. I'd love to see him win the big one.

Side note, how do you compare Eli and Ben at this point D? They will always be compared to each other so what do you think? I was ragging on Eli a bit, but I was half joking. What's your take?

Dr. Giganto

Well, I haven't seen that much of Big Ben yet, but here's my assessment of both...

Big Ben: Came into the perfect situation for a young QB. A team with a GREAT offensive line, great running game, great defense, great coach. Asked simply to be a leader and that's it. As a result, he was successful from the start, but as evidenced by his performance in the playoffs last year, he wasn't quite ready to make the big plays by himself yet.

This season he went through some adversity with the injuries, but he's developed enough so that he can carry the team when need be, like he did yesterday.

Eli: Came into a much different situation. For one thing, he had a terrible offensive line. Luke Petitgout was and still is atrocious, Chris Snee was only a rookie, David Diehl was only in his second year and playing out of position, and I don't even remember who else made up the Giants offensive line. Tiki had a career year, but Toomer and Hilliard were both useless, and Shockey was hurt. Plus, the defnese was ravaged by injuries and played terribly. Also, Eli didnt start until the 8th game, so he missed half a year of game experience. Plus, the Giants played a string of very tough defenses. His 9 starts last season came some of the folowing tough teams: Atlanta, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Washington, Philly, Dallas. He started showing some promise Week 15 when they almost beat Pittsburgh, then they almost beat Cincinnati in week 16, and Eli gave a sign of things to come, with a 4th quarter game-winning drive against Dallas.

This season, Eli came in as the starting QB, and assumed control of the team. Early on he showed poise and leadership. His offensive line was much improved with the addition of Kareem MacKenzie (who was a little disappointing, but still a step up), Diehl's move back to guard, and a year of experience under Snee's belt. Tiki was Tiki, Shockey was healthy, and Eli had a big receiver in Plaxico that he could throw jump balls to. Also, this made Toomer the third receiving option, which gave him more favorable match-ups.

However, Eli developed one very very big mechanical flaw: Throwing off-balance when under pressure. Rather than step into his throws, he began making inaccurate passes while leaning backwards, and his interceptions total shot up. Plus, Plaxico almost predictably stopped playing hard (which was the knock on him in Pittsburgh...although he did make some nice blocks on the outside for Tiki late in the year), Shockey got banged up, and none of the Giants other receivers stepped up to assume the WR3 role. Also, Eli has trouble finding his check-down receiver when his primary targets are covered.

So, the difference is this. Big Ben earned his lumps playing a system in which he was protected, and he could "learn to be a QB" without too much pressure on him, both in the on-the-field sense and the in-his-head sense. So he now knows how to run an offense and run it effectively.

Eli, on the other hand, learned last year about leadership and poise. but he couldn't really learn how to execute an offense, because his team was so terrible last year. And honestly, special teams cost the Giants two games this year, so the Giants could have easily been 13-3.

So, right now, I would say Big Ben is much better than Eli, but I am still confident that Eli will become a good QB

Blitzkrieg

I'd be confident too. I've seen enough out of Eli to think he's going to be at least "good".. meaning what, Hasselbeck level? I dunno, I think he'll be better than Hasselbeck. I love the way Eli just has a knack of winning games late. He was best when down and out.. Now, on the radio they were worried that Eli got more spotty as the year went on including the playoffs, but still. You don't lead a team on that many game-winning drives and then start to forget how to play late again. Stop being clutch.. there had to be another reason why Eli dropped off late in the year.

To me, Carson Palmer is the best young QB I've seen so far. I love the way he sits in the pocket.. so confident, accurate. They guy throws one beautiful looking ball, that's for sure. I hope he's ok by the start of next year.

If I had to rank NFL QB's right now, Palmer would probably make my top 5..

What do you think? I'd probably have t stick Brady in the #1 spot as of right now.

Dr. Giganto

I really think Eli's biggest (and mos easily fixable) problem is simply not dumping it off to Tiki or Finn in the flat when Plaxico, Toomer, and/or Shockey are double-covered. So many times, I saw a back go out into the flat uncovered, just to watch Eli force it into double coverage. This is also what contributes to Eli's low completion percentage.

To Eli, a 30% chance of a 10-yard gain is favorable to an 80% chance of a 3-yard gain

Blitzkrieg

Well.. it all depends doesn't it? I mean, the Giants seemed to me like they were going in the "big play" direction as far as their offense, so maybe that's what Eli's going for. The quick strike. I haven't seen him play enough to notice him missing Tiki out of the backfield.

goof

Pittsburg is going to win it this year.

Mr. Kennedy

I hope not, i'mhoping Denver can come back in this game because I want to see Denver-Seattle in the Super Bowl(although then I wouldn't be sure who to root for).

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