What Giants win DOESN'T mean for Birds
I'm guessing you aren't up today for any long-winded, chin-stroking analysis of what the Giants' Super Bowl victory last night means for the Eagles.
What Giants win DOESN'T mean for Birds
Les Bowen, Daily News Staff Writer
I'm guessing you aren't up today for any long-winded, chin-stroking analysis of what the Giants' Super Bowl victory last night means for the Eagles.
That's good, because I'm not up for writing one.
All through the buildup for what to me became an inevitable Giants victory, I kept thinking about last year's big Super Bowl "lesson," and the bogus concept that every Super Bowl winner produces some sort of blueprint that ensures a Lombardi Trophy next season, if only another organization can copy it.
Last year the Packers won, despite an impressive log of injuries. Backups stepped in at key spots and Green Bay kept going. So the big revelation was that depth is super-important; Eagles management talked about this as part of its offseason planning. This is the "trend" that brought you Ronnie Brown, Steve Smith, Donald Lee, Jarrad Page and others who contributed next to nothing to an 8-8 season.
I dunno what the Eagles will take out of the Giants winning the Super Bowl, despite having lost to Vince Young in November. If the lesson is that drafting guys who are really physically dominant, like Jason Pierre-Paul and Hakeem Nicks, is maybe more important than drafting guys who are captains and good citizens, that might be an OK thing. If the lesson is that "hey, that could have been us, the Giants were 7-7 at one point," well, that would not be a good thing.
I think the Giants won the Super Bowl for two reasons: What should have been a dominant defense all year long woke up, got healthy, or whatever, in December. And Eli Manning was the best quarterback in the postseason.
That last part was the most important; it was what separated the Giants from, say, the 49ers. Eli was sacked 11 times in the playoffs - more than any other quarterback. He still completed 65 percent of his passes, threw for nine touchdowns and was intercepted exactly once. His QB rating was 103.3. He averaged 304.8 passing yards per game.
Good luck copying that "blueprint," NFL GMs. And Eagles fans, do you really see Michael Vick throwing for nine touchdowns and one interception?
In asking the question, don't think I'm mindlessly bashing Vick. I'm not -- Tom Brady didn't do what Manning did, quite, which is why the Patriots aren't the team providing the "lesson" for everyone today. Brady made exactly two Super Bowl mistakes -- the first-play safety and then the interception, when his team was rolling. Otherwise he was spectacular. It wasn't enough.
Manning, for all his foibles, is the reason the Giants have two Super Bowl rings the past five years, an era in which they have never really been a dominant regular-season team. He is lethal, a stone killer, on the biggest stage. The Eagles just don't have that guy. Most other teams don't, either. Including the Patriots.
Also, teams that want to copy the Giants' blueprint should practice having their fumbles bounce straight into the arms of teammates. That helps, too.
There are 12 Lombardi Trophies (Super Bowl era) sitting in NFC East Division offices. 4 in Dallas, 4 in Washington and 4 in New York Giants. The Eagles have ZERO making only 2 appearances in the SB. This is the last season of Andy Reid in 2012 but when will Lurie and Banner ever win the Super Bowl? Never is the answer I keep hearing.— BFlint- Washington has 3. Dallas has 5. G-men 4!!!!!! — NYgiants11
- I don't think the Eagles every had a great quarterback, possibly Randall Cunningham but don't quote me on that. As long as the Eagles don't have that, they probably will never win a superbowl. Jaworski - no, Cunningham - maybe, Detmers - No, McNabb - No, Kolb - No, Vick - No. Maybe they can draft somebody good. The whole Vince Young thing was a disaster and everybody knew it, same with signing Vick for all those years.— neddyflanders
- Cunningham was not a great QB. Cunningham was a great athlete who sulked when things didn't go his way and stayed in that funk until next season.
I love the guy, but you could play 100 years with Cunningham in top form and never win a playoff game.— fmMD - Eagles will never win. I had hope until yesterday. Football in this city is cursed.— sore richard
- It doesn't matter who the Eagles have at QB. This Team will never win a Super Bowl as long as Arrogant Andy makes gameday decisions. Our Team's problems start and end with the Head Coach who, unfortunately, has a lifetime Contract.— younged
- The blueprint is easy to express. They are the giants, the Eagles are the shrimps.— 4thand10
- First, we need to draft big and fast. You can't coach "Big. You can't coach "Fast". Find big guys who can run.
Second, anyone notice both offensive lines yeaterday? How cohesive, how big, fast and nasty they were? Andy used to know offensive lines, now we get small and fast guys. ughhhhh......— Owatagoofiam - ha. there are some funny quotes here. here is my two cents. one person on this list said it best when he compared the organizations. the reality is the eagles organization simply does not match up. look at the mara's, the rooney's etc. they want to win super bowls so they do what it takes. lurie only wants to win at the bottom line. he's in it for the money. until the fans in this city stop showing up at the link and until they stop buying eagles merchandise jeff lurie won't do what's necessary to put a winner on the field. i know it's hard to win a super bowl but come on, it's not rocket science. christ, nut up and make some hard choices. get a good coach that's not past his prime and draft/trade for dominant players. fill in the gaps with tough guys with heart who hate to lose. come on already. i'm gonna start pulling for another team.— cjtropea
- I gave up after the paragraph that started "I dunno...". Seriously? I can sum up your headline's question rather easily, though- there is zero impact, either way, on the Eagles from the Giants winning the Superbowl.— verve
- The Eagles will NEVER win the Super Bowl PERIOD ! Not with this ownership. Jeff Lurie is a PATRIOTS fan! I'm sure he is very upset with thew loss. He can say his team beat the Giants, and that somehow that means his team is oh so close. Fools continue to support his team, so he gets to root for the Pats, make Money off the birds. Win WIn , PHilly=LOSERS I'm DONE with the NFL Going FISHING— gregneff62
- Football IQ plays an important role as well.
Recognizing the defense, making the right decision and getting rid of the ball quickly requires athletic ability and the intellect to make very good decisions quickly.
Teams that jump offsides, turn the ball over frequently and drop catchable balls will have trouble against better squads.
Coaching IQ also comes into play. You don't see many teams calling ronnie brown (run/pass) plays at the goal line. Managing the clock, play calling, making the best use of your personnel are all important.
It also doesn't hurt to have the size and physicality to weather the tough times and dominate your opponent.— Fan74 - As a Philly fan who lives/has lived in NY for a number of years, it doesn't get much worse than the Giants winning 2x in 5 years, especially with most of the hype slanted toward the birds each year. SO... I can't wait until they DUMP REID and VICK after this season - The new regime should preach SMART football, like the Pats and Giants play. Let's all hope a few years in the toilet yields a real QB who plays SMART. McNabb was the closest this city has ever had to real modern day QB... And everyone hates the guy. We all need a new hobby.— sore richard
- NFC east now has 12 Superbowl championships and none of them wore green some much for the Pyrite Standard .........Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
— jgf 
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