What Giants win DOESN'T mean for Birds
Philly.com, Inquirer, and Daily News coverage of the Eagles
What Giants win DOESN'T mean for Birds
Les Bowen
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.
Reid should be fired, Vick should be shown the door and sign Peyton!— The Philly Shadow- What separated the Giants from, say, the 49ers, was that kid screwing up two punt returns. Otherwise, the Giants get shut out in the second half and it's the 49ers in the Superbowl. But that's how it goes sometimes. Just never seems to happen in the Eagles favor.— nellar
- Vick's a real talent, however I don't see him winning a title in this league. Eli went out and prved that a confident pocket passer can win it all in the postseason. Vick's got a laser of an arm, but he's flushed out of the pocket frequently (especially to the right as exposed by the Giants in 2010), his throws are batted down at the line regularly, and he's a consistant health risk for not doing the simple things like going down or sliding to end a running play. His completion percentage was below 18 other starting QB's in the league including ten teams that went to the playoffs. Scrambling's exciting but we've had that for three decades now (Randall, Donovan, Vick), let's try a consistent pocket passer one of these days.— dpcoz
- You people saying this Super Bowl proves anything is possible and spinning that somehow into the Eagles being able to win are delusional. The Giants are a far better team with far more talent, a more effective style of play, a qb who is light years ahead of ours and a superior coach. That's why they won and we watched from home again.— philliesphan79
- The whole thing is very plain to see.. as an Eagle fan for 40 years, how about the Giant organization as a whole is just a class act, starting at the top all the way down, can we say that about our Eagles? when we can, then we will have a shot at a super-bowl. i dare anyone to dis-agree with that satement.— cooperjohn
- Vick wont make it to playoffs bc he is hurt. He wont be here in 2013. so who cares.— fman727
- dawkbeast20, that is exactly what keeps rolling through my mind non-stop today: "Welker does not drop that pass against the Eagles."
@#$%!! Giants— warreninrochester - design, talent, and luck conspire to determine fortunes. Giants had all three...and lot's of luck. 8 fumbles, none lost, a hail mary TD, two recovered fumbled KO returns in one game. Beginning with the Dallas game where Romo was leading the Cowboys to a clinching td, through the playoffs, the giants parlayed their skillful QB and receivers, defensive line, and a string of good fortune to the top.— retzlaff
- Vick and the Eagler will tease next year....more fools gold. Only question is will Lurie buy it thus bringing on another 2-3 years of Andy/Vick?— glove69
- Giants may have 4 Super Bowls, but we have Pee Wee Roseman and Joey Nickels. Times yours!— kelprod2
- Already sick of hearing about Eagles fans moaning about we don't have a championship. WE WILL NEVER, EVER win as long as Reid is here and Lurie & Banner are here!!!— hawaii2000
- The difference between the giants and eagles is as wide as the grand canyon. Start with general managers that can pick good players, coaches who don't reinvent o-line coaches into defensive coordinators, and owners who really feel and care, and who are more concerned with a profit.— jtcigar
- The Eagles will never with a SB with Lurie as an owner, Reid as a Head(case) coach and Vick as a quarterback.— USAFirst1
- Since Eagles coaching staff aren’t very good and are not disciplined it doesn’t matter who our QB is we won’t make it to a SB. The Eagles coaching staff don’t seem to plan game strategies well, they never adjust, and they’ll hire coaches with no experience like it’s not important. This season coaches didn’t know what they were doing. And didn’t know the players they were hired to coach and weren’t able to articulate to players what needed to be done. Some players who performed one scheme on other teams were barely coached to play a completely different scheme or position. It was a learning curve all around exacerbated by the Eagles coaching staff and under Reid’s direction.— epalmer
- What to take out of this Super Bowl is simple: the Giants have now won four Super Bowls, while the Eagles have no idea how to build a championship team.— Freedom Fries
