Eli Manning: A different beast away from Giants stadium

The Giants have systematically hunted down and beaten the teams which turned them over earlier in the campaign. Guess who's next? If it isn't New England, of course.

View from America
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SUPER BOWL XLII
Live on Sky Sports
Patriots v Giants
Sunday February 3 2008

View from America
US-based British sports-writer Simon Veness offers his thoughts from Over There

There were a few 'I told you so' remarks flying around this week, but only a few. The bottom line is no-one really saw the New York Giants coming. But we certainly should have done.

After their gritty upset of the Dallas Cowboys in the Divisional round, most observers over here felt the Giants had over-achieved as far as they could go, and that the brutal, icy wastelands of Lambeau Field would be their final resting place. But we should have known otherwise.

Green Bay simply looked too strong, too well balanced and too capable of going all the way to Super Bowl XLII, plus they had magic man Brett Favre to win it at the death. It was all set up for the Packers. But we should have seen through it.

You see, it was easy, in hindsight, to realise Tom Coughlin's men were galloping all the way to Phoenix and no-one was going to stop them; not Tony Romo, not Favre, not the Packers, no one.

Not only are these Giants this year's equivalent of the Steelers of two years ago - remember them? The No. 6 seeds who ambushed both Indianapolis and Denver on a magical Bus-ride with Jerome Bettis - but they are also the ultimate Road Warriors, far more dangerous away from home than in the confines of Giants Stadium.

Away

And where have they played all their playoff games? Exactly, on the road.

In fact, after their opening day defeat at Dallas - a wild 45-35 result that still showed their offensive capability - they had reeled off seven straight victories away from home to reach the NFL's knockout stages. Chalk up three more wins - at Tampa Bay, Dallas and then Green Bay - and it is now 10 and counting.

New York at home - P8, W3, L5; on the road - P11, W10, L1.

They won at Washington, Atlanta, Detroit, Philadelphia, Chicago and Buffalo; they even won on the season's ultimate 'road-trip', the NFL's big London experiment, with the Giants edging out Miami 13-10.

I had also commented on it in the View From America column ahead of Week 14, highlighting how Eli Manning was likely to prosper at Philadelphia because his stats were so much better away from home.

Eli's statistics - home, P8, 13 Touchdowns, 11 Interceptions; away, P11, 14 Touchdowns, 9 Interceptions. In his last four games (including the first Patriots game), Manning has eight TDs and only 1 INT. Tom Brady is 7-3 in the same time-span.

Super Bowl

So, there should have been no doubts about who would be facing New England and trying to stop the Patriots' bid for a fourth title in seven years.

Yet we still never really saw them coming. Not even when they gave the Patriots that almighty scare in the final regular season game, with Bill Belichick's outfit ultimately clinching that amazing 16-0 record. No, not even when they sunk the Buccaneers and ambushed the Cowboys.

The collective wisdom was that Favre and Co simply had too much about them, that Manning Junior wasn't up to the task in the Frozen North and the Super Bowl needed the Packers to give it an extra celebrity element. Just goes to show, we never really studied the form guide.

Now, of course, the 'reverse bandwagon effect' is in full flow, and people are tipping the Giants, not just to be competitive against the New England Unbeatables but to actually do the unthinkable and claim New York's first crown since 1991.

Suddenly, some of the most august names in the American sports hierarchy are having public doubts over the mighty Pats and wondering if Eli might just be ready to follow his big brother and make it another Manning Bowl party in Phoenix.

One of the most venerable names of all, Dr Z (or veteran Sports Illustrated columnist Paul Zimmerman) has even come right out straight away in support of New York, insisting he should have backed them all along. Brave stuff from such a highly-respected writer.

Former Raiders great Todd Christensen - who helped his team win it all as a wild card in 1980 - also agrees the confidence factor of being a road team that keeps winning is hard to stop.

So, the early predictions and possibilities have been posted. The Giants have been cast in the role of Legitimate Contenders and they will continue to make much of their underdog status and the initial 12-point spread in favour of the Patriots.

They have shut down the No 3-rated offence of the Cowboys and dismantled the No 2-rated Packers. That just leaves numero uno, the big bad Patriots and their touchdown machine, who few have been able to slow down, let alone stop, in 18 games so far.

However, it could also be dubbed the Revenge Tour, as the Giants have systematically hunted down and beaten the teams which turned them over earlier in the campaign

Dallas (winners of the opening day match-up) - check; Green Bay (who won in Giants Stadium in Week Two) - check; and guess who's next on the list? If it isn't New England, of course, who triumphed in New York in the final week. What a neat little 1-2-3 that would be for Coughlin and Co (and wouldn't the writers like to have their Coach of the Year vote all over again if that came to pass!).

Of course, there is still a long way to go before that can become a reality and there are a gazillion column inches to fill before we even get to kick-off time on February 3.

So, for now, it is on to the University of Arizona Stadium and a week of media frenzy and hoopla and all manner of circus games leading up to The Game itself. Let the hype commence!