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Over the course of the past week, two disgruntled NFL players have publicly stated their opinion that the New York Giants did not, in fact, beat them in the playoffs, but that their respective teams gave away a victory. It started on Tuesday when Green Bay Packers LB Clay Mathews stated that his team "beat themselves" in the NFC Divisional round that ended their season. While the Giants' brushed off these comments with humor, on Friday, another casualty of Big Blue's improbable 2011 Super Bowl run decided to open his mouth.
Before his team's preseason opener against the Minnesota Vikings, San Francisco 49ers safety Donte Whitner addressed his feelings toward the 2011 NFC Championship game.
"We felt like it was ours to lose,” Whitner said. “Especially after we beat the Saints, we felt like it was ours to lose. We felt like the Saints and Green Bay Packers were the two best teams in the playoffs and once they went down we felt like it was ours to lose, and we let it slip through our fingers.”
Although Clay Mathews' comments came off as childish and even ignorant, Donte Whitner's comments are actually partially accurate. When 49ers punt returner Kyle Williams fumbled in overtime to give Big Blue the ball in field goal range, the game did in fact slip through the 49ers fingers. However, what Donte Whitner fails to mention, is that the New York Giants forced it out of their fingers. On the play, Giants LB Jacquian Williams hustled down the field and jarred the ball loose, it wasn't like Williams dropped it on his own.
However, the fact of the matter is that last season is over. Although 2011 will live forever in the memories of Giants' players, coaches, and fans alike, 2012 represents a whole new challenge. With many so called "experts" predicting Big Blue to finish third in the NFC East this upcoming season, and with Tebowmania making its' way to NY, Big Blue had flown under the radar throughout the offseason.
Many believe that they got lucky a year ago, but it takes some luck to win the Super Bowl. No team has ever won a championship without catching a few fortunate breaks along the way. That being said, the 2011 New York Giants won the Super Bowl because their pass rush got healthy, their quarterback was elite, and the rushing game has a resurgence. If their opponents would rather focus on their own errors as the cause their shortcomings, that's fine also. No matter what anybody says or does, the results on the scoreboard are going to remain the same.
Hopefully, as the seasons begins to kickoff, we can stop hearing about how the Giants have been lucky, and start hearing about how they have assembled a core of young, talented players that will put them in a position to be competitive for years to come. Don't count on it though.
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Jim,
Don’t forget Randle!
Oh crap, Randal! What happens to DePalma now?
Someone should memo these guys: you don’t look good when you cry about losing.
Couple of additional thoughts about last night
Someone posted that the 2011 draft is turning out to be a colossal bust, with Prince, Austin and Jernigan looking anything but top shelf.
A little too early for that assessment. Look at the 2010 draft. Getting JPP obviously makes that draft a success regardless of any other player, but maybe, just maybe, Tracy will come on in his 3d year making JR’s resume with late round picks even more impressive
Last night the 1st D was missing Canty, Bolely, Williams and TT. Bolely and Williams ought to be back very soon; we know TT is likely out until Week 5 or so; Canty remains a mystery. He would be a big loss to this defense. Hopefully that will prove not to be the case.
Did anyone observe Rivers last night? I think he started with the ones, but I don’t recall his number being called.
The entire LB crew did nothing special. Herz showed he could play … that was about the only bright spot.
I watched him on a few plays – he didn’t look too bad. Got into a scuffle at one point, too. I don’t think Coughlin let him play too much because of the hammy, but I will pay closer attention when I go over the tape today.
Do you have the all 22 subscription? Is so let know what you think
We do, yes. As soon as we use it the first time, I’ll def. let you know. I am pretty stoked to check it out.
Whitner is right, it was their game to lose. They were about to receive the ball in sudden death overtime.
I can’t wait for the rematch – two great teams that split their last two and have gotten better since.
And as I recall the GAS (great Alex Smith) completed one pass to a WR all night long. So obviously, if they hadn’t fumbled they would have marched right down the field for a score
Point well taken. But you generally win foootball games in OT when you posses the rock, not when your opponent does. Regardless of individual performance, both teams played to a draw after 60. At that point, the team with the ball who can actually score the points has the advantage.
Where in Guilderland you from?
Westmere
I really don’t know how to respond to FF55′s comment in the last article. I truly don’t. I think there’s maybe a misunderstanding about what this website is and how it should function, or what the levels are in terms of what sort of opinion gets praised publicly and what doesn’t.
If we post something up that says “Anonymous reader who doesn’t give their real name shared in an opinion that many others shared, so let’s all clap at them” the beat writers are going to look at us and laugh their heads off. Whereas if I praise a long-time contributor to this site, and credentialed writer (in other areas) outside of this site, by his given name that many others know him by, it holds a significant amount of water.
Not only am I helping him -my friend- progress in the world of journalism, I’m offering him a “thank you” of sorts for dedicating countless hours and many years of his life to helping this site grow – not just in the comments section, but by attending (on his dime) a large number of events, working in analytics, on social media, writing, and so on and so forth.
This, of course, is not to say we don’t appreciate our many (and primarily) anonymous users. It’s also not to say we don’t value their opinions, but when it comes to a published works on our site, while praising a commentor may make said commentor feel good within this small community of approximately 100 regulars who chat here, it does nothing but hurt our credibility and fails to appeal to a) the other 99 commentors who at some point or another will hit the nail on the head and then require the same luxury, but b) the other beat writers and/or readers (well over 350,000 a month) who come here for news and what they would refer to as “expert opinion” (aka those with years of published works).
Kudos to FF55 for sharing my long-standing opinion on Will Hill, and again, kudos on Stanback, a practice squad WR who is now battling (and likely to lose) the #6 WR spot to Douglas. And I’m not saying that sarcastically, you and others called good games from them and there’s something to be said about that and the knowledge it takes to dig deep down inside of a 90-man roster and pick out players who will flash when most don’t even know who they are.
Hell, look at my long-standing opinion on Herzlich and the amount of crap I got around from the moment I said the Giants should target him (his senior season, when I was doing SNY radio).
I very rarely, if ever, pat myself on the back. You know why? Because if I did that and readers came here daily and saw that, they’d take off. As we train all of our new writers at Sports Media 101, people will come to your sites every day to read your opinion, but once you start using the words “My” and “I” the psychology will turn against you. Unless you’re an award winning author or New York Times expert, no one gives two sh*ts what you think. That’s just the nature of the business.
In closing, people value your opinion here, FF55. They do. And yes, you’re a very knowledgeable fan, but if you’re only here doing it to receive kudos from me or the other writers publicly (ala – in published works), I hate to tell you, it’s never going to happen. Just as it wouldn’t happen and Pat Traina’s site, Mike Garafolo’s site or Ralph Vacchiano’s site. And again, it’s not because you’re wrong or not valued as a participant, but because it would only hurt the credibility of the authors and the site respectively.
We go out of our way at Giants 101 to make this site successful, to help it grow, and more importantly than anything else, to keep it up and running for you and the other readers. And sometimes, that means we have to do or shy away from things the small majority of readers might not like. But you all saw last year what life is like without Giants 101, and in that moment, you all thanked me for doing what I do (even when you don’t like it) to keep this site going. I can only assume (and hope) I will be awarded that same luxury now.
SimonGC, some really good points.
As for the topic of this article, Whitner may be right or he may be just a sore loser. Every close game can have a if only we didn’t or did this or that. That is what makes sports so much fun and so frustrating.
Dan: You are 100% right. Everyone is entitled to their opinions, but they don’t have to break their arms patting themselves on the back.
If someone needs to be worshipped for stating an opinion they have a problem that needs a shrink.
And for those picking on FF’s penchant for self-back patting; I say “Lay Off!”
The trick is to remind him every time he is wrong. The problem is that he sees a super bowl under every rock so when the giants are on a roll he can say “Yeah, I got that”
But he has had plenty of ****, even if he’ll only own up to Wilkenson.
Remember how much he loved Henderson from round 6 of the 2008 draft?
Remember how he swore Danny Ware was the next Derrick Ward simply because we signed them both off the Jet’s practice squad.
Remember how he guaranteed – injury and no offseason notwithstanding – that Prince would be an immediate upgrade to the secondary last season?
The trick is to return fire.
Fire up the time machine. Take away your own bad plays … and eliminate the good plays of your opponents …
I believe that you’ll find that you’ve now won every game you’ve ever participated in.
Congratulations.
And you get a gig on ESPN
I’ve often suggested a separate “look at me, I got it right” forum… where predictions could be made and recorded for posterity.
The posters making successful predictions would be encouraged to brag and puff … gleefully throwing it in the faces of their fellow fans as they pound their chests.
The rest of us could just stay here and comment on the Giants.
P.S. Does anyone know what Quentin Groves is up to?
We had that, remember? We created forums and then we proceeded to create sub-forums for accurate predictions and it made some people so angry they left the site for months.
Ouch. I must have slept through that. Sorry Dan.
Haha. We then went ahead and implemented “Battle of the Trenches” (which should be in the trenches … anyway…) so that people could argue and receive bragging rights, with the winners earning the right to post something of their very own (patting themselves on the back) and it, too, never took off.
We’ve tried a number of ways to give the “pat myself on the back” crew a larger voice as a reward. But alas, no one has used the means in which we’ve supplied. See below.
http://www.giants101.com/battle-in-the-trenches/
Boom!
–That was the sound of my main man Dwayne “D-Wayne” Hendricks bursting on the scene. The kid’s two more preseason games like that away from making this team. Maybe he gets a look with the ones next week against the Jets?
–Also, sure it is only the first preseason game, but you can’t blame people for being a little uneasy about Prince getting turned around like a french wh*** a few times…what with the injury to Thomas and all. He sure is going to have to strip a ton of balls if he’s going to keep getting burned like that.
–Also, My9′s coverage of last night’s game was just awful (not that I’m surprised). There was a stunning lack of replays and an enormous load of nonsense coming from Howard Cross. Seriously, he says things that literally make no sense sometimes. I thought it was pretty clear that Jernigan’s right arm was held on the touchdown try and that’s why he went for it one-handed; My9 never showed a proper angle to see in on replay.
— Speaking of Jernigan and his fellow depth guys at his position, I’m getting more worried about the depth at receiver. Barden just doesn’t have it, no one really thinks they can count on Domenik Hixon and Jernigan, despite the fact that I’ll take him off the hook for the TD drop because I think his arm was held, doesn’t inspire much confidence.
–I wonder if Stanback will work his way onto the field in certain roles. They always have one guy they single out for slip screens that don’t work. Maybe Stanback can be that guy…but any which way he’s definitely got a chance to make the team if he can show reliability and the slightest glimmer of playmaking ability this preseason. He’s certainly more valuable than Barden, given that he is a good ST player.
If he does, everyone make sure to pat FF55 on the back.
–Will Hill is going to make this team. And while that might mean Deon Grant is out of a job for now, he can always slide into that Chase Blackburn off-the-couch role if he doesn’t get a job elsewhere.
–Keith Rivers didn’t do anything noticeably special that I saw, but he looked active and looked like he was moving very well. Can’t wait to see what Rivers and Jacquian Williams can do this year.
–I think the Giants will keep a close eye on the veteran CB situation around the league. They’ll surely keep a close eye on cutdown days, but don’t be surprised to see them spend a late round pick to secure the 2012 version of Sam Madison.
The terrible My9 broadcast shouldn’t go overlooked, and I’m surprised no one else said anything. The grainy camera was bad enough, the lack of replays only added to the terrible experience, but the amateurish camerawork topped it off. There were several plays that were missed because the camera was focused on a section of field away from the play. A big fat F to My9.
And horrible low-def.
Haha yeah I remember a running play where the camera just stayed on David Carr as he watched the running back and the defense run to stage left. The offensive line even trailed over there, but there the camera guy remained, on David Carr’s lonely shoulders.
More than the one posting location is too much for most of us old guys
That grainy camera annoyed the hell out of me. As well as when a play would go off and they didn’t switch cameras so the cam was still focused on the backfield (zoomed in pretty close) while the ball was 10-15 yards down the field. It was beyond annoying. And as much as I love those former G-Men adding to the game…I’m sorry, but they really lack personality and charisma when calling a game. At least Joe Buck’s voice changes pitch at times so you can tell when he’s excited over a play. These guys just seemed so…melancholy.
Banks sucked too.
There’s a dude out there willing to work for the veteran minimum that hauled in 8 TD grabs last year from a bottom echelon QB that could easily fix that WR depth problem.
But because he’s not signed, I must be wrong, and all other 32 GMs right, that he sucks.
Just like TO. Until he signed. Just like Deon Grant last year. Until he signed. Just like Chase Blackburn last year. Until he signed. Etc.
I’m with you brother. I’d sure as hell rather have Plaxico Burress than Ramses Barden. And probably Domenik Hixon too. I wish it wasn’t too early to give up on Jernigan.
Now don’t start that again
Plax is a cancer the giants don’t need
The fact that Eli apparently doesn’t want him back is all you need to know
Cancer defined:
@OsiUmenyiora: Good times with my boys plax and tuck! We love plax!!!!!! http://pic.twitter.com/oA52bafk – 5 days ago
I know that my opinion is not popular, and I agree it’s extremely unlikely, but Plax makes sense.
We know the following things to be true:
- The rushing attack was dead last last year, and did nothing of note to get better on the OL except get healthy. One can expect marginal improvement at best.
- The RBs are trash, a guy with potential injury at any turn, and a rookie who we *think* will be great but may not grasp everything yet.
- The WRs have a stud, a stud with a broken foot with a propensity to get hurt, a dude with a twice repaired knee who never caught more than 2 TDs, a maybe 2nd year guy, a rookie who likely won’t contribute, and trash.
- Injuries always happen
- The QB is in his prime
- They are built to win NOW
Since injuries happen, we are all one injury away from something like an ineffective running game or a one man show at WR. Wouldn’t you want the best WRs you can in 2012 to be safe? So when 2011 happens and your running game is terrible, you got 3 legit passing options? Or if your franchise’s all time single season yards receiver goes down, your #1 isn’t triple teamed?
I would. And, like Simon, I’m not certain that legit #3/legit #2 when called upon exists on this roster.
As always, I’ll gladly accept being proven wrong on this matter. And I confirm that I believe, but can’t guarantee, that Wilson, Jernigan, Randle etc will temper these fears. Someday.
I just want to win in 2012.
But Plax only makes sense if he’s on the field all the time and so you sit one of Cruz or Nicks more than you should
Plus he’s just not a good guy
Do you really think not showing up to meetings will make Tom happy
For everyone on this site who thinks TC is a top coach, his antipathy to Plax ought to tell you something
Besides with Douglass and Stanbach, what more do you need?
Hahah those bums will not be on the team in a little bit.
I ask this: does anyone find it odd that in the most self destructive nut job locker room in football, all Plax did last year was went out, stayed out of the newspaper, and put up more catches, yards and TDs than Barden or Hixon ever have, with Sanchez throwing the ball?
The Giants wish to keep Cruz in the slot. Why wouldn’t Plax play? Manningham got plenty of touches last year. And compared to the alternative (unemployment), who am I to say a 34-year old ex con wouldn’t love such a role?
One other thing with Plax that always goes unmentioned: great blocker. Could be an asset for the recent worst rushing attack in football.
Plax was an idiot. But the players lurved the guy. He wouldn’t be … nor was he ever … locker room poison.
Now maybe he’s done … maybe we have better already on the roster. Not signing him because of that makes sense. But if this guy could help us and we pass because of ‘attitude’ then we’re the ones shooting ourselves in the leg.