But they show promise, at least offensively. For a change, the defense got toasted, and the Eli Manning led offense was damm good. Now, the Steelers are good, but the Giants D could have done more. They got beat by a rented goalie numerous times. Let’s give it up to Eli and the O’, which looked like a professional football team, instead of one that my ECU Pirates could have beaten.
The difference maker was the plays. They took advantage of the Steelers aggresiveness in the running and passing game. Running allowed the use of play action. And the pass plays were ones that Eli was confortable with, and usually got the ball out of his hands quickly. He ended up 16/23 for 182, 2 TD’s and one pick. Not bad, considering he had a passer rating of zero last week against the Ravens.
Give it up to Willie Ponder for being the first Giant to take an opening home game kickoff all the way for the first time in the Giants 80 year history. And this was the first opening kickoff return for a TD for the Giants since Clarence Childs did it in Cleveland on December 4, 1966.
Take it away from the refs, who once again screwed the Giants. First, no call on a late hit out of bounds on Tiki by the Steelers player Troy Polamalu after Troy threw Tiki to the ground 5 yards in. Then the Giants got tagged with a 3rd down roughing the passer, a totally BS call, especially since a personal foul wasn’t called on the Tiki/Troy play. The Steelers went down the field and scored a TD. Then, you have a no call on what was obvious pass interference by the Steelers on Amini Toomer, which led to an interception. It sounds like sour grapes, but I have watched this all year long, and bad calls are bad calls. Ref’s are part of the game, and cannot see everything. But some calls are easy to make, especially when some of the refs are tasked with watching the ball!
Suck it up. You fans just got a taste of what Steeler fans have been enduring for nearly 30 years. As a kid in the 70’s I knew the Steelers had to beat both the other team and the refs.
Eli is your future–I think he’ll be great next year. But you also lucked out this week. The Steelers had a short week, went on the road, and were missing a ton (literally and physically, probably) of their first stringers on both sides of the ball. Big Ben is only slightly above-average without Plax Burress. At least he knows how to keep his cool and do what it takes to come from behind and win.