Giants Game Preview

When I started this blog, I figured my schedule would go something like this:

• Monday -- Game review (long)
• Tuesday -- Second-day reactions (short)
• Wednesday / Thursday -- Random stats or around-the-league stuff (short)
• Friday -- Game preview (long)
• Saturday / Sunday -- Watching football, not writing about it

My assumption was that people would care most about the Eagles right after and right before their games, with less interest during the middle of the week when other things were going on.

Not exactly.

First of all, people don't want to wait until Monday.  It's amazing how many people show up within 10 minutes of the final kneeldown.  I try, but even the pros get a couple hours to file. 

Secondly, folks aren't easily sated.  Interest runs strong through at least Wednesday before it starts to slow down a bit.  (I've also noticed that when bad things happen, traffic is better than when things are good.)

Finally, Friday's are glacial.  This is the biggest surprise.  I figured that would be the "ramp up" day.  Nope, it's always the slowest week day.  I have a few theories for why this could be so:

1. Especially in the summer, lots of people take off early on Friday.
2. It's a night/day effect.  The day is similarly paced, but people aren't hanging around the house reading about the Eagles on Friday night.  (This can't be the whole answer, based on the numbers.)
3. My game previews suck. 

I kinda think it might be #3.  Or at least maybe it's that they don't provide something you can't get a million other places.

That thought came to mind last night as I was trying to figure out what to write about the Giants.  I mean, we played those guys three times last year.  Other than Tiki's retirement, not much has changed.  You watched all those games too -- you know what they do.  And if you do want to read about the game, you have approximately six million choices. 

So I've got a request.  I'm always open to feedback on what happens around here.  If you've got any ideas about ways I could make these things more interesting, please email me or pop 'em in the comments.  I'm all ears.  And the same thing goes on a week-to-week basis.  If the Eagles are playing a team we all don't already know everything about, let me know if there are any specific questions you'd like to see addressed.

As for this week, here are the things I think those six million people are all getting wrong:

Chris Gocong is not going to be the primary coverage option on Jeremy Shockey.  Every week we get these stories about how such-and-such a tight end will be Gocong's "toughest test yet."  I'm sure it will happen again when Jason Whitten comes to town.  Guys, can we all please just keep in mind that Gocong spends half the game on the bench, there's no way Johnson trusts him yet to consistently match up one-on-one with a guy like Shockey, and very few linebackers can stick with these modern tight ends in space.

I don't think Burress is going to be that effective.  The Eagles don't typically flip their cornerbacks for match-up purposes, but after what happened last year we might see a bit more of that on Sunday.  As for William James, he definitely struggles a little bit with the quick guys, but Burress isn't beating anybody down the field, he just jumps over them when Eli heaves one of his hopeprayluck specials down the sideline.  He'll probably destroy us in the second game, however.  (Also, the Eagles corners aren't "small," it's just that he's 6-5.)

It's going to be very, very tough for Westbrook to have a big game.  I think good players can go one week without practicing and not show any ill effects, but that starts to catch up to you if it continues.  I think Brian might be a little less sharp this week.  Also, the Giants are going to throw everything they have at Westbrook.  Spagnuolo was around Philly long enough to get a good sense about what works best against him.  McNabb better be on again.  (On the flip side, if Westbrook can't go look for Buckhalter to have one of those "oh, well we don't have to worry about him" big days.  He was hitting the hole really, really hard last week.  Obviously the rest of the package isn't the same, but I think Bucky might be faster than Westbrook these days.)

Comments

[BenZ]

Eh, I think you're doing fine. There's such a plethora of information on the net about the Eagles; I think you've got your own unique voice and that's what you should be focussed on, rather than just regurgitating all the gossip and stuff on other blogs/sports pages.

[slackerjoe]

I love the detailed analysis (Video Rewind, etc) that you do on the Birds. You really seem to catch things that most media outlets (newspaper, tv, internet) do not.

Previews are interesting, but it's the in depth analysis that I enjoy here.

Keep up the good work!