… this week, at least.

A great weekend of playoff football. The Saturday games… well, there was certainly a lot of scoring. A little frustrating for those old school guys like me who like a bit of defense from time to time, but I can’t deny it was exciting. The Saints look especially scary. They killed the G-Men when we went down and played them in Nawlins during the season, and I have a feeling they will kill anyone who has to play them in the Superdome. But the rest of their games are likely to be on the road, so you never know.

Good win for the Texans too. I have no particular rooting interest in either Houston or Cincinnati, so I didn’t much care how that game came out… but it occurs to me that somewhere in Dallas, Jerry Jones is probably making the pissy face at the thought of another Texas team being in the playoffs while his Cowboys are home. So that’s good.

The Steeler/ Bronco game was pretty wild. Really thought that Denver had blown it there, but that overtime was a dagger in the heart. Tebow… what can I possibly say about Tebow that half a million talking heads on ESPN haven’t said already? Three hundred yards passing on ten completions… it beggars understanding… but there you are. Somehow I suspect that Evil Little Bill had a role in this… I’m sure he’d much rather face Tebow than the Steelers D, as wounded as Pittsburgh was.

Of course, my favorite game was the big Giants win over Atlanta. They are weeping in the Vale, but rejoicing on the Wall. And hey, those were the REAL Giants, the ones who have been missing all season. Great swarming D and a smashmouth two-headed running game, that’s what I’ve been waiting for. A shaky beginning, right up to the Atlanta safety, but after that it was complete NYG domination. Another great game by Eli. The Falcons clamped down on my man Victor Cruz pretty hard, but that was okay, Hakeem Nicks and Mario Manningham stepped up to take his place. Had to love that last play of the game too, when Osi sacked not only Matt Ryan but also the Atlanta left tackle, driving him back into his QB and tackling both of them.

Which means another trip to the Frozen Tundra next week. Shades of 2007. I hope it’s forty below zero again, just like it was back then. Should be epic.

((Far be from me to complain, but the officiating sucked all weekend. The Broncos got robbed on that lateral. The Giants were the victim of at least three terrible calls. And the Lions were also screwed by the zebras. I suspect the results of all three games would have been the same in either case, but really, the refs should watch those premature whistles)).

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… when you’re a Giants fan, and you get to kick some Cowboy ass and knock them out of the playoffs to boot.

Quite a game tonight at the Meadowlands. Tony Romo gave a gutsy performance, given that his hand was the size and color of an eggplant, but the Giants pass rushers came to play tonight. So did Eli, Hakeem, and especially Victor Cruz. I’ve been singing this kid’s praises since the beginning of the season. Was I right, or was I right?

The game looked like a laugher in the first half, the Giants dominating on both sides of the ball and running up a 21-0 margin. That all started with Cruz, again, when he turned a short third-and-one pass to the flat into a 70 yard touchdown scamper. And the D did the rest. Osi, Kiwi, Canty, JPP, Tuck… they never gave Romo time to breathe.

Third quarter, though, things started to sour. Suddenly the momentum shifted, as it will in the NFL. Suddenly it was the G-Men going three-and-out and the Cowboys driving down the field. They made it 21-7, stopped the Giants, got the ball back, drove down to the shadow of the goalposts, then went for it on a fourth-and-one instead of taking the chip shot field goal. The Giants stuffed ’em and got the ball on downs, and you’d think that would have shifted the momentum back… but it didn’t. The Cowboys D shut down the Giants in another three-and-out, the punt was short, a 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty got tacked on, and wham, bam, Romo led them down and now it was 21-14.

At that point I was sweating bullets and moaning, especially when the Giants got the ball back and went nowhere on their first two downs. Suddenly it was third-and-ten, and it looked as though we’d have to give the ball back to the Cowboys again, with all that momentum. Falter now, and we were staring down the barrel of a tied score. Then the ball was snapped, Eli faded back, rushers came crashing in all around him, it looked dire… but somehow Eli spun away, just as he did in the Superbowl, and he heaved the ball way way downfield, and instead of David Tyree it was Victor Cruz, and the kid went way up in the air above the defenders and snatched that ball for a great catch… and just like that, the Giants had the momentum back.

There was more excitement to come. A fumble near the goal line that stopped my heart (but thankfully the Giants recovered). More Giant sacks. More great Victor Cruz catches. A couple nifty catches from Hakeem Nicks. Great play for Eli. The final strip/ sack of Romo. But that long Eli-to-Cruz bomb, under heavy pressure, just when things looks darkest… that was the fulcrum on which the game turned.

And now the Giants are in the show, and live to play another week, facing the Falcons next Sunday at MetLife Stadium. And Jerry Jones is flying home wearing his pissy face. You have to love Jerry Jones in his pissy face.

Ah, football. Nothing like it.

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… at least for Jets fans.

Pfui. What a terrible way to end the season, losing to the hated Dolphins. With the season on the line, Mark Sanchez played an awful game, and Santonio Holmes failed to show.

Oh, well. It’s “wait till next year” for Gang Green. Rex is going to have to make a lot of off-season changes. I still hold out hope that Sanchez can be the franchise qb we need, but the team needs to get back to the “ground and pound” attack of 2010 and (especially) 2009. We may need another RB to pair with Shonn Green, especially if Tomlinson retires as he threatens. Maybe Joe McKnight can fill that role, but I’m not sure. And the D needs help as well. A safety to take the place of Eric Smith, the weak spot in an otherwise outstanding secondary, and a kickass pass rusher / sack artist so Rex won’t need to blitz so much.

I suspect we’ll have a new offensive coordinator as well, though I am not convinced that Shottenheimer was the problem.

The Dolphins played with a lot of heart, considering they had nothing to play for. Must say, though, the number of empty seats in the stadium was shocking. Almost the entire upper deck appeared empty. That would never happen to a Jets or Giants game, no matter what the team’s record was. I know Florida fans have a bad rep for turning out only for winning teams… certainly true for the Jaguars in the NFL, and for baseball’s Marlins as well… but I’d thought better of Dolphins fans. And the condition of the field was pretty shocking as well. Torn up to hell and gone. Players were slipping and tripping all afternoon, and there were big divots everywhere you looked.

Let’s hope the Giants can salvage some joy for me and the Big Apple tonight. Die, Cowboys, die!

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