Trav's Thoughts

It's 72 degrees in Tampa/Hillsborough at kick off.

Tampa QB Jeff Garcia is shifty. He moves around in the pocket, scrambles, and buys time, then he makes a play. The Giants have one of the best pass rushes in the league. Garcia's strength is his mobility and his ability to make quick decisions and get rid of the ball. He takes a lot of hits, and for a guy his size - only 6'1", 205lbs - he is surprisingly durable.

Eli Manning has the press of an elite QB, but he doesn't have the stats to back it up. He's had flashes of brilliance in his 4 year career, but he hasn't been able to sustain it. Lots of young quarterbacks get excuses made for them - he's still developing, he doesn't have the weapons, he's not getting protected, it takes time to learn to read NFL defenses, yada yada yada. But when your name is Manning and your older brother is Peyton, you don't get those excuses. It's probably not fair, but you know what they say about life.

Ooops. I dozed on the game. How embarrassing.

From what I can see over at nfl.com game center, it looks like Eli has decided to have a good game and stay away from the big mistakes. And the Giants defense has played well.

The new Coors Light coach interview commercials are funny.

Tampa got in the endzone, but it looks like it's going to be too little too late. The Bucs are still down 10 with only 3:25 to play. They don't go for the onside kick, so now they have to stop the Giants quickly to get the ball back, score quickly again, recover an onside kick, and then get another score to either tie or win. That's possible, but not likely.

The Bucs got step one...they stopped the Giants and forced a punt.

Whoa! RW McQuarters just made a fantastic catch to pick off Garcia. The call on the field initially was incomplete. But the replay shows he managed to twist and get both feet down.

Giants win and I'm not 2-1 with my playoff picks.