Justin Tuck has decided to hang it up after a long and productive career. Tuck was drafted by the New York Giants in the 3^rd round of the 2005 draft. He joined a group of veteran defensive ends, Michael Strahan and Osi Umenyiora, who were the bookends to that Giants defensive line.

In his first two seasons, he didn’t start many games, or have any sacks. He would be on the bench learning and analyzing the game from the two Giant stars serving as their primary backup. 2007 was his breakout year, finishing second on the team with 10 sacks trailing Umenyiora who had 12.

This trend would continue along his way to Super Bowl XLII. Perhaps the Giants had some foresight of things to come because before the Super Bowl, Tuck was signed to a 5 year deal.

Tuck was an integral component of the defense that pressured the undefeated Patriots and lead the Giants to victory. He headed the team with 2 sacks and many believed he was deserving of the MVP, which went to Eli Manning.

In the following season Michael Strahan retired and Tuck accepted his new role. Many believed that no one could replace Strahan, but Tuck wasn’t trying to do so.

“I’m just trying to fill in and do my best to help this football team win” Justin Tuck

And that he did. In 2008, replacing Strahan, he led the team with 12 sacks, over the following three seasons, he averaged 8.5 sacks and led the Giants back to Super Bowl XLVI against the Patriots. He again headed the team with 2 sacks and again many people felt he deserved the MVP.

He would stay with the Giants for two more season before moving on to the Oakland Raiders where he ended his career earlier this week. In his 11 year career Tuck will always be remembered as an excellent pass rusher for the Giants and as the guy that helped the Giants win two Super Bowls. His legacy as a great New York Giant is cemented in our minds.  Justin Tuck Always “All In”.

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This game was the better of the two games played this weekend. It was close throughout the entire game. The battle of the aging veteran in Peyton Manning versus still very elite Tom Brady. Defense was a major factor in this game, the Patriots offensive line seemed to have no answer for Von Miller and Demarcus Ware coming off the edge. They repeatedly got to Brady disrupting multiple passes and keeping him on the ground for the majority of the game. But the Broncos gave Brady the ball with under two minutes to try to and do what he does best, win. On a forth and four he hits a double covered Rob Gronkowski in the back of the end-zone. The pending two point conversion would send the game into over-time, but Brady’s pass gets tipped and intercepted by the Broncos and that’s all she wrote. Broncos advance and Peyton will play in his fourth super bowl and presumably last game of his career, who currently has a 1-2 record.

NFC Championship Game

This game had less drama then the AFC championship game. The Panthers were dominant and shut down this Cardinals offense who had been ranked second in points and first in yards during the regular season, but as we all know the regular season doesn’t mean anything in the playoffs. They may have been a high powered offense but the Panthers made them look like a mediocre team. It was a blow out from the start with Carson Palmer having six total turnovers, four intercepts and two fumbles. There wasn’t really much of a game to see here. Cam Newton did what Cam had done all season, control the game with a balanced offense and is now on the verge of getting his first ring. Total domination by the Panthers who deserve to move on to the Super Bowl.

Now the Super Bowl match-up is set, the Denver Broncos versus the Carolina Panthers, will Peyton go out on top or will Newton continue to dominate? Who you got?!
“Championship Sunday Breakdown” was written by Guest blogger @reinallday Please Share this post & leave some feedback in the comment field below, I would love to know what you think.

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The New York Football Giants got their man, and they kept it internal. If you havent heard the next Giants head coach will be Ben McAdoo, replacing the long loved Tom Coughlin.

McAdoo served as the Giants offensive coordinator over the past two seasons,  and has helped Eli Manning have his two best statistical seasons.

After a dreadful 2013 season where Manning threw 27 interceptions, McAdoo came in, changed the offense and molded Manning into an efficient quarterback, throwing for 65 touchdowns and 28 interceptions the past two seasons.

Making McAdoo the head coach allows the offense to continue thrive and hopefully continue to produce, as they ranked 10th in the league this past season.

Even with all the offensive production was McAdoo the right choice for the job? He comes in as a young unproven new comer having never been a head coach at any level of the game. Serving as the tight end coach and quarterbacks coach for the Green Bay Packers, which he won a super bowl with in 2010.

The Giants turned out to be his first shot at a coordinator position. He has a lot to prove now that he is running the team, multiple sources say he has the same qualities and love for the game as Tom Coughlin did, which will hopefully translate to on the field.

His staff he will be surrounded by two former head coaches, defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo and soon to be hired offensive coordinator Joe Philbin, which will serve as his support staff if things get rocky.

The Giants will need to surround him with talent to allow him to succeed especially since they have a lot to prove next season. If Jerry Reese can provide McAdoo with some added offensive weapons (can’t always count on Beckham Jr) and some much needed help on the defensive side of the ball they Giants can turn this around and hopefully they do so quickly.

“Wild Card Weekend Roundup” was written by Guest blogger@reinallday Please Share this post & leave some feedback in the comment field below, I would love to know what you think.

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Wow, seems to be the only words I can use to describe this weekend’s Wildcard slate of games. All the road teams won for the first time ever in wild card weekend.   In two of the games the winning team took control and never looked back. In the other two games it came down to the wire.

Chiefs vs Texans

The Chiefs took care of business in the blow out of the Texans 30 to 0. The Texans offense looked horrible, could not get anything done on the offensive side of the ball behind Brian Hoyer’s four interceptions. In the playoffs, four interceptions by your quarterback isn’t going to get things done.

Steelers vs Bengals

This game was the best matchup of the weekend. There is so much hatred these two teams have against each other, you knew it was going to be an ugly, hard, tough fought game, seven unsportsmanlike penalties showed that, it was a high intensity game. Coming down to the wire it was tight with the Bengals having the game ultimately locked down after Vontaze Burfict interception. But then Jeremy Hill fumbles the ball back and it was all downhill for the Bengals with Burfict just losing his cool hitting Antonio Brown in the head with his shoulder and then Pacman Jones just adding insult by pushing a Steelers assistant. 0-7 in the playoffs under Marvin Lewis how his seat is not hot I don’t understand.

Seahawks vs Vikings

A defensive battle with the lowest scoring game of the weekend and was definitely heartbreaker for Viking funs. All of the Vikings points came on the leg of Blair Walsh and I believe two kicks came with the laces of the football facing him and not the typical laces out. The game came down to a chip shot field game in which, you guessed it, the laces were facing him and he just missed it wide. The Hawks were lucky to come out with the win there.

Packers vs Washington

The Packers, looked like the Packers of old. They haven’t looked good on the offensive side of the ball in the past few games but seem to have gotten back to form. Rodgers looked the Rodgers of old and put it on the Skins. I personally thought it would be a shootout since Cousins and the Skins have been hot heading into the playoffs. But that wasn’t to be as the Skins fell short and you could hear Randle Cobb screaming “you like that!” in the tunnel.

“Wild Card Weekend Roundup” was written by Guest blogger@reinallday Please Share this post & leave some feedback in the comment field below, I would love to know what you think.

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