Bring on the Bull

“Goose, tell the folks at home that I’m going in and we’re gonna get this thing done.”

With a cock-sure swagger of the aging, grizzled vet, so Trent Dilfer entered the game in relief of Alex Smith. “We’re going to get this done,” he had said in certainty. He was sure, or so he had informed Tony Siragusa at the start of the third quarter, who’s old friend Dilfer had given him the scoop. “Let’s see what happens,” Goose said. He sounded just as confident in his old qb as Dilfer’s quote had sounded about himself.

The next play when something like this:

“Dilfer, back to pass…Intercepted!”

I happened to catch that little snipped the week before and thought it pretty much sums up the current state of Trent Dilfer, but it proved to be a very entertaining minute or two of football.

And so I was supremely confident when I arrived at Giants Stadium knowing that the aforementioned Dilfer would be today’s opposition quarterback. Yet, somewhere in there was a tinge of doubt. Would anything be worse than actually losing to this guy? I can still see his feeble touchdown pass to Brandon Stokley from 2000 in disbelief. If he managed to interrupt our 4-game win streak, I would be none to pleased.

So as I sampled the fine selection of meats and cheeses my old man had prepared for our tailgate festivities, I did so with a tinge of fear that Trent Dilfer might conspire to shit on my sandwich, so to speak.

Instead, I saw what I came to see. Mostly, Trent Dilfer took a beating. It was sweet, if not a little sad, to see the old pro beaten down. From the fear of weeks 1 and 2, our defense is certainly a long way from that. Osi Umenyiora’s sack, strip and score was maybe as athletic a play as I’ve ever seen. I’m still not quite sure how he was able to do all of those things in one motion.

As a loyal Giants fan, this is the type of game I like the most. To me, there’s nothing better than when your defense just goes out and dominates and opponent, your offense just has to make a few plays, not turn it over and you go home well fed and filled with joy from a day of victory. Give me a good day of defense over a good day of offense any day. Relying on the offense is too stressful.

Yet, despite the offense’s less than stellar performance, the one bright spot was the raging bull that is Brandon Jacobs. Coming into the season I was more excited to see Brandon Jacobs than I was willing to let on. Out of respect for Tiki, you just didn’t want dismiss what his loss would mean. Sometimes I catch a peek at some of his highlights and think about how good he was and regret how much I’ve grown to despise him. He was a great, great player, but he sure has seemed like a pretty weasly guy lately.

So there was his replacement who is nothing that Tiki was. He runs like a freight train, he doesn’t speak in such flowing tones, and though he can’t get around you the same, he can sure run over you. Maybe this is the type of back we were supposed to have. Maybe the scat back with the perfect SAT score wasn’t our guy. Maybe this Christian Okoye-clone who has the temperament that makes you think he might kill somebody one day during a game is more the Giants style.

I certainly hope so.