Loading ...The New York Giants are preparing to leave the comfortable confines of the Timex Performance Center and head out to California for a showdown with the 4-1 San Francisco 49ers. There is obviously no love lost between the these two organizations, especially after last year's NFC Championship game.
However, the day before the team is scheduled to depart, Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride couldn't resist getting in a backhanded compliment directed towards 49ers defensive end Justin Smith. Gilbride talked about how Smith's defensive holding allows him to control offensive linemen.
"Smith is a beast on the inside," Gilbride said. "He's strong. He does as good a job of grabbing a hold of offensive linemen and allowing those twists to take place. He never gets called for it, so he gets away with murder."
Smith is a strong defensive end with the ability to shift to defensive tackle is certain personal sets. His strength allows him to bull rush his opponent and create pressure from wherever he lines up. So when Gilbride talks about how Smith gets into the pads of an offense linemen and turns him around, he's saying that Smith illegally grabs linemen and moves them out of his way.
49ers head coach Jim Harbaugh took great exception to Gilbride's comments. Frankly, he escalated a conflict for no reason.
"Kevin Gilbride's outrageous, irrational statement regarding Justin Smith's play is, first, an absurd analogy," Harbaugh said. "Second, it is an incendiary comment targeting one of the truly exemplary players in this league. "It's obvious that the Giants coaching staff's sole purpose is to use their high visibility to both criticize and influence officiating."
Obviously, Kevin Gilbride did not literally mean Justin Smith was getting away with murder. In fact, that's a phrase that is used commonly in everyday life. However, Harbaugh is right in a sense that Gilbride's comments could have been an attempt to effect the officiating.
That being said, both comments were completely uncalled for. If Gilbride thinks Justin Smith was using an illegal tactic to gain an advantage, then he could have gone about it in a less public manner. He could have informed an official before kickoff, or even during the game.
With that, Harbaugh did not have to take the conflict to the next level. His scathing response created even more bad blood between two teams that already don't like each other.
All things considered, this was an unnecessary controversy that was escalated by a head coach who has a history of controversial interactions with opponents. There's been enough talk in the media about this game already, and it's about time things get settled on the field.
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Funny listening to the constant whine that is the 49ers. Hardly a day goes by that someone from that lowlife organization isn’t b-tching about something. I swear, the Eagles have more class … and they don’t have any.
Thanks to everyone for the fantasy advice. Since Brown is out and I get a point for every 15 return yards I’m gonna go with Wilson. Don’t feel great about it, but with Bennets banged up knee and Randle being no higher than 4th on the depth chart for this sunday I’ll take my chances with Wilson. Hopefully he gets a few handoffs. Or just takes a kickoff to the house.
Doesn’t matter anyway. Who ever I leave on the bench will have a big game. That’s how fantasy football works. At least they’re all Giants.
49er’s need to STFU and play football, bunch of long eared galoots!
Repost:
kujo says:
October 12, 2012 at 6:37 PM
I don’t want to speak for Demo–mainly because I don’t speak knuckle-dragging retard–but I don’t think he’s pessimistic about this game; rather, I believe he (rightly) suspects that this is a tough game against elite competition. Earlier in the week, where the injury situation looked more dire and uncertain, it appeared that we might not match up well without some of our key players. However, the potential for Nicks, Bennett, Webster, Hosely and Rivers to play greatly increases our chances of victory, in the same way that their absences made it look like an insurmountable situation.
We’ll see. This game has the makings of a classic, and this rivalry looks like its on its way to Patriots-Colts/Patriots-Ravens status of annual heavy weight battles with playoff and Super Bowl implications.
Dan Graziano on ESPN has written a column saying that there’s hard evidence, on film, of Justin Smith grabbing the jerseys of offensive linemen to prevent them setting their blocks. Whether Gilbride knew of this film or not, he should have kept his mouth shut and spoken to the officials privately. And if this film does exist and in fact shows that SF defensive linemen are coached to hold, league officials should act. But Gilbride have known that Harbaugh, whose picture is in the dictionary next to the entry “loose cannon,” would fire off a salvo. A dumb comment and a dumber reply.
Disagree completely. Brilliant move by Gilbride. It’s called gamesmanship. Gilbride threw it out there, had Harbaugh not given an overdramatic response chances are few would be talking about this now. If Gilbride was baiting Harbaugh, mission accomplished. If it brings it to the refs attention, thanks to Harbaugh’s dramatics, mission accomplished. If it gets in their heads and alters how they play on their Dline to “prove” they don’t hold then mission accomplished.
Giants = Mariah Carey, while the 49er’s = Nicki Minaj!
Kill yourself.
lol….
Just saying, either battle would be exciting to watch!
Worse analogy I’ve ever heard. Terrible.
lighten up “Dogs” no sense of humor? Demo got you guys on edge?
it was joke Mr. hairy bag pipe…..
I know. It was still horrible.
Just remember….. I was kicking A$$ in Bagdad, when you where in your dad’s bag! Is that bettter?
*Baghdad.
Whole lot of noise.
Sound and Fury signifying nothing, as my old friend Willie Skakespeare used to say.
Yankees six outs from surviving a hitting desert in the first round of the playoffs.
The 49er’s are going to get a heavy dose of Wilson….. You heard it here first! Write that down!
Nosh – for what it’s worth I agree with Wilson in your situation. Not many play in return yardage leagues so they tend to dismiss it in their analysis.
Regarding the comment, I agree that while it’s just a lot of noise I have to give the win to Gilbride here. Had Harbaugh not gone all hyperbolic in his response, it’s unlikely the comment would have even made G101 headlines. Instead, it’s front NFL page news on ESPN. There are now a couple million people asking “Does Justin Smith cheat?” where as yesterday there were none.
Even if it doesn’t affect the officials on Sunday, you can bet that IF he does get away with a few holds during the game, it will be all over NFL Live this week…which may make them change tactics the rest of the season…which hurts the 49ers. THAT is why Harbaugh is actually angry…he knows this hurts his team in the long run (assuming it’s true).
I feel like Benton is having a sh-t fit on FB right about now after that solid win!