50 Falcons-Giants Playoff Takeaways

50) You are not allowed, as an NFL analyst, to say Michael Turner's name without connecting it to "a load"

49) If you get off on completions for no yardage or first downs, this game made your day

48) Mike Smith can not be trusted with fourth down play calling, or not looking like a guy on "To Catch A Predator"

47) Eli's intentional grounding for safety was one of those borderline calls that an elite QB gets

46) If we're all very, very lucky, Victor Cruz will get hurt and not have a very long career, since that "CROOOOOOZEEE!" chant is going to get pretty annoying from Road Giants Fan

45) For a guy with questionable footspeed and no real elusiveness, Eli makes a lot of plays with his legs

44) There's no way the Falcons defense can lock things down all day, since their DL just isn't good enough to deliver 60 minutes of domination

43) Eli's flip to Bradshaw was positively Favrey

42) I'm not saying that Joe Buck is in the bag for the Giants, but he sounded orgasmic on the big Brandon Jacobs run

41) Tom Coughlin looks like a guy who never gets good service at a diner

40) This game in the first half was all about who executed on fourth down

39) Hakeem Nicks' TD catch was a case of the WR bailing out the QB

38) Once the Falcons fell behind, Fox had to pin the blame on Tony Gonzalez, since he's never won a playoff game

37) The Giants calling timeout just before the two-minute break

36) The Falcons' special teams inability to touch the ball on the backing up punt cost them the yards that Julio Jones made for them on the third down checkdown

35) Chris Owens' play on Cruz was so good, no one puled for defensive PI

34) The Giants seemed to not notice that the Nicks catch wasn't a first down, and it probably cost them at least three points, along with having to defend another Falcons possession

33) The Fox chuckle crew looked catatonic from having to watch a game without big scoring

32) Ryan's idea of sliding, or getting out of bounds, was just sad

31) The Falcons' idea of clock management was, as an Eagles' fan, highly familiar

30) I remain unhappy with the NFL's decision to neuter kickoffs

29) Jason Pierre-Paul and Aaron Ross going down on the same play might been the best possible incompletion ever for the Falcons

28) Roddy White's inability to catch balls in coverage, or Ryan's inability to get the ball to him quicker, was a major problem

27) There aren't many more disdainful QB faces than Eli's when a WR drops a ball

26) Eli to Nicks for the 19-yard first down was perfect execution, and proof that he's still the #1 WR here, along with Cruz's multiple drops

25) Eli's gotten loads better at dodging blitzers, or the Falcons just aren't very good at it

24) Trading off Kevin Boss for Kyle Ballard just seems like it's going to haunt Blue at some point

23) Chris Owens got away with DPI to save a touchdown and keep it an 8-point game

22) Given how accurate Ryan can be, and the number of weapons the Falcons have, a run-first game plan seems a little off

21) Giant Fan and Coughlin really like to pule about pretty clear cases of not intentional grounding

20) Having too many men in the huddle seems to be a special problem for road playoff teams

19) Roddy White's close spot meant that Smith had another chance to blow a fourth down play call in field goal range

18) A QB sneak from a no RBs formation, when you've been stuffed on previous QB sneaks, might redefine stupid in our lifetime

17) Having said that, kudos to the Big Blue DL for crushing the play

16) Eli to Nicks for the killshot made the rest of this game garbage time, and ensured that the Smith Era in Atlanta has now entered the Andy Reid Zone of good enough to make the playoffs, but never smart enough to win

15) Seriously, the play calling in short yardage by Atlanta today would have made Reid wince

14) There has never been a playoff game won where the winning team's offensive coordinator didn't get a media stroke late in the game

13) When Jacobs is powering through DBs late in a game, he actually looks like a positive player

12) Eli to Manningham for the score was perfect execution on a secondary receiver, or a reason why Blue Fan has hope that their QB can have a hot playoff month for a deep run

11) Now that Eli has 11 post-season TD passes, no one is allowed to think kindly of Phil Simms' career

10) Speaking as a White owner in a fantasy keeper league, I'm hoping this one just ends without a suspension

9) This game isn't going to do much to stop the narrative of "Matt Ryan is an overrated game manager"

8) It's very hard to reconcile this Giants team with the one that gagged up 6 of 7

7) GIven that he owns a Super Bowl ring, it's a little surprising that this is Eli's first career 3-TD postseason game

6) Nobody talks trash better than Jacobs with a big lead late in the game

5) Manningham might be the most good news / bad news guy in Blue's recent history, but if he's your #3 WR, that's not bad at all

4) Smith looked like he was weeping with five minutes left, which isn't going to come back to haunt him in screen shots all over the Internet or nothing

3)Buck and Troy Aikmann really took the Falcons to task for not kicking field goals in a 20+ point loss

2) Lawrence Tynes' missing a chip shot figgie disappointed his many playoff fantasy football owners

1) I'm really hoping this game gets the Giants' line against the Packers in Green Bay under a touchdown

(Bonus from garbage time... Jaquizz Rodgers proved that you can get unnecessary roughness for hitting the RB, it's clearly all Tony Gonzalez's fault, you really should be able to get White and Ryan at a discount in next year's fantasy football drafts, and it's a little telling that Blue didn't sit on the ball with a minute left. Next game.)