The Season

The NFL season may be over, but the memories of it have not.

This was the best NY Giants season I have witnessed in many, many years so I went on a Panini Instant spree to showcase some of the highlights.

 

The season started off in Nashville again the Tennessee Titans. This was the game that set the pace for the season. The Giants were down by 10 at halftime and looked like the same ole team I had seen the past 6 seasons where they open up with a loss. 

But whatever coach Daboll said at halftime changed the game. The Giants got a late touchdown to trail by only one in the game before gambling on a two-point conversion on a shovel pass to Saquon and winning the game at the end.

The wins kept coming from there.

 

They shocked the Ravens at home, sadly a game I couldn't watch due to where I live so the Patriots played on TV.

 

But a lot of rookies stepped up including Wan'Dale Robingson who got his first NFL touchdown. Which I am guessing more will come next year when he is healthy.

 

Speaking of rookies stepping up, Kayvon Thibodeaux may not have had the huge sack numbers but he had a huge impact on their season. 

 

He went on to score a strip-sack fumble against Washington, a game they desperately needed to move up in the Wild Card Standings, and started the momentum that led to a Giants win.

 

Then came the Daniel Jones show in what was a win and in situation against the Colts. The Giants win the game and they clinch their first playoff spot since 2016. 

Jones led the Giants with 4 touchdown and a 38-10 win over Indy in that game.  A game he commanded and won for them. I think this was the game where Jones showed he was worthy of another contract with the Giants.

Then came the Wild Card game against Minnesota. Everyone counted them out on the road but they shut out the noise.

 

Saquon had 2 rushing touchdowns including the game sealing one in the 4th quarter.

 

WR Isaiah Hodgins looked unstoppable going for over 100 yards and scoring a touchdown that helped set up the Giants win early on in the game. This was a guy they grabbed off the practice squad remember and this is also his first card in a Giants uniform.

 

And finally, there was Jones who showed why he was worth the 160 million they gave him throwing for over 300 yards and 78 more on the ground. He looked like a Top QB in that game and picked apart Minnesota all game long. It was a version of the usual turnover prone QB we hadn't seen before.

I won't talk about the Divisional Round game against the Eagles as they were completely outmatched as they should have been all season, but I will say overall the future is bright and I can't wait to see what's in store for next season.

Thoughts on my collection welcomed in comments. Also if you buy any of the on-demand cards.

The Last Start

 

The day was December 15th 2019. The NY Giants were playing at home against the Miami Dolphins and their starting QB Daniel Jones was out with an injury. So in came their backup quarterback....Eli Manning. It feels weird even typing Eli as a backup. 

The situation was what it was as the Giants needed to see what they had in Jones before the season ended and the feel was Eli was in his last season anyways. I also think it was good to have someone like Eli coach Jones up while he was still there.

Eli went on that day with 20-for-28 passing, 283 yards with two touchdowns and three interceptions in a 36-20 win, which also snapped the Giants 9 game losing streak. I was not happy that I wasn't able to watch the game as the Patriots played on CBS instead, but at least the Pats game ended early so I could watch the very emotional ending at Metlife.

The chants Eli ruled the day as Manning was chanted before the first snap and his last and most of the 4th quarter. You could tell and feel the emotion across Eli's face every time he exited the field especially at the end of the game. Even at home I started chanting for Eli and felt emotional myself watching the quarterback who led my Giants to two Super Bowls victories over the hated Patriots exit the field for the final time as a NY Giants starting quarterback. The two Super Bowl wins were my first two wins I got to see as I wasn't into football back when the Giants won their first two.

 

When I found out that Panini had created one of the on-demand cards to commemorate Eli's last start I had to have it. I paid a little more than I usually do for a card like that but it was worth it to me. Looks like the price may have been a little more with only 86 made.

Mail Day Triple Header

Have a triple header of mail days that arrived last week I needed to get posted. It's a mix of a little bit of everything.

First up, I have fallen into the Zion faze some. Well, just needed a rookie card so luckily my buddy at Valley Of Cards provided me one.

  

It's from 2019-2020 Panini Instant. I hope to at least get a Hoops one as well. Need at least one rookie card of every key player. Thanks goes out to Valley Of Cards for helping me out.

Click link to visit Valley Of Cards website or check out their eBay stores here
https://www.ebay.com/usr/valleyofcards-2
https://www.ebay.com/usr/valleyofcards

I was recently in a three-box mixer break with Midwest Box Breaks and landed the Redskins. Couldn't complain about possibly pulling a Haskins except I didn't. My only card from the break was this Joe Theismann.

 It's a beautiful card and is numbered to 5, so not too shabby.

But, being the way Ben is, he tossed in a couple of freebie items. This is probably the best key chain I bet he has handed out ;)

 and a Topps Finest refractor /50 for my non sport PC.

If you haven't checked Midwest Box Breaks out yet, please do. Very trusted and cares about the customer. See what they have available for breaks, HERE.

My final mail day was more of a Twitter-claim-generosity type of thing.

I have mentioned before on here how generous and awesome that @imqualifying has been to me in the past with sick 90's inserts and NY Giants cards. Well, she hit me up with my first Golden Tate Giants card. I didn't have one at all til now and what a kickoff to having one.

Thanks Bethany! I owe you one or two actually.

I have one more mail day to show off this week, it's a pretty cool one so stay tuned for it!