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8-8 Giants Limp Into Playoffs
Monday, January 01, 2007
What a season. The New York Giants inherited the toughest schedule in professional football this year. Their first three games were a horror house-Indianapolis, Philadelphia and Seattle. After the bye week the Giants faced a year of match ups against the NFC's best teams. In fact the Giants played every team in the NFC playoff bracket. This year was so competative that the Giants were one of three teams from the same division to make the playoffs. In this competative year, however, the Giants managed to excel, earning a 6-2 record and a five game winning streak. In a November matchup against the Bears the Giants had a chance to become the best team in the conference. Then everything spun out of control.
The Giants started losing badly. The first loss came against the Bears, a game that they had well in control but fumbled because of bad special teams play. Next the Giants lost to the Jaguars, a game that they never appeared to be in any position to win. These two losses squandered a division lead but nothing compared to the Tennessee game. The Giants blew a 24 point lead in 10 minutes and lost due to a late Eli Manning combined with a Titans field goal. Vince Young romped through the Giants'r run defense and threw pin point strikes through the secondary while the offense, a powerhouse for three quarters, ground completely to a hault. This loss was demoralizing for fans and players and on that note the Giants limped into a rematch with Dallas. The tightly contested Dallas game capped off a four game losing streak that saw the Giants fall into a tie with a resurrected Eagles team, two games behind the Cowboys.
At first the losses could be blamed on the pernicious plague of injuries that hobbled the team. The Giants lost Amani Toomer and diversity in the passing game. The Giants lost Michael Strahan and Lavar Arrington and thus the talent and experience of their pass rush. Soon, however, the losses took on a much more menacing character. Eli Manning focused his passing solely on Plaxico Burress and in the process made pointless incompletions and devastating interceptions. Defensive players also suddenly lost the ability to tackle, failing to complete sure sacks against Vince Young that could have prevented Tennessee's comeback.
The Giants managed to turn around the losing streak with a victory against Carolina, avenging their playoff loss to the Panthers last year and earning an important tie breaker against a conference rival. They followed this win up, however, with sloppy and demoralizing losses to Philadelphia and New Orleans. The New Orleans loss, a 30-7 drubbing, was particularly humiliating. Despite these losses and the Giants drop to a 7-8 team, they still controlled their playoff destiny in the season finale against Washington. In the Redskins game the Giants basically gave a clear illustration of their whole season. They started out strong, scoring points in the first three quarters with good defense and a superb running game. In the fourth quarter however, the Giants demonstrated their will to lose by allowing two Washington touchdowns and failing to do anything on offense. When a 20 point lead had been cut to six, however, Tiki Barber took the team on his shoulders and scored a 55 yard touchdown run to put the game away and break the Giants single game rushing record.
With help from the rest of the league and their victory over the Redskins, the Giants earned the last NFC playoff spot and a rematch with the Eagles. It seems to the average fan that the Giants will not last long in this playoff tournament. However the Giants did manage to weather all obstacles including their brutal schedule.
This is a significant achievement for the Giants. As long as I have been a Giants fan they have failed to put together consecutive years of quality play. The Giants MO has been to cash in on a weak schedule and make a playoff run but fail miserably when the NFL gave them a tough schedule the following year. The fact that the Giants, for once, have managed to make the playoffs in consecutive years does give me something to feel good about. Perhaps the victory over the Redskins and making the playoffs will be a turning point that the Giants can ride to playoff success. I don't think there is an NFC that the Giants can't beat with their talented roster. If Tiki Barber has a great game and Eli doesn't make mistakes, the Giants can beat anyone. If the Giants, however, show their lack of discipline, experiences and intestinal fortitude, it could be a short playoff season.
9:55 PM
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