Those Pesky Giants

      Like it or not, the New York Giants have come to play.  This team has seen its fair share of hardship, but in a season that was supposed to be about building a young team, they may find themselves playing deep into the month of January.  Who knows, the big game may fall into their lap, but success has not come without a price for the boys in blue. In pleading my case for the New York football Giants chances, we should keep in mind the dismal 6 and 10 season the Giants suffered last year. When everybody’s favorite grocer-turned-NFL quarterback Kurt Warner received his ticket to ride the pine, and was replaced by first year rookie Eli Manning, I honestly did not know what to expect.

Finding myself only slightly annoyed as the boys in blue trudged unsuccessfully through the second half of the season, I wondered how long it would take Ole’ Miss’s golden boy to settle down, take his time and read the defense. The months of November and December were not good to Manning who seemed flustered and confused by every defensive core he faced. Stringing together six straight losses, the team was literally doomed for the season, and things did not look promising for a player so highly sought after in the 2004 NFL draft.

Always with the positive of the situation, I began telling myself that all the sacks and turnovers perpetrated by Manning were nothing more than rookie mistakes; mistakes that would eventually fade. I prayed next year would be better. Imagine my surprise when Eli orchestrated a wonderful fourth quarter comeback to beat the Dallas Cowboys 28-24 on the road in the last game of the season. My hope was solidified, and the future looked much brighter.

Two weeks shy of a year to the day New York is bustling with anticipation of the coming Christmas holiday, but listen close enough and another type of anticipation is can be heard, if only from those true blue fans. This year the Giants are only a game away from wrapping up the NFC east division which they can do next week in Washington, standing poised to make their first playoff appearance since 2002’s ill fated Super Bowl trip under head coach Jim Fassel. Both the team and Fassel have moved on, the later ironically joining the Baltimore Ravens, the bane of Super Bowl thirty-seven for the Giants.

Currently the number three seed in the NFC, New York is very quietly stringing together victories, no matter how ugly some of them may be. A previously unstable Eli Manning matured in leaps and bounds over the off season, and finally looks like an NFL quarterback, while still making some rookie mistakes, leads the league in touchdowns with twenty-two. Jeremy Shockey is a large target who struggled last season with injury but has come on strong upon getting healthy. Perhaps in the best off season personnel acquisition, New York found the big play receiver so desperately needed from Pittsburgh in Plaxico Burress.

Posting pro bowl numbers out of the backfield, Tiki Barber leads the league in rushing yards to this point with 1577. With the potent passing game, and the reliable running of Barber, everything seems to be clicking, a stark contrast to what we saw last year from the Giants. They make their mistakes, however, they learn from them, and continue to mature. Wins continue to pile up, especially during the time of year when they mean the most. I am pleasantly surprised by the amount of progress the team has made on offense, however the defensive side of the ball is where the team is getting it done most efficiently.

I was expecting great things on defense from Tom Coughlin, after seeing what he had accomplished in Jacksonville, becoming the most successful coach of an expansion team in NFL history. A newly invigorated pass rush lead by the youngster Osi Umeniyora, so desperately sought after by San Diego in the trade that had brought Manning to New York, has given the Giants an edge. He leads the team with twelve and a half sacks and is number three overall in that category, only a half sack behind Derrick Burgess of Oakland. Michael Strahan, a bit slimmer, and a bit quicker than in the past has eleven and a half. This combined with Umeniyora creates a left right one two punch. Improvements made in the secondary, and overcoming injuries that plagued the team last year, this year’s defense is solid. Coughlin despises mistakes, and this defense doesn’t make many.

In a game which I feel may have been a barometer for a remarkable playoff match up, New York hung with the NFC leading Seattle Seahawks, forcing overtime, and only succumbing thanks to Jay Feely’s inability to kick a field goal. I can forgive and forget, but it still gives me chills at how close the Giants were to being on top.

My hat is off to you Tom Coughlin. Why can’t these analysts find it in their black hearts to show your team some respect? Besides, it’s almost Christmas right? The Giants should continue to improve, and if the prospect of a Manning versus Manning duel seems too farfetched, think again. With the quality of games New York has played this season, a trip to the big game may be more realistic than not. The road to Detroit defiantly runs through the Pacific Northwest, and should the Giants get the chance, maybe the second time will be a charm. Revenge would be sweeter when the losers go home, and the winners live to see another day.

I would surely be disappointed if Coughlin is left off of the ballot for coach of the year, because he certainly deserves the title. He came into the Big Apple, stepped onto NFL football’s biggest stages, and turned around a club that a season ago was going nowhere fast. Hey mister Santa Claus, all I want for Christmas is for somebody on Sunday NFL Countdown to call the New York Giants a good football team. Here’s to the old ball coach, best of luck in the playoffs.