Does success = a Super Bowl title?

Repeating at SB is very difficult!! We have a team built for long term success. That is much more important that the “win now” attitude that permeates the league.

A 1st round flop in the playoffs would be disappointing, but not a failure. At the beginning of this season I said to fellow fans that short of a 6 win season, I would be happy with whatever they did. Because I will always remember where I was when the Giants beat the Patriots in the Super Bowl.

as we’ve all seen, in the NFL anything can and will happen. At the beginning of the year I told anyone who asked that I thought our boys would make the second round of the playoffs. Anything above and beyond that I would consider to be gravy.
I don’t think there is a fan of any team in any league that isn’t disappointed when their team doesn’t win a championship. The term “any given Sunday” was coined to include the playoffs.
however, the Colts seem to be finally pulling themselves together for a run at the wildcard in the second half of the season. Dare I say it? The biggest success I could foresee would be an all Manning superbowl, with Eli finally besting Peyton’s team in a show down on the world’s biggest stage.

For me this team has been successful since TC became coach. The joy I get from having a least one extra game each year is for me the measure of success. When the regular season is over and everyone else gets that empty awful feeling of what do I do now on Sundays, we have one more game….that’s success. And to have one more after that and another after that…well that’s just icing on the cake.

While I would be disappointed (and have been previous to last year) with a one and out; getting that extra game is success in my book.

There are just too many things that can go wrong for even the best team on the road to the Super Bowl. Unlike other major pro sports, each level consists of only one game, so there is little room for error. A good baseball team can have a bad game or two and still win a playoff series. Lose once in the NFL and you go home.

Yes, the Giants are the class of the NFL. But the difference in caliber among playoff teams isn’t that great, and odds are that an inferior team will knock off a superior team on occasion, even if those odds are maybe 1 or 2 in 10. Factor in such unknowns as injuries and it’s easy to understand why so few teams ever repeat.

 Ed’s right to cite Steinbrenner’s win-or-else philosophy as something to be avoided. I’ve seen too many good Yankee teams ruined by panicky trades and free agent signings after a “failed” (i.e., non-championship) season. Team success must be measured over the long haul, not just by one season.

The Giants have built a top-of-the-line organization with a bright future. That should be enough for any fan. It is for me.

I see anything short of an NFC championship game a failure. This team may not have had expectations from everyone else (pundits), but we fans saw a team growing last year. We saw our team take the biggest step forward to what we thought was “building” towards a Championship and just go and snatch it from all the favorites. A team facing adversity week after week after week and they all responded. It wasn’t just Eli, it was everyone.

And like everyone is saying, oh well we can be a flameout like the Boys, Packs, etc… But those teams won on strong QB play and passable D and ground attack. We took away their top receivers and were able to capitalize on their performance. If T.O., Jennings, or Moss go for over a buck we lose those games. We pounded the ball, protected the ball, punished QB’s and kept it close until we could capitalize.

All that is the mark of a true champion. Which we have ladies and gentlemen. Baring injury to important pieces we will be playing in Feb.