The question everyone is wondering after Sunday’s disappointing loss to Philadelphia, is was this just a hiccup in a tough schedule for the Giants, or is this a sign of things to come? Immediately after the 20-14 loss to the Eagles, where the Giants were completely outplayed, half of the Giant fans were quick to put it all on the distraction of Plaxico Burress and Antonio Pierce. The other half went with the, it’s a long season and Phily is a tough division team that caught us on a bad day. Even though these are valiant excuses that can be easily proved to be true with a great showing this upcoming Sunday night in Dallas, I feel like this game showed us a lot more about the Giants then we are coming to realize.

Last week I stated that this final quarter of the season would be extremely vital for the Giants and their momentum going into the postseason. This is a time of the year where superior teams get challenged more often and their game plans become more familiar to their opponents. But the reason why I felt these final 4 games were going to be more important for the New York Giants is because without Plaxico Burress, their number 1 offensive weapon teams are going to take away their running game and force Eli Manning and the wide receiving core to make plays to win the game. And Philadelphia proved that a physical aggressive defense can shutdown this new Giant offense. Some will say the weather played a big factor, but that’s what December and January football comes along with. Despite how great the offensive line is playing I do not think of highly of the Giants running backs as everyone else does. They can be controlled and shut down when it’s the defense’s primary objective. And with Jacobs being banged up it makes the defense’s job much easier. Even though the NFC doesn’t seem to have a elite team that scares the Giants, it does have many teams that on a good day can easily take down the Giants no matter the venue, without Plaxico being there to at the very least keep the defenses honest.

            So that leaves us with this Sunday’s game in Dallas where both teams will be highly motivated for very different reasons. New York will want to get back on track and prove last week was just a bump in the road. As the Dallas Cowboys are already playing playoff games and they are battling to claim the sixth and final spot in the NFC. Will the Cowboys defense show their toughness like they were able to Sunday in Pittsburgh? If so the Giants will be in for a battle, which I think they will lose. But Dallas is no lock to perform on that level again. Either way Eli Manning is the man who’s job just got harder, with the loss of Plax, and as we saw Sunday even if he does all he can, it may not be enough.

                                    Peter Lomuscio