Giants try to move on

So, what now for the New York Giants?

Football, that's what. The Giants are trying to move on from this week's events and focus on the field. Here's coach Tom Coughlin.

“From day one we have tried to focus our football team on the challenges that lay ahead,” Coughlin said. “And it started out in training camp with all of the questions about being satisfied, being complacent, and having the Super Bowl hangover - all of that stuff. So our team right off the bat began to focus on the task at hand and the transition, as I put it, from the Super Bowl team into the new season. So we have been focused. And of course I have tried to keep them focused by stimulating, by challenging, by talking about, for example, never be satisfied with winning. We talk open and honestly about the things that we do well and about the things we don’t do well and that we have to improve upon. And I think the guys have done a really good job of accepting that challenge.”

Here is quarterback Eli Manning.

“This is about one guy and a bad accident that occurred,” Manning said. “No one wished this, no one thought this would happen. It’s unfortunate, but our thoughts are with Plaxico in his journey over these next weeks to months and what may happen with him. But we also have to have our focus on this team and what we have going here. A lot of people depend on us. We depend on every player to have their focus, get their preparation during the week and have their minds set to go out there and try to win every game we play.”

Do I think focus will be a problem for the Giants? Maybe this week, but in the long run? Not at all.

The focus and determination of this team has been questioned since Day 1 this season, and the Giants have answered every challenge.

I do not believe that the events of this week will be the determining factor in whether or not the Giants are able to repeat as Super Bowl champions.

By the way, I believe wholeheartedly that the Giants have done the right thing here. Even if it does cost them in the playoffs.

• ESPN has crunched the numbers, and the comparison of the Giants with Plaxico Burress and without this season is very intriguing. The most interesting thing, to me, is how much better Eli Manning has been without him. We will just have to see if that continues.
  
• Gridiron Gab says the Giants have become the new Patriots.
• This isn't bulletin board material, but it is a statement the Giants' defense had better pay attention to. "Since the beginning of the year, since I started getting injured [in Week 3], this is probably the best I've felt." The speaker? Philadelphia Eagles star running back Brian Westbrook.
• The biggest improvement in the 2008 version of the Giants vs. last year's Super Bowl championship team? Turnovers. CBS Sportsline points out that the Giants are +10 in takeaway ratio this season, second-best in the league. Last season, Sportsline reminds, the Giants were -9, the first team in 20 years to win the Super Bowl with a negative turnover ratio.