BBV featured on 'The Fifth Down'

Big Blue View was featured Saturday in the New York Times' football blog, 'The Fifth Down,' along with other Giants' bloggers. The full post can be found here. My portion is below.

The suspension of wide receiver Plaxico Burress shattered the quiet surrounding the Giants. It did not shatter the faith of Giants’ fans.

 Listen to a couple of the comments on my site:

I gotta give Coughlin credit here. If Plax broke the rules, Coughlin shows him no one is above the team.
 – jrs1940

Perhaps in other years I would be worried, however with Steve (Smith) and (Domenik) Hixon coming along, not. – Bajaserge

Winning a Super Bowl can give you that sort of comfort. It is, I think, more than that for Giants’ fans, though. It is the cumulative effect of what we have seen during the past two seasons. The Giants keep proving the experts wrong.

They said the Giants couldn’t win the Super Bowl. Yet, they knocked off the mighty New England Patriots.

They said the Giants’ defense couldn’t dominate without the retired Michael Strahan and the injured Osi Umenyiora. Yet, the Giants are tied for the league lead with 13 sacks and have hardly skipped a beat.

They said the Giants would miss Jeremy Shockey. Umm, no, they haven’t.

They said Eli Manning was Super Bowl M.V.P., but not yet a super quarterback. Yet, through three games he has posted the best numbers of his career (60.7% completions, a 91.1 quarterback rating) and led a come-from-behind victory over Cincinnati.

Most of all, many said this Giants’ team couldn’t win and might not make the playoffs. It simply wasn’t that good. Yet, here they sit at 3-0. The only other undefeated team in the N.F.C. is the arch-rival Dallas Cowboys.

So, why should the situation with Burress do to the Giants what all these other situations, and all this other adversity, was not able to do?  Giants fans, at least the ones at Big Blue View, don’t believe it will.

 No Plax. No big deal. While he takes his punishment, we get to see if Domenik Hixon is as good as we think.

 Optimism still rules.

Look at the Giants’ schedule and you have to think there is a chance they could be 7-0 heading into a Week 9 showdown with Dallas at Giants Stadium. Up next (Oct. 5) are the 1-2 Seahawks, followed by a Cleveland team that is in disarray, a home game against San Francisco and then a game at Pittsburgh, a team in the process of getting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger killed because it can’t block. At worst, the Giants should head to Dallas 5-2.

Beginning with the Cowboy game, the second half of the Giants’ schedule is brutal. It includes Dallas and Philadelphia twice, games at Washington, Arizona and Minnesota, and a home game against Carolina.

That’s a difficult assignment. These Giants, though, have made believers of us. Another Super Bowl title might be too much to ask, but a fourth straight playoff appearance seems like a solid bet. As for an overall record, 11 — or maybe 12 — wins is realistic.

Like I said, optimism rules.

NOTE: Check back later for a Sunday open thread.