In defeat, Giants stood tall

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 9:08 AM EST in News Comment 11 comments

The Giants didn't do enough last night to ruin the New England Patriots' perfect season. They did, however, do enough to make themselves and their fans proud.

With nothing to gain in the standings, the Giants took their best shot at the Patriots and nearly pulled off a historic upset. All that prevented a Giants' victory were a couple of mistakes and the brilliance and determination of a great Patriots' team.

The Giants won 10 games this season and earned a playoff appearance for the third straight season. Yet, with all the ups and downs -- including some really ugly losses -- I've still been left to wonder if this is truly a good football team.

After last night my answer is unequivocally, YES!

Without a doubt that was the best, most complete game the Giants played all season. The offense was crisp, and that might have been as well as I have ever seen Eli Manning play. The defense surrendered 38 points, but harassed Tom Brady and played well most of the night. Special teams, led by Domenic Hixon, also played well.

With the playoffs beginning next week, you just have to hope as a Giants' fan that they can carry that type of effort and determination with them when they travel to Tampa Bay next weekend.

The only negative the entire night was the one thing you had to fear -- the Giants suffered a trio of injuries to important players. Linebacker Kawika Mitchell, center Shaun O'Hara and cornerback Sam Madison all went down. Cross your fingers and hope none of the injuries is serious enough to keep them off the field against the Buccaneers.

Other than worrying about that, though, Giants' fans should feel good this morning. Provided they can continue to play as well as they did last night, they will be a very dangerous playoff team.

More reaction

• Patriots know there is more work to be done. Yahoo! Sports
• Give Coughlin credit for going for the win. New York Post
• Eli follows big brother's advice. MSG
• Burress, Toomer rip officiating. New York Daily News
• Atmosphere at Giants' Stadium was perfect. Newsday

0 recs | Comment 11 comments

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Comments

did anyone elses

heart stop when they saw that injury to o'hara? thank god he walked off the field. i really believe that he may be the leader of the offense...he is extremely underrated.

i also saw some articles about plax and others criticizing the officiating and im glad you didnt post any of those links Ed. the better team won last night, period. the refs had nothing to do with that 65-yard touchdown pass where moss was 20 yards behind the coverage.

that was a great team effort by the giants. let's hope they carry that over into next week. they're definitely going to have to run the ball better against tampa.

by SBakerTheTouchdownMaker on Dec 30, 2007 10:13 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

oops

i just saw the officiating link. my bad. i just wish the players would focus on their great effort instead of complaining.

by SBakerTheTouchdownMaker on Dec 30, 2007 10:14 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Ha ha

Well, I agree with you. The better team won. I had to post one of those links, but I am with you. The officials did not decide the game, the great football team played great when it needed to.

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 10:56 AM EST up reply actions 0 recs

The refs

are a convenient excuse, but the fact is that the Patriots are just a better team. You don't get to 16-0 unless you are pretty darn good. I've been watching football since 1990, and this is without a doubt the best team I've seen, knocking off the '93 Cowboys and '98 Broncos. And anyone who watched the Pats-Colts game knows the refs weren't favoring the Pats the whole season. If I'm not mistaken, the Giants only had one more penalty than the Pats last night, and one 2 of the Pats penalties directly led to Giants touchdowns.

If the Giants play the way they played last night over the next month, they'll be playing the Pats again the first weekend of February, for a whole lot more than just ending a perfect season. Let's hope it happens.

by cjmulrain on Dec 30, 2007 11:19 AM EST reply actions 0 recs

The question

with the Giants always is, which team will show up? And, when the 'good' Giants show up how long will they stick around?

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 12:03 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

I've been dreaming the same scenario, cj, the

Giants vs the Pats in the SB and killing the streak. The team focus will be on TB, as it should be. I do have a strong belief that the PATs won't make it to the SB, however. Don't ask me why. Reason can't explain faith. As for the Giants making it, I'm not going to let reason kill the dream. Only reality will. And we can't know the reality until the game(s) is over.

by george cronin on Dec 30, 2007 12:28 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

If Only

Amhad Bradshaw had some snaps. Going to Tampa with this momentum and two healthy running backs is starting to sound like a team getting good at the right time. Something the Giants have not done so well.That last touchdown drive was resilient. I can only imagine they found something out about themselves last night.

by johnd134 on Dec 30, 2007 12:53 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Giants

I certainly hope that what they took away is that they are a very good football team that needs to do certain things -- run, pressure, tackle, protect the ball -- to win games. They should be a more confident team after last night.

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 4:39 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs

Refs

First of all, congratulations to the ny giants for last night they went from boys to giants. Eli played his best game of his pro life and only looked hopeless for a short time late in the forth quarter. Coughlin also put together a good game plan.
As a severe critic of the giants and both eli and coughlin I give them the game and think the refs gave the game, hook, line and sinker to the pats. They convienently called and did not call penalties that totally favored new england.
Anyone watching saw randy moss push off on one touchdown catch and a few other well timed penalties that set the gmen back.
Not to take anything away from NE, they played well but if even half of those bad calls went the giants way I think the results would have been quite different. It was one of the worst games I've seen as far as the officiating is concerned.

by easywind on Dec 30, 2007 12:56 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

The opponent with the rep always gets the breaks,

whether it's luck, refs' calls, weather,etc. The Celtics in their heyday always got the calls and seemed to win so many crucial games on last second shots that hit the back of the rim, rolled around and dropped in. Traveling and palming the ball were never called on Jordan. Ali got a few decisions that were stinkers (e.g., no way he beat Jimmy Young.) We all know about the Yankees. It's the champions' advantage. To beat such opponents, it's something you just have to overcome.

by george cronin on Dec 30, 2007 1:35 PM EST reply actions 0 recs

Agreed

The team that deserved to win the game won the game, even though as a Giants' fan I wish that wasn't true. For as much as they did well, they just couldn't stop New England when they had to. And they had two critical offensive breakdowns (the INT and three-and-out) in the fourth quarter that doomed them. To stop perfection the Giants needed to be perfect. They were damn good, but not quite perfect.

by Ed Valentine on Dec 30, 2007 4:42 PM EST up reply actions 0 recs