Gary Myers of the New York Daily News wrote this morning that the season is already over for our New York Giants. I know many of you agree, and I am not exactly optimistic about the Giants playoff chances myself. Not the way things have gone for this team.
Here is how Myers put it.
The Giants have turned this into a forgettable season. They've lacked their trademark resilience, don't fight through adversity, no longer impose their will. They don't look anything like the team that won the Super Bowl two years ago.
Now they face a two-week battle for playoff survival against the hated Cowboys and Eagles.
There's no indication they have it in them to reach down deep, show some of the old Giants pride and put this season back together. That means by the time they absorb the one-two punch from the Cowboys and Eagles in back-to-back home games, they will be knocked out of the NFC East race and hanging on the ropes in the wild-card fight.
The flip side of the whole thing is that if the Giants somehow find a way to beat both Dallas and Philadelphia the next two weeks they would be 8-5, and would have a pretty good shot at a playoff berth with three games left.
Here is Eli Manning talking about what the Giants need to do beginning this week.
"There has to be a sense of urgency. We don’t have time to kind of figure out and slowly become a better team and take strides. We have to make a jump, jump back to playing good football. We have done it. Versus Atlanta offensively, we played great football. We looked sharp, we were on top of things and we’ve got to get back to playing like that," Manning said. "Sometimes we are going to falter and we have a lot, but we are still capable of beating teams and playing at a high level. We have to stick with it, stick with each other. It’s going to be about the players and the coaches all coming together, trusting each other and going out there and just doing it."
By the way, Myers mentioned one other thing in his story today that we should all keep in mind. Only the Colts (seven straight) have more consecutive playoff appearances than the Giants (four). So, if the Giants don't get this turned around this year and they fall short of the playoffs, we really don't have that much to complain about.
We have had it good for a while now, and every team suffers an off year once in a while. Just keep that in mind.
Other Notes
- In a release from the Giants, Antonio Pierce spoke about being placed on Injured Reserve.
"The doctors have told me that given my current condition, the risk of playing is too great, regardless of how I feel physically," Pierce said. "That is the most disappointing part of this, because I feel great and have no pain. But I will keep my head up and be there the rest of the way to do my part to keep the boys going."
- Ernie Palladino polled his readers regarding what to do about defensive coordinator Bill Sheridan. The results were mixed.