Unfitting End To A National Landmark
As I woke up to watch my Giants take on the Carolina Panthers today in what would be their final game at Giants Stadium, (woke up isn’t accurate since I hadn’t slept since the previous afternoon) I was overcome with a sense of excitement. Excitement because the Giants clearly controlled their own playoff destiny and had every reason to be fired up. But thats just it. The problem was that the Giants controlled their own playoff destiny. You would think that with the Packers taking on an underachieving Seahawks team and the Cowboys facing the woeful Redskins that the Giants wouldn’t take any chances. You would think that they’d come out with some intensity that carried over from the Washington game. You would think that having former Giant greats like Joe Morris, Harry Carson, and Lawrence Taylor in attendance would give them some sort of pride and maybe they’d come out and lay the wood to the Carolina Panthers. Of course, none of this actually came true.
The Giants showed promise in their first drive completing passes and converting third downs with ease. But once Madison Hedgecock was called for holding, the game was over. And if there was any doubt that the game wasn’t over, all that doubt went out the window when Mario Manningham fumbled a perfect pass. It was just going to be one of those days. One of those days when nothing is intended to go their way. Where can we cast the blame of Sunday’s debacle?
Can we blame the defensive coordinator, Bill Sheridan, for his lackluster and oh-so-vanilla defense? Absolutely, we can. Can we blame the linebackers for forgetting how to tackle and allowing Jonathan Stewart to have his way with the defense for over 200 yards? Yes, yes we can. Can we blame the secondary for letting Steve Smith and Muhsin Muhammed play like the Carolina Panthers of 2003? Most definitely we can. Hell, we can even blame Plaxico Burress for being an idiot. Since he shot himself at Latin Quarters last year, the Giants are 10-11.
This is what it comes down to. With all that was at stake for the G-Men, there are no excuses. A playoff berth on the line at the last game at Giants Stadium. What more needs to be said? Brandon Jacobs had 1 yard. One. If thats not embarassing enough for him, maybe he should pull a Tommy Kelly and go pants-less next week in Minnesota. The Giants were flat out made a fool of. They don’t deserve to make the playoffs. If they needed any more reasons to be inspired and fired up, then they don’t deserve to be in that locker room wearing those uniforms. I spent a decent amount of time over the weekend thinking about the great moments at Giants Stadium in my lifetime. The 41-0 shellacking of the Vikings in the 2000 NFC Championship game. The Wellington Mara game. The Eagles-Giants game where Jason Sehorn bobbled an interception and still returned it for a touchdown. And then all the games I wasn’t around to see or too young to remember. The game where George Martin ran back an interception. The game where Joe Montana was sent to the hospital. This is how the Giants let their stadium close?
At this point there’s only one way to close out the season. Only one thing that give me some kind of solace at the end of this season. They have to go into Minnesota and take homefield advantage away from the Vikings. Thats it. Its really simple. Go into Minnesota and knock Brett Favre around. Force Brad Childress to take him out. Cast some doubt on that team and Brett’s legacy. If the Giants finish this season 8-8 and let Minnesota dominate them, there are going to be a lot of angry Giants fans expecting some changes. Changes along the linebacking corps and in the secondary. Changes along the offensive and defensive lines. Changes in the coaching staff. Inconsistency. Thats been the name of this season. With one week left in the season, the Giants have to show their fans that this is just a one year thing and will return to dominance. If not, we’ll be sounding a lot like that other New York team – Same O’ Giants.
