I need help. I am in a permanent state of Giants anaesthesia awareness. That is where I am being operated on surgically with all of the pain of the past 4 years of Giants frustration yet can’t move/remove myself from this masochistic trip. Someone please tell Mr. Mara that I need a change.
These Giants losses are metaphors, all of them, for the entire season. The hope and optimism of what might have been. The cruel reality of another Q4 loss at the hands of a defense that could not make a stop when it needed one.
Consider yourself lucky if you did not watch the game. We almost witnessed a miracle. The Panthers went up 35-7 and went into the Prevent Offense. A couple of TDs, a blocked FG and a turnover later, and Eli marched the team back to tie it with a TD to Odell Beckham. More on OBJ later. The Panthers woke up, said we need a FG, and they promptly drove down the field to win it on a 43 yarder. Absolutely crazy.
I was having a hard time trying to figure out what would happen in this game all week. On the one hand, I knew the Giants mask from Monday night would come off, as the Panthers were not the Dolphins.
Giants fans are trying to spin the season into a miracle of hope a la 2011. I’m the sober voice of reality telling you it’s more like 2009.
— Andy Furman (@UltimateNYG) December 16, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsYet on the other hand, the point spread got moved down from 6 to 4, so (I tweeted that) it smelled like a trap, implying the Giants were “live” and would cover (or win).
@TonytheProphet @NYGunderground yep, smells like a trap. If I were betting, I’d say it was easy money on CAR, so it’s not.
— Andy Furman (@UltimateNYG) December 19, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsIt did not fit. And then when the game unfolded, all the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. The Giants choked opportunities, showed they did not belong on the same field, but the Panthers let them in the game with a classic letdown and back door cover of the point spread.
I did not tweet that a Panthers FG was coming with a little over 1:40 left when the Giants had tied it 35-35, but as Wonder is my witness, that is what I told him would happen when he called me upon the tie. I did not want to be too negative amidst a miracle comeback. But let’s not get too carried away here- The Panthers let down. They were a 13-0 team that was up 35-7 without Stewart at RB and they got a little sloppy.
The Giants were sloppier.
Between OBJ and DRC dropping 2 TD passes and Jennings fumbling away another ball that was answered with a Carolina TD, it was too much to overcome. JPP made some big plays, including a sack and a batted ball on 3rd down with the game 35-28. But his clubbed hand was not enough to tackle Cam Newton on a 40 yard QB run (early, 7-0) which set up a score 3 plays later from the 2 yd line.
(1) Cam Newton’s runs. (2) Olsen’s TE success. (3) Two games ago, Bilal Powell’s RB delayed mid screen… What do all of these things have in common? They are part of the persistent negligence of lack of talent at LBer. Newton had 100 yds rushing. Olsen had 79 yards in the air, including a pitch on a 3rd & 1 for a 37 yd rumble TD. Even if Olsen had a Safety on the assignment, it is still part of Reese’s negligence. Remember that it was Reese who had this organization threadbare at Safety too in the offseason, having to trade up to get Collins at the 33rd pick in this year’s draft. Good teams expose these weaknesses. Reese, between LBer, Safety, and complete incompetence/negligence in not addressing the OL in 2010-2012 when the unit was aging, is part of the reason why games like this are lost.
I am not sure where Tom Coughlin was when his star WR was busy going rogue in H1. Beckham should have been thrown out of the game by the refs. Somehow he was not, but a good Head Coach would have prevented that on his own. A good head coach benches his player for a series or more, because no one is bigger than the team. Instead, Coughlin was lucky enough that OBJ was still there in H2 to help bring this club back. But it still brings home the point that Coughlin is not in firm control of this team. It is not disciplined. So Giants fans get another missed opportunity and a 6-8 record. I am not surprised, only subjected to more quasi-shoulda’s-woulda’s-coulda’s that somehow confuse enough people to put in doubt the next steps for this organization. Coughlin said after the game that he was proud of this players for fighting and making a comeback. For me, it is too little too late.
A few more comments on Beckham. I hope the league suspends him. It’s early enough in his career that maybe he can modify his behavior. Maybe. It’s embarrassing. It smears the franchise. It is inexcusable conduct. When I think of greatness I think of Rice, LT and Barry Sanders, 3 players who were fiercely competitive yet always kept it clean on the field. Beckham’s behavior is cheap garbage and I’d sooner trade him to Dallas than have to keep wearing blue. He either cleans it up fast or I don’t want him on my team.
Back to this season- let me be unambiguous. The teflon is gone. Coughlin, Reese and the entire medical staff (including the tenured Mara son Barnes) have to be shown the door. Change is needed. It is time to move on. I do not want to hear questions about who they are going to get who will be better. I do not believe in staying with the devil you know. I want crisp football, not underachievement. There are MANY younger no-name coaches (and assistant GMs) out there who are more than capable of running the Giants. They deserve the opportunity. Coughlin has had plenty of opportunity these past 4 years and has sown his own demise. The Giants are 28-34 in this period, and will almost in all likelihood miss the playoffs for the 4th consecutive year and 6th of the last 7 seasons. That is the wrong kind of consistency. I never quite understood why Mara kept giving Coughlin new opportunity via new coordinators, but the miracle of 2011 let the loyalty trump underachievement. If Mara keeps peddling the “players fighting for him” and “close to winning it” themes, that is 2013 talk, not 2015 talk. It is 4 consecutive years. It is time for change.
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