As tough as it gets for me

Writing this article is about as tough as it gets for me. I am a football fan but I am a Giant fan first. What I witnessed Sunday was depressing. Yes,the Giants won the game but what many have said and some will deny is that this Giant team is at best a team that needs to be rebuilt. I know,we went into the season thinking this team had a real shot at winning it all. The rationale was the superbowl they won and the idea that the meltdown last year were the result of two very different things. The Giants super bowl year began as a disaster and ended in glory. We had a more than adequate offense and a truly innovative great defense. We peaked at exactly the right time and miraculously won game after game on the road culminating in one of the greatest upsets of all time. We beat a team that went 18-0 until that game and made history. They were about to go 19-0, an unthinkable feat which probably would never be matched. Yes, Miami went 17-0 years ago but the league would have to extend an already silly season for even a chance for that to happen. I am confident I would be long gone before that could happen. I honestly don’t think any of us would ever have the chance to reflect on such a game.

Then came the inevitable. Strahan retired, Osi was felled by injury,the awful coaching staff with the exception of Spags became the awful coaching staff they had always been. Plaxico Burress became the bad boy he had been with first the Steelers and then Big Blue. He held out, he demanded money, he was a no show at practice and got injured. The inevitable “incident” finally happened when he shot himself in a night club and ended up in prison. His career is likely over. The Giants sunk and continued to sink until they lost to Philadelphia in a game that put the asterisk next to “the end.” Spags took the head coaching job in St. Louis and Sheridan took over. The team went into free agency and ended up with some of the worst additons possible. They paid many millions of dollars for a few players who the pundits said made them awesome. Rocky Bernard was a good player in Seattle, Canty was a big boy who would inject the Giants with size,speed and skill they sorely lacked, Michael Boley would be the coverage backer they badly needed,Osi was coming back healthy so,WATCH OUT.

The 2009 Giants are akin to the 2009 Panthers amongst a mediocre core of recently superior teams. Green Bay is in this group as are the Bears. Seattle stinks and well, nuff said. It is apparent to me that the Giants,the Super Giants need to undergo a serious rebuild. There are some terrific players who are young with their best years in front of them. I am still not ready to throw in the towel on Eli cause he is such a class kid and he does have sporadic periods of greatness. I love Nicks, Smith, Boss and still think Snee can play at a high level. It was embarrassing when the 265 pound Jacobs could not score from one yard out and had to go outside to do so. It was seriously depressing to see the Giants blow a 14 point lead in the final 5 1/2 minutes after blowing a 6 point lead only two weeks before in the last minute. The awesome defense is a distant memory and Antonio Pierce is probably done. The coaching staff continues to be almost comically bad and although he kicked the winning field goal Lawrence Tynes is NOT what we need. His miss could just have easily cost us the game.

The Giants won and stay in the thick of it but this, above the 4 straight defeats made me realize our era at this point was less than a season. John Fox will probably be looking for work as will others. I like Fox. I will have to start to think about possibilities. Of course there is Cowher but he won’t ever coach in N.Y. and the other retreads would be tantamount to the second coming of Coughlin. I hate to write this, I hate to think it. I hope I have to eat my words. I really do. The Giants may finally get a pick above 28 and they need it.

I never thought I would be this low after a WIN! Mario was super on Sunday, wasn’t he?